Lightning News

Sail Information || Lightning News || FAQs || Tuning Guide || Contact Lightning Experts || Order

Celebrate and get a chance to win a brand new set of North Sails! Raffle details >> 2008 CPYC Early Bird Regatta 2008 Indy Open and Doc Gilbert Regattas 2008 Mid-Continent Regatta 2008 Long John Regatta 2008 California Circuit 2008 Southern Circuit 2008 Southern Circuit - Deep South, Savannah, GA 2007 Blue Nose Regatta 2007 Last Blast Regatta 2007 Figid Digit Regatta 2007 NJ State Champs 2007 North Americans 2007 Worlds 2007 Texas Districs 2007 Dixie Districts 2007 Pymatuning Spring Classic 2007 No Gas Regatta 2007 Doc Gilbert Potomac Cup Al Terhune Joins North Lightning Team! 2007 Jackson Spring Fling Regatta 2007 Southern Circuit See also: 2006 Reports | 2005 Reports | 2004 Reports | 2003 Reports | 2002 Regatta Reports   Lightning Sails Lightining News FAQs Tuning Guide Contact Experts Order Lightning Sails 2008 CPYC Early Bird Regatta Report by Brian Hayes May 16-18 - Westport CT The 2008 Early Bird Regatta was opening weekend for many east coast sailors. While the weather forecast did not cooperate, keeping many sailors at home for the weekend, 30 teams did battle the rain and wind on Friday to get to Saturday and Sunday and experience a weekend of great racing with good wind. Friday greeted the most adventurous of the teams with 50 degree temperatures, cold rain and BIG breeze. Al Terhune and I waded through the puddles and ducked a boat in the lee of the clubhouse and gave a 2 hour Flying Scot tuning and trimming talk. Afterwards, Al roamed the parking lot helping many teams with setup. We then retreated to the clubhouse where we spent 1.5 hours doing chalk talk and Q&A. On Saturday and Sunday I spent the days videotaping the racing. We spent some time after each days’ racing reviewing tapes, critiquing performance and answering a myriad of questions. On the racing front; In the Lightnings Dave Peck had a 1,1 1 on Saturday and a 5,2 on Sunday to dominate the fleet. In 2nd was Gianni Cuccio followed by Bob Sengstacken and Boat Grant recipient Justin Copeland in 4th (with a 1,1 on Sunday!!) In the Scots, Al Terhune had finishes of 2,1,1,2,1 to best Roger Sharpe by several points. 3rd was CPYC’s Rob Cohen followed by Jim Cummings and Chris Danilek in 5th.. Though the weather knocked down attendance a bit the fleet was enthusiastic and appreciative of the North Sails tuning/racing clinic. Lightning Fleet Captain David Fried wrote: “The North Sails clinics at Early Bird was VERY WELL received.  Thank you so much for all the time and effort you spent on this regatta.  We'd love to have another regatta like this in the future.”  While Flying Scot runner-up Roger Sharpe wrote: “Thanks for making this regatta very worthwhile!  I found  the video that you shoot along with your comments very helpful. Thanks again.” Lightnings 1.        David Peck                      North Sails          M5,5A+,R2 2.        Gianni Cuccio                     North Sails          M5,5A+,R2 3.       Bob Sengstacken             North Sails          MF2,JF2,R2 4.        Justin Copeland                North Sails          M5,5A+,R2 Flying Scots 1.        Al Terhune                          North Sails          AP Main, Snug jib, BR1 2.       Roger Sharpe                     North Sails*        LC1 Main, BR1 3.        Rob Cohen                          North Sails          LC1 Main, Snug jib, CC spin 4.        Jim Cummings                   North Sails          LC1 Main, Snug jib, BR1 5.        Chris Danilek                      North Sails          AP Main, Snug jib, BR1 *Sunday only For more information about our fast Lightning sails, contact our Lightning experts! To order the fastest Lightning Sails online and have them delivered to you door, click here.     Lightning Sails Lightining News FAQs Tuning Guide Contact Experts Order Lightning Sails 2008 Lightning Indy Open and Doc Gilbert Regatta Winner teams swept both regattas with all bullets! Report by Brian Hayes Indy Open - 1st Dan Moriarty showed last weeks’ win at the Midcontinent Regatta was just the beginning. In a wind-shortened (Too much on Saturday. Too little on Sunday) Dan, sailing with his family Tobi and Nick Beckmann, had two bullets in the 2 race series to best 22 other teams in the Indy Open held at the Indianapolis Sailing Club, in Indianapolis, IN. Doc Gilbert 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10… Meanwhile, in Washington, DC, Al Terhune with Katie and Todd Johnson showed that sailing the Southern Circuit is a great way to get a head start on the local competition. Al and his team also posted all 1st place finishes in the 5 race series to outdistance the other 24 teams on the Potomac River at Leesylvania State Park. A hard fought battle for 2nd was won by Jon Guth and his team over Dick Hallagan on a tiebreaker. All results can be found at: www.lightningclass.org For more information about our fast Lightning sails, contact our Lightning experts! To order the fastest Lightning Sails online and have them delivered to you door, click here.     Lightning Sails Lightining News FAQs Tuning Guide Contact Experts Order Lightning Sails 2008 Lightning Mid-Continent Regatta Report by Brian Hayes I traveled to beautiful Decatur, IL this weekend to crew for Todd Wake and his wife Kristine in the annual Mid-Continent Regatta. The event, normally held in St. Louis, was moved to Decatur due to flooding at the usual site. This led to a downturn in participation but not in quality. 6 races were held, 4 on a very breezy and shifty Saturday, and 2 on a still breezy but cooler Sunday.   Dan Moriarity, with his wife Tobi and Ric Bernstein had 4 bullets on Sat and a 4 on Sunday before heading for the hoist with the event locked up. 2nd came down to a last race show-down between our team and 2-time NA Champ Matt Burridge with Jeff Coppens and Jim Sears. Matt got the better of us early on in the shifty conditions and won the race and 2nd place overall. Top 5   Dan Moriarity    MF2, JF2, R2 Matt Burridge    M5, 5A+, R2 Todd Wake       M5, 5A+, R2 Bill Fuade                     Terry Burke    M55, 5A+, R2 Complete results can be found at: http://www.lightningclass.org/Results/results08/MidContinent.htm For more information about our fast Lightning sails, contact our Lightning experts! To order the fastest Lightning Sails online and have them delivered to you door, click here.       Lightning Sails Lightining News FAQs Tuning Guide Contact Experts Order Lightning Sails 2008 Lightning Long John Regatta Report by Allan Terhune This past weekend the Long John Regatta was held at Monmouth Boat Club, in Red Bank New Jersey.  Saturday brought breezy, puffy conditions, resulting in a few capsizes, a few auto tacks and some close racing. Sunday, brought lighter breezes and some great sailing. Mitch Hnatt from Metedeconk sailed a great series to win the event, with Brian Taboada getting second.    Top 5   1. Mitch Hnatt 2. Brian Taboada 3. Bill Fastiggi 4. Bill Bogardus - North Sails For more information about our fast Lightning sails, contact our Lightning experts! To order the fastest Lightning Sails online and have them delivered to you door, click here.   Lightning Sails Lightining News FAQs Tuning Guide Contact Experts Order Lightning Sails 2008 Lightning California Circuit Report by Mike Poltorak   Cesar Romero, Brenna Baringer and Mike Poltorak, winners of the 2008 California Circuit Day 1, Saturday, March 29th, and Day 2, Sunday, March 30th we participated in the South Bay Series, sailing out of Coronado Yacht Club.  South San Diego Bay located just south of the Coronado Bridge is one of the best places in the country to sail.  The Coronado strand separates the Pacific Ocean and San Diego Bay.  It has very little elevation so you get ocean wind but with flat water.   Typically there are very few persistent shifts, with little 5-degree oscillations providing for a great test of boat speed and tactics.  You need to find and stay in the better pressure and position yourself so you can capitalize on the small shifts.  The Race Committee at Coronado Yacht Club did a great job of getting off five good Windward/Leeward races.  The beats were nearly dead upwind with the downwind Runs square enough that we never had a “stay-on-one-gybe” leg.  There were no runaway races and the top three to four boats usually finished within a few seconds of each other with a couple “Too close to call” beep-beep finishes.  Mike Poltorak managed to sail a consistent series with only 1st and 2nds.  Followed by Scott Finkboner with Pete Bellin just behind in third.  The yacht club provided green beer to keep us happy and a hearty soup to keep us satisfied.  If you have never had an opportunity to sail in south bay, you owe it to yourself to put this one on the calendar for next year.   Day 3 was the Marathon/Sail-Around from the Coronado Bridge to Mission Bay. Normally we have a crazy reaching start.  This year, we broke tradition by having a starting line square to the wind with a short weather leg. After rounding the first mark we had a very close reach to an offset mark about a half-mile up the main channel.  Poltorak won the start and rounded the top mark in the lead.  Tactically it was challenging because on the one hand you wanted to protect your wind by staying high, but not get too close to the weather shore to have your wind blocked by anchored boats, buildings and trees.   Scott Finkboner was able to take the lead by sailing high, and Pete Bellin was able to capture the number two spot by sailing low.  Don’t you hate it when people roll over and under you at the same time?  Kirk and Edna Johnson had moments of greatness keeping their boat moving and held the number three spot solidly for a long while.  While playing the Ebbing tide and keeping out of the way of large Navy ships the Lightning fleet continued to sail out around Point Loma.   Poltorak and Finkboner traded leads a couple of times on the way out to Harbor Buoy #3.  After rounding Mark #3 it was Finkboner that was able to take the number one spot as he led the fleet up the coast and around the “great kelp beds” of San Diego on our way to Mission Bay.  We were fortunate this year to have the wind gods smiling on us, as we were able to carry spinnakers for much of the trek up the California coast.  We had 8 to 10 knots of breeze out of the West to South West the whole day.    Though not official, I think we may have set a new lightning time record by finishing and getting into Mission Bay in under four hours.  Finkboner was able to finish first with Poltorak about one minute behind.  Bellin, and Brad Gruneberg (from Sheboygan) came in 3rd and 4th respectively.  Brad and his crew couldn’t help but smile knowing that back home they were still getting fresh snow. Here they were racing in shorts and T-shirts worrying about getting too much sun.  We’re glad you guys came, and hope you consider joining us again.  Northrop, Johnson, Colantuono and Bull came in with smiles on their faces.  It truly was a fantastic day and a marathon race to be remembered. On Tuesday, Day 4,we were in the Pacific Ocean the same venue as the 2006 North Americans.  We had 8-12 knots of breeze, small waves and a gentle swell.  The race committee did a great job.  At the first start it was John and Jolene Northrop that timed the start perfectly. They started at the pin and crossed the whole fleet on port tack.  I think the race committee had a little April Fools mischief in them, because by the time we got to the weather mark a HUGE forest of seaweed managed to park itself under above and around the mark.  It added a bit of a challenge to navigate around it but everyone had to deal with it equally, so it wasn’t too much of an issue.   Pete Bellin was able to take a bullet in the first race showing excellent downwind boat speed.  Poltorak with long time friend and crew Kory Smith finished second with Brad Gruneberg of the Sheboygan trio taking third.  Finkboner took a couple of bullets in races two and three with Poltorak taking a second and a third.  Bellin with a 1-4-2 was tied for the in the lead with Poltorak for the day.  Finkboner was only one point back.   On shore, it definitely was Finkboner that won the party.  As is the tradition, Scott made his famous Mahi-Mahi dinner and “man, was it good.” Day 5 brought us into Mission Bay.  For all you lake sailors out there, Mission Bay is a medium size pond with light and variable winds with flat water.  After the first race, it was Pete Bellin taking the bullet and it was looking like he was going to win the Mission Bay Series.  The whole day it was Poltorak, Finkboner and Bellin trading off the lead in tight races.  Going into the last leeward mark rounding it was Pete Bellin in the lead in a finishing position that would have won him the series…. but due to a navigational error Pete went to the Start line thinking he was finishing.   When Finkboner and Poltorak rounded the Leeward mark to head upwind to finish, I could imagine the expletives that surely were being shared on Pete’s boat.    Pete ended up third in the race putting him second in the series.  Poltorak was able to sneak by Finkboner by ducking him on the port tack lay line on the way to the finish.   Poltorak won the race and the series, but certainly owed Pete a beverage or two for his misfortune.  The Mission Bay Lightning Fleet did a great job working together to put on this special event.  If you haven’t done the California Lightning Circuit before, you owe it to yourself to consider coming out next year. We had great weather, great fun, and great racing.  2008 Lightning Circuit Scores Skipper CYC Series Marathon MBYC Series  Total Mike Poltorak  2-1-1-2-1     2 2-2-(3)-2-1-1 17 Scott  Finkboner 1-3-2-1-4 1 (6)-1-1-4-3-2 23 Pete Bellin 4-2-3-3-2 3 1-(4)-2-1-2-3 26 Kirk Johnson   3-5-4-4-3    6 5-3-6-3-4-(7)   46 Brad Gruneberg  5-4-5-6-5   4 3-5-4-(7)-7-4  52 John Northrop  6-6-6-5-7 5   4-(7)-7-5-6-5   62 Dale Bull    7-7-7-7-6 8 (7)-6-5-6-5-6 70 Peter Colantuono DNC 7 DNC DNC           For more information about our fast Lightning sails, contact our Lightning experts! To order the fastest Lightning Sails online and have them delivered to you door, click here. Lightning Sails Lightining News FAQs Tuning Guide Contact Experts Order Lightning Sails 2008 Lightning Southern Circuit Report by Brian Hayes The Lightning Southern Circuit is a numbers game. It is a 9 day, 3 event spectacle that requires a major in math and a minor in fortitude. Here are some of the numbers of interest about the 2008 Circuit: 2,998 - Number of miles you have to drive to sail the Lightning Southern Circuit if you leave from Milford CT. 171 -  Total entries at all 3 events 16 - Number of trophies (out of 20) brought home by sailors using North Sails- 80%!! 12 -  Total number of races sailed 12 -  Total number of races won with North Sails 6 - Number of special ILCA awards won by North clients 3 -  Number of Regattas held (Savannah, Miami, St. Pete) 3 -  Number of Regattas won by sailors using North Sails There are many more numbers but here is the story: Savannah, Ga… Lightning Deep South.. March 8-9 Breeze on.. Bugs on.. Racing off (for day 1).. Racing on (for day 2).. David Starck returned to Savannah, GA and, like he has done for the previous 2 years, dominated a deep, talented fleet of 49 boats to win the 52nd annual Deep South Regatta. David and his team posted scores of 1,4,1 to outpoint current Yachtsman of the Year Jeff Linton for the win. In 3rd was Dan Moriarity with his brand new, first time launched boat with brand new North Sails. In 4th was Neal Fowler followed by Jed Dodge in 5th.  The entire event was raced on Sunday as 30-40 mph winds made sailing on the Wilmington and Skidaway Rivers impractical on Saturday. However we were blessed with a pleasant 10 knots of leftover NW breeze on Sunday that allowed for fair race courses and a quick completion of 3 good races.  A minor procedural error on the Race Committees part made the 3rd race quite interesting as a 2 or 3 boats were OCS but, due to a error in notification, these boats were granted redress and reinstated in their finishing positions. However even this minor bump in the road could not detract from what was viewed by many as one of the finest Deep South Regatta’s ever held.   Miami, FL….       Midwinters… March 11-12 No more bugs.. Lots’ less wind.. If you told me that you were heading to Miami to race Lightning’s in March and you were sailing with a total crew weight of well under 400 lbs. I would tell you that I would think you were a bit daft,unless you are Jody Starck. Jody and her team of Brenda Crane and Debbie Probst took a favorable, light air weather report and a boatload of talent and dominated racing in Miamis Biscayne Bay to win the Midwinter Championships. Sailing Larry MacDonalds boat (while Larry and family enjoyed a few days with Mickey Mouse)  they scored an amazing 22 point win over Miami local Bill Mauk with his team of Jeff Eiber and Michele Sumpton. Following the top 2 was US Olympic 470 representatives Amanda Clark and Sarah Merganthaler, with Dave Whelan as their third. In 4th was the team of Al Terhune, his wife Katie and Steve Constants followed by, the winner of this years’ George Fisher Sportmanship Award, Tom Allen with Bill Pictor and John Humphreys. Conditions for all 5 races were light (8mph) down to drifting. The Clark/Merganthaler/Whelan team won 2 races on Saturday while Tom Allens Team won the other Sat. race. On Sunday Rob Ruhlman, with his wife Abby and Dave Werley, came out of the box smoking and won both races on Sunday. Rob had a secret formula for his success on Sunday which he “created” on Saturday evening. Unfortunately he can’t seem to remember what it was. All in all another top notch event held by Coral Reef Yacht Club and Regatta Chair Carol Ewing. St. Petersburg, FL… Winter Championships..  March 14-16 A little bit of everything.. We all got St. Pete and were greeted with a perfect Thursday. Sunshine, warm winds, great hospitality. Then came Friday… Scattered thunderstorms along with shifty fickle breezes sent the fleet of 69 back to the dock and PRO Tom Farqhar wisely abandoned racing for the day.. Saturday brought cooler weather but good breeze (12-18 with some bigger puffs, mostly on the way in). Our team, Brian Hayes, Jay Mueller and Laura Jeffers found the conditions more to our liking and posted a 3,2,1 and, with a 6th in Sundays lighter, dying NW breeze we secured our 3rd Winter Championship besting our own Al Terhune, again with his wife Katie but with Dave Perkowski this time, by 12 points. In 3rd  was overall circuit winner Jeff Linton, with his wife Amy and Andy Hayward on Saturday and Meagan Ruhlman on Sunday followed in 4th by Bill Fastiggi,  Suzy Coburn & Nick Farina and David Starck, Jody Starck & Debbie Probst in 5th.  The SPYC once again showed great hospitality and solid race management for the ILCA. Many thanks to the team there. Overall circuit recap Congratulations to Jeff Linton and his team for winning the Southern Circuit with a combination of great crew work and brilliant tactics. Jeff, the current Yachtsman of the Year, is a tough one to beat but several of us tried our best to give him and his talented team a run for their money. Anytime the overall circuit comes down to the final race with 4 or 5 teams that can possibly win it is exciting and this year proved that to be true once again.  Jeff and his team always seemed to know where to go and how to get there. I guess that’s why he is YMOTY!! Congratulations again Jeff, Amy, Will Jeffers (who sailed in Savannah and Miami but became too ill to sail St. Pete), Andy Hayward and Meagan Ruhlman. Some other award winners from the circuit: Mid fleet award winners: Savannah           Terry Tyner Miami                  Joan Hurban  St. Pete              John Sawyer Davis Youth award      Joy and Adam MacDonald  Top 1st timer            Amanda Clark (9th)   Masters Champion     Dick Hallagan      Top 5 each event: Southern Circuit Overall (33 boats) 1. Jeff Linton  74  2. Allan Terhune  84        MF2, JF2, R2 3. Brian Hayes Sr, 98      M5, 5A+, R2 4. Tom Allen 101            M5, 5A+, R2 5. Bill Mauk101              M5, 5A+, R2   North Facts: 2,3,4,5,6,7,9,10 and 18 of the top 20 powered by North Sails All 12 races won by sailors using North Sails. Savannah (49 boats) 1. David Starck 1,4,1 M5, 5A+, R2 2. Jeff Linton 8,2, (RDG) 3. Dan Moriarity3,6,3    MF2, JF2, R2 4. Neal Fowler 12,1,5 MF2, JF2, R2 5. Jed Dodge 10,5,6  M5, 5A+, R2   North Facts: 1,3,4,5,7,8,9,10 and 18 of the top 20 powered by North Sails! All 3 races won by sailors using North Sails. Miami (53 boats) 1. Jody Starck 2,2,3,3,5  M5, 5A+, R2     2. Bill Mauk12,4,5,9,7   M5, 5A+, R2        3. Amanda Clark 15,1,1,4,21  MF2, JF2, R2 4. Allan Terhune4,8,19,7,6 MF2, JF2, R2 5. Tom Allen 1,3,10,20,13  M5, 5A+, R2   North Facts: 1,2,3,4,5,7,8,9,10 and 16 of the top 20 powered by North Sails!!! All 5 races won by sailors using North Sails St. Petersburg (69 boats) 1. Brian Hayes   3,2,1,6   M5, 5A+, R2 2. Allan Terhune  6,3,4,11  MF2, JF2, R2 3. Jeff Linton 5,8,14,3   4. Bill Fastiggi   14,14,13,5   5. David Starck 2,4,5,37(ZFP)   M5, 5A+, R2   North Facts: 1,2,5,7,8,9,10 and 14 of the top 20 powered by North Sails!!! All 4 races won by sailors using North Sails   For complete results go to www.lightningclass.org For photos of the events go to www.photoboat.com For more information about our fast Lightning sails, contact our Lightning experts! To order the fastest Lightning Sails online and have them delivered to you door, click here. Lightning Sails Lightining News FAQs Tuning Guide Contact Experts Order Lightning Sails 2008 Lightning Southern Circuit Savannah Deep South North Sails 1,3,4,5,7,8,9,10! Reports by Brian Hayes David Starck returned to Savannah, GA and, like he has done for the previous 2 years, dominated a deep, talented fleet of 49 boats to win the 52nd annual Deep South Regatta. David and his team posted scores of 1,4,1 to outpoint current Yachtsman of the Year Jeff Linton for the win. In 3rd was Dan Moriarity with his brand new, first time launched boat with brand new North Sails. In 4th was Neal Fowler followed by Jed Dodge in 5th.  The entire event was raced on Sunday as 30-40 mph winds made sailing on the Wilmington and Skidaway Rivers impractical on Saturday. However we were blessed with a pleasant 10 knots of leftover NW breeze on Sunday that allowed for fair race courses and a quick completion of 3 good races.  A minor procedural error on the Race Committees part made the 3rd race quite interesting as a 2 or 3 boats were OCS but, due to a error in notification, these boats were granted redress and reinstated in their finishing positions. However even this minor bump in the road could not detract from what was viewed by many as one of the finest Deep South Regatta’s ever held. Top 10: David Starck - 1,4,1 Jeff Linton - 8,2,1 (RDG) Dan Moriarity- 3,6,3 Neal Fowler - 12,1,5 Jed Dodge- 10,5,8 Bill Fastiggi -  5,17, 2 (RDG) Brian Hayes Sr. -20,3,2 Bill Mauk - 4,9,12 Richard Hallagan - 19,8,7 Allan Terhune - 6,19,10 Complete results at: www.lightningclass.org Also, congratulations to Terry Tyner for the mid fleet award. Terry is usually knocking at the top ten at the Deep South but this year he and his son each sailed their own boats and I’m certain Terry is more excited about Will sailing his own boat then a top ten. That said, watch out for Terry next year as I’m certain he’ll be back knocking at the top 10 in 2009!! Many thanks to all our loyal clients. Your success is our greatest achievement. North facts: Sailors using North Sails won all 3 races at the Deep South! Sailors using North Sails finished 1,3,4,5,7,8,9,10 and 18 of the top 20!!! North Sails were used on 42 of the 49 boats at the Deep South.. For more information about our fast Lightning sails, contact our Lightning experts! To order the fastest Lightning Sails online and have them delivered to you door, click here. Lightning Sails Lightining News FAQs Tuning Guide Contact Experts Order Lightning Sails 2007 Lightning Blue Nose Regatta North Sails 1,2,3,5,6,7,8,9,10*! Reports by Allan Terhune 36 boats made the treck to Nashville last weekend to wrap up the 2007 Lightning Season at the Blue Nose Regatta.  Harbor Island Yacht Club did an awesome job hosting the event and showed all of us, what hospitality is all about.  Everyone enjoyed 3 days of beautiful weather, wind, food and friends.    Brian Hayes and I hosted a clinic on Friday afternoon to kick off the event.  We started late morning helping all of those who were there get their boats tuned up and set properly.  We then went onto the water where we ran a lot of practice starts and practice races.  Brian video taped everyone sailing.  I hoped on a few boats to help teams with boat handling and sail trim and it seemed to work out well.  Friday night there was a huge cocktail reception with lots of food and drink. Brian showed the video and we answered questions to wrap up a very successful day.   Sat and Sunday we saw some really good racing in some very challenging shifty conditions.  Old Hickory Lake is not very large, so at times it was very hard for the committee as the wind was going absolutely crazy on them.  The races were very tight and consistency was the key to this event.  My team, which consisted of my wife Katie and Dave Starck from Buffalo won the event.  Matt Fisher is continuing his comeback tour and was second. Dick Hallagan, Pat Consodine and our very own Brian Hayes with ILCA King and Queen Steve and Jan Davis, rounded out the top five.   North Sails won all five Races! North Sails were on 31 of the 36 boats in the regatta !   It was a very successful event for North Sails and it was a good ending to a fantastic season.   1. Allan Terhune MF2 main, JF2 jib, R2 spinnaker 2. Matt Fisher MF2, JF2 R2 3. Dick Hallagan  M5, 5A+, R2 4. Pat Consodine 5. Brian Hayes M5, 5A+, R2   Complete results can be found at http://www.lightningclass.org/Results/results07/Bluenose.htm   Lightning Sails Lightining News FAQs Tuning Guide Contact Experts Order Lightning Sails 2007 Lightning Last Blast Regatta North Sails 1,2,3,4,5! Reports by Brian Hayes In what has to be one of the great stories of the year! Joan Hurban, with her team Peter Jadrosich and Judy Hanlon, bested 18 other teams to win the Last Blast Regatta at Nyack Boat Club. Joan, along with her husband Gary, have been the driving force behind much of the activity for Fleet 75 and the Met District for years. Sailing "Hers" (Gary sails his own boat, aptly named "His") Joan had consistent 4,3,4,5 finishes while many notables had at least one bad race. Past Masters Champion and a consistent top 5 finisher in the NAs and Worlds, Dick Hallagan was 2nd. Up and coming Ryan Sprole was 3rd followed by Bob Sengstacken in 4th and Tom Dexter in 5th. Congratulations Joan!!! For more information about our fast Lightning sails, contact our Lightning experts!   Lightning Sails Lightining News FAQs Tuning Guide Contact Experts Order Lightning Sails 2007 Lightning Frigid Digit Regatta Reports by Allan Terhune This past weekend SSA and Lightning Fleet 329 hosted the annual Lightning Frigid Digit Regatta.  40 boats sailed in perfect conditions all weekend with very shifty westerly winds both days.  North Sails Larry MacDonald and his team of daughter Joy and son Adam won the event by 1 pt.  My team, which consisted of my wife Katie and John Townsend were 2nd for the event. Dave Starck with Brian Taboada and Cory Sertl was third and one point behind 2nd. Todd Wake from Wisconsin was 4th and George Fisher was 5th.   SSA and the fleet finished out their busy year with another great regatta.    Another highlight of the event was the awesome showing by the Ocean City, NJ fleet. 4 of the 7 boats in their fleet traveled to the event for the first time and it completed a busy month as the 4 boats traveled to 3 regattas in 4 weeks!  Congats to them on their growth and enthusiasm for sailing Lightning's.   North Sails was 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 in the event and all but 3 boats had North Sails!   Top 5   1. Larry MacDonald  M5, 5A+, R2 2. Allan Terhune MF2, JF2, R2 3. Dave Starck M5, 5A+, R2 4. Todd Wake M5, 5A+, R2 5. George Fisher MF2, JF2, R2 For more information about our fast Lightning sails, contact our Lightning experts!   Lightning Sails Lightining News FAQs Tuning Guide Contact Experts Order Lightning Sails 2007 Lightning NJ State Championship Reports by Brian Hayes This past Saturday, the NJ Lightning State Champs were held in Conjunction with the Manahawkin Bay Cup regatta. Surf City yacht club did an awesome job getting off 5 races in perfect 15-20 knot conditions.  We were fortunate to have not only great sailing, but a super party after with plenty of clams, mussels and mount gay.    North Sails dominated the regatta placing 1,2,3,4,5,6,9,10 out of 20 boats and all but 2 had North Sails.   Results   1. Allan Terhune - North Fisher 2. Mitch Hnatt - North Proctor 3. Andy Temme - North Fisher 4. Steve Warren - North Fisher 5. John Faus - North Fisher 6. Matt Reiser - North Proctor 7. Rich Warren 8. Greg Kinzel 9. Bill Mergenthaler - North Fisher 10. John Townsend. - North Fisher   This was a great kick off to the busy fall Lightning Schedule, which Nyack next weekend, and the Frigid Digit in Annapolis the following week! For more information about our fast Lightning sails, contact our Lightning experts!

Lightning Sails Lightining News FAQs Tuning Guide Contact Experts Order Lightning Sails

Lightning Sails Lightining News FAQs Tuning Guide Contact Experts Order Lightning Sails

Lightning Sails Lightining News FAQs Tuning Guide Contact Experts Order Lightning Sails

Lightning Sails Lightining News FAQs Tuning Guide Contact Experts Order Lightning Sails

Lightning Sails Lightining News FAQs Tuning Guide Contact Experts Order Lightning Sails

Lightning Sails Lightining News FAQs Tuning Guide Contact Experts Order Lightning Sails

18 boats sailed the NO GAS regatta this past weekend in Annapolis. We had a wide range of conditions with 2 races on Saturday in 0-10 knots of breeze and 3 races Sunday in 15-20 knots.

North Sails performed well being on 9 of the top 10 boats and the top 2 boats used different model North upwind sails!

It was a good tune up for teams getting ready for both the Worlds and North Americans, which are just around the corner. Fleet 329 is working hard to have a great regatta on and off the water. There has been more Lightning activity in Annapolis lately than seen in a very very long time.

This was a mile stone event as 3 of the ILCA Boat Grant teams made their Lightning debut this weekend. All performed well with 2 finishing in the top 10! It is truly amazing to see how quickly this program got national attention and how easy it was to gain instant youth in the fleet with this program. The enthusiasm that the 9 sailors had for racing was intoxicating for all the participants. The class could not have hoped for the amazing results the program has produced in its short life.

Top 3

1. Allan Terhune, Katie Terhune, Dave Perkowski - MF2, JF2, R2
2. Steve Constants, Mike Constants, Batton Kennon - M5, 5A+, R2
3. Peter Hall, Jaime Allen, Jay Deakin - M5, 5A+

For more information on our Lightning sails contact our Lightning experts. To order yuor Lightning sails online, click here.

Lightning Sails Lightining News FAQs Tuning Guide Contact Experts Order Lightning Sails

Lightning Sails Lightining News FAQs Tuning Guide Contact Experts Order Lightning Sails

Lightning Sails Lightining News FAQs Tuning Guide Contact Experts Order Lightning Sails

Ched Proctor with North Manufacturing's Jay Mueller and North client Jim Barnash squeaked out a great win in the overall circuit by 1 point over Tampa's Jeff Linton with his wife Amy and longtime crew Mark Taylor. After 1000+ miles, 13 races, lot's of breeze and a tough last day, Ched was able to secure a 1 point victory over Jeff by finishing 14th in the last race to Jeff's 20th.. A remarkable end to a long tough circuit.

North Facts:
North Sails were used on 38 of the 42 boats that completed the entire circuit
Complete North inventories were used on 36 of 42 boats that completed the entire circuit.
North Sails were 1,3,4,5,6,7 and 7 of the top 10..

Circuit results and North designs used by the top 10:
1st Ched Proctor M5, 5A+, R2
2nd Jeff Linton
3rd Todd Wake M5, 5A+, R2
4th Neal Fowler MF2, JF2, R2
5th Al Terhune MF2, JF2, R2
6th Tom Allen Jr M5, 5A+, R2
7th Brian Hayes M5, 5A+, R2
8th Craig Cobbum
9th Bill Fastiggi
10th Bob Wardwell M5, 5A+, R2

For complete information about the events there is a blog sponsored by the class at:
http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/lightningcircuit/

Results at: www.lightningclass.org

SAVANNAH DEEP SOUTH REGATTA - NORTH 1,3,5,6,7,9,10!

In Savannah we are glad to report that North Sails were on 46 of the 57 boats! David Starck won the 2 race regatta with a 3,1.. It was a tough event ..

North Sails finished 1,3,5,6,7,9,10!

Complete report coming soon.

For more information on Lightning sails, contact the North Lightning experts.

See also: 2005 Regatta Reports | 2004 Regatta Reports | 2003 Regatta Reports | 2002 Regatta Reports