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• 2011 Nationals - Interview with Chris Murphy
• 2011 Atlantic Coast Championship
• 2011 Long Island Sound/NJ Districts
• 2011 Midwinters West
• Speed Notes: Sailing a Little Heavy
• 2010 Lake Erie Fall Series
• 2010 East Coast Fall Series
• 2010 Chataqua Lake Fall Regatta
• 2010 Nationals
• 2010 Midwinters East
• INTERVIEW: Steve Burke
• ARTICLE: Why Do We Use a Compass?

See also: 2008-09 Regatta Reports | 2007 | 2006 | 2004-2005 | 2003 | 2001-2002

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2011 THISTLE INTERVIEW
Chris Murphy on the 2011 Thistle Nationals
Interview by Mike Ingham

Chris, you did great at this year's Nationals, congratulations!  You finished 4th in a pretty tough top end fleet.  You were moving really well, what do you attribute that to?

Chris: I'd attribute it to three things.  First, we had awesome crew work in terms of finding shifts and clear lanes both upwind and downwind.  Second, we were a little heavier (at about 485 pounds) than I usually sail which helped us power through the confused chop.  Third, I made a conscious effort to copy Mike Ingham's upwind sail trim.  I actually had Jess look periodically and tell me how Mike's sails were trimmed.  (Seriously!  Not just saying that because you are doing the interview.)

Brent Barbehenn is my Thistle sailing mentor, and I've learned from him that speed is key.  So most of my preparation for Nationals is making sure the boat is going as fast as possible.   I also watch boat speed carefully on the race course -- if we aren't going fast, I'll quickly make a change.  It is very easy to start thinking you are sailing stupid when really you are just slow.  My top speed advice is don't be afraid to copy others -- if someone is going fast, I try to find out what they are doing and do the same.

What sail cuts did you use, and why?

Chris: We use the Fisher main.  It may be a little tricky to trim properly, but I find to be the most flexible cut in terms of changing gears.  This year for the first time we used the Proctor jib, because… well… Mike Ingham does.  And I recently used this set up crewing for Brent at the 2009 nationals.  To be honest, I don't see much of a difference but I can't argue with the results!  It seems to have a bit of a wider groove -- we had a "footing" mode this year which we haven't had in the past.  Finally we use a cross-cut spinnaker, for no good reason except we have always been pretty quick downwind and (as someone who does a lot of crewing) I like the way it flies.

How were you set up (diamonds, tension.)?

Diamonds were 4,9,3 on the new Loos gauge.  This is substantially tighter on the middle diamond than we had sailed previously, and the mainsail set up very nicely.  Forestay tension is in-line with the tuning guide, maybe a little on the tight end.  Rake setting is maybe a little forward of the tuning guide. 

We didn't use any shims all week, but probably would have if the wind had been a little stronger.  We did however sail with two battens in the top batten pocket, in all conditions. That is something I tried for the first time this year (idea courtesy of Erik Goethert) and it seems to open up the leech a little, allowing me to trim the main harder in the lighter stuff and helping to depower in the heavy stuff.

I found the chop tricky, what techniques did you use to get through them? Specifically main and jib trim, and driving?

My crew did a great job watching the race course, which let me focus on steering.  That was a huge help.  Also, as I mentioned, we were a little heavy -- does that count as a technique?  The one thing we did this year more than I ever did before was foot through the chop.  It wasn't obvious, because the wind was never so heavy that you couldn't keep the sails trimmed tight and feather the boat -- feathering really didn't feel that bad.  But whenever the wind or waves picked up a little, we eased the main (and the jib, a little) and put the bow down.  We gave up a little height but really took off speed-wise.  If the wind backed off, or the water was flat, we trimmed back in and went for height. 

We also were careful to move our weight back in the boat when the waves were up.  I find that to be really important.  And if we hit a particularly nasty set of waves, Karl did a great job easing the jib an inch or so to get the boat moving again. 

Any other speed thoughts (this might be a good time to compliment your wife if you have not already)?

I'd just note that one of the best parts of our crew work this year was great communication, and I think that came down to clearly defined roles.  Jess watched the compass and the jib window.  Karl watched the big picture, with a special emphasis on finding clear lanes.  I focused on making sure we were going fast.  We talked constantly, even repetitively, so that we were all on the same page.  It really worked well.

I found the starts hard because the line was square, but most people wanted the right so we were all jammed up there.  There was a mid-line mark that made for almost no sag, so the line sure was crowded.  How did you handle the starts?

I definitely agree that it was hard to have a good start.  Over the course of the week, I'd say we had two good starts, one bad start and three mediocre starts.  But because we had good speed, we were able to make the mediocre starts work -- the key was being able to hang on long enough to get to the first shift and the first clear lane.  I guess the one technique we employed, because people were setting up really early, was to find a less crowded spot on the line and approach a little late.  Our goal was to be in the first row at the start, but with better momentum.  We also were careful to check the wind multiple times -- even though the line was usually square, one of our best starts happened when the wind unexpectedly shifted left about 2 minutes before the start and we were able to get a good start near the pin.

You have a one year old, you sailed with your wife, and your wife's family (the Kitchins) had 2 boats there.  That's pretty cool.  You were 4th overall, but the 3rd husband wife team!  Any thoughts on what the Thistle class means to you and your family?

To me the single best thing about Thistle sailing is that people sail with their families. Now that I am a member of the Kitchin clan, Thistle regattas are literally a family activity.  And my niece Meghan sailed her first nationals this year, at age 12.  She had sailed with us locally since she was 8, so I was very proud to see her out there.   I can't wait to see our daughter follow in Meghan's footsteps.
For Jess and I, winning the husband-wife trophy at nationals is literally our highest sailing aspiration.  We would have won it in 2006, but our wedding was still a few weeks away.  We considered going to the justice of the peace just so we could qualify because we knew it might be our only chance.  And so far we've been right -- we've had a couple more good nationals since then, but there are just too many talented Thistle-sailing couples out there!

And as a side note, Jessica said “Great sailing, Mike and Allan!  Hope to see you both soon.  And if you could do us a favor and not sail with your wives at the 2016 Nationals (our next good year in our five-year cycle), that would be awesome. ;-)

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2011 THISTLE ATLANTIC COAST CHAMPS
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 powered by North Sails
Report by Allan Terhune

This past weekend the Niantic Bay Yacht Club hosted the Thistle Atlantic Coast Championship.  31 boats sailed in the event, which was a great warm up for Nationals which are in two weeks.  3 races were held in light shifty winds on Saturday and 3 more were held in awesome 10-15 knot winds on Sunday.   Mike Ingham, with his wife Delia and John Baker won the event. They were quite fast and the only team to mange to get off the starting line clean in almost every race. They were by far the most consistent and deserving of winning the regatta.  Of the 31 boats in the regatta, 29 had North sails!

Top 5

1. Mike Ingham – North Fisher Main, Proctor Jib, Radial Spinnaker
2. Allan Terhune – North Fisher Main, Fisher Jib, Radial Spinnaker
3. Brian Kitchin- North Fisher Main, Proctor Jib, Cross Cut Spinnaker
4. David Dellenbaugh North Proctor Main, Proctor Jib and Radial Spinnaker
5. Brian Swingley,  North Fisher Main, Proctor Jib and Radial Spinnaker.

North Sails were 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10!

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2011 THISTLE LIS/NJ DISTRICTS
Top 3 powered by North Sails!
Report by Craig Smith / Mike Inghan

There were 21 boats that attended the NJ/LIS District Championship Regatta that was held at the Toms River Yacht Club on June 11-12. There were 5 races held over the two days with 3 on Saturday and 2 on Sunday. The overall winner of the regatta was multiple time Thistle National Champion, Mike Ingham. Second place went to Brad Thompson and Third place to Chris Murphy. Saturday's winds started in the 10 to 15 knot range, from the east, with overcast skies. The clouds and temperatures in the 70's kept the powerboats off the Barnegat Bay so the racing was held in mostly flat water. Wind velocity dropped to around 5 knots by the end of Saturday's racing. The evening activities included a great dinner of ribs and chicken followed by DJ music and a late night cruise on Will Demand's motor yacht.

Sundays racing started after a 90 minute delay. The wind filled in from the north east at around 5 knots with overcast skies and temperatures around 70. Two more races were held again in flat water, but conditions were challenging because of significant velocity changes and wind shifts. All five races were two lap Windward Leeward courses with a down wind finish.

The regatta also served as the District Championship for the Long Island Sound and NJ Districts. The LIS top three finishers were Brad Thompson, Steve Gruver, and Brian Swingly. Top three for NJ district were Chris Murphy, Lloyd Kitchin, and Craig Smith.

The Toms RiverYacht Club sponsored another great Thistle regatta with wonderful race management and super hospitality. They continue to support the Thistle Class even though there is no Thistle Fleet at their club. Special thanks goes to Will Demand for organizing the event and for providing housing for anyone who asked, and to PRO Art Bailey and his team for running great races and to Art for serving as Executive Chef.

Long Island Sound Districts Top 3:

1. Brad Thompson     
2. Steve Gruver       
3. Brian Swingley       

NJ District Top 3 :

1. Chris Murphy
2. Lloyd Kitchen                    
3. Craig Smith               

Overall:

1. Mike Ingham      
2. Brad Thompson    
3. Chris Murphy               

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2011 THISTLE MIDWINTERS WEST
North Dominant Again in San Diego!
Report by Mike Inghan

The regatta consisted of 9 races in a variety of conditions, all the way from very light to about 15kts. All of the races had the underlying ocean swell with chop on top –very tricky!!!  We found we were consistently fast with our North Fisher/ Fisher/ Radial spin combo, particularly when things got extra hard in the swells.  We experimented with a few different modes, but here is what we learned to be most consistently fast.

In the chop, we can’t pinch and can’t over-trim.  Sounds really obvious and it probably is, but every time we got tempted to do either, we went slow.

I found the Pacific Ocean Swell fascinating.  In our experts round table, Mike Gillum described it as the water falling down the hill on both sides.  So going up a wave, the CB and hull is pulled downhill which is downwind.  Then while going down the back of a wave, the CB and hull are pulled down the backside of the hill which is upwind.  The result is very odd, as the apparent wind would almost shut off as we were pulled downwind at the front of a swell, then it would increase dramatically going down the back of a wave as we are pulled upwind.  We would go from sitting in to fully hiked and even easing the main to keep flat.  Weird.  The temptation was to try and steer way up while the apparent wind was on and then go way down as the apparent wind dropped.  We found that we had to moderate both extremes, avoiding going up too high in the fake puffs, and going too low in the fake lulls.  We had to be patient and wait for the apparent wind to come back to a happy medium, and set up for maximum acceleration as the apparent wind moved forward and aft with the sea state.

Downwind.. we learned exactly the same thing.  If we tried too hard to follow the wind around, steered so much that it was slow.  Moderation a patients steering to an average apparent wind and adjusting the kite and main to follow was the winning move.

Throughout the event we spent a lot of time helping tune people’s masts, most of the issues were due to not following the tuning guide, so it sounds obvious, but read the tuning guide!

Leading up to the regatta, our on-the-water clinic was blown out by a solid 30 knot Santa Ana wind from the East. Even long-time Mission Bay YC guru Doug Hart admitted to having never seen it so windy here at MBYC! I teamed up with North designer Garth Reynolds to present some key ideas in rig tuning for the Thistle as well as some of the new performance analysis tools we are using here at North Sails One Design.

Fortunately, Garth and I went sailing on Wednesday and took some photos of the sails at different rig settings.  Garth did some analysis and shared some of his thoughts with the crowd.  It was highly technical, with goals of explaining a sail’s “flying shape” to the fleet, as well as to help everyone visualize how tuning effects sail shape!  I don’t think most people realize how much science that goes into designing sails. Attached is a screen shot from Garth’s computer showing the difference between a bent mast and a straight mast. 

The blue line represents the Fisher Main on a straight mast with no shims. The red is the Fisher Main on the mast with two shims under the mast base.

Notice how the draft is further forward and it is rounder in the front on the straighter mast. This is more of an acceleration look like when you are looking for power. Notice how the mainsail on the rig with more bend is a flatter shape, good for higher winds and flatter water

Midwinters West and the Larry Klein Memorial as always are amongst my favorite events of the year. We are looking forward to seeing you at the upcoming Midwinters East and the Orange Peel Regatta.

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Photos of the 2011 Midwinters West

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THISTLE SPEED NOTES
Fall 2010: Sailing a Little Heavy
Report by Mike Inghan

Believe it or not, even after all the Thistle sailing we did this year, my team and I decided we still hadn’t had enough and garnered up the will and a way to sail the 2010 Bloody Mary and Jubilee Regattas down in Atlanta and Pensacola. Even after all the years of Thistle sailing we have under our belts, you would think we would have seen it all by now and learned every lesson the Thistle has to teach but once again each event brings a new opportunity to realize how much more we can learn (or re-learn). It turns out both these events were light air affairs and we, once again, came home with some new insights and certainly a few lessons relearned. Whenever possible I like to sail with a team of 3 and, though the players rotate a bit, I am most comfortable with the dynamics and choreography with 3 in the boat. This usually puts us near about 510lbs of crew weight for most events and, usually, that works out great. At these events many teams decided, due to conditions or circumstance, to sail 2-up, which put us at least 1 ballerina and, in some cases, an NFL wide receiver, heavier than most teams. After the event my teammates, Jesse Shedden and Sarah Paisley, got to talking and we felt we learned a few things about sailing heavier than the competition that we would share.

• We needed to sit forward and really close together, basically overlapped, or on top of each other. It is important that your team showers, uses deodorant and enjoys each others’ company!

• Jesse is a fair bit bigger than Sarah and we had him sit low in the boat and to leeward.  That way Sarah could do the moving and it was much smoother. This helps minimize bouncing and sudden movements which we found made us stop in our tracks. 

• When it was choppy we found that if we heeled the boat a bit she seemed to track better and just plain feel a bit livelier. Maybe it was psychological but we sure felt quicker when we put about 8-12 degrees of heel into the boat.

• Keeping the mainsail leech open by easing the sheet was critical for us. If we over-trimmed even a bit the boat would take forever to get rolling again. Also, it helped immensely when Jesse held the jib up and out a little by hand. It made steering to the jib much easier.

• DO NOT PINCH!! It was so critical to really focus on keeping the sails, and therefore the boat, from stalling. I think of it as being less about going fast and more about not going slow!! We could pinpoint the times where we lost most ground and it was in periods when we were slowing down and not accelerating.  We did a much better job of not slowing down on day 2 in Pensacola and I think we were better. Once you get her rolling, keep her rolling!!

• We watched Buddy Wainwright  a bit over the weekend, as he was sailing even heavier than us, and I think he did an awesome job downwind.  I noticed he sailed the boat very low and his team spread their weight out by sitting on both rails to keep the boat from rocking much in the waves. It sure did seem to be effective.

• Downwind when it got very light, we just went low and even though the spin collapsed occasionally it still was better than reaching at ridiculous angles to go keep pressure in the chute.

• I probably need to get light air sheets for those really light air days.

• Upwind, when it was so light that even the light teams (200lbs lighter) were sitting in, we were still slower, but not by much.  When they could hike and we were still sitting in, they were much faster.  Not sure what to do with that info, other than ask for racing to be abandoned in 3-5 knots, but I thought that was interesting.

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2010 THISTLE LAKE ERIE FALL SERIES
Congrats Jack/Kathy Finefrock!
Report by Nick Turney

North Sails dominates the Lake Erie thistle fall series.  North Sails where used by 11 of the 13 qualifying skippers.  The lake Erie fall series consists of 7 regattas held either on Lake Erie or various inland lakes around Ohio.  It is a low point scoring system, so all of your races from each event count, at the end you are allowed a few throw outs if enough races are completed.  The sails showed great versatility at the various venues, from inland lakes to wide open water North’s thistle sails got the job done!  Congrats the Jack Finefrock for winning the Skippers trophy, and his wife Kathy Finefrock for winning the crew trophy.  Well sailed!

Results for skippers

1. Jack Finefrock / Kathy Finefrock
2. Nicole Sheddden / Jessie Shedden
3. Kyle Finefrock / Jackie Finefrock
4. Rob Spring / Joyce Spring
5. Steve Lavender / Charlie Essi

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2010 THISTLE EAST COAST FALL SERIES
Congratulations Overall Winner John Baker!
Report by Mike Ingham

I know you're all sitting on the edge of your seats wondering who won what in this year's edition of the East Coast Fall Series. So here's the short list until the new Chinese supercomputer finishes crunching the numbers for official publication.

John Baker won top prize in the skippers sweepstakes, winning the trophy (seemingly for the umpteenth time) with a Hi-Point percentage of 84%. Brian Kitchin was second, and Chris Pollak third. There was a total of 87 skippers who participated in the eight-regatta series, with ten of them qualifying with the minimum number of four events.

In the crew contest, Joy Martin followed in her husband's wake, taking 1st Place for the second year in a row. Sean Joyce, sailing on seven different boats in seven regattas, was second. They have a name for this kind of person. Sarah Hatsell was third. For the first time in recent memory, there were more skipper qualifiers than crew. But the total number of crew participating was 198 - 19 more than last year.

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2010 THISTLE CHATAQUA LAKE FALL
Congrats Jack Finefrock! North 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8!
Report by Nick Turney

This past weekend I headed up to Tom Hubbell’s back yard for the Chautauqua lake fall thistle regatta.  Sixty degree temps, 0 clouds, 6-12 knots of breeze, it was a perfect day for thistle sailing.  5 races where completed.  It was a battle between father and daughter.  Nicole Finefrock Shedden started the day out with 3 race wins with her dad Jack coming in second all three of those races.  Nicole fell off that train and took a third while her dad finished 1st, with 1 point separating them going into the last race it was do or die.  Rounding the top mark in second was Jack and third was Nicole,  sailing down wind to the finish jack was able to find more pressure and sail to win by a very small margin over Steve lavender.  Nicole knew she had seconded locked up.  All had a great time, and I extremely recommend getting to this event next year.

1. Jack Finefrock- 8 points 
2. Nicole Shedden- 11 points
3. Steve Lavender- 20 points 
4.   Tom Hubbell- 23 points 
5.   Ben France- 27 points 
6.   Conner Ruppen-  28 points 
7.   Wes Harnish-  29 points 
8.   Steve Spackey-  36 points 

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2010 THISTLE NATIONALS
North powered boats: 1,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10
Report by Greg Fisher

Great news from the 103-boat Thistles Nationals hosted by North Cape Yacht Club in Monroe, Michigan. Boats powered by North Sails, again, dominated the event!

CHAMPIONSHIP FLEET OVERALL: North Sails were 1,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 and 20 of the top 25

PRESIDENT'S DIVISION: North Sails were 1,3,4,5,6,9,10 and 19 of the to 25 overall

WOMENS: 1,2,3

This was a great event for the Thistle class as a wide range of conditions were sailed...while the series was primarily light, there were 2 days where the breeze reached as high as 20mph. North Cape did a superb job and promoted some tremendous racing and made the event one of the very best socially. Many of the sailors camped and most of the teams were made up of family teams...a very strong characteristic of the Thistle Class!

In fact, Mike Ingham with wife Delia and son Sam dominated the event and won by 11 pts with all their finishes in the top 10. Mike sailed the North Fisher main, the Proctor jib and the .5 oz radial spinnaker. The fact that his team at 430 lbs performed so well in all conditions is testament to not only Mike's great sailing abilities, but also the sails ability to change gears. Nice job Mike, Delia and Sam!! It was nice that in the top 5 there were 3 teams with family on board...our team with my wife Jo Ann and Jeff Eiber was third and Chris Pollak with his daughters Meghan and Jocelyn were 5th.

Complete Results

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2010 THISTLE MIDWINTERS EAST

St. Petersburg Yacht Club
2010 THISTLE MIDWINTERS EAST
Feb. 27-March 5, 2010

There were 43 boats that attended the 2010 Thistle Midwinters East Regatta in St Petersburg Florida. The temperatures were a little colder than normal but the atmosphere on shore was as warm and friendly as ever. After abandoning sailing on Monday and Tuesday, the always terrific SPYC race committee ran 7 races in the final three days of the regatta. Wednesday's race was sailed in heavy winds (gusts to 28) and featured numerous capsizes and at least 2 broken masts. The two races on Thursday were also sailed in
high winds with a few more capsizes and breakdowns. Friday had wonderful conditions with winds in the 10 to 15 knot range and temperatures in the low 60's. The PRO, Carol Bardes, ran 4 races and still got us on shore with enough time to pack for the trip home, and attend the Awards Banquet.

Greg Fisher, with crew Jeff Eiber and Joanne Fisher, won the event with an 18 point lead over Jim Barnash, who finished in second. Erik Goethert finished in third, Brian Swingly in 4th and Lloyd Kitchin in 5th. Scores are below:

1 3839 Greg Fisher, JoAnn Fisher & Jeff Eiber Annapolis, MD 2 4 1 9 6 4 14 - 40
2 3894 Jim Barnash, Nick Moreau & Cody McCoun Rochester, NY 6 11 12 7 14 1 7 - 58
3 3849 Erik Goethert, Kirsten Barton & Caroline Gates Belmont, MA 14 15 13 1 2 20\ZFP 4 - 69
4 3759 Brian Swingly, Sean Joyce & Jess Bradburn Stonington, CT 13 5 10 18 1 9 13- 69
5 3860 Lloyd Kitchin, Dave Hansen & Kathy Finefrock Mt. Arlington, NJ 12 2 2 19 9 16 9 - 69

Complete Results

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INTERVIEW: Steve Burke
Interview by Greg Fisher

Steve, Congrats on a great year with 533 since you launched it a year ago September. Your latest win was the Bloody Mary but what other victories did you guys win?

SB: Our Fall series results were: First at the Old Goat @ Lake Lanier SC, Second @ the Old Salty in Charlotte, NC. LNYC and First at the Bloody Mary @ Western Carolina SC. 

Your Thistle sailing has been special for a bunch of reasons. One is that you've always raced with your twin brother Shawn- and just the two of you. You've actually also won numerous regattas over the years in several classes. How long have you been sailing together? What are some of the highlights?  

SB:It’s great to be back in the Thistle Class. The racing is very competitive and the atmosphere of family and good friends is Terrific. As you know having a great crew makes all the difference in the world. My brother Shawn and I have been racing against and with each other for over 30 years. We sailed together at the snipe Jr. Worlds in South America 25 years ago. We have sailed together with my Dad on his 30 footer and raced off-shore with friends for many years. We spent several years racing  in the Melges 24 class as well as the Melges 32 Class. Most recently we have been sailing together on a Swan 42 in Newport.

You are sailing #533 that has been "in the family" for many years at Lake Lanier Sailing Club. Its maiden voyage after you refurbished it from stem to stern was last year's Dixie Regatta at AYC which you and Shawn Tied for second out of 72 boats. What is the history on 533?

SB: It was a special day launching the boat for the first time in over 20 years at Lake Altoona. That is the same lake the boat was first commissioned 59 years earlier. 533 (Sinbad) arrived in the southeast in 1950. Delivered by Sandy Douglas to “Sinny” Sinclair (The original “Old Goat”) and his wife Marion in Marietta, Ga. Shortly there after fleet 48 was born on Lake Altoona. Sinny went on to win the 1957 Mid-winters in 533. The boat remained in the Sinclair family for many years and was campaigned by Sinny’s son John for several years. ‘Sinbad’ lived in a barn for sometime and was brought back to life once before in the late 70’s. In fact I sailed on 533 for a season as forward crew when I was twelve.  However; the years took there toll and dry rot ran its course.  I became the proud new owner of SINBAD in 1990.

Was it a huge undertaking?

SB: Yes, it was a much bigger project than I anticipated.

What all did you do to 533?

SB: I started by removing all of the hardware; stripped all of the old varnish and epoxy off the inside of the boat. In doing this I uncovered a lot of dry rot. (A Lot of Dry Rot!)  I discovered I needed to replace the trunk to save the boat. At this point several years went by while 533 dried out in my garage. Friends would come by (while I was sanding) and help me contemplate the fate of the boat. Suggestions were made to make a bar out her. Some recommended a thistle fleet 79 bon-fire.

I did a lot of Snipe sailing and the Melges 24 was designed. More years went buy. I then got motivated. With the help of a good friend in Charleston, SC. We ripped the trunk out made a template, located some mahogany and started the process of replacing the centerboard trunk and all wood attached to it. A much bigger job than I anticipated. Faired and painted the bottom. Epoxy, reattached and varnished all the wood. Then started the rigging process. Drilling the first hole took a little while.     

Can you tell us a little about the setup you use for the boat tuning wise?

SB: I set the boat up pretty much just like the north sails tuning guide suggest. That was a big help. I tried to keep the rigging as simple as possible.

Which model North sails are you using? 

SB: The Fisher Cut; it’s hard to argue with your success.

You sail a great deal in puffy shifty conditions...good boat handling is critical. What have you found to be most important to keep the boat at speed?

SB: Constant adjustments and gear changes. I try to anticipate the next puff and adjust for it. I’ve been really lucky to have a great crew which makes this process much easier. When Shawn couldn’t make it I had my brother Robert and his wife and Robert Gregory (who has deep Thistle roots)

In these conditions it's tough to develop a game plan. Do you work towards a strategic plan or is playing the shifts more a feel/reaction situation? 

SB: I just try to keep my head out of the boat and play the shifts the best I can. I try to react to the changing conditions as quickly as possible. A good crew makes that process much easier.

Steve, what are your plans for 2010 in the Thistle?

SB: I plan on sailing in as many Southeast regattas as I can. Starting with the Orange Peel in Jacksonville in March.

Are you aiming at the Nationals at North Cape in Ohio next August?

SB:I would love to do nationals if possible next year. However; it’s more likely that I will be in San Diego in 2011...

Thanks for sharing! Good luck and great sailing next season!

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