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Lightning 2004 News Sail Information || Lightning News || FAQs || Tuning Guide || Contact Lightning Experts || Order
Lightning Borderline 2004 In an effort to counter the previous weekends 30mph breezes in Annapolis the folks from Fleet 481 at Kerr Lake in North Carolina served up much milder breezes for the 26 teams who showed for the annual Borderline Regatta. Temperatures in the low 60's and winds that peaked at 10mph dominated the weekend and, while there was a bit of rain Sunday morning, by and large the weather and camaraderie made for great time for everyone. In general the racing was dominated by North Carolinas own Pete Marriott. Pete and his team, using all North Sails, won Saturdays only race and followed on Sunday with a 1,2,5 to easily win the event. While this isn't Pete first regatta win it was significant due to the competition and I'm certain we will be hearing from and seeing Pete's name on the leaderboard at a lot of future Lightning events. In 2nd was my team (Brian Hayes) sailing with Class President Carter Utzig and his 13 year old daughter Meghan. This was Meghan's first "major" Lightning regatta and she can't wait to do her next one!! In 3rd was "Big Daddy" Bob Harkrider followed by Tommy Allen in 4th and Dick Hallagan in 5th. Many people have said that one of the major highlights of the weekend was an impromptu "chalk-talk" that was run during the cocktail hour on Saturday night. Tommy Allen, Al Terhune and myself "dug up" (literally) a chalk board and folks grabbed some chairs and a 1 hour session with questions on everything from "How do you decide which way to go on the 1st beat?" to "Which leeward gate did you choose and why?" were fielded by the three of us. The group was so enthusiastic that we continued for another hour after dinner addressing tuning sail trim questions from an equally enthusiastic but tiring group of sailors. I highly recommend this casual "Chalk-talk with the experts" format for your next regatta. The enthusiasm from the folks who are just starting out or are looking for information on how to get better is very evident in this format and it allows people easy access to folks who can share their knowledge (planning tip: If the liquid refreshments are close to the "chalk talk" area attendance increases!!). Check out the results of this years Borderline here. North Sails were on the top 16 and on 25 of the 26 boats. For information about North Lightning sails please contact our Lightning experts. To order our fast Lightning sails, click here.
Last weekend, in Annapolis the Lightning Frigid Digit regatta hosted 42 boats. To say it was windy would be an understatement...at times in the Sunday race the puffs were over 30mph. In the last race on Saturday less than 20 boats finished the race! Still it was a victory for North with David Stark winning, Neal Fowler second, Bill Fastiggi third, new sales rep Al Terhune fourth and Mitch Hantt in fifth. It was a great time despite the conditions and we should be proud that other than a few spinnaker issues our sails held together just great. In this event there were maybe 4 boats that did not have full North inventories! For information about North Lightning sails please contact our Lightning experts. To order our fast Lightning sails, click here.
FANBERG WINS SECOND CONSECUTIVE U.S. MEN’S SAILING CHAMPIONSHIP
Portsmouth, RI (September 27, 2004) – For a second consecutive year, Zak Fanberg (New Orleans, La.) has led his team representing Bay-Waveland Yacht Club (Bay Saint Louis, Miss.) to the U.S. Men’s Sailing Championship title. Competing with crew Dave Blouin (Baton Rouge, La.) and Kippy Chamberlain (Bay Saint Louis, Miss.), Fanberg took the lead on the first day of the U.S. Men’s Sailing Championship and never gave it up throughout the four-day event hosted by the Long Beach Island Yacht Racing Association in New Jersey and sailed on Lightnings. Rolex Watch U.S.A. sponsored this regatta, as it does with all U.S. Adult Championships. Other sponsors include Chubb and Dry Creek Vineyard. Fanberg's crew, Blouin and Chamberlain, are both skippers during the regular season and when asked how this team worked in harmony, they replied that they have been in competition with each other, and sailing together, all their lives. All sailed together at the same college and credit the intense college sailing competition to their edge. For Fanberg’s team, the primary class at home is the Flying Scot, but thanks to a clinic sponsored by Rolex Watch U.S.A. and the openness of fellow competitors who frequently sail Lightnings, they quickly learned many little tricks and tips to get the Lightning going. The race for second place turned out to be very exciting with three teams changing positions throughout the regatta. In the end, it was the team from the Buffalo Canoe Club with skipper Jim Allen (Walled Lake, Mich.) and crew Tom Allen and Jody Swanson taking second place overall. The Niantic Bay Yacht Club team finished two points behind and ended up in third place. Allen also took home the Royal Victoria YC Seamanship Trophy and Kenny Manzoni from Southwestern Yacht Club was awarded the Staton J. Peele Jr. Sportsmanship Trophy. For complete results, daily reports, and photos from the U.S. Men’s Sailing Championship, please visit www.ussailing.org/mallory or the Little Egg Harbor Yacht Club website at www.lehyc.org. The U.S. Men’s Sailing Championship is part of US SAILING’s National Championships. For more information about US SAILING’s National Championships, visit www.ussailing.org/championships or contact US SAILING’s championships manager Liz Walker at championships@ussailing.org. For information about North Lightning sails please contact our Lightning experts.
Jody Swanson completes doubleheader sweep during Lightning North Americans
Crystal Beach, Ont.- As a life long member of the Buffalo Canoe Club, Jody Swanson has watched many members of her historic Lightning fleet win many championships around the world. This past week all eyes were on her as Jody and her team of Lauren Jones and Maddie Waldron won the Womens Lightning North American Championships and, with just 1 rest day, went on to best a fleet of 103 boats in the North American Championships with her team of Skip Dieball and Tom Starck to complete an unprecedented sweep and become the International Lightning Class Associations (ILCA) first female champion. Jody spoke of how important her teams were during the 10 day run and how she could not have had near the success without them and, although she had spent most of the past 2 years attempting to qualify a team for the Olympics in the Yngling in Athens, she said during her acceptance speech, "While Athens would have been great I wouldn't trade places with any in the world right now. Being here and winning this event with all my Lightning family and friends is the best!". The event featured a full gamut of conditions from Wednesday's 25+mph with 8 foot waves blow out to Thursday and Fridays drifters. We also had rain and sun and hot and cold and everything in between. A true test of a teams ability to remain consistent and to stay mentally tough. While Team Swanson's 19 point victory over 39 boats in the weather abbreviated 5 race series may have looked like a landslide it certainly didn't seem like it on the water. Runner-up Micheal Gooch-Breault, with his sister Nichole Breault and Adam Walsh, sailed a consistent, solid series early in the event keeping all their scores in or around the top ten and even though their last race 17th place finish was their worst of the week their early consistency locked them 2nd place. Early series leader Tom Allen Jr., with Bill Pictor and John Humphrey, found the early heavy air to their liking to start the series with a 1,2,4. However the wind gods would take the breeze away for the remainder of the series and Tom and his team, like many others, struggled to find good scores in the events last 2 light air races. Tom and his team finished 3rd. While the action in the North Americans Championships series was as tough as usual it certainly was no tougher than the competition in the two consolation series. The Presidents Cup Fleet of 32 boats saw Dave Helmick with his son Davy and Ashley Silberman jump out in front early with 2 bullets and stay consistent with 2 more top tens to win the 4 race series. Dave Wereley with his wife Jonette and Greg Maras hung tough early with a 2,2 but even 2 more top tens couldn't get them the victory as they wound up the Presidents Cup runner-ups. James Taylor with Brian Riddi Ford and Bridget Ireland were 3rd followed in 4th by the Ward family (Cully, Jim and Beth) in their brand-new, "1st time it got wet" boat!! In the Governors Cup Steve Constants with his brother Mike and Jared Ackers came back from a devastating qualifying series that saw them bend their centerboard, break their mast and nearly break their spirit to convincingly best 33 boats to win the 3 race Governors Cup series. Venerable class veteran Jim Carson, with his team of Rich Morris and Wade Schon, found the groove with finishes of 5,3,6 to take 2nd followed closely by Marc Schillebeeckx with his son Ian and Nicolas Beckmann in 3rd and, in 4th place was Dick Moyer with his wife Helen and John Depenbroch. Once again the Buffalo Canoe Club, Lightning Fleet 12 and Regatta Chairman David Starck put together another world class event. All final results can be found at www.buffalo2004.org. Results Highlights Championship Division Presidents Cup Governor's Cup For more information about our Lightning sails please contact our Lightning experts.
The CT/RI Lightning Districts were held at the Madison Beach Club on July 16-18. On Friday afternoon we gave a short on land clinic and ran a 2 hour on the water training session for a few of the early arrivals. The regatta itself featured 26 boats sailing 6 races (2 Saturday and 4 on Sunday). Saturday's conditions were typical of Long Island Sound in July. A light Southwesterly breeze with a bit of chop while Sunday greeted us with an approaching low pressure system which generated perfect 8-12mph breezes from the east with clouds and a little bit of occasional rain. David Peck, sailing a brand new boat, had a 2,1,1,2 finish on Sunday to move from 6th on Saturday to win the crown. Mike Gooch-Breault sailed a very solid series (2,4,6,6,2,5) for 2nd followed by Brian Hayes (4,5,5,4,7,4) in 3rd. Every boat used all North Sails! (except 1 with an older-non-North spinnaker). Full results can be found at: www.lightningclass.org For more information about our Lightning sails please contact our Lightning experts.
Winner of the Ohio Lightning Districts for the 12th (unofficial) time!!! Interview by Skip Dieball
Way to go on winning the Ohio Districts. I’ve had many reports that said that Cowan lived up to its reputation!!
How did you get into sailing? George - I had my first sail when I was in the Navy in Sonar school in San Diego in 1945 in a little bay next to the school. When I came home after the war I bought my first Lightning-721, and have been hooked ever since.
How have you seen the sport change over the years? George -Yes, there are more classes now and to have decent finishes you have to make the effort and commitment. There are so many good sailors today and some of these classes are so deep in talent. There also are so many ways to improve your sailing with all the books, articles and seminars. Plus, I think sailors are just generally willing to share their knowledge if they are approached at the right time and way.
You have sailed in many classes, what’s your approach (performance) when you step into different boats? George - I try to talk to someone in the class for any input that is offered and what ever the class itself offers in articles as to what to do and not do, which most of them do. A sail boat is a sail boat but each class I think does have its own idiosyncrasy. I do think you learn allot when you race other classes.
What advice would you give Juniors and Beginning sailors on sailing in general? On gaining a performance edge? George - That its a great sport, something you can do all your life, (I can attest to that) with great people. But you gotta pay the price. It takes time, a lot of effort and a real commitment to be competitive. But that is why it is the best sport. Forget any ego and keep learning any way you can. Read, ask and go to seminars---but above all, practice.
What is your most memorable moment in sailing? George - When my two sons were 1st and 2nd in the Lightning NAs. I was sailing with one of them and going up the last weather leg in the last race we knew barring a break down they would be 1 and 2, but it could be either one. One point separated them at the end, and the one who crossed first was there waiting for the other to cross to congratulate him for winning. It doesn't get any better than that. Typical father I wanted them to tie but that wasn't possible.
You’ve sailed all over the world, where’s your favorite place to sail? George - Out of Buffalo Canoe Club - Lake Erie Being a non-professional, how have you been able to balance time for work, practice, fitness, travel, regattas?
What do you see as the “state of sailing in the United States”? One Design? Offshore? George - I think its doing ok. There are so many classes now that I think they do distract from each other but I don't think any thing can be done about it. Certain classes are down in number or in certain areas but I think that's a natural process. Regatta sailing takes away from club sailing but again there is no right answer on that. Overall there is a ton of activity in sailing, particularly in one design. I'm not knowledgeable on offshore except what I read. At one time I did some offshore racing but I have been out of it for some time.
What do you have on your upcoming sailing schedule? Next season? George - I'm active in three classes now, Lightning, Interlake and MC. I'll do the LIghtning Masters and Interlake Nationals with some regattas in between. Next year the Lightning Midwinters, masters and NAs, Interlake nationals and a couple mc regattas.
Thanks George and congratulations for your brilliant sailing career! We all look forward to get there with similar success!
Report by Skip Dieball The 2004 Ohio District Championship was hotly contested at Cowan Lake in Wilmington, Ohio. With the North Americans in Buffalo, many were working hard to earn their spot for qualifying. Cowan is known for being a tough place to sail, mainly due to the intense shifts in wind direction and velocity. Looking at this year’s scores shows that it was very easy to fall out of sync with the shifts. Congratulations to George Fisher for yet another Ohio District Championship, I’m 100%, but I’ll bet his name is on that trophy more than possibly all others combined!
For more information about our Lightning sails please contact our Lightning experts.
Report by Greg Fisher Last week ( June 12/13) three Lightning districts took place in different parts of the country...and North sails performed at all three! Scott Anderson dominated the Texas districts (all firsts!) sailed at Corinthian YC in Dallas. The racing was sailed in everything from 20 mph to a near drifter. North Sails were 1,2,3,4,6. Scott used the MF2/JF2/R2 combination. Al Terhune ( present NA Chamnpion) won the Central Atlantic Districts with 4 firsts in 5 races sailed at Lavallette YC on Barnegat Bay in New Jersey. North Sails were 1,2,3,4,5. Al used the MF2/JF2/R2 combination. The Dixie Districts were sailed at Harve de Grace, Maryland. 29 boats sailed in conditions that varied from 2 to 12mph. We were fortunate to win the regatta and it was especially fun for me as I sailed with my wife JoAnn and my 17 yr old daughter Martha. North Sails were 1,2,3,4,5 and we used the MF2/JF2/R2 combination. For more information about our Lightning sails please contact our Lightning experts.
Report by Skip Dieball
Light and shifty winds dominated Saturday’s racing. Shifts, as large as 50 degrees, made life interesting for the very competitive Lightning Fleet. Four races were sailed on Saturday. Sunday’s two races were sailed in better winds, but equally shifty.
** Every sail on every boat was North! **
For more information about our Lightning sails please contact our Lightning experts.
This year’s Classic was once again a one-day event due to the
weather. Unlike last year where Sunday’s racing was blown out,
this year the fleet found light and extremely variable conditions that
forced the RC to abandon for the day. The good news was that there
were four great races sailed on Saturday. Thirty-five boats competed.
For more information about our Lightning sails please contact our Lightning experts.
Report by Brian Hayes The 2004 Lightning Class Southern Circuit was held March 13-21 at three great venues throughout the South. 25 teams drove and sailed their way through Georgia and Florida over 9 days to sail 3 regattas and 11 races. This years overall winner was Tito Gonzalez and his team of Diego Gonzalez (Titos' 16 year old son) & Fernando Gallyas. The current World Champion won the first 2 legs of the circuit and was in contention for a clean sweep before an OCS in St. Pete took them out of the running. In 2nd for the circuit was Larry MacDonald. Larry's 2nd place overall is exciting for the simple fact that at each venue he sailed with either his son Adam (9) or daughter Joy (11). It looks like Tito and Larry are getting the next generation of great Lightning sailors out on the water and up on the winners podium. The 3rd-5th place skippers were David Starck, Allan Terhune Jr. and Ched Proctor. All these teams used North Sails. Savannah Deep South Regatta 33 teams made their way into Savannah for the Deep South Regatta and were greeted by great hospitality and near perfect spring sailing conditions. Temperatures in the 60's and low 70's and a puffy 10-15 mph NNE breeze was the perfect recipe to keep the "no-see-ums" at bay and work out the winter rust. Current World Champion Tito Gonzalez got out of the blocks quickly to score a 2,1,2 to win this 3 race series. In 2nd was Larry MacDonald with a 3,3,1 and in 3rd was Greg Fisher with a 1,4,5. David Starck was 4th and Jeff Linton rounded out the top 5. Savannah facts: Miami Midwinters While 8 teams were only able to do Savannah the remaining 25 teams drove the 8 hours down to Miami and were joined by 23 more boats on the line for the 2004 Midwinters. Warm temperatures and strong breezes were what was dealt to the fleet in Miami. 2 days of 12-20mph winds, steep chop and warm sunshine was the perfect formula for fast races and sore muscles. At the risk of sounding like a broken record the event was won by Tito Gonzalez. Closely behind Tito was Tom Allen Jr. followed by Steve Hayden, Sean Fidler and Ched Proctor. Miami facts: St. Petersburg Winter Championship A few more teams joined the fun for St. Pete bringing the total on the line to 61 boats. Friday and Sunday were perfect days...to go to the beach or golfing. Not so good for sailboat racing as a giant high pressure and pleasant temperatures kept the seabreeze from breaking through. Thankfully Saturday morning provided the fleet a solid 5-12 mph NE breeze which held for 3 races. Current NA Champ Al Terhune Jr. put an end to Titos' winning ways and with a 4,4,1 secured his first Winter Championship. Just 2 points behind was David Starck and his team. Larry MacDonald, Bill Faude and Sean Fidler rounded out the top 5. St. Pete facts: For a complete listing of results go to: www.lightningclass.org
Interview by Brian Hayes In just his second year of Lightning sailing Allan Terhune Jr., with his wife Katie and sister Kristen, won the 2003 Lightning North American Championships held at Cedar Point Yacht Club in Westport, CT. We asked Al to offer some insights on how he and his team were able to dominate this years event and earn their impressive victory.
Al - Thank you. I primarily sailed Flying Scots and E-Scows growing up, but after college my wife and I were living in Connecticut and we were looking for a boat that we could travel with and for a boat that offered world class competition with good performance. We felt the Lightning was the answer and we are so glad that we chose this boat. The best part of the Lightning class is the people and we have enjoyed sailing the last year and a half in the Lightning more than any other boat. Lots of folks have been sailing these boats for years. Your seemingly sudden success is quite remarkable. What do you think enabled you to go up the curve so quickly? Al -From our success in other classes, we felt that we would be fine tactically, but we knew that boat speed and boat handling would be our biggest hurdle. We have been able to use alot of our experiences in other boats to put towards the Lightning and we have made an effort through practice and talking to the Lightning guru's to improve our boat speed. Our E-Scow sailing experience was one of our biggest assets to have as those boats are so speed driven that you have to be able to get the most out of the boat to do well. A lot of what I learned sailing scows was a big help in sailing the Lightning. You and your team had a mid-fleet finish at last years NA's and this years Worlds? How did those events effect your sailing this summer? Al -We learned alot from both of those regattas. North Cape last year was our first "major" Lightning regatta. We had one of the oldest boats in the entire regatta and we felt as though we were constantly stuggling for speed. I am not sure if it was the boat or us, but we seem faster now with our newer Allen boat. The Worlds this year was a real eye opener. We were very dissapointed in our finish in Miami, and we left there with a determination to make a run at the North Americans in Westport. One of my biggest issues was starting in big fleets. On the drive home, we talked about what our goals were and what we needed to improve on for this upcoming season. From there, we laid out our sailing schedule and made lists of what we felt we could do to improve our self. Team Terhune won the CAD's, ACC's and NA's. That is quite a Triple Crown run. How did your boat setup and game plan change for each event? Al -Our boat set up was really the same for all of the events. The CAD's were on our home waters so we felt confident sailing there and we were fortunated to have Brian Taboada and Jody Lutz racing as they helped push us to get the most out of our boat. After the CAD's I tried loosening the uppers one half a turn off the tuning guide to try to flatten our jib and tighten the headstay some. We felt in races leading up to the ACC's that we were pointing even better and sailing just as fast. Going into the ACC's and NA's we had the goal of getting top 5 in each event. We wanted to get top 7 in each race and to get off the starting line. One of my biggest problems at the Worlds was starting and I made it more of a priority at both regattas and it paid off for us. Our starting was excellent at both regattas and it helped our results At the NAs your consistency set you apart from a very deep field (8 past NA's champs in the fleet!!). What was your strategy and how did you implement it throughout the week?? Al -Starting was a big part of our strategy. Early on we had decided that unless the pin end of the line was favored by large amounts, we wanted to start near the boat. We have noticed that boats bunch up near the pin and everyone pinches to find a lane while the boats to weather drive off in their holes and power over the boats to leeward. This seems to happen at a lot of Lightning regattas. We decided we wanted to be one of the guys driving over the top of the boats bunched up at the pin. We also realized that we we could bail out easier in the event of a bad start. We started at the boat end 5 of the 6 races. The one time we started near the pin we decided it was too favored and we wanted to get left. The other thing we worked on for the week was getting Katie and Kristen more involved in finding puffs and watching the compass as well as our competitors so I could really focus on speed. This really helped us as we seemed to always be controlling our lanes and were able to go where we wanted because we were fast enough to break out to the front. Once in the top group we tried to sail as conservative as possible and not to ever lose boats we were beating. What made North Sails your choice of sailmaker for your Lightning and what models did you use and why?? Al -We use the Fisher MF-2, JF-2 and the R2 spinnakers. We use the Fisher sails becuase we like knowing that our boat is always tuned properly for the wind conditions. When we were starting our program we felt we were better off getting speed through trim and sail adjustments then to try to get our speed through rig tuning. We feel this set up is very versatile and it gives us so much confidence that no matter how windy it is we will be set up right and fast. The R-2 (spinnaker) is just plain fast on all points of sail. We use North Sails because we know we will always get a good fast product and that the customer serivice is second to none. We dont have tons of money to throw around for sails so when we buy sails we want to know we are getting a fast product for our money. North also has a great team. It has been great to pick Greg, Brian and Ched's brains to get as much information from them as possible. What advise would you offer to other Lightning sailors who are hoping to improve? Al -The most important thing is just to keep at it. There are so many people out there in this class willing to help and that have so much knowledge. Don't be afraid to try new things with your boat and with your crew. Weight placement in the Lightning is key and sailing at proper heel and fore and aft placement will go along way to helping people get faster in a hurry. Also sail as many different boats as you can. You can learn so much from sailing other boats that you can apply to a Lightning. I have learned so much from racing Flying Scots and Scows. With this great streak still going what are your future sailing plans?? Al -Our plans are to keep sailing the Lightning and to start getting our program together for the NA's in Buffalo next year. We enjoy sailing the Lightning so we have a full regatta schedule for the fall and for the spring next year. We will probably also start to do some more local Flying Scot racing when there are no Lightning regattas to keep our skills up and to give ourselves some variety so we dont get stale. Oh and maybe some IC sailing this winter too. Thanks Al and again congratulations to you Katie and Kristen. Great sailing!!
For more information on Lightning sails, contact the North Lightning experts.
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Once again the US Sailing Mallory Cup for the US National Championship, was sailed with all North Sails.
This year the regatta was sailed at Little Egg Harbor YC near Beach Haven, New Jersey and sailed in a matched fleet of Lightnings.
Congratulations to Zack Fanberg, Kippy Chamberlain and Dave Blouin for their domination of the 2004 event.
1st Jody Swanson (North Sails M5, 5A+, R2)
4th Bill Fastiggi 
It's not always easy. I've been practicing law 51 years and will never retire but when I'm away at a regatta and I call the office and ask to speak to my partner and the receptionist tells him that whathisname is on the phone , I figure its time to get back. I try to plan early in the year where I'm going etc and stick to it. I really do have to work out regularly- its high on the list. I figure I have about a three day window before I start going backwards. I'm lucky I have my two boys to keep me current plus Marty, who sailed with me until we had the kids, has been very supportive. But I guess I have to say I don't have much free time. I love what I'm doing and don't need any new interests except with my grand kids.
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