Vanguard 15 Fleet 53 San Francisco

V15 Racers,

We had a great fleet party on November 16th. Huge thanks to the Bay View Boat Club for hosting us and everyone who made the event happen. We announced results for 2022 and elected new officers for 2023.

There was a pretty clear divide in votes for the elected awards between the Tuesday and Thursday crowds this year, so we're giving out one each for sailors who primarily race in each series - or in Cappy's case, someone whose spouse primarily races Thursdays. I could write a lot about how much all of these folks deserved their awards (not to mention all the deserving runners-up), but this email is going to be long enough as it is, so without further ado:
Sportsmanship: Steve Kleha (Thursdays) / Ty Ingram (Tuesdays)
Most Improved: Andrea Ciccardi (Thursdays) / Thomas Samuels (Tuesdays)
Social Chair: Cappy Pratt (Thursdays) / Kristin Altreuter (Tuesdays)

For the Thursday series, we had eight boats that raced at least 12 nights (the most that can be scored after our six throwouts) and a bunch of others who came out for a few nights here and there. We got to double-digit turnout on four nights and close to it on many more. Thanks to Larry Zarembinski, Ian McClelland, and all the other PROs who helped us run these races, and our sponsors at West Coast Sailing for providing prizes for the Spring, Summer, and Fall Series.

Full results are available at bit.ly/v15-2022-results. Here at the top three for each of the seasonal series, and the top five for the overall 2022 Thursday Night Series.

Spring Series
1st: 1651 - Sam Wheeler & Danielle Ryan - 62 pts
2nd: 1629 - Steve Kleha & Claire Pratt - 55 pts
3rd: 1666 - Ian Markowitz & Lauren Rehbien - 51 pts

Summer Series
1st: 1651 - Sam & Danielle - 57 pts
2nd: 1629 - Steve & Claire - 55 pts
3rd: 1091 - Dave Jackson & Brian Rosensteel - 46 pts

Fall Series
1st: 1629 - Steve & Claire - 71 pts
2nd: 1651 - Sam & Danielle - 67 pts
3rd: 1661 - Ian & Lauren - 56 pts

2022 Thursday Night Series
1st: 1629 - Steve & Claire - 164 pts
2nd: 1651 - Sam & Danielle - 162 pts
3rd: 1661 - Ian & Lauren - 131 pts
4th: 1091 - Dave & Brian - 116 pts
5th: 1145 - Chris Melhuish & Pedro van Rooij - 100 pts

The Founders Cup is our annual award based on aggregate performance in weekend and other one-off races. This year those consisted of the Round-the-Island Race (winners: Dan Altreuter & Claire Pratt), Nationals (winners: Steve Kleha & Claire Pratt), Fleet Champs (winners: Sam Wheeler & Danielle Ryan), and the Season Closeout Regatta (winners: Sam Reynolds & Ayaka Okawa), with one throwout. We score skippers and crews separately for this one since people don't always sail with the same pairs across these events. Claire Pratt won the cup this year with 59 points, followed by Ty Ingram with 54 and Kristin Altreuter with 50.

The other main order of business for the party was electing next year's officers. After seven years as fleet captain, I am excited to pass the torch to Steve and see where he and the rest of the incoming officers take the fleet next year and beyond. The fleet's in good hands. Our 2023 officers are:
Fleet Captain: Steve Kleha
Treasurer: Claire Pratt
Thursday Chairs: Ian Markowitz & Danielle Ryan
Tuesday Chairs: Bianca Dragone & Ty Ingram
Charter Coordinators: Mike Deady & Andrea Ciccardi
Webmaster: Michael Rivlin

Stay tuned for more info from the new officers soon on the boat storage transition at TISC. We'll need to get some work done on that in the next month.

Thanks to everyone who made this season a success. I can't wait to get back on the water with all of you next season.

Sam Wheeler
Outgoing Fleet Captain
Vanguard 15 Fleet 53
www.vanguard15.org

Photos: Steve & Claire with the Nationals and Thursday Series perpetual trophies. Claire with her full collection of 2022 hardware. All the take-home trophy glasses.

Some highlights from the Fall 6 race night on September 8th, courtesy of Jim Alexander. Close racing in relatively light air. Lots more photos and videos here, including some start sequences: https://photos.app.goo.gl/8YspEac7JbQgKemi6

Results: http://vanguard15.org/schedule/1290

Thanks to West Coast Sailing for sponsoring our final Super Thursday of 2022!

Over the weekend of August 27-28th, Treasure Island Sailing Center and Fleet 53 had the pleasure of welcoming 20 boats and 40+ competitors to the 2022 Vanguard 15 National Championships. Clipper Cove featured the best of late-summer Bay Area weather, combining 70+ degree sun with brisk and steady westerly breeze. Sailors, spectators, and volunteers hailed from all corners of the bay to support an exciting and picturesque regatta.

Saturday’s conditions allowed for a timely start to a strong and exciting first day. Once on the water, our diligent PRO, Ian McClelland (with the help of his two chase boats) executed four double-lap races in an intense but competitive 15-20kt breeze. A quick, welcome lunch break allowed for another four strong races, finishing with single laps as breeze remained steady into the afternoon.

Sunday began warmer and lighter than Saturday, with a postponement lasting through the lunch hour. Nevertheless, our PRO and race committee team managed to make up for lost time, and ran six back-to-back races once the traditional summer breeze filled in strong from the west. Fourteen races in total were completed over the weekend. No protests were filed.

Results remained close on both days (especially in the trophy range), yet when the final scores were tallied, familiar names appeared at the top of the board. Congratulations to Steve Kleha and Claire Pratt, who won the regatta handily with 23 points and successfully defended their national championship title for the second year in a row. They are also the first back-to-back winners in the history of the Stephen H Clark trophy.

Finishing in second place with 40 points were Ty Ingram and Tiffany Xi, who successfully held off third-place pair Sam Wheeler and Danielle Ryan, who finished with 50 points. Complete results can be found at vanguard15.org/schedule/1267.

After racing on Saturday, the fleet celebrated at the Bay View Boat Club, who generously hosted both dinner and live music. Following awards on Sunday, the Treasure Island Yacht Club welcomed our exhausted but lively bunch for a much-needed dinner. We remain extremely grateful to enjoy the support of such delightful hosts.

A huge thanks to the Treasure Island Sailing Center for their ongoing support, resources, and enthusiasm. Most sailors who participated in this event are either current competitors or alumni of the Tuesday and Thursday Night Racing programs–or in the case of our TISC juniors, hopefully future racers in these programs. TISC’s impact on this fleet’s ongoing success, and each of these sailors’ skill development, cannot be overstated.

Thanks as well to our PRO, Ian McClelland, the volunteer teams on both the water and shore, and Eva Mann who photographed the event. Lastly, thank you to all the sailors who came out to contribute to a hugely successful and enjoyable 2022 Vanguard 15 National Championship.

See you on the water next year.

Photos by Eva Mann: https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNxyV1Q_BMNNB9O1nDynZEXKEJEM4jNVHOrg42pSfVWYUPNmPUFDJvx96_czGULgw?key=clk3a1NKLVRuMXU5TkJTMGpiTnVzZmZIb3FGWFRR

Fleet 53 is proud to congratulate our very own Steve Kleha and Claire Pratt on winning the 2022 Vanguard 15 National Championship, becoming the first ever back-to-back champions in the twenty-nine year history of this trophy.

We'll have more results, photos, and recap to share soon.

Day 1 of nationals is in the books and we’ll be back out for some more great racing today. Provisional results are up at bit.ly/nationals-results-2022

Sorry for the much delayed updates, but with Nationals coming up this weekend we wanted to share the results of the Round-the-Island race and the Summer Series portion of our Thursday Night Series. (Better late than never...)

First up, Round-the-Island is an annual regatta in memory of our friend Jeff Knowles, a master sailor and adventurer who will likely forever hold the boatspeed record for a (heavily modified) V15. We had a fantastic turnout this year with 20 boats on the line on June 21st - our largest non-Nationals event in more than a decade. The course was a clockwise circumnavigation of Yerba Buena and Treasure Island. Every boat finished the race, including Matt Bernard singlehanding Jeff's old boat, the Jack-A-Roe.

Top five results for Round-the-Island:
1. Dan Altreuter & Claire Pratt
2. Ty Ingram & Tiffany Xi
3. Lindsey Baab & Elena VandenBerg
4. Cole Hatton & Yuri Namikawa
5. Sam Reyonolds & Kristin Altreuter

You can find the full results at vanguard15.org/schedule/1300. Big thanks as always to our patron saint Ian McClelland for running the race, and to the Rivlins for providing Panthera as the committee/chase boat.

Next, the Summer Series wrapped up with a West Coast Sailing Super Thursday on July 21st. Hybrid team Kevin & Claire decisively won the final night, but with their points for that one and the previous week split between boats 1629 and 1275, Sam & Danielle eked out first place in the series.

Top five for the Summer Series:
1. 1651 - Sam Wheeler & Danielle Ryan (57 pts)
2. 1529 - Steve Kleha & Claire Pratt (55 pts)
3. 1091 - Dave Jackson & Brian Rosensteel (46 pts)
4. 1275 - Andrea Ciccardi & Kevin Richards (35.5 pts)
5. 1666 - Ian Markowitz & Lauren Rehbein (35 pts)

Full Summer Series results are at bit.ly/v15-summer-2022. Thank you to everyone who has helped us run these races - especially Larry Zarembinski for keeping the committee boat staffed all summer - and to our sponsors at West Coast Sailing. Thursday night racing continues with the Fall Series currently underway and four more weeks to go.

Hope everyone's getting excited for Nationals this weekend. It's not too late to register at vanguard15.org/schedule/1267. If you can't make it sailing, we'd gladly accept some extra hands on the mark boats or on shore either or both days, and all fleet members are welcome at the regatta party Saturday night at the one and only Bay View Boat Club.

The 2022 Vanguard 15 National Championship regatta is right around the corner on August 27th and 28th at Treasure Island Sailing Center in San Francisco! If you're not signed up yet you can do that here: http://vanguard15.org/schedule/1267

Please reach out if you're looking for someone to race with or a boat to charter.

Hard to believe we're already a third of the way through the season, but we wrapped up the 2022 Spring Series last night with nine boats on the line and PRO Ian McClelland returning to run eight races for us (with capable assistance from Larry Zarembinski, who's run our other nights this season). Big thanks to our sponsors at West Coast Sailing for providing prizes and our partners at Treasure Island Sailing Center for an unbeatable venue.

Spring Series results:
1st - Sam & Danielle (71 points)
2nd - Steve & Claire (55 points)
3rd - Ian & Lauren (51 points)
4th - Cory & Allegra (40 points)
5th - Andrea & Enrico (36 points, beating Dave & Brian in a tiebreaker)

The full Spring Series results are at bit.ly/v15-spring-2022. Overall results for the Thursday Night Series thus far are at bit.ly/v15-2022-results. The Summer Series starts next week!

Huge thank you to our intrepid regatta chairs Mike Deady and especially Steve Kleha, our hosts at Inverness Yacht Club, PRO Ian McClellan, and too many others to name here for putting on another fantastic Fleet Champs regatta at Tomales Bay.

Congrats to Steve and Claire on winning this event and the well-deserved title of our 2021 fleet champions. They're off to Nashville this weekend to represent Fleet 53 at Nationals and we can't think of a better team to do it.

Full results, with tight competition throughout the fleet, are up on the fleet site at vanguard15.org/schedule/1259.

See below for a detailed recap from Steve, who never stops working. A few photos (courtesy of Ian, Danielle, and others) are available at bit.ly/2021-champs-photos

This was the third of four events counting towards the 2021 Founders Cup - stay tuned for our November 6th Bay View Boat Club regatta to round out that series.

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It has been over 20 years that the Inverness Yacht Club has hosted the Vanguard 15 Fleet 53 Championships, with the first recorded event in 2000. After skipping a year 2020 because of COVID related concerns, the fleet was back for a weekend in October 2021 for another all-star event. Eleven boats competed in the contest to determine a fleet champion.

The conditions did not disappoint. At around 11:00 o'clock on Saturday morning a north westerly arrived on the stretch of Tomales Bay, just outside the club. The breeze was light at first, both crew and skipper sitting on the rail, but it increased as the day went on. Principal Race Officer Ian McClelland fired off the first four races for the day, and after a short break, another four races for a total of eight on the day. IYC club member Shawn Kelly noted breeze in excess of 20 knots in the early afternoon. Most boats were at full hike for the better part of the day.

Skipper Cameron Barclift with crew Eliza White -- also an IYC member -- had their hands full. A lighter crew, the two were at full hike for the entire day. "The ebb added to the difficulty upwind. The short chop that it created meant that we had to keep the bow down in order to keep the speed up. Our legs were torched by race six."

The race committee ran mostly windward - leeward courses for the day, which meant that the boats behind had a chance to catch up to the leaders downwind. Skipper Michael Rivlin and crew Sam Gebb took advantage of this and caught boats on the downwind. The two managed to improve their results with each passing race, taking a few bullets at the end of the day.

The day provided more drama than just big breeze. Skipper Ty Ingram and Crew Tiffany Xi lost a clevis pin holding their shroud in place. They tacked over and the mast came crashing down; thankfully no one was hurt.

At the conclusion of the day, the fleet pulled the boats out and settled in for a grill dinner on the deck adjacent to. the club. The breeze started to fade, and the sun approached the horizon. Eliza's ribs, Mike's burgers, Sam G.'s salad, Tiffany's side and Zach's cold beers made for a wonderful dinner at sunset. At the conclusion of the day, the top four boats were within 15 points, setting up a spectacular finish.

Sunday was similar to Saturday: the breeze picked up a little later in the day, around 11:30 and increased until mid afternoon. The wind strength did not reach Saturday's strength, but all the crews were hiking. The Race Committee ran the usual windward -- leewards, but threw in a few triangles as well. In the breeze, the Vanguard 15 is light, nimble and fun on the reach, getting up to planing speeds.

At the dock, Cameron and Eliza managed to break a mast step -- a never-seen-before failure for the fleet. Neil Roberts, bowing out for the afternoon, generously loaned them his boat to complete the event. Dan Altreuter and Neha Bazaj had the base of their mast break but managed to catch that failure and retire gracefully without the mast falling.

The competition was tight. For nearly all races of the regatta, the separation between first and fifth was about five boatlengths. That is, the first five boats were typically lined up bow-to-stern at the windward mark. Any mistake on the first beat would send a team back to sixth place.

Adding to the competition was an amazing amount of eelgrass. Skipper / crew combinations were clearing the centerboard/ and rudder multiple times on any given leg. Skipper Sam Wheeler and Crew Danielle Ryan experimented with methods to prevent the collection of eelgrass: keeping the centerboard out of the water and the rudder all the way up. No technique was 100% successful, and many a crew suffered upwind when a kelp forest attached itself to the boat. Clumps of kelp meant a slow boat and losing a few boats. According to folks who had done the regatta multiple years, it was the highest amount of eelgrass that the fleet had ever raced in.

The competition stayed close through the final race. Skipper Steve Kleha and crew Claire Pratt went to greath lengths to keep second place Sam and Danielle behind them. Unbeknownst to both teams, Skipper Ty and replacement crew Sam Reynolds made an outstanding charge on Sunday. When the last of 15 races was complete, the top three were within 15 points: Ty / Tiffany / Sam R. taking third in the event, Sam W. and Danielle finishing in second, and Steve and Claire on top.

Boats were de-rigged and beers were cracked open on the deck of Inverness Yacht Club at around 5pm on Sunday. Stories were told about boats breaking down, who caught the largest amount of eelgrass, why one race was abandoned, how hard the wind had blown, and -- wow -- it really is shallow here. The fleet was tired, you could tell, and the event was a resounding success.

Enough thanks cannot be given to the Inverness Yacht Club for consistently hosting this event for over twenty years. It has become a tradition with the fleet, with many a story and tradition emanating from the event. Shawn Kelly hosted the fleet and was on hand at all times and was an invaluable resource.

Additional thanks to the Peninsula Youth Sailing Foundation (PYSF) for loaning the three boat trailers to bring 6 out of the 11 boats to Inverness. Without PYSF, this event is simply not possible.

Principal Race Officer Ian McClellend manages to run an outstanding regatta with no markset support. It is simply amazing how he does everything all by himself. Many thanks!

And finally to the volunteers that make the event possible. Eliza made some outstanding ribs and opened her home up to sailors on Friday night. Mike Deady made the main on Saturday night with help from Tiffany and Sam G.. Zach Shapiro brought the beer, which is a critical component of the event. Cameron towed a triple boat trailer. And Steve and Mike organized the whole regatta. The fleet is already looking forward to next year!

Fleet Champs 2021 16 new photos added to shared album

As always, Fresno Yacht Club's High Sierra Regatta was an incredibly fun event.

Seven boats plus a support team (both human and canine) headed up to Huntington Lake on Friday, and a group of I-14 sailors joined us camping on Saturday night. After three races on the first day, Kristin Altreuter & Jessie O'Dell held a two point lead over Zach Shapiro & Kat Dippel, Sam Wheeler & Danielle Ryan, and Solvig Sayre & Neha Bazaj locked in a three way tie for second, each with a first place finish as their first tiebreaker.

Day two saw a long postponement while we waited for wind to fill in, leaving time for just one more race instead of the scheduled two. A bullet for Sam & Danielle and a capsize at the starting line by Solvig & Neha broke the tie for second, while Kristin & Jessie's second-place finish was enough to hang onto a one point lead.

Results are up on the fleet site (vanguard15.org/schedule/1212) and at Regatta Network (bit.ly/HSR-2021). Huge thanks to Peninsula Youth Sailing Foundation for lending us two triple trailers, and to Zach and Cameron Barclift for picking them up and towing them. Props to Morgan Glier and Billy Edwards for joining us from out of town. This event counts towards the Fleet 53 Founders Cup (bit.ly/founders-cup-2021) where Kristin is now leading the standings.

We wrapped up the Spring Series last week with our first West Coast Sailing Super Thursday of the year. The final top five for that series are:
1st: Steve & Claire (61 pts)
2nd: Kristin & Cecilia (46 pts)
3rd: Sam & Danielle (44 pts)
4th: Cameron & Eliza (42 pts)
5th: Ian & Lauren (33 pts)
Congrats to Steve and Claire on a dominant start to the year! Full results are at bit.ly/2021-spring-series

Thanks to everyone who came out to race, our PROs Greg and Ian, our partners and hosts at Treasure Island Sailing Center, and our sponsors at West Coast Sailing. The Summer Series starts tonight - sign up at vanguard15.org/schedule/1222

Photos courtesy of Edgar Servais. Many more available at bit.ly/spring-6-photos

We currently have 11 boats signed up for our first Super Thursday of the year, sponsored by West Coast Sailing! With several weeks of racing under our belts after a long hiatus, it's been a great start to the year and we're excited for a strong turnout tonight.

Sign up at vanguard15.org/schedule/1221 if you'd like to join. Both of our charter boats are claimed for tonight, but they're available for future weeks if you don't have a boat of your own and want to try out a V15 - contact us at v15.charters [at] gmail to reserve them.

Original photos by Worth F.