Lightning News & Events

Fleet 126 2008 Season Report (for the ILCA Yearbook): - Posted on Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Fleet 126 – Cedar Point Yacht Club, Westport, CT

Captain: David Fried

Secretary: David Marseli

Treasurer: Dick Thackaberry

Cedar Point Yacht Club has been home to Lightning Fleet 126 for over 40 years. CPYC hosted Lightning North American Championships in 2003 and Atlantic Coast Championships in 2007. Fleet 126 races every Saturday from Memorial Day to Labor Day. On the major holiday weekends (Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day), we sail 3-day regattas culminating with club barbeques in a competitive Commodore’s Cup Series. We also host two invitational regattas. The Early Bird Regatta takes place the weekend before Memorial Day, and is hosted together with the Flying Scot Fleet. The Fall Classic takes place the last weekend in September and is run in conjunction with the Thistle Fontelieu Regatta. The parties at these regattas are becoming legendary, so if there’s any way you can attend, you’ll be happy you came.

The 2008 season started out really well at Cedar Point Yacht Club, with a terrific Early Bird Regatta. Gianni Cuccio chaired the regatta, which included a North Sails rigging and tuning clinic for us and the Flying Scots. The racing was tight, with a competitive fleet. Dave Peck from Niantic out-dueled Gianni for the title, but everyone had a lot of fun, and the North Sails video analysis helped everyone shake off the early season rust.

With North Americans in nearby Newport, we knew Districts was going to be a tough regatta. So we all spent a lot of time getting ready. PRO Harrison Gill served the Lightning fleet well again, getting off 4 races over 2 days for the 26 boat fleet. Gianni Cuccio, Josh Goldman, Dick Thackabery, Ched Proctor and Eric Heller all qualified for NAs. At NAs a few weeks later, Ched took 11^th, Gianni took 20^th in the Championship Fleet, and Josh took 22^nd in the President’s Fleet.

The 2008 club racing season was a steady season for Fleet 126. 2007 was a season of stellar growth for us, increasing boats on the course and qualifiers. So, we had a hard act to follow this year. But we managed to eke out one extra race day this season with 30 races over 15 days. We had a few more total boats competing in the season, recording 162 total finishes in the season series. Beating our 2007 numbers was encouraging, but we’re looking forward to an even stronger 2009 with some new boats coming to CPYC and hopefully expanding the fleet even more.

Fall Classic was a bit of a disappointment, with a terrible weather forecast scaring off most of the fleet. We ended up with three good races on the first day in iffy weather, with the second day getting cancelled. Josh Goldman won the event with David Fried in second and visiting skipper Bob Hall from Lake Wallenpaupack taking 3^rd place.

Gianni Cuccio has had a tough stretch… he has not won the fleet championship in two seasons. His streak of 15 consecutive championships was ended in 2006 by his daughter Laura. And last year Johnny Jr. took home the championship trophy, named for Gladys Cuccio, Gianni’s mother. Gianni got back on the tiller this season, and left very little doubt about the final season rankings, winning the Vice Commodore’s Cup, the Commodore’s Cup, the Rear Commodore’s Cup and the Gladys Cuccio Season Championship Trophy.

Position	Hull	Skipper	Score	Races
1	15111	Gianni Cuccio	98.3%	19
2	15171	Joshua Goldman	89.4%	17
3	11385	Dick Thackaberry	88.0%	28
4	14819	Eric Heller	74.5%	18
5	15116	Doug Latour	74.3%	17
6	14807	Rod Ratcliffe	70.9%	11
N/Q	15051	David Howe	n/a	12
N/Q	14889	David Fried	n/a	11
N/Q	13889	David Marseli	n/a	13
N/Q	14821	Ched Proctor	n/a	4
N/Q	11501	Gary Wippick	n/a	1
N/Q	14466	Fleet Boat (Guests)	n/a	11

The major award of Fleet 126 is the Dayton Titsworth Trophy, awarded by the Lightning Fleet to the member who encourages sportsmanship, camaraderie and the love of sailing as exemplified by Dayton Titsworth. This year we recognized a skipper who has represented Fleet 126 and CPYC well, both in our home waters and at all levels of travel regattas. Every year, he battles fiercely with our fleet champion, but always in a sportsmanlike manner. It’s clear that his competitive intensity is more about being on the race course and enjoying himself, rather than the absolute outcome. He’s always been quick to help out with gear or advice, and he makes a solid regatta travel partner. All of us in Fleet 126 have been lucky to have this skipper in the fleet. The 2008 recipient of the Dayton Titsworth Award is Josh Goldman.

If you are interested in coming to Cedar Point Yacht Club to try out a Lightning, we have a very competitive Fleet boat. Contact Fleet Captain David Fried (friedd_76@yahoo.com), and he’ll reserve it for you. Or, if you’re interested in crewing, contact anyone in Fleet 126, and they’ll most likely be glad to have you on board. At CPYC, we offer dinghy friendly facilities and top-notch race committee work. We hope to see you out on the water next season.

Sailing Anarchy Ranks Lightnings #2 One-Design Class!!!! - Posted on Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Class Warfare
The 2008 One Design Survey

The Laser Radial class had its first Olympic regatta this year and has also risen to the top of this year's Sailing Anarchy One-Design Survey.

Before I write any more let me review the un-scientific method for determining this list of the top twenty five one-design classes in North America. What I have done is taken the number of boats competing in each class North American or National Championships for each year. The location of the championship is also included. I think this is a good measure of relative class size and activity. To rank the classes I use the average number of boats over the last three years.

This list has some notable exceptions. The first is that there are no junior classes on the list. I define a junior class as a class that has a maximum age requirement in their rules. Both the 29er and the Butterfly slip under the bar on this one.

I have also not included ice boats. If I had the DN would be at the top of the list every year and is by far the worlds most popular ice boat.

I have excluded jr classes and ice boats not because I have any inherent prejudice against them but because you don't need a survey to tell you what classes are at the top of these segments of the sport. As I mentioned the DN is the top ice boat every year and since it is sailed on a different surface than soft water boats they are not really in competition with the classes on this list. A similar thing is true with jr classes. There is a small number of them and it's relatively easy to figure out what jr boats are most widely sailed.

Class	06	07	08	3yr Av
1) Laser Radial	64 (NS)	111(MA)	88 (CA)	87.7
2) Lightning	71 (CA)	80 (MD)	97 (RI)	82.7
3) MC scow	85 (NC)	88 (MI)	69 (WI)	80.7
4) Flying Scot	56 (MA)	101 (VA)	69 (NJ)	75.3
5) Laser	61 (NS)	87 (MA)	77 (CA)	75.0
6) Thistle	100(MI)	64 (OR)	59 (FL)	74.3
7) E scow	92 (MN)	50 (SC)	71 (NY)	71.0
8) J/22	59 (MN)	68 (OH)	NA	61.0
9) 29er	50(ONT)	63 (ONT)	65 (ONT)	59.3
10) Sunfish	62 (TX)	55 (AL)	52 (PA)	56.3
11) Hobie 16	56 (RI)	50 (CA)	56 (IA)	54.0
11) J/24 .	74 (TX)	34 (FL)	54 (NY)	54.0
13) Star	79 (FL)	49 (BC)	30 (MI)	52.7
14) C scow	50 (IA)	48 (GA)	59 (WI)	52.3
15) Butterfly	42 (MI)	55 (MI)	54 (MI)	50.3
15) Snipe	57(PA)	63 (CO)	31 (MA)	50.3
17) Melges 24	47(FL)	52 (MI)	49 (MD)	49.3
18) Lido 14	49(CA)	52 (CA)	43 (OR)	48.0
19) Vanguard 15	36 (IL)	29 (CA)	77 (NY)	47.3
20) J/105	31(CA)	69(MD)	36 (CA)	45.3
21) Interlake	49(OH)	50 (OH)	33 (MI)	44.0
22) Albacore	40(ONT)	51 (MD)	39 (ON)	43.3
23) Y flyer	35 (SC)	39 (IL)	49 (GA)	41.0
24) Inter Club	36 (MD)	45 (MD)	35 (NJ)	38.7
25) Sonar	27 (NY)	NA	39 (NY)	36.3

In my opinion the list that I've presented here is where the class warfare is taking place. These classes are more or less in direct competition with one another for market share in the one-design racing world.

The real interesting question is not what class is on top but why they are on top. Is it the class association? The cost of a new boat? The design of the boat? When I look at this list I see a list of boats that are all the most user-friendly classes in their particular niche of the sport. What do you think?

I've been doing this survey for a few years now and have yet to go uncorrected. I'll post correections to the forum ass I get them. - Roger Jolly

12/16/08

Fleet Captain David Fried's Report through mid season - Posted on Tuesday, July 15, 2008

The 2008 Cedar Point Lightning Fleet 126 season started off with a bang. The Early Bird regatta, hosted in conjunction with the Flying Scot fleet, was sailed in strong breeze,to help shake off the winter rust. 14 boats pushed off the dock on Saturday in winds gusting over 25 knots. Dave Peck from Niantic shot 3 bullets on day one to put himself in commanding position. Cedar Point sailors Gianni Cuccio and Josh Goldman sailed well to stay near the top of the standings, with Eric Heller, David Marseli, David Fried and Doug Latour also competing. After another fun day on Sunday, Dave Peck remained at the top, with Cuccio grabbing second place overall.

A week later, Memorial Day weekend provided enough breeze for 5 races to make up the Vice Commodore’s Cup. Again, Gianni Cuccio took top honors, with Josh Goldman and Dick Thackberry joining him on the podium. David Fried edged Eric Heller for 4th place, in a tie-breaker. With 8 boats competing in the cup weekend, it was clear that the Lightning fleet was ready for the season series.

Next up, just 2 weeks later, was Lightning CT/RI District Championships, hosted by Cedar Point. As a qualifier for North American Championships held this year in Newport, RI, this was expected to be a strong fleet. We welcomed 28 boats to Cedar Point, including 6 boats from other districts, drawn to the depth of the CT/RI District competition level. Harrison Gill, as PRO, executed 3 races in 2 days of extremely light wind, with Dave Peck from Niantic repeating as District Champion. At least 5 Cedar Point sailors qualified for North American Championships, including Gianni Cuccio, Josh Goldman, Dick Thackaberry, Ched Proctor and Eric Heller. Rod Radcliffe and Doug Latour also sailed, and are waiting in the wings in case qualification spots open up. David Fried, injured in a car accident 3 days before the regatta, registered for the regatta but was unable to sail, and is hoping desperately that enough qualification spots open up for him to beg his doctors for clearance to sail.

The July 4th weekend delivered light wind for the Commodore’s Cup, but enough to get one race each day. Gianni Cuccio continued his dominance in the standings by winning the cup, with Dick Thackaberry, Eric Heller and Doug Latour following him in finish order.

After racing on July 12, the Lightning Fleet has completed 19 races counting towards the season series. Gianni Cuccio is in the lead for series scoring, and already has amassed enough race days to qualify for the season. But the real action is right behind him. Dick Thackaberry currently sits in 2nd place, just 0.1% ahead of Josh Goldman.Those two sailors fought it out for 2nd and 3rd last year, with Goldman pulling away late to win by 6%. It’s going to be a dogfight this season, with plenty of racing left on the calendar. Eric Heller, Dave Marseli and Doug Latour are fighting for the next three spots, with all three boats within 4%. Two solid 3rd place finishes on July 12 showed that David Howe could be a force at season’s end if he sails enough to qualify.

Looking forward for the Lightning Fleet season, we hope to bring home some hardware from CT Governor’s Cup at Niantic on July 19-20, and then from our strong presence at North American Championships in Newport, RI starting on August 9th. The season series will wrap up on Labor Day Weekend with the Rear Commodore’s Cup. And, the Fall Classic, run in conjunction with the Thistle Fontelieu Invitational, will close out the CPYC Lightning season on September 27-28. Please come and join us for a day of racing, either crewing with one of our skippers or sailing our well rigged fleet boat. Contact fleet captain David Fried at friedd_76@yahoo.com or (845)278-2978 to get involved.

Some good action photos are in the fleet library section, click here.