The 2024 FD Worlds, hosted by St.Petersburg Yacht Club was a success for several reasons.
To satisfy the class as truly International, every few years the Worlds must be held outside of Europe. When reminded of this fact, and that a Worlds for 2024 had not been decided, I approached SPYC to see if they were interested in holding it. A hearty yes was the answer. The fact that the club has hosted in 1962, 1997 and 2006 with fine result, went a long way to get International to say yes.
There were a few wrinkles, with container storage being a major hurdle as one example. Finally a local yacht yard agreed to use their Travelift vs. a crane, which made scheduling a lot easier.
Our PRO for the event,Todd Fedyszyn and his experienced crew did a great job, with good communication and efficiency.
The weather cooperated in giving a wide range of conditions to deal with. Light air to 3rd grommet, it was challenging, especially the first day, which was full breeze on! For a number of teams the end result was some breakage, as well of not enough recent heavy air experience. There was very stiff competition, and the regatta results were not decided until the morning meeting of the last day. The breeze was forecast be from very light to nothing. Racing was cancelled, a side factor there is that a second throw out could not come into play.
A comprehensive results list can be found at https://yachtscoring.com/, but GER 88, Kay-Uwe Ludtke and Kai Schafers aboard are the 2024 World Champions. Multiple Worlds winners, Hun 70, with Szabolcs Majtheni and Andras Domokos aboard, were second. GER 113, with Killian Konig and Johannes Braak aboard, were 3rd.
Often these championships are the only time we see our FD friends from other continents, it was great to catch up with them. Overseas shipping has become harder and more expensive. We in the U.S. class appreciate the enthusiasm and effort to come here.
All the best,
Lin Robson
USA 36
Author: Lin Robson
Flying Dutchman Nationals
We are planning to hold the Flying Dutchman Nationals at St. Petersburg Yacht Club on November 10-12, 2023. This will be a great opportunity to test your mettle on Tampa Bay in preparation for the Flying Dutchman Worlds in late March, 2024. Additional opportunities to sail on Tampa Bay include a North American Championship to be held in conjunction with the Helly Hansen Regatta Series in February, 2024 (https://www.sailingworld.com/regatta-series/) at St. Petersburg Yacht Club (https://www.spyc.org). Lin Robson will also be organizing a series of clinics starting in the late October to November time frame to help sailors prepare for the World Championship (Contact Me) .
Flying Dutchman Nationals, St. Petersburg, Florida, Feb. 17-19, 2023
“Hello all FD enthusiasts, in an effort to not only have a great regatta, but an excellent marketing opportunity, the class is planning to have Nationals as part of the Helly Hansen regatta February 17-19 at St. Petersburg Yacht Club.
There should be great conditions and the usual excellent SPYC race management. Get out of the cold, take a nice FD sailing break. Let’s show off our great boat to a national level audience.
Contact me direct with logistical questions, I’ll help in any way I can. It’s important to have a good crowd of us for this one, start your plan now, there are other sailors from other classes looking at accommodation, etc., and it is high season in Florida! Contact Me
2014 North Americans Announced
The 2014 North Americans will be held April 25-27, at the St. Petersburg Sailing Center in downtown St.Petersburg, FL. Many know that three FD Worlds have been held at this site, 1962, 1997 and 2006.
Meet the President
For those who have not heard, after a long and successful tenure as President of the U.S. class, Tim Sayles has handed the reins to Buzz Ballenger of Santa Cruz, CA. Buzz is known worldwide as an expert sparbuilder, boat builder and competitor in dinghies and keel boats.
2013 U.S. Nationals
The 2013 U.S. Nationals will be held November 1-3 at the Gulfport Yach Club, Gulfport, FL. We’re expecting some great fall sailing, and social events.
2013 Midwinters
By Lin Robson
For many years we have held the FD Midwinters at SPYC in downtown St. Petersburg. Due to some scheduling and other reasons we moved the regatta site this year, to a place I had not sailed out of since a teenager.
HPDO / North Americans
Every year over Columbus Day weekend in October, the American Yacht Club in Rye, NY, hosts the HPDO. HPDO is the acronym for High Performance Dinghy Open. It is a regatta that has become a big fixture in the Fall on the East Coast, with many dinghy classes in attendance. In fact several classes held their North American championships at the regatta this year. They throw a nice dinner and gathering afterward. We had the pleasure of seeing a few FD sailors from years past, it was good catching up with Guido Bertocci and others.
CORK
Hurricane Irene had several effects on the regatta held in Kingston, Ontario this past weekend.
After racing Friday night, NED 308, the team of Willem and Maarten, had to return to Connecticut to prepare for the storm. Their home is in Darien,CT, right in the expected track area .
We did have two good days of racing, with beautiful, but on the light side breeze conditions. Saturday morning all of the weather data was pointing to a rainy and very breezy day Sunday, so the decision was made to break down and not sail the last day of the weekend. All the data I saw the next day indicated that was a good call, winds with gusts in the thirties.
Worlds review
 Lin & Richard heading upwind |
After all the stories and images before coming to Garda, I’d have to say in this case the anticipation could and did not exceed the reality. As all those attending know, we sailed in one of the World’s most beautiful places.
Racing could be a very one sided affair tactically, although in some races the unapparent side held advantage. I was struck by the emergence of more teams sailing at very high levels, with no one equipment approach holding dominate. In the end it was the best prepared packages and tactical decisions on a difficult race track that carried the day.
One note about the starts, I would like to see going forward a tougher stance by race commitees on using and enforcing the black flag. There were too many premature starters that went undetected. Enforced black flag starts keep starts legal and save time in the end.
Richard and I did not achieve our goals, but the process was challenging and we did have some results we were happy with considering the limited time we had to sail together. Now it’s back to the gym and refocus on Santa Cruz.
Great scenery, people and racing during a work week, that’s a really fine way to go!
More later as bandwidth gets better,
Lin
 Long start line with 3 rows |
 Reaching toward leeward mark |
 Crowded rounding for the leaders |
 Pavel having a good day |
 Nigel & Jonathan at the Cafe |
 Lin & John Best talking it through |
Photos courtesy of Caroline Kramer