Remember to click on the team’s ranking link to read Coach Panel Comments. Thanks to our panel: Chris Klevan (Stanford), Ken Legler (Emeritus), John Mollicone (Brown), Isaac Clark (U Penn), and Johnny Norfleet (Tufts).
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Ken Legler’s TR Coach Notes #2 & 3
By Ken Legler
Practice Drills for Team Racing
Most team racing drills fall into two categories; race and re-set and forced rounding combinations. There are plenty more but let’s start with these two.
In race and re-set simply start a team race until one team has a big lead. The boat in first can sail all the way to last if that changes the score enough to make it a close race once again. When someone asks who won, you can say they did, but we reset three times with our team leading big each time.
Forced roundings, just like rabbit starts, take a little bit of practice to set up efficiently. You can line up between marks three and four or between marks one and two. Round the marks in the desired order, such as 1-3-6 v. 2-4-5, without mark traps and go into your covering and passback schemes.
A really big team with 18 boats (six teams of three boats) could have drills starting at the leeward mark, at the windward mark and at the start. After twenty minutes they can rotate to another part of the course.
The most classic team racing combinations are the 1-4-5 v. the 2-3-6. You could practice this all season and never master it as it can be quite tricky with all six boats in on the action. Let me know when you master play 2 from a 2-3-6 against a champion opponent.
Team Racing Communication
Maximize communication among teammates in between races but minimize talk during a race. The problem with talking to teammates during a race is that up to all three opponents can hear you. You could instead speak in code, or in a foreign language if you all know it. Best example of how speaking backfires: During a B-level race between Tufts and URI at Roger Williams, Tufts held a 2-3-5 going up the last beat while URI was in a 1-4-6. Both teams were hesitant to attack until…a Tufts skipper yelled out “Play two.” The idea was that he wanted his teammates to pass back the opponent in 4th to create a stable 2-3-4 combo known as play two. The moment that hail was made, all three URI team knew two things; that they needed to execute their own play four (1-4-5 combo) and more important, they had to execute immediately, which they did, for the win.
Here is another losing example, 1996 college tr nationals approaching the finish against Old Dominion and we are close to executing a 1-4-5 from a 1-4-6 just before the finish. Our boat in 4th reaches down to pin the opponent from tacking. That’s when they hailed “Tack.” Thinking the pin was solid the 6th boat attempted to tack but tagged the opponent in 5th right near the transom upon tacking out. The subsequent penalty turn gave the win to ODU. How did that happen? The ODU heard the Tufts boat hail “Tack” and knowing the leeward boat would tack, they instantly slammed the brakes on by heeling with tiller pulled up to windward.
The short story is one should never tell their teammates what to do during a race since the other team will simply exeute the counter-move. I know it is tempting to tell a less experienced team racer what to do but that is what practice is for.
If there are certain things you must communicate in a race then do so in code. As a team invent a bunch of silly names for the following: play one, play two, play four, we need help, we’re at the layline, big puff or shift over here, I got my guy, etc.
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2024 Spring ICSA Team Race Rankings #2 Are Out!!
Sail1Design is pleased to bring you our coach panel’s ICSA Team Race Rankings Update #2. LOTS of data to digest and update!!! Remember to click on the team’s ranking link to read Coach Panel Comments! Thanks to our panel: Chris Klevan (Stanford), Ken Legler (Emeritus), John Mollicone (Brown), Isaac Clark (U Penn), and Johnny Norfleet (Tufts).
For Open Rankings #2, CLICK HERE
For Women’s Rankings #2, CLICK HERE
Winter Teammate Meetings: Ken Legler’s Team Race Coach Notes #1
Ken Legler, just retired from a multi-decade run as a successful championship college sailing coach, most notably at Tufts University, shares his notebook with Sail1Design in this Team Racing how-to series> Enjoy.
Winter Teammate Meetings, By Ken Legler
“Telling ‘em ain’t learning ‘em,” was the sage advice of Gary Bodie’s (famous sailing coach) grandfather. Before the advice, Gary explained every play to his team on a long van ride, but they seemed to have retained nothing once on the water. Here is a method of getting each boat on the same page for every play.
Meet with a minimum of three skippers but better to have three crews also in the front row and B team sailors listening in as well. In a dorm lounge, den, or even dining room table, use a set of small model boats to map out each play. Think of your five best team racing friends around a coffee table pushing the little boat models around.
Easy models: cut six 2” boats from a manilla folder and draw a line for the sail on one tack, flip over and draw the sail on the other tack. Also make an RC boat, several marks, and a wind arrow. So small you can carry them around in a small envelope in your wallet where your money used to be.
Consider starting with the last leg and with a winning 1-2-3 combination. What will your covering scheme be? Push the boats around until you agree on the scheme that seems like it will work best. Then set up a 1-2-4 combo and again work out the best covering scheme, then 1-2-5. Ultimately you do this for all 20 possible combinations including when to tack in a 4-5-6. The tricky ones, of course, are the close ones such as what to do in a 1-4-6 or a 2-3-6. The idea is that you all know what your teammate will do, which is to play the odds in your team’s favor, according to the agreed scheme.
It might take a few weekly meetings before you can plan not only the last leg but the plays at marks, downwind tactics, and starts. These talks will get you psyched for spring sailing starting soon.
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2024 ICSA Team Race Spring Preview and Season Kick-off Rankings!!!
Sail1Design is elated to bring you our coach panel’s ICSA Team Race Rankings again. Remember to click on the team’s ranking link to read Coach Panel Comments!
For Open Rankings #1, CLICK HERE
For Women’s Rankings #1, CLICK HERE
Spring 2024 ICSA Team Racing Preview by Ken Legler
Brought to you by Dynamic Dollies
Team racing continues to grow in youth and high school racing and subsequently, in college sailing as well. Many of the powerhouse teams now have three good teams, A, B and Women, as well as a fourth team for practice. The proximity of these teams in New England feeds the growth of experience with multiple regattas each weekend in March and early April.
NEISA will lead the way again with the greatest quality and quantity of teams. The density of talent begets more talent from around the world to study and sail in New England and to some degree, other East Coast schools, as well as Stanford on the West Coast. NEISA finished 1-2-3 at the recent match racing nationals, 1-3-4-5-8 at the last team racing nationals, and 1st through 6th at the Fall AC dinghy champs.
NEISA is stacked with four Ivies that began recruiting with Admissions preference about ten to twenty years ago. At the same time, other NEISA powers are still present, namely Roger Williams, Coast Guard, Boston College, MIT, and Tufts. Then there are other good teams such as Bowdoin, Connecticut, Boston U. and U. Rhode Island, who all have excellent individual talent but perhaps not enough to challenge the top teams for nationals’ berths.
Harvard returns their young cadre of skippers and most of their crews. Senior Lachlain McGranahan and sophomore twins Justin and Mitchell Callahan will be defending their title. Harvard’s women’s team is good but not at the level of their open team. Yale graduated some stellar crews but upcoming young crews along with four awesome skippers, not including their talented women skippers, will once again be contenders. Jack Egan is back after a season off, Teddy Nicolosi and Morgan Pinckney had an excellent Fall season, and Stephan Baker will be in the mix having left the American Magic Youth Americas Cup team. Speaking of Yale’s women, Carmen and Emma Cowles, along with fellow juniors Mia Nicolosi must be considered favorites after winning it all last year. Brown is looking good with a duo of Florida native skippers Conner Nelson and Liam O’Keefe. As always, Brown has a large quantity of women skippers, half of whom crew. They can easily field two women’s teams, a veteran team and a younger team gaining experience. Boyd Bragg is back at Dartmouth for a final season on another team with far more women than men. Cameron Wood graduated from Roger Williams but Aidan Hoogland, Mathieu Dale, and Carlos de Castro will take the baton as skippers. Coast Guard is enjoying some of their best years ever having finished eighth in their first ever TR nationals last May, but they also just took second at match racing nationals. Look for Daniel Unangst, Colman Schofield, and Nicolas Reeser to qualify for nationals again and possibly improve on their 8th place finish. Their women’s team is good but on the fence of qualifying due to lack of depth. Boston College is a real threat in women’s team racing with senior twins Michaela and Colleen O’Brien along with rapidly improving Caroly Sibilly as skippers. Tufts returns with their top two boats from last year Trevor Davis/Celia Byrne and Ben Mueller/Rees Tindall. They just made nationals last year and should be able to again. Tufts can field two women’s teams but unlike Brown, neither is likely to contend for the nationals. MIT just barely missed out last year in open, but with all their top skippers returning, they will contend for a spot. Their women’s team took 4th place in the nationals last year. They lost a few to graduation but Brooke Schmelz/Samantha Karlson and Lucy Brock/Shayne Bersin will try to duplicate their success from last year.
Stanford clearly leads the West again. In fact, their women’s team nearly won the open TR nationals just before winning the open dinghy nationals. While Yale nipped them out at their home nationals last year, Stanford’s women have twice beaten Yale at Yale in the last year including a spring team racing invite and the fall Women’s Atlantic Coast champs. Abby Tindall both graduated but senior skipper Hannah Freeman, along with sophomores Vanessa Lahrkamp and Sophie Fisher are raring to go; Michelle Lahrkamp returns for a final post-grad season. Add some young men to their open team with Reade Decker and Tommy Sitzmann and Stanford will be gunning for both nationals again. Hawaii has several fast women and open boats as they have already been dominating the So. Cal. Teams this winter in both San Diego and at home. Lack of exposure to the top TR teams nationally will make it hard for them to qualify.
The Mid-Atlantic remains strong as they host a few of the big early regattas in March. Georgetown, Navy, St. Mary’s, Penn, and in women’s, Cornell, all have a shot at qualifying for nationals. Mariner Fagan leads the way for G’town, along with match racing ace Jeffrey Petersen, Mateo DiBlasi, and Diego Escobar and several veteran crews. Navy graduated Gavin McJones but this well-drilled team will improve in March for a shot at nationals. Their strongest crew, Ellie Alex, will help them get there. U. Penn is the best of the MAISA Ivies with experienced skippers Jordan Bruce, Sam Gavula, and Javier Garcon. Hayden Earl is Cornell’s top skipper but their best shot of qualifying is in women’s with JJ Smith, Bridget Green, and Sophia Devling as skippers. St. Mary’s might be on the outside looking in without superstar Leo Boucher. As of this writing, graduate Leo is close to winning the ILCA 7 Olympic Trials. Owen Hennessey will lead the Seahawks this spring along with Madison Beshaw for their women’s team. Old Dominion and Hobart/William Smith have seen many glory years in the past, but this year will be hard pressed to keep up with other powerhouse teams. Fordham made nationals last year but lost both their top skipper, Ken Corsig to graduation, and their excellent coach, Johnny Norfleet, now guiding the Tufts Jumbos. Kings Point and SUNY have some good sailors but not enough to qualify for team racing nationals.
Charleston won the recent Mendleblatt Trophy team race at South Florida with Axel Stordahl/Chloe Hudgins, Brendan Geller/Noelle Owen, and Noah Zittrer/Lucy Klempen. Charleston will see their women also compete at USF this weekend but against a more national field. Possible qualifiers MIT and Hawaii will be there. U Miami made nationals last year and their whole team is back led by the strong and talented Atlee Kohl/Natalie Elder.
Tulane graduated Andrea Riefkohl-Gonzalez, Ciara Horan-Rodriguez, Asher Zittrer, and Cameron Giblin. That leaves Tad Lettsome as the only Green Wave with much nationals’ experience. Despite being the best in their conference (only varsity in SEISA), they might have trouble qualifying. Their women’s team is also talented but a bit thin for team racing nationals.
There are a couple regional TR events in late February but the action heats up for all on March 2.
Sail1Design is elated to bring you our coach panel’s ICSA Team Race Rankings again.
For Open Rankings #1, CLICK HERE
For Women’s Rankings #1, CLICK HERE