WINNING THE 1996
NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIP

Matt Fisher

We traveled to New Orleans thinking that we had a pretty good idea of what we could be getting into for the North Americans. Some combination of Steve Callison, Joyce Spring and me have sailed together in a lot of big regattas in the past 8 years, and if we made any predictions of this year's NAs it would be the brilliant guess that it would be hot and light. Our basic objective was to qualify for the Worlds in Montreal; we wanted to stay clean and happy in the qualifying series and this attitude was just the beginning of a kinder, gentler boat.

Actually, the qualifying series was beautiful. The first race was light abut building, the second race was heavy (and long) and the last race was medium and very steady. Ched, Ned and Jay won the qualifying series. We've won the qualifying series maybe 3 of the last 5 times I've sailed in the NAs. Without a doubt someone always comes up to me and says "Hey, you've won the wrong series; you may have sailed well here, but it's a new regatta and nobody has ever won the NAs after winning the qualifying series . . . " Now even though the last part is not true (Seidelman '64 and Bryant '80) I felt obligated to say the same thing to Ched. I might have overdone it, because usually only one person ever makes the "wrong series" comment and I was worried that this guy might not be in New Orleans. I couldn't take that chance and laid it on pretty thick.

Pre-Regatta
A lot of times you hear people say they didn't sail much this summer because they are working so hard. We really didn't sail off our lake much this year, but we did do a couple of things that helped. I sail in a tough Snipe fleet on Wednesdays and Sundays against Steve and my Dad. I don't know if I can mention that in Flashes, but it really does help.

Also, the last thing I would say about New Orleans is that we blew everybody away on speed, but we were fairly fast and at times had good pointing when it was needed. It was a light air regatta, with the biggest puff about 7 mph, some uneven, steep chop and some big shifts. We have kept the same general set up for shroud tension and mast position for the past 8 years. But we did make some changes that I think helped. Last year when Brian Taboada won by 100 points, he and his crew referred to our boat as the "grim reacher." I really took this personally, and wanted to make some changes so that we could point, especially around Brian. We moved the jib leads inboard to the legal limit; we sailed with a looser job halyard; had a slightly looser outhaul; and had moderate prebend. Same trim. I think all these things helped pointing because you bring the lower part of the sails in, but I might be full of junk. Whatever, it was great to point. You can hang in there after a mediocre start. If you are on a lift and someone tacks in front of you, you can stay in there rather than being sent off on the wrong tack. I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't tell Larry MacDonald, because he always starts above me in big regattas because he doesn't think I can point.

Another activity that took place is that my good friend Dave Starck invited me and my family up to Buffalo Canoe Club for their fleet championships about 2 weeks before the NAs. Without that trip my boat handling would have really stunk, and I really thank Dave and the wonderful folks in Fleet 12 for letting us sail. It was a great weekend.

FIRST RACE
We basically drifted out to the start of the first race. The Race Committee, headed by Stu Barnett set a course and blew the 10. The kinder, gentler attitude on our boat said "this is what we are going to have" and we got prepared for a long light air race.

The wind was out of the southwest at about 3-5 and the course was tight triangle WLW. We felt the leeward end was favored and really didn't have a strong opinion about sides, except that the right seemed to be getting the puffs. We were in the middle of the line at the start and the wind died where we were and filled in from the right at the gun. Things looked pretty bleak but we bailed out and after 2-3 tacks found ourselves in relatively clear air on a port lift, above 20 boats on the right. In hindsight, we found ourselves in this position most of the next 3 races, too, and it was fortunate. I will try to remember to explain the significance of that before the end of the article.

My brother Greg had about a 100 yard lead 1/2 way up the beat. Gaston Vedani from Ecuador, the Junior Champ, was next and then several other boats then us. We were all heading out to the right and we tacked away first on a small knock. After several minutes on starboard, the right died and the left came in hard (3 mph puff). I don't remember everyone, but I do remember Brian Hayed really being the only boat on the left or else we would have been 20th. My brother had to struggle to get back to the left, as did Gaston, and their 100 yard lead was now a boat length.

Brian was first at the mark followed by Gaston, Greg, another boat and us. On the second beat we moved into first, only to be passed one lap later by Gaston 200 yards from the finish; but we were thrilled to be second in the first race. My brother was third, Steve Hayden was fourth, Juan Santos was fifth, and Jim Alman was sixth.

SECOND RACE
The next race was a little stronger, at 4-7 mph and was very hot and getting late in the day. The course was loose triangle WLW. I'm having trouble remembering the first beat, but I do know that David Starck lead the entire race. David was sailing a very good race that had some tight competition from all sides of each beat and on the run. On the second beat we went from about 7th to second. At the last leeward mark, Dave was first, we were second, Colin was third and Jimmy Allen was 4th with a good gap on 5th, Don Barrett.

It was getting so hot and late that Jimmy Allen was seeing visions of Point Abino Lighthouse on the right side of the course. There is nobody on the planet who can hit the right side as hard as Jimmy. He picked up David to win by a boatlength, with Colin 10 feet behind Dave and us a boatlength behind Colin. A very close 2 3/4 hour race. Don Barrett and Bob Wardwell were 5th and 6th. Jim Alman finished off a very consistent day with a 7th.

THIRD RACE
The next morning we sailed out in a beautiful 12 mph breeze out of the northeast. The wind dies as we got closer to 10 am. The course was 2 tight triangles (notice the variety). We thought the line was very square and very long. We started in the middle of the line in extremely fortunate circumstances. Sometimes it just takes one boat to tack below you with 20 seconds to go to ruin your whole race. This time we had a 15 boatlength hole below us and were trimmed in and moving at about 35 seconds. We were below Mr. President, Bill Faude, and we sped away to the point where we were bow ahead of the most leeward boat to our left, and also could tack and cross Bill and the fleet to windward. We tacked to port and Bill tacked about 5 boatlengths to leeward and bow-even.

I mumbled something optimistic and then the world partly caved in. Bill went from our main window to in front of our forestay. It took about 10 long painful minutes but we hung on because we were up about 15 degrees. Also, as bad as it felt, it really was just Bill and a couple/three boats below him that were doing this. Ched, Tito and Tim Healy were 2-3-4 and we were fifth. On the second beat we played a couple shifts and came up to second, pretty close to Bill. The breeze was dying and the downwind legs were very slow. On the last upwind leg we tried a couple of tacks to gain on Bill. Half way up the beat we were to Bill's left and the wind went 20 degrees to the right. We acknowledged that the Faude boat would win the race and wanted to save our second. Then we sailed to a very soft knock and tacked to port; Bill was even softer and knockeder. We sailed over the top of Bill and went on to win the race. These were huge points for a lot of reasons. But in many years I've always wondered what it was like for someone to really luck into winning a NAs race. I mean, my idea of winning a race was to have 20 knots of breeze, roll over Jim Crane or Bill Shore on a tight reach and win. I never thought those light air lucky wins feel the same.

I'm here to say they feel just fine and the neat thing is they score them the same. We were lucky, but hey.

The wind dies completely and we were towed in. Now we actually started talking about winning the regatta. My brother and Colin each had a bad race. Really no one was being consistent except for maybe Tim Healy and his team and Dave Starck's team. The points were:
Matt Fisher 7, Starck 21, Healy 23, Faude 29, Greg Fisher 33.

After the third race everyone was feeling in a festive mood and the participants moved to the pool and beer truck. There were a lot of fun times and someone got the football out. I think it was Kevin Robinson. Kevin and I were taking turns throwing to good friend and ex-teammate, Ned Roseberry. Ned requested the famed dive-into-the-pool-throw-the-ball-and-catch-before-you-hit-the-water play. I threw the ball and Ned was going for it; however President Bill was in the pool and broke up the play by planting his eye on Ned's shoulder. Bill got out of the pool rather slowly and showed everyone an incredible 1 1/2 inch gash above his eye with lots of blood. Fortunately Becky Nelson was there to fix Bill up with a hoard of very unsympathetic but guilty-feeling onlookers.

For those of you wondering, there really is a lesson or two to be learned here, being the evening before the last day (Bill was in the top 4) of a huge regatta. First and foremost, the pass was there. It was broken up, but it was right on the money. Next, if you are going to have such a serious wound, it is best to do it when there is an attractive doctor in the vicinity. Who knows, maybe this incident will lead to some big occasion and all of us dorks with the bad jokes can say we were there.

We awoke Thursday to a couple of interesting things. First, there was very little wind blowing. Next, there was a notice that the racing would be done at the end of the day. I really tried not to get caught up in the heat of that discussion. We were fine with or without a throwout, but we wanted to go out and sail. With the 1/2 hour delay on shore a lot of people would say "you've got the regatta won!" but realistically, without a throwout, you're one 15 degree shift away from a 21st. We were lukewarm on the decision, and kind of missed the idea of a throwout. The committee said they would try for 3 but that would be nearly impossible.

FOURTH RACE
The wind was out of the northeast at 4-7 mph. The course was WLWLW. This time we really had a bad start. We tacked several times and were in good shape half way up the beat, being middle of the beat on port, then right next to Healy. David was in the tank. Steve Hayden was on the left side of the first beat and rounded the first mark first. Dan Norton was second and we rounded 5th or 6th.

OK, I said I would explain about being on port, on a lift above the fleet 1/4 way up the beat. We found ourselves there 4 of the 5 races, and I guess I can attribute it to starting at the favored end and tacking when the reading was down and getting on a lift and not being afraid to take a few sterns too do so. We were fortunate that no one tacked on us, but it seems every race we were on a lift for 10 minutes on port while the folks on the right fought to tack back. We never said, "we're going right" but we went there often on a lift and did it above everyone's shoulder. I don't know if this comment was interesting or even counts as an Enberg moment, but it happened nearly every race, and we simply attribute it to being in the middle and staying on a lift.

I'm not really complaining but the dead downwind in very light air is grueling. Somehow I always think Dick and Colin chuckle when I growl about dead downwind drifters, but our kinder, gentler team rounded the last mark 2nd. Ched split with us on the last beat and was second behind Dan with us third, Healy 4th, Bill Shore 5th and my brother 5th. Steve Hayden, who had a great day, was PMSed.

This was a great race for us because we stayed in front of Healy and hung in during some pretty big shifts. Going into what we felt and now hoped was the last race: our boat 12, Healy 27, Faude 36, Greg 39.

If there was one race, Healy would have to beat us by 18 points and Bill by 21. If there were two and Healy got 2 first, we needed to get at least one 9th.

FIFTH RACE
We sailed the last race just like we did every other race. We got a mediocre to bad start but were able to bail out. We found ourselves this time working up the middle and tacking many (probably 7-8) times to stay on a lift and work away from the right.

Steve Hayden rounded first again and we had our best first mark rounding in the series with a 2nd. Alain Boucher was 3rd and I think Colin was 4th. Healy was 6-8. By the jibe mark the wind was starting to shut down. The fleet really spread out on the second reach and Steve and our boat went straight for the mark and stretched out big on the rest of the boats behind us. This probably really came in handy for what was about to happen.

Going upwind was very light and we tacked at the mark onto starboard. We felt we were working on Steve and tacked to port to dip him and began what may have been the longest ports of my life. About 1/3 up the beat, with Steve above us, the wind went totally flat. We were drifting. The first or second thought was that we probably wouldn't make the time limit. The next thought was that it would be easy to lose 20 boats in these kinds of conditions.

There were times when both sides looked good., I do remember Colin and Alain going right and looking good at first then slowly the left started pointing up. It was so hot that it was foggy and we had no idea who was over there, but one boat had an enormous lead. We saw the RC motoring up the weather leg and we had a good idea that he would shorten the course. This was feeling like a good idea to us, but then we went from looking like we were in 3rd or 4th to 7th or 8th. No huge problem, and honestly we were not panicked. I am embarrassed to tell you that the first place boat was so far in first and it was so misty that I couldn't tell if it was or wasn't Healy. When it won, I heard a lot of cheers and some Spanish, and I didn't think anyone on Tim's boat spoke a foreign language, but still wasn't sure. At the very end we got the puff from the left that everyone else had and were going to cross a large line of boats on starboard that meant the difference between 12th and 17th. One of the most beautiful sights I've seen was a big bow #50 on port (Healy's bow number). We crossed the line 12th and fortunately won the regatta even if another race had been sailed. The boat in first was Juan Santos from Ecuador. The win catapulted his boat up to 4th in the regatta. Bill Faude and his team of Jared Drake and Susan Daly were a strong 5th after a disappointing last race. My brother with his niece Emily and Jeff Eiber, had a great day with a 6-8 and finished the regatta a strong 3rd. Tim Healy with Adam Walsh and Phil Kinder sailed a very consistent regatta to finish 2nd.

The race committee at Southern Yacht Club headed by Stuart "Tooty" Barnett and all the people who volunteered did an outstanding job. The course were long and we had outstanding variety and all the competitors appreciated it. I think this was the lightest air Championship series I've ever sailed in and it was remarkable to get the races in like they did.

Southern Yacht Club was a great spot to host the NAs. Putting the sometimes brutal conditions aside, the people who ran this regatta displayed a superb effort. It was great to be in the bar with all our old friends into the late hours (for us at least) talking about old times and looking forward to fall sailing and Brian's wedding.

Steve and Joyce are a great team. Joyce is without a doubt the best spinnaker flyer I know. Steve and I sailed together in Cuba 5 years ago and it seems to always be a great experience.

See you at Crescent!