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S MASTHEAD THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE SHIELDS CLASS NATIONAL SAILING ASSOCIATION WWW.SHIELDSCLASS.COM SPRING 2010 INSIDE THIS ISSUE WELCOME SHIELDS SAILORS 2 2010 SHIELDS NATIONALS TO OUR SPRING 2010 ISSUE 3 SHIELDS AREA UPDATE As a close second to racing Shields, our crew’s best consideration of the multitude of issues involved in 4 MEASURER’S CORNER psychic energizer is preparing our boat for a new sorting through the latest sailing advances and the season. Many days at the yard seem to produce application thereof to boat safety and handling. 6 FROM THE BUILDER little change, yet not much beats the final coat of boot topping and pulling off that masking tape. Thanks also, to our new Treasurer, Fred Werblow, 8 MAYDAY ABOARD Secretary Andy Burton, and the six VP’s who make BLACK PEARL With that in mind, I’d like to call your attention up our Board of Directors. They are all working to to our ever improving “shieldsclass.com” website. keep the Shields class strong and at the forefront 9 SHIELDS NATIONALS Not only can we check out Maintenance & Speed of one-design sailing. Tips, but now YOU can add your suggestions to our store of knowledge by submitting great Last of all, thanks to Chris Wick, Bob Banas, and thoughts to our venerable and diligent webmas- everyone involved with the upcoming Nationals in ter/National Measurer, Richard Robbins. Mystic, Connecticut. Their early preparations bode well for all Shields racers and we are anticipating Speaking of Richard, we all owe our thanks to a ‘world class’ event. his Technical Committee, Andy Burton, Com Crocker, Bill Berry, Schuyler Benson, Kim Roberts, Mike Schwartz, Kris Martincic and Bam Miller for their careful Shields 130 SHIELDS NATIONAL CLASS ASSOCIATION DUES ATTN: TREASURER, FRED WERBLOW 2010 DUES WILL REMAIN AT $35 PER YACHT, $15 PER SKIPPER AND $10 PER ASSOCIATE FRED’S EMAIL: [email protected] ADDRESS: 83 GRIFFIN AVENUE, SCARSDALE, NY 10583 The Shields Start, Photo by Shirley Wick 2 THE WATERS OF THE OFFICERS FOR 2010 2010 SHIELDS PRESIDENT NATIONALS MICHAEL SCHWARTZ (CHICAGO , IL) By Michael Cavanaugh - Race Committee Chairman VICE PRESIDENTS ANDY SEGAL (NEWPORT, RI ) ROLAND SCHULZ (LARCHMONT, NY) One of the Masons Island elder statesman and lifelong yachts- man once described Long Island Sound to me as a giant bathtub JONATHAN POPE (MARION, MA) that empties and fills every five and a half hours. That large JAY DAYTON (OXFORD, MD) volume of ocean has to pass through two relatively narrow WAYNE MARCIANO (OYSTER BAY, NY) areas north and south of Fisher’s Island, NY. Northerly, it is SKIP SCHINK (CHICAGO, IL) on Fisher’s Island Sound where you will find spectacular sailing by virtue of stunning scenery, proximity to numerous SECRETARY harbours and seaside restaurants, and a swift tide that keeps ANDY BURTON (NEWPORT, RI) things ever interesting. TREASURER Thousands of years of voluminous flow through tight quarters FRED WERBLOW (LARCHMONT, NY) has created an area of unusual bathymetry dotted with reefs and islands that make an Eldridge a mere reference. Welcome MEASURER to the site of the 2010 Shields Nationals. The warm and RICHARD ROBBINS (MARION, MA) friendly people of Masons Island Yacht Club welcome fleets nationwide to a playground we call home. Sailors will want NEWSLETTER CONTACT INFORMATION to study Eurich Management their charts Contact: Rebecca Holloway to get a feel Telephone: 517.372.9207 for what Fax: 517.321.0495 to expect. Email: [email protected] Website: www.shieldsclass.com The area Address: 3225 West St. Joseph | Lansing, MI 48917 of the race courses will The Masthead is the official publication of the Shield Class National Sailing be south- Association. Opinions expressed by guest writers do not necessarily reflect views westerly of of the Shield Class National Sailing Association or Eurich Management Services. Masons Acceptance of advertising does not imply endorsement or approval of the product Island on or service advertised. We accept unsolicited manuscripts but reserve the right the west to edit due to space limitations. Please contact Rebecca Holloway for more side of information on this publication and deadlines. Fishers Island Sound where the water opens up for clean and clear windward leeward courses. This is the spot most area clubs start and finish races. Zoom out and you will find this area central and close to the Larchmont and Newport Fleets. In summary, this year’s Shields Nationals is ideally located for some serious sailing hosted by a sincerely warm and hospitable club. The Masons Island YC promises tightly run racing offshore with open doors onshore. Competitors and their families will be greeted with many options for fun, food and water on our beautiful shores. The view from the club deck offers the open Atlantic with Block Island 20 miles out, Watch Hill, RI to the left and Fishers Island to the right. Sister clubs and neighborly marinas have teamed with us to make certain this will be a Nationals Regatta and your September travel destination to remember. We look forward to meeting you! MIYC Clubhouse, Photo by Shirley Wick 3 SHIELDS AREA UPDATE WESTERN L.I. SOUND, NY NEWPORT BEACH FLEET #1 FLEET #6 Greetings from Larchmont! Fleet One’s 2010 year is already Shields Fleet 6 races all year long, in large part due to the underway beginning with our annual fleet dinner in January. wonderful sail donations we receive from generous Shields In addition to stories and jibes (all in good fun of course!) owners from other fleets. Thank you! from last year’s season, crews began looking ahead after visiting guests from Mason’s Island YC stood up to plug the 2010 Of course, our year-round sunny and warm weather also help Nationals at Mystic. The award table for the 2009 season also to keep us on the water. Come and join us! We would love to looked especially attractive with the National Championship make sure that ANY Shields sailor, owner or crew, get to sail in Trophy proudly on display. If the large attendance at the Newport Beach while they are in Southern California. With a dinner is a predictor of summer participation, 2010 looks to little notice we can either enter one of the plethora of regattas be another great season for Shields sailing on Western Long that take place each weekend in our area, or we can put on an Island Sound. event ourselves. Or, if you find yourself in town on short notice, shoot us an e-mail at the last minute. Our racing season kicks off officially in May with the Memorial Day weekend regatta followed by weekly Saturday YRA ([email protected]) Since our club has over 100 members, afternoon racing. Other highlights from the upcoming season we can nearly guarantee you a skipper, particularly if you’ve include Districts with Fleet 5 in Oyster Bay, Larchmont Race got some great sailing stories to share. Week, several holiday weekend regattas, and the Sailing World NOOD regatta September 11-12. Looking forward to seeing This summer Shields will be racing in Newport Beach three you on the water. to four nights a week. These are inside the harbor buoy races, spinnakers not allowed. But there’s a reason for that. The Fair winds, quarters are tight and the racing is both tactical and exciting. John Mawe /Com Crocker Once again, we hope to see you here! Fleet Captains Jane Hartley/Jonathan Weissman Shields Fleet Co-Captains CHICAGO, IL FLEET #3 EDGARTOWN, MA Chicago’s Strictly SHIELDS FLEET # 8 Sail Expo was held January 28th to We are starting slowly to think 31st, and in keeping about the upcoming season with a Fleet #3 on the Vineyard. Island pace tradition, a real seems to be a little slower than live Shields was on elsewhere. We expect nine boats display. You can’t actively raced this summer. tell by the picture, Our Annual Regatta is July 15 - 17 but several dozen and all are welcome. We will Skippers & crew provide housing for those were on hand to push our agenda. More than 30 interested. Attached is a sailing enthusiasts signed up for our follow-up Pizza Party at picture of one of last year’s Belmont Harbor on February 11th. We make an effort to get a regatta results. berth during spring racing for everyone interested. The great Bill Berry realizing Shields don’t response we received was somewhat unexpected, considering Jeff Randall make good submarines. the smaller show and general state of the economy. If winter [email protected] gets you down, race 2 (or more) Shields and call us in the morning! Mike Schwartz Continue on page 10 4 FACILITATING SELF RESCUE IN A SHIELDS By Richard Robbins, National Measurer and the Shields Class Technical Committee The Shields Technical Committee has been working on self-rescue. Part of our research involved conversations with issues that would facilitate the “self rescue” of a Shields yacht. Cape Cod Shipbuilding (the current builder) and memos dating The sinkings that the committee is aware of (two in 2009) from 1963 and 1983. occurred during spinnaker runs. The safe handling of a Shields spinnaker in high winds or seas is left to another discussion; A Shields yacht will float indefinitely if fully swamped as long this discussion will be concerned with the outfitting and as the flotation tanks do not flood. There are four flotation preparation of the yacht and conformance with Class Rules tanks on a Shields (forward, aft and two side tanks). The to facilitate “self-rescue”. Technical Committee looked at a variety of ideas including adding flotation (foam or bladders) and rejected modifications as too expensive in favor of insuring the integrity of the flotation tanks.