Frosty the "FAST" Sailor

Here's what some young sailors were doing in Newport, RI last weekend.

• Saturday Temperature: 24 degrees
• Windspeed: 20-34 knots
• Snow: 8"
• Windchill: About Zero

Summary: Not quite Acura Miami weather

19 Sailors between the ages of 9-15 gathered at Sail Newport in RI last weekend for their first FAST Sailing Team practice of the spring. It's meant to be warm in March, right?

FAST is an upcoming new Optimist sailing team that is typical of junior sailing today. Several dedicated sailing families get together and organize a training & travel team for major regattas. It is an all volunteer not-for-profit organization. The FAST team provides shoulder season training sessions, and year round coaching at the major events. Sailors return to their summer yacht club programs and spread the word about the major regattas.

FAST is primarily families and sailors from CT, RI and MA. Other similar teams are LISOT (Long Island Sound), MOST (Midwest), Team FOR (FL) and a half dozen others. These teams dominate the class and create the bulk of top level Optimist activity outside of major regattas.

All it takes to get a young sailor hooked on sailing is a team like FAST and a big regatta or two. Once they start this program, they cannot get enough. The Optimist Class starts everyone out easily in the Green Fleet. As they improve, they move through White, Blue and Red fleets based on age. The Optimist Class has a full range of events, but nearly all sailors gravitate to the Midwinter Championship, and the US Team Trials. These two events take the top 60 sailors and qualify them for US Teams going to overseas regattas including the Worlds, Europeans, South Americans, etc.

Back to the sub-zero weekend. Top Optimist coaches Scott Norman, Spencer Wilberly, and Nico Winograd flew in to coach the session. Scott works for Harken in Florida, Spencer works for McLaughlin in TN, and Nico is an Argentine Opti supremo currently working at San Francisco YC. All three coaches have thin-warm-weather-blood, so we were all a bit surprised when they suggested the sailors launch and sail on Saturday morning. As the safety boat volunteer for the day, I was not exactly thrilled by the prospect of freezing for several hours.

Each parent and sailor was told in no uncertain terms that the conditions were extreme. All 19 sailors launched. This is an energetic and fired-up bunch. The 8" of snow surrounding the Sail Newport ramp was soon trampled with opti dolly tracks and youth sized footprints. Nico promptly took the top group on a three mile grind-it-out beat to windward. Gusts were well into the 30's. The 2nd and 3rd groups remained in Brenton Cove in the relative shelter of Brenton Cove. At lunch time, we learned that everyone in the top group rolled over in one of the blasts of wind during the downwind sessions. The sailors were pushing things hard. All had big smiles and even bigger stories around the lunch tables. These sailors were enjoying a day of sailing that simply would not have been possible 20 years ago. Today's sailing gear is extraordinary.

The breeze moderated a few knots for the afternoon, and again all 19 went out. The day was topped off when parent Rob Salk showed up with 20 sleds. The FAST team sledded until sunset on Newport's best hill, just 200 yards from the launch ramp.

Thankfully, Sunday dawned with promise of 40 degrees and winds of 12-18 knots. It felt like Miami after Saturday's weather. This was an epic weekend of sailing. Families, friends, fun, learning, and stories that will get even bigger with time.

For more information www.fastsailing.net

Peter Johnstone, FAST Volunteer Parent

03/09/06