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Lightning 2002 News Sail Information || Lightning News || FAQs || Tuning Guide || Contact Lightning Experts || Order
2002 Lightning Frigid Digit Regatta Dominated by North! Report by Brian Hayes The 2002 Lightning Frigid Digit attracted 47 boats to the Severn Sailing Association in Annapolis, MD this past weekend. 5 races were held over 2 days with 12-15 mph winds on Saturday and 0-6 on Sunday. Jody Swanson dominated the series scoring a 1,1,3,1,1 to best last years winner David Starck by 10 points. Both Jody and David used all-North inventories along with 9 of the top 10 at the event.
2002 Lightning North Americans Dominated by North! Report by Brian Hayes
The 2002 Lightning Class North Americans took place in LaSalle, Michigan from August 7-15, 2002. The event, hosted by the North Cape Yacht Club, attracted 110 competitors from all across North America as well as several teams from South America. Conditions for the event ranged from 5 mph of breeze and flat water to 18-20 mph of wind and a short steep chop. These conditions, which were enhanced by the stalling of a small cold front, put a premium on good starts, sharp tactics and consistent boat speed. Bill Healy, with his team consisting of his brother Tim and JoAnn Jones were best able to take advantage of their strong teamwork to win this years championship. This years runner-up was David Starck also sailing with his brother Joe and sister-in-law Becky Starck. In third was the team of David Peck, Nina Peck and Scott Ikle. 4th Place went to the team of Ched Proctor, Ned Roseberry and Andrew Brennan. Matt Fisher, Greg Fisher and Rick Bernstein followed in 5th. In the Presidents Cup Jack Elfman with his wife Cindy and crew Samantha held off Mike Buckowski and his team to win by 2 points. Brian Tabaoda and his team sailed very fast to cross the line with finishes of 2,2,2,1,2,1 but 2 OCS's kept their team in 6th overall.. In the Governors Cup North Capes own Josh Kerst and his crew started strong with 2 bullets and held on to win this division by 5 points over Bill Mauk and his all Florida crew... Results:
For information on Lightning sails contact the North Lightning experts!
2002 Lightning Atlantic Coast Champs Report by Brian Hayes The Lightning ACCs were held in Rehoboth, DE this past weekend. Bill
Fastiggi of Shore Sails won the event by sailing consistent races (all
top 10) to win in a 63 boat fleet. North customers Brian Taboada, James
Taylor Overall North Sails were 2,3,4,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15!!!
2002 Lightning Youth Worlds Report by Brian Hayes
The Brazilian team used all North Sails
in their victory! For final results and photos go to the event website at www.ilcayouthworlds.org.
* partial inventory For information on Lightning sails contact the North Lightning experts!
Lightning Great Lakes Championships
North Cape Yacht Club hosted the 2002 Great Lakes
Championship this past weekend. Nearly 30 teams braved the elements
(which included a hail storm!) to catch a preview of this year's North
Americans venue.
For information on Lightning sails contact the North Lightning experts!
Lightning Spring Classic Report by Skip Dieball .....was no Classic, but it was a great time. For information on Lightning sails contact the North Lightning experts!
Lightning Lab at the 2002 Indiana Open Regatta
May, 2002 - The North Sails One-Design Midwest road
show stopped in Indianapolis on Friday, May 3rd for the ILCA sponsored
Lightning Lab at I.S.C. Over 20 people participated in the event which started with individual tuning support and then hitting the water for practice starts and a couple races. The wind wasn't always cooperating, but the participants clearly shook off the rust and were ready for the weekend's Indiana Open. Congrats to Lightning newcomer Debbie Probst for winning
the Indiana Open. Debbie had a brand new suit of North Sails (M5, 5A+
& R2) and showed great consistency through the challenging conditions.
Steve Thomas finished 2nd and Jeff Schmahl 3rd..... For information on our winning sails contact the North Lightning experts!
2002 Southern Circuit Dominated by North! Report by Ched Proctor
The 2002 Lightning Southern circuit was sailed in
predominately light to moderate conditions. Three races were sailed
in Savanah, five in Miami and three races in St. Petersburg. The last
day of racing at St. Petersburg was cancelled due to a profound lack
of air movement. Current North American Champions, A record turnout of 50 boats enjoyed lovely sailing at the 2 day Miami part of the circuit. The 1997 World Champ, Larry Macdonald started of by taking an early lead out the favored right side in the first race and never relinquished the regatta domination winning by 18 points over another past World Champion, Tito Gonzales. At St. Petersburg, Jody Lutz/ Jay Lutz/ Wade Schoen found their stride and defeated 70 competitors to become the winter Champions. (Read the JL interview) For the overall Circuit, Larry Macdonald's consistent sailing made him the overall Southern Circuit Champion. Jody Lutz won the Savanah St.Pete trophy. This old bowl, is traditionally awarded to the competitors with the best combined score for just the Savanah and St Petersburg regattas. For these six races, The Lutz team only finised out of the top 6 places once. Overall Circuit Top 15 1. Larry Macdonald 46 North For complete results click on the links below: Savannah Results || Miami Results || St. Petersburg Results Click
here to see photos taken during the event. For information on our winning sails contact the North Lightning experts!
Lightning 2002 Winter Champion
CP: Work and family have kept you away from One Design racing for quite a while. What made you decide to choose a Lightning to purchase? Did you consider other classes of boats? JL: Since my past personal one design sailing has been in Lightnings, it simply made sense to give it a try again. Plus, the people of the Lightning Class are terrific and even though I have not competed in the Class for years, there are still plenty of friends still active in the Class. The "people" make this Class great! CP: How did it feel to sail the Lightning in a major regatta for the first time in 10 years? JL: Other than a sore back, it felt great! At least half the battle is boat and crew preparation and we've been organizing for this regatta since last September. Since the backlog for new boats was too long, we lucked into finding a good used "Allen" Lightning last Fall. CP: How did you tune your newly acquired Lightning? JL: Although not earth shattering, we simply followed the North Lightning tuning guide and we were good to go. We make minor tuning adjustment depending on wind and water conditions, but it all comes back to tuning guide and proper markings so we can replicate fast settings. CP: Was there any special rigging you needed? JL: We were lucky that the boat was pretty tricked out. Maybe too much for my taste, but we went with it and you quickly get used when sailing basically everyday for a week. To me, simple is better. CP: What were your particular criteria in choosing a team for your return to Lightning competition. JL: Well, I believe this is the most important part of putting a successful one design program together- getting the best crew. To put it bluntly, no way anybody can do well in a stacked one design Class like the Lightning without the best crew. The skipper gets way too much credit for the success of the Team. The crew can be the difference between first and fifteenth. In my case, my brother Jay (Past World and North American Champion) wanted to be involved and its always worked well whenever we get a chance to sail together. For our third, we needed some youth! One of our close friends, Michael Schon, who sailed with us growing up, now has a 17 year old son, Wade. Wade has blossomed into quite a sailor, last year winning the JR North Americans. This was the exact youth we needed and once we convinced Wade's parents to let him come with us, our Team was set. Although the three of us have never sailed together before, the Lightning Southern Circuit consists of three separate regattas starting in Savannah, Georgia then moving to Miami and finally finishing up with the major Winter Championship in St Petersburg. This gave us plenty of time to put it all together by St Pete. CP: Which sail Models did you choose to compete with and why? JL: Good question. As most people familiar with the Lightning Class know, North Sails has two models to choose from, the Fisher/North or the North/North. I sail with the North/North's since that is what I am used to. Although, I have sailed with both and find that either way we are fast. If someone asked me for my opinion I suggest sailing with whichever models you are used to and comfortable with. These sails have been so refined and tested that we are now to the point of having already squeezed as much speed out of them as we can. It sounds too simplistic, but get a good start and hit the first shift and it won't matter which North models you use! Seriously though, the difference I see this time around versus 10 years ago is that most of the top competitors are very close in speed. It's now a matter of technique and being tactically sound. Hence, my previous comments of having a great crew. It means more now than ever. CP: How much did you adjust your lower shrouds and Mast Blocks for the conditions? JL: Not much at all. We set the boat up with moderate prebend on the trailer, make sure the mast is set up straight side to side and then go sailing. If it is light and choppy, we add more more blocks behind the mast, and then check the mast side to side. If the lowers are now too tight, we simply loosen one or two turns to make sure mast is always straight side to side. The only other change we'd make is if the breeze is up. In that case, we take a little block from behind the mast, place it in front and again check the mast for straightness. Usually, it will need to have the lowers tightened to keep mast in column. CP: So everyone seems impressed with your boatspeed downwind. What were some key components of technique that your team employed?
One suggestion I have to skippers and crews is to change positions for some regattas so you'll know what the other person sees and feels. I guarantee it will make you a better skipper AND/OR crew.
JL: Nowhere near what I used to do 10+ years ago. No time for that. We'll select a few regattas and do them. This whole thing came about to try and win the Lightning Pan Am Trials. We've been alternate twice before. Originally, the Winter Championship in St Pete was going to be a qualifier, but the IOC did not approve it in time. So, we'll sit back and see what happens and once they decide, we'll make a plan to see if we can do it.
Click here to see more photos. For more information on our Lightning sails or tuning information, don't hesitate to contact the North Lightning experts! Photo by Char Doyle Photos.
For more information on Lightning sails, contact the North Lightning experts.
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1 15125 Swanson, Jody 1 1 3 1 1 7.00 
3 15058 Terhune, Allan 6 8 1 2 7 24.00 
Congratulations
to Thomas Sumner with his crew Pedro Soares and Mark Pineda who won
the recently completed Lightning World Youth Championships held at Newport
Yacht Club in Rochester, NY on July 6-10. The team from Brazil scored
finishes of (8),3,1,1,2,6 to win this prestigious event by 5 points
over two US teams (2nd-Erik Johnson, Karl Johnson, Kate Brush and 3rd-Travis
Maier, Meredith Pelton, Robert Ramirez). Fourth and 5th places were
won by teams from Greece (4th-Satiris Stoumbos, Bill Papadakis, Dimitris
Stathopoulos and Mihalis Koulianos, Helias Grappas, Andonia Koulianou).
A total of 13 teams representing 5 countries participated in this years
championship.
'91
NA Champ, Jody Lutz just won the 2002 Winter Regatta at St. Petersburg
and took second overall in the Southern Circuit to Larry MacDonald.
Jody's winning performance was particularly notable because work and
family commitments have kept Jody from sailing the Lightning on a regular
basis for the last 10 years.
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