- April 13, 2007 - Rigging up - Jacqui and I get one 29erXX rigged up today but couldn't beat the building Mistral winds and before we finished it was blowing over 25 and raining sideways. Not wanting to break anything before the Observation Trials we stayed off the water, doing some work and listening in on a 470 debrief. We hope for better conditions tomorrow, and will be ready for early morning sailing now that we're rigged.
-Jen Glass - April 11, 2007 - Travel Day - Iím on my way to France today, currently flying at 35,000 feet flying over Hudson Bay on my way to Hyeres, France. Iím really excited for some training in the 29erX. Weíll have four excellent skiff sailors, two identical boats, and 3 days to learn as much as possible.
-Jen Glass - April 7, 2007 - Grey Day - Today is my last day of practice before leaving for the ISAF Observation Trials. Erika and I are lucky to have two of the Bayís best 29er teams coming out to practice with us. Even better, Ben Glass, skiff coach (and my husband), is running the practice promising to put us through the ringer.
Itís a stormy southerly day so we started off with a long downwind to Treasure Island. Ben set up a small start line and we practiced starts and maneufvers around a small course. Thereís nothing boring here ñ 15-25 knots and by the time youíre settled its time to tack or jibe again on the small course. Great practice!
Hereís a few photos from today. It was really nice to be out with other boats. Although the 29erXX is faster, the 29ers are better at turning around the corners, so we still find ourselves close together often enough. 
1. Going upwind with the 29ers. 2. Jen and Erika downwind in front of St. Francis.
-Jen Glass- March 25, 2007 - Training on the city front, San Francisco - Yesterday Erika Heineken and I helped run the NorCal High School Championships here at St. Francis Yacht Club. Today we were let free to go sailing ourselves! We left the dock in about 8 knots of wind, and decided to sail at a lighter rig tension than we'd sailed yet. Although we don't have another boat to measure ourselves by, this seemed like a good decision. The wind picked up to 15 knots over the course of the day, and our light rig tension didn't get too loose, so I think we'll keep moving that direction.
Today was particularly fun because Erika's brother John came out in his 49er (bigger version of the 29erXX), and the Nilsen brothers were out in their 29er (smaller version of the 29erXX), so we had all three "siblings" out at once. It was fun to all sail together and watch each boat go faster than the one smaller.
We continue to work on teamwork and chip away at the long list of little things still left to perfect in this new rig. One of the little things is that it seems necessary to have quite a long main/jib sheet so that when its windy and both sailors are very far back in the boat, the sheets are still long enough to ease out all the way. However, most of the time this much line is just too much, and it makes for a long process for the skipper to fish through for the jib sheet after tacks. We've been working on good pass off methods to make this quicker.
Next weekend we're "giving back" again by helping run the club's Collegiate Regatta. After that we'll be back into training mode before Jen goes to the ISAF Observation Trials in Hyeres, France. 
1. The 29erXX and 49er. 2. 29er, 29erXX and 49er. 3. Erika taking her turn at the helm.
- Thanks to Red Bull and Ultra Nectar.
-Jen Glass - March 18, 2007 - 29er Midwinters West Day 2 - Ben's debrief from yesterday came in handy today. We were towed out to the racecourse because there wasn't enough wind to sail, but it didn't take much waiting for the wind to fill. David and I focused on keeping our boat perfectly flat at all times today. Between this, and having a day of sailing together under our belts, we went a lot faster. We had two good starts in both races, and made some good tactical decisions in the very shifty conditions. Race 1 was all about getting left to some extra pressure, and working back to the right as long as you didn't fall out of the velocity. David and I were in the top group around the first lap of the race, but on the second lap we made some really good decisions to move to the front with quite a large lead, and never looked back!
After winning the first race we were tied for first overall with Judge Ryan and Hans Henken. Whoever crossed the line first would win. Here goes! David and I had a good start and were going left towards some good wind. We tacked a few times with a few shifts, and were in the top group, but Judge and Hans were a little bit in front of us. We rounded mark one and were able to jibe and cover them downwind, but not quite close enough to do much damage. We rounded the 2nd mark a few boatlenghts behind, us in 3rd, Hans and Judge in 2nd, and Alex Bernal in 1st. We quickly tacked left towards the favored side and Hans and Judge came with us. We were going a bit faster than them, and once we got close enough we tacked to try to get clear air past them. They tacked on us again, as they should, we tacked back, they tacked back, and a tacking duel ensued. When we got near the finish line we had managed to get bow out in front of them a bit and I was hoping to come back at the end with right away on starboard tack and force them below us. Just before it was time to tack we hit a large set of waves and didn't fair too well out the other side. We had lost our edge on Judge and Hans and when it came time to tack for the finish they were able to tack a few inches in front of us to take the win.
It was a great race and good series, competitive until the end. If we're lucky we'll have more events like this, but next time we'll come out on top!
Top Five Finishers:
1. Judge Ryan and Hans Henken, 9 pts
2. Jen Glass and David Liebenberg, 10 pts
3. Oliver Toole and Willie McBride, 23 pts
4. Jack Driscoll and Cody Shevits, 24 pts
5. Cameron Biehl and Briana Provancha, 32 pts
FINAL RESULTS
Thanks to Red Bull and Ultra Nectar.
-Jen Glass - March 17, 2007 - 29er Midwinters West Day 1 - Here we are in San Diego for the 29er Midwinters West. This is the "champsionship" for the west coast for the winter, a good chance for everyone to get together in the "off" season. I'm sailing with David Liebenberg, a 15-year-old hot shot Optimist and 29er sailor. I'm excited to sail with David, however we haven't sailed together before so we'll see how our teamwork goes.
We have a long sail out to the racecourse here, which is good for us as it acts as some extra practice. The breeze gradually increases on our sail out and while we wait for the race committee to get settled. They try to start us on a very skewed starting line (you couldn't even cross on starboard tack), but there is a general recall so we wait again. We finally get a start off and race three races today. The water is very choppy, so David and I work hard to keep the boat moving fast and try to communicate a lot with eachother. We weren't the fastest boat around the racecourse upwind, but had good speed downwind and good decision making all around. We finish the day in 3rd place, behind locals Cameron Biehl / Briana Provancha and Judge Ryan / Hans Henken. Thanks to coch Ben we had a great debrief and are fired up to move forward tomorrow! Thanks to Red Bull for providing us with product to keep us going strong.
-Jen Glass - March 11, 2007 - Spring Dinghy Day 2 - After along postponment the wind finally filled in at 2:15pm and we went out for some races. We were so happy to have the opportunity to make up for yesterday's mistakes. And boy did we come back. In fact, we won the two races the Race Committee was able to fit in before the end of the day time limit. Wahoo! Our starts were actually not quite as good as yesterday, but we sailed much more intelligently around the race course. We were sailing fast compared to the fleet, but I know we can sail faster. But we were able to take our focus away from the in-the-boat details when necessary to look around and make tactical decisions, then return to the boat speed. This was what plagued us yesterday so it feels good to make such improvements overnight.
Unfortunately we couldn't quite overcome the DNF and 5th place finish from yesterday, so ended up in 3rd, 2 points behind first and second (who tied). We'll take it for our first regatta together!
-Jen Glass - March 10, 2007 - Spring Dinghy Day 1 - Back in the regular 29er again. This weekend I'm crewing for Erika Heineken at the St. Francis Spring Dinghy regatta. I'm a true believer in switching positions early and often. The more comfortable you are with the "other person's job" on the boat the better you can do your own. Sailing a few miles in the other person's boots and all. Plus, crewing is a much better workout! I'm embarrased to report that we, along with all but one other boat, sailed the wrong course in the first race. This was really dissapointing to hear after sailing a great race, battling in the top of the fleet all the way around the race course, to finish 2nd. This is a lesson we won't have to learn twice.
Our 2nd and 3rd races of the day didn't go as well as we would have liked either. The wind became quite unstable and we had a hard time working together in the boat while sailing in and out of large velocity changes. Not uncommon for a team new to sailing with eachother. But as a result we missed some puffs and shifts that we needed to play. We finished the day with a DNF, 3, 5 to stand in 4th overall.
-Jen Glass - March 4, 2007 - Richmond Midwinters - Today was the final Sunday of the four-month Richmond Midwinter Series. Noah and I sailed the 29erXX in the skiff start, which is full of 29ers, a few 49ers, some I-14s and the 18 footer. Similar to yesterday is was quite light, so we went even a bit lighter on our rig settings. Again we focused on decision making skills and didn't sail the smartest in the first race, but improved by quite a bit for the second and third races, even beating a few I-14s around the race track. We decided the rig felt good in its new loose setting, although without another 29erXX to compare to you never know.
-Jen Glass - March 3, 2007 - Practicing in Richmond - Today is the 29er's monthly practice at the Richmond Yacht Club. I brought the 29erXX rig to join in and sail with Noah Shaw since Nina is studying at UCLA this weekend. It was great practice to line up with the 29ers and sail around a small race course. There wasn't a lot of wind today, enough for both Noah and I to trapeze only a quarter of the time. We can't quite point as high as the 29ers, but are a lot faster downwind. This made our upwind decisions really important, if we didn't go the right way we had no chance of winning. We tried a lighter rig setting than I've ever used and this seemed pretty good. I'm discovering that the lower shrouds are too long. I'm not sure if I can fix that without re-making them again.
-Jen Glass - Februay 25, 2007 - Its about time - Molly Carapiet, US Women's 470 skipper, and I have tried to schedule a sail in the 29erXX during one of her infrequent and short trips home from the road of Olympic training. So far we've been skunked at least twice with either too much wind or not enough wind. But today was the day. Mother nature brought some chilly weather and stormy skies to San Francisco, but along with this she brough nice wind. Molly and sailed long laps around the Bay at times working to how fast we could go, and at other times focusing on ultra-smooth boat handeling. It was great to sail with Molly, someone who is used to nit-picking her sailing down to the most minute detail. Olympic-level training forces you to care about every tiny detail. If you don't those who have will pass you!
-Jen Glass - Febuary 18, 2007 - Back in the Saddle Again - What a beautiful day on San Francisco Bay! Erika and I were blessed with 8-14 knots and pretty warm weather (for February). Yesterday I forgot to mention that in addition to having all the pieces for the 29erXX back together, there is also a second rig now in the Bay! Noah Shaw and Nina Malingri, a local women's 29er team has just purchased a 29erXX rig as well. Its going to be SO exciting to have another boat to sail with. Nina is a freshman at UCLA and can't drive up to San Francisco every weekend to train, but it will be great to have them every time they can.
Today was Erika's first time in the 29erXX and our second time sailing together, but I think she's hooked. We started out with a simple lap to just get used to the boat, and then worked on some boathandeling. There were tons of big boats out racing today and towards the end of our practice they were broad reaching across the Bay back to St. Francis. We took the opportunity to sail their angle, passing the big racers, at times jibing through tight spots to weave our way through the crowd. This was great traffic-management practice and really fun. Nina and Noah were still working out some boat issues and didn't last through our full practice. Next time.
-Jen Glass - February 17, 2007 - Putting it back together - Today Erika Heineken (the older and better looking sister of 29er Champion and 49er sailor John Heineken) and I spent the day putting the 29erXX rig back together. There were a few missing bolts we had to track down, of course in obscure metric sizes. On a positive note, our new shrouds came equipped with turnbuckles instead of chainplates so we're more technologically advanced now. The turnbuckles make it easier to adjust the tension on each of the three shrounds while on the water. There's no more struggle to release tension or worrying about dropping a pin in the water. We'll be able to use wrenches to adjust the turnbuckles while the rig is under tension on the water. Also, our adjustments can be more fine tune rather than constrained by the position of the holes in the chain plate. Now the only thing left to do is figure out how to best set up the mast!
The breeze didn't fill in today, so we didn't miss anything while working on the boat. Hopefully we'll have more wind tomorrow.
-Jen Glass - February 5, 2007 - Long time, no gear - Its been a long time since I've written, and there is a good reason. Unfortunately when we unpacked our boat and gear out of the continer from England, the shrouds, forestay and trapeze wires had been stolen from our gear. We waited two months hoping that the wires would turn up, and then waited while the builder worked to recreate our one-of-a-kind shrounds. Luckily they arrived in the mail today so we'll be back out on the water soon! First, a trip to Florida this weekend to coach the 29er Midwinters East.
-Jen Glass - August 27, 2006 - Back at home - we've got a few days at home now and our 29er will return from England early next week. We look forward to a few days off, and then unpacking our gear for some more training at home.
- August 25, 2006 - 29erXX North American Series racing - The wind came back today and we had five great races in 8 - 18 knots. The wind was coming off the shore, so it was puffy and shifty, making for some very tactical racing. Genny and Jen had great speed off the line in all races, and battled with the 49er team of Marc Farmer and Trevor Parekh in every race. Marc and Trevor had better upwind speed, while Jen and Genny were faster downwind. In the third race we were able to pass Marc and Trevor to take the bullet, and we finished 2nd in the other four races, finishing 2nd overall. It was a great event, thanks to the organization and support of PS2000 and the CORK race committee.
Full Results:
POS SKIPPER 1 2 3 4 5 TOTAL NET
1 FARMER, MARC Trevor Parekh 1 1 2 1 1 6.00 4.00 CAN
2 MORGAN GLASS, JENNIFER Genny Tulloch 2 2 1 2 2 9.00 7.00 USA
3 BOUGIE-BASTIEN, GENEVIEVE Veronique Bougie-Bastien 3 3 3 3 4 16.00 12.00 CAN
4 SMUTNY, KATJA Chris Ferguson 4 5 4 4 3 20.00 15.00 CAN
5 FOSCARINI, ALANNA Paula Foscarini DNF 4 DNF 5 5 26.00 20.00 CAN
- August 24, 2006 - Day of waiting. The wind gods were on vacation again today and we weren't able to get a start off in the 29erXX North American Series. We did spend some great time on shore with Ian Bruce and the pros from PS2000 discussing the finer details of the 29erXX sails and other changes that might be necessary for the setup.
- August 23, 2006 - Final Day, 29er North Americans - VICTORY! The wind never filled in today in Kingston. The race committee kept us on the water until 1:30 pm waiting to see if raceable conditions would materialize, but they never did. Genny and Jen were crowned North American Champions, and then went back to the boat park to de-rig the 29er and put up the 29erXX mast. The North American 29erXX series begins tomorrow and runs through Friday. The racing will be tough as we'll be up against experienced 49er teams (the 49er is the 29erXX's big brother), but we're looking forward to it.
- August 22, 2006 - Day 4, 29er North Americans - Moving UP!! We continue to move up in the scores each day, and today we finished the day in first overall! Again we had what we would call an average day, making a too many mistakes than we're happy with, but continuing to be one of the more consistent teams. Today our boatspeed in light wind and chop was some of the best that it has been, so we're quite happy with that. The points separating the top six teams are quite close so tomorrow's three races will be very competitive. Stay tuned.
- August 21, 2006 - Day 3, 29er North Americans - Today was finally the windy day that many teams were waiting for. The conditions were nicely set for a thermal, and the wind combined with some good sized waves provided great conditions. We had a great first race, battling around the front four teams all the way around the course to finish 3rd. We were really happy with our speed and our starts, and were doing quite well in the 2nd race when our jib sheet got caught inside one of the blocks it runs around. This left it not quite in tight enough for upwind, and in way too tight for downwind, but not adjustable at all! We slipped back to a 7th place finish, and Genny was able to free the line once we finished and squeeze the block back together so it would work for the final race of the day. The wind had picked up to about 20-22 knots for the final race. After surviving not the best start at the boat end of the line we took a few tacks and used our speed to get back into the game. We rounded the first weather mark in the top ten and were passing teams one by one when our tiller extensions broke. One of these breaks caused a capsize, and around the 2nd lap of the racecourse Jen had to sit inside the boat instead of hiking off the side. Thus, we were sailing slower than normal and slipped back to 15th place.
Despite all these mishaps, other teams faired worse and we moved up to 3rd (tied for 2nd). We're working on maintaining consistency and continuing to move up in the standings. - August 20, 2006 - Day 2, 29er North Americans - Today we left the dock for a 10am start, but since there was absolutely no wind we weren't able to make it to the racecourse until almost 11. We drifted around the committee boat until 12:30 before the wind finally filled in with thick clouds and a passing storm. Marc Farmer, PS2000 rep, kept us all entertained by wakeboarding on a 29er centerboard. He was pretty good at it too!
The wind filled in from the north, blowing right over the land. Genny and I took advantage of the shifts and puffs to finish 2nd and 4th in the first two races. For the final race a big rain cloud came over the course and soaked us all, also bringing light winds and even more shifts. We continue to have a harder time in these conditions and finished 13th in this race. We had a good day all-in-all and moved up to 4th overall, 8 points out of first with three days of racing left. We know what we need to work on and will keep working hard.
- August 19, 2006 - Day 1, 29er North Americans - Genny and Jen are in Kingston, Ontario racing the 29er North Americans hosted by the CORK regatta. The day began with thick clouds and very little wind. As a light wind filled in it brought drizzle and then rain. The team started the day with two great races, winning the first and taking second in the second. As the conditions deteriorated the wind became more fickle. They had a less-than-perfect start and battled with boatspeed up the first leg. Turning the race around the girls had a strong second half to finish 18th. Still a disappointing result, but the girls learned some good lessons. They stand in 6th overall and look forward to a better day tomorrow. Results can be found on the CORK results web page.
- August 11, 2006 - Congratulations Genny! - Genny has been at the Morning Light tryouts in Long Beach, CA all week and just found out that she has made the team! She'll be racing in the 2007 Pacific Cup from California to Hawaii. Read more about Morning Light.
- August 8, 2006 - Next event all set - Thanks to the efforts of Ian Bruce at PS2000 and yours truly, we now have a 2nd 29erXX event scheduled for August 24-25th in Kingston, Ontario. Genny and I now will be able to race the regular 29er at the CORK regatta in Kingston. This will be the 29er North Americans. And then for two days following race the 29erXX.
- August 3, 2006 - Back Home - Genny and Jen have arrived back in the US and are glad to be home for a little bit. We are working on plans for the next 29erXX event to be held in Kingston, Ontario August 24-25th. Thanks to the success of the Open Cup the world of sailing wants to see more 29erXX racing. Hurray!
- August 1, 2006 - 29erXX Open Cup, Day 2 - Today brought more strong winds and delays, but eventually each team sailed another 2 races for a total of 4. The German men's team of Julian Ramm and Hannes Wagner won the event by two points over Pepe Bettini (ARG) and Peter Perera (GBR). Jen and Genny finished 3rd in the women's fleet and 14th overall. Check out the photos from the event:
1. Open Cup starting line. 2. Jen and Genny leading from the right. 3. Jen and Genny are the lead black kite.
- July 31, 2006 - 29erXX Open Cup, Day 1 - 27 teams are here for the 29erXX Open Cup. We all rotated through 9 boats and each team raced in 2 races. The day started out a bit slow as the wind was quite strong so we had to wait for it to die down. A few of the boats had problems including torn spinnakers and lines that weren't quite the right length. All in all everyone had a great time and the racing was competitive.
- July 30, 2006 - 29erXX Open Cup, practice day - Today Genny drove back to Hayling Island to load up boats in the container while Jen ran the registration table for the 29erXX Open Cup. Jen also took 29er Class President Gerardo Seeliger out for a sail on the 29erXX. Gerardo proved to be a great crew, although starting crew Genny will return tonight.
- July 29, 2006 - Day 6 29er World Championship Weymouth, UK - The breeze finally picked up for the final series of the Worlds and brought with it overcast skies and drizzly weather. We're happy to see the wind though. Mike and I had one too many tough races during the qualifying and ended up in silver fleet. We worked hard and dominated silver fleet by 23 points.
1. Mike and Jen rounding in the lead. 2. Team USA. 3. Matt and Cameron with their 3rd place trophies.
- July 26, 2006 - Day 3 29er World Championship Weymouth, UK - Light winds in the UK have brought us very long days at the boat park waiting for wind and racing as much as possible. The hot weather is supposed to break in a day or two and will hopefully bring more wind. Mike and I sit just around the top ten, but it is difficult to tell at this point as not every fleet has had equal number of races. The 29erXX is getting a lot of hype right now and is the buzz around the boat park. Only a few days left until the first 29erXX event!
- July 20, 2006 - Today's final two races brought more light air and some very large shifts. This proved to be quite difficult for Jen and Mike who again had great boatspeed upwind. The pair has been working on their downwind speed which was much improved today. But they struggled through the large windshifts and dropped to a final finishing position of 15th today. Tomorrow will bring a much needed day off, followed by travel to the World Championship site in Weymouth, UK.
- July 19, 2006 - Again a little bit more wind today and again Jen and Mike are fast upwind. Today's Gold Fleet racing was very competitive as the best teams from the two fleets combine to race against eachother. Jen and Mike had an increasingly good day finishing 12, 9 and 7 in the three races. They are consistently able to round the first mark in the top 3, but are still working on downwind speed so that they can cross the finish line in the top three. They sit tied with Cameron Biehl and Matt Noble in 7th place going into tomorrow's final two races.
- July 18, 2006 - The wind gods gave us a little bit more wind today, although still not much and a far cry from our normal San Francisco breeze. Jen and Mike continue to go very fast upwind, but are still working on their downwind speed. They posted almost all top ten finishes and have qualified for Gold Fleet in 14th place. The final series racing starts tomorrow.
- July 17, 2006 - Today was the first day of racing at the UK 29er National Championship. The 84 boat fleet is split into two even groups. The race course here is quite small so avoiding the other fleet has been key. Two very light air races were sailed before the wind completely shut off and the race committee sent us in. Jen and Mike finished 12th and 3rd in their two races keeping them well in the hunt for the top 25 split for Gold Fleet.
- July 14, 2006 - Our container finally arrived this morning and we were able to unload our boats. What a relief! They all have arrived without a scratch. By the time we finished rigging the wind had increased to over 25 knots and the launch service at the club had shut down for the day. We stayed on land fine-tuning the boats for the coming days of racing and are looking forward to hitting the water in the morning.
- July 12, 2006 - Arrival at Hayling Island! After a long day of traveling most of team USA has arrived at Hayiling Island. Jen, crew Mike Kuschner, and coach Genny spent the afternoon tracking down the container which now should be delivered tomorrow. We'll cross our fingers! Thus far the wind looks good and the weather is nice. The current is about as fameous here on the Solent as it is on San Francisco Bay so we hope to have an advantage here.
- July 11, 2006 - Traveling. Today Jen is on her way to the UK and the team is looking forward to the UK 29er National Championship, 29er World Championship and 29erXX World Cup coming up in England. Stay tuned for reports and results!
- July 3, 2006 - Jen has been training for the past few days on the San Francisco city front with crew Mike Kuschner. Jen and Mike will sail the 29er Worlds together and are fine tuning their team work in their last few days before traveling to the UK. They have enjoyed multiple days of 18-25 kts thanks to the wonderful summer-time breeze common to San Francisco.
- July 1, 2006 - With our boat in the container on its way to England we don't have quite as much to report. Although not because we haven't been busy. Jen just returned from a trip to the US Youth Championships where she helped coach the 29er fleet and spent much of her off-the-water time sharing skiff stories with youth sailors. Genny is in La Rochelle, France, competing in the Yngling World Championship. Good luck Genny!
- June 11, 2006 - "Container Day". Today we did some boat work in preparation for the upcoming 29er Worlds and 29erX Open Cup and then loaded our boat, along with 5 other 29ers, into a container bound for England. It was a big project, and a new task for most of the group. Just as darkness set our team was finishing tying the final lines holding in the boats, masts, tool boxes, sails, dollies, bikes, and other necessary objects into the container. Whew! We closed and locked the doors and hope everything will still look the same when we open it back up in July in the UK.
- June 10, 2006 - Another beautiful day in paradise. Today Cascade Locks provided warm and windy conditions - a great day for sailing. Jen and Genny played around with some rig settings today on the 29erX and enjoyed sailing downwind "forever" thanks to the Columbia River's upwind flow. Today there were 3 I-14s out practicing for us to play with. At times we could hang with them upwind, but downwind their bigger kites ruled. Adam came out again today and shot some excellent video, check it out on our video page.
- June 9, 2006 - Sailing in Cascade Locks. After a 14 hour drive from San Francisco to Cascade Locks we are here and ready for some great training. The 505 PCCs are going on this weekend so Genny and Jen hit the water to see how the 29erX would compare. All agreed that in 12 knots or more the 29erX was faster, but in lighter air we were slower. Yeah! Jen's mom came down from Seattle to see her daughter sail and Genny's brother also drove from Seattle to watch Genny. Thank you very much to Adam Simms for driving up with a Whaler and graciously taking the visitors out on the water.
- June 7, 2006 - Packing day. Today we did boat work and trailer work and are ready to take our boat up to Cascade Locks, Or for some weekend sailing and to pack it into the container for the Worlds. We're sad to see the gear go, but can't wait for the Open Cup event in the UK.
- June 6, 2006 - Genny is now back from the Holland Regatta and the pair are back together! We spent the morning helping out sponsor Ultra Nectar move into their new shop. Thank you again Chip and the rest of the crowd at Ultra Nectar for being so supportive. Make sure to check out their new summer catalog full of new items.
Jen and Genny then went for a medium breeze afternoon sail on the City Front. The wind was a bit southerly today, keeping the two on their toes as the puffs and lulls filled through. Photographer Dave Keane came out today to photograph our sailing so stay tuned for some of Dave's excellent shots. You can see his work on his site as well as on the Skiff Sailing Foundation site.
We did a bit of a Bay tour trying to sail steady in the unstable conditions to give Dave a chance to capture some shots, we had an opportunity to play in some steep waves on the far side of Alcatraz and worked on slowing the boat down through the rough spots, steering through the waves, and speeding up when we could. Great practice! And a great way to stay upright during big ebbs. 
- June 4, 2006 - Feeling a bit under the weather today as well as lacking a crew, Jen spent the day working on the X rig - untwisting some twisty halyards, boring out the halyard exit holes in the mast that have been too small, etc. For a demo rig this one works pretty well, but there are always a few things to tweak here and there. This also gave me a good chance to talk up the new fleet to all of the sailing passers-by at St. Francis - good promo opportunities.
- June 3, 2006 - Jen took the X rig to Ben Glass' 29er practice at St. Francis today. Winds were out of the WSW at 10-25 knots, but the group sailed in as sheltered of conditions as possible for the most part in an attempt to practice for the summer's Youth Championships. Jen first sailed with 14 year old David Liebenberg who did a great job driving the tricky boat in medium wind. Here is a future XX and 49er sailor the fleet should watch out for! Danny Cayard then switched into the boat to crew and skipper during some close-quarters drills doing a great job. Max Fraser and Joe Crum then sailed the X rig, as well as Ian Simms.
The Golden Gate Yacht Club set bouys out today to practice for their Speed Week this summer. It was fun to have a chance to sail through the "speed box" and see what it would be like. - June 2, 2006 - Genny has been away in Europe sailing so today Jen took Nina Malingri, Noah Shaw and Jonny Goldsberry out X rig sailing on the city front in 20-25 knots. The group switched in and out enjoying sailing and watching, particularly as the wind picked up and the ebb filled in. Noah and Nina are a regular 29er pair, a tough thing to do as a women's team in the windy conditions on the Bay. The pair hope to sail the 29erXX World Cup in the UK this summer, so this was valuable time in the boat for the two.
- May 27, 2006 - This weekend's Santa Barbara Skiff Festival was blown out today (although most of us had a great ride in 25+ in regular 29ers!!). Just before sunset the wind backed off a bit so Graham Biehl and Jen Morgan took the opportunity to quickly rig up the 29erXX on Graham's boat and went out for a spin. In their rush the two rigged the spinnaker halyard incorrectly and had to come back to the beach. Jen stepped off the boat and youth sailor Morgan Renoir went out for her first 29erXX ride. The smiles were big when the boat came back to shore just as the sun set behind the Santa Barbara mountains.
- May 15, 2006 - Biggest day yet! Genny and Jen sailed the 29erXX in 25 knots on San Francisco Bay. We got out just as the flood was ending so the water was pretty flat and we were able to work out some kinks before things got really big. We were sailing upwind standing off the back of the boat just as if we were going downwind. The boat was actually much easier to sail than expected, and seemed to just want to fly upwind. Downwind was even better, Mark our coach and safety boat was having a hard time keeping up with us! At the end of our session we took a long port tack upwind to the middle of the Bay, tacked, bore off and set for a killer burn on starboard back to the club. I've never had to hang on so hard, wahoo! Mark took a few pictures and video, and of course it never looks as wind in the pictures as it does when sailing. Here are a few of them to let you know what it was like. You can see the fog bank sucked in all the way to Alcatraz in many of the shots.
- May 10, 2006 - We went out for a quick sail today before coaching junior sailing in the afternoon. Since the sail was so short we focused on boathandeling in some easy 10-15 knots. Things are feeling great and we're starting to work well together moving across the boat. The halyards are twisted in the mast and Jen's boat needs some work, but the weather is just too nice to spend in the boat park and not on the water.
- April 27, 2006 - A quick day on the water today in 8-12 knots. Big waves again on the city front thanks to the ebb. I've been practicing finding the best spot in the waves to jibe as well as making one fluid movement from the time I initiate the jib to the time that I move into the boat. This is a new skill from standing up!
- April 24, 2006 - Today Mark Ivey came out sailing with us! It was a very light, cloudy and foggy day on the city front, but Carisa Harris and Isabelle Kinsolving were out in their 470 providing our first chance to see how the XX would sail compared to a more contemporary boat. We did some sailing in the middle of the Bay in the most wind in the beginning, but then sailed into shore to hook up with Carisa and Iz. Much to our pleasure the XX was lightyears faster than the 470, even though our angles downwind were much much wider. Genny, Mark and Jen all traded in and out of the XX, great day! Check out the video Ben Glass took of us today. Again, its not very windy, but our first video.
- April 12-13, 2006 - Jen and Genny split their days sailing the XX in the morning and then Jen going to San Francisco YC in the afternoon to coach high school practice and Genny staying at St. Francis YC to coach 29ers. We've been working out the kinks of our light air boathandeling as the wind hasn't picked up too much in the Bay yet this season, particularly this early in the morning. People around the club are starting to take notice of the new, big rig and ask questions. I hope it catches on!
- April 8, 2006 - Today 49er and 18 footer skipper Pat Whitmarsh took the XX out at St. Francis with Mallory McCollum. Pat had a good time with the rig, although mentioned the boat was a bit tippier than his 49er! The pair did a great job buzzing the collegiate regatta going on at the same time at St. Francis. Hopefully this will attract more XX sailors.
- April 7, 2006 - What a day! Today Jen sailed the XX back to St. Francis YC from Richmond YC with fellow 29er sailor Mallory McCollum. At first the pair were nervous there wouldn't be enough wind to make the crossing. Luckily 5-8 knots from the SW came up just as they were rigging. The wind kept increasing and increasing and by the time they made it to Alcatraz it was blowing 25 knots from the south! This provided a crazy, shifty ride upwind to St. Francis. And a good lesson - the regular 29er mainsheet/jibsheet is not long enough when its windy.
- April 2, 2006 - Richmond Yacht Club Big Dinghy Pursuit Race day. That's right. Today we sailed in a pursuit race in the 29erXX. We started about 5 minutes after the 29ers - we have yet to sail against a 29er so didn't have a clue how much faster we would be than them. The race started in about 8 knots and the wind steadily died throughout the day. We had passed all the 29ers by the time we were about half way to Red Rocks. The 29erXX sailed higher downwind than the regular 29ers, but definitely faster. Both Genny and I were on the wire, but only trapezing about 1/2 to 1/3 of our power. After rounding Red Rocks we raced upwind to South Hampton without another boat near us. This actually became fairly boring. After rounding South Hampton we headed to an inflatable bouy off Brooks Island, and then tight-reached to the finish. At this point the wind was down to about 3 knots and there was one 29er who started to catch up to us. I blame that on my own skipper error trying to soak too low in the light stuff. We were the first to cross the finish line for the big course, but since we didn't have a real rating the race committee still didn't know what to do with us. They were nice and gave us the trophy anyway and also an opportunity to share with the Richmond YC crowd about our new boat. Great weekend!
- April 1, 2006 - After a lot of 29erXX sailing Genny and Jen sailed the 29er today at the Richmond YC Big Dinghy. The Bay gave us a light to medium day with some significant shifts and puffs. Our two post-collegiate sailors excelled in the conditions putting their minds to work to play the race course intelligently. They were able to win every race and take the day's title!
- March 31, 2006 - Our first distance race. Today Jen and Genny sailed the 29erXX from St. Francis to the Richmond Yacht Club. It was a nice sail downwind so we took the opportunity to practice some jibes. When we arrived at Richmond they were hosting a skiff demo so we fit right in. The Musto skiff was out sailing and the Hoot had been out earlier in the day. The girls stayed out to sail against the Musto for a while, but there was no contest. Thanks to the jib (and we'd like to think good sailing by the sailors), the 29erXX easily walked away from the Musto skiff both upwind and down. Even upon arrival at the docks the local I14 fleet had loads of questions for us about the new rig. The word is getting out!
