CISA Advanced Race Clinic in full swing at Alamitos Bay YC

by Jerelyn Biehl on 15 Apr 2013 The 2013 CISA Advanced Race Clinic, being held at Alamitos Bay Yacht Club, has been in full swing now for two days with 115 youth sailors on the water, spread across seven different classes. With the addition of the F-18 multihull, some new faces are on the water with three teams heading out on the multihulls.

CISA Coach Richard Feeny, a multihull veteran, commented on the addition of the multihull fleet to CISA; 'It's great having the Cats here at CISA; it's a first and it's great to show CISA sailors the pathway--that this is a logical next step. Multihulls are in the Olympics, they're in the America's Cup and ½ of the US Youth America's Cup sailors are comprised of CISA graduates.' He further added, 'These boats are not unattainable with about the same complexity as an I-420. The appeal is obvious to the sailors; they're cool looking!'

Katie Flood, a 17 year old multihull sailor from Miami, Florida said 'I'm really enjoying the whole experience; I learned a lot so far and getting to know everyone i find this really fun. I'm glad they have multihulls and i didn't know this was the first year, I couldn't even tell, that's how great the CISA clinic is. I love CISA, I love this Yacht Club (ABYC) and everyone is really enthusiastic.'

The sailors have started each morning with a workout from Harry Legum of Annapolis Sailing Fitness and then disperse to their specific classes for a morning briefing before hitting the water for a day focused on boat handling, boat speed and tactics. Afternoon debriefs with video playback to critique technique are used and each evening is capped off with a sailing oriented talk with the first night a outlook on the US Olympic pathway by US Sailing Team coach Leandro Spina. The second night was a panel discussion comprised of the coaching staff which includes 9 Olympians and 4 Olympic coaches supplemented by numerous Collegiate All-Americans and current Olympic campaigners.

Despite the light air on the first day, the second day had brisk winds in the morning backing off for the afternoon session.

The CISA Advanced Race Clinic continues through Tuesday culminating in the CISA clinic regatta. Sponsors for the 2013 CISA Advanced Race Clinic provide valuable assistance to the sailors and CISA and include: Ayres Hotels, Kaenon Polarized, Gill, ABYC and Sperry. For more information on the Clinic including the list of participants and coaches visit the event website.