Please select your home edition
Edition
Cyclops Marine 2023 November - LEADERBOARD

Shope, Rodriguez take different paths to ILCA Masters North American Championship

by New York Yacht Club 2 Oct 2023 09:17 BST September 29 - October 1, 2023
2023 ILCA Masters North American Championship © Julia Boron

A strong autumn ebb tide augmented by some record rainfall across the Northeast created a one-way race track for most of the nine races at the 2023 ILCA Masters North American Championship, hosted by the New York Yacht Club Harbour Court, September 29 to October 1. However the two sailors that emerged victorious—Ernesto Rodriguez in the ILCA 7 and Christine Shope (above) in the ILCA 6—traveled very different paths to the top of the podium.

For Shope, a local Newport sailor, this was her first North American championship title.

"I am surprised," she said. "I haven't been sailing Lasers very much. I tried to do everything I could, and go get line sights to fight that current on the starting lines and see if I could keep up with Luke Hookings—he was going so fast—and Jon Andron."

With all three days sailed north of the Newport Bridge, working the extreme current was crucial to success. Doing so required a strong start and the nerve to push out to a corner of the racecourse on the upwind legs.

"Every single beat was one-sided, except for the last beat of the first day, that was the only beat I tacked on shifts," says Shope. "Every other one was you pretty much had to go to one side, and it was about committing to the edge. It took me a little while to figure that out the first day, but eventually we all learned it."

With the exception of a seventh in Race 4, Shope finished every race in the top three. Even with the handicap applied to the Apprentice Masters (age 30 to 44, the youngest of the five age categories for Masters sailors, the handicaps decrease with age), she won the regatta by 14 points over fellow Apprentice Master David Waiting. Great Grand Master (age 65 to 74) Tim Woodford finished third, a further two points behind, in the 40-boat ILCA 6 fleet.

Rodriguez was equally as dominant in the 62-boat ILCA 7 fleet, winning four races, finishing second twice and scoring nothing higher than a sixth in the nine-race series. However, if he said he was surprised by his win, no one would've believed him.

Rodriguez has won numerous championships in the Laser, including the Masters World Championship in 2021. He's also found tremendous success in the Snipe class, including the 2019 Pan Am Games gold medal.

Still, nine races over three days in breeze from 10 to 20 knots isn't easy for anyone. Even if he was a favorite going into the event, he still had to earn the win.

"It was definitely a tough regatta," he says. "I had a tough time reading the conditions because of the current. I believe we sailed the three days on three different courses. So you couldn't take whatever you learned one day to the next one. That was tough for me as it was the first time I've sailed here."

While the intricacies of the tidal movement inside Narragansett Bay may have been a mystery to Rodriguez, other aspects of the regatta were very familiar.

"These conditions fit me well," he says. "I grew up sailing in choppy, windy conditions, so it feels like riding a bike. I sail in Miami, we have the same conditions, not that much current, but definitely a lot of chop."

To combat the chop, Rodriguez really focused on getting his sail settings exactly right.

"One thing you've got to keep an eye on is the setup of the outhaul, and not over tightening it," Rodriguez says. "I feel a lot of people overtighten it when it's windy. That gives you good height, but you don't go through the chop very well. So you're better off putting the bow down, loading [the boat] up and then heading up. The few times that I didn't get right—I overdid it and the sail was too flat—I felt like that was a mistake. Everytime I had it in the right spot, I felt the boat going through the waves really well, without too much effort."

While Shope (Apprentice Master, ILCA 6) and Rodriguez (Master, ILCA 7) were the big winners of the weekend, trophies were handed out in nine divisions. Other division winners included: Gord Welsh (Apprentice Master, ILCA 7), Peter Shope (Grand Master, ILCA 7), Peter Vessella (Great Grand Master, ILCA 7), Jamie Carter (Master, ILCA 6), Jean-Yves Fillion (Grand Master, ILCA 6), Tim Woodford (Great Grand Master, ILCA 6) and Jon Andron (Legend, ILCA 6).

"It's really fun because of all the people that are here," says Christine Shope. "Everybody coming out from the West Coast, that I know from San Francisco, it's really fun to see them and do my warmups with those guys. The new younger Apprentice Master sailors that I haven't raced against before, it's really cool to have that competition."

Overall Results: (top ten)

ILCA 7 (62 Entries)

1. Ernesto Rodriguez, Master, Royal Hialeah Yacht Club, 42 points
2. Peter Vessella, Great Grand Master, St. Francis Yacht Club, 56 points
3. Peter Shope, Grand Master, Laser Fleet 413, 62 points
4. Steve Kirkpatrick, Grand Master, New York Yacht Club / Sail Newport / Laser Fleet 413, 64 points
5. Gord Welsh, Apprentice, Stony Lake Yacht Club / Rats / Lakefield College School / BBPYC, 64 points
6. Rob Hallawell, Grand Master, US Sailing Center Martin County, 81 points
7. Andrew Pimental, Great Grand Master, Sail Newport, 92 points
8. Benjamin Richardson, Master, Eastern Yacht Club / New York Yacht Club, 100 points
9. David Hiebert, Master, Fort Worth Boat Club / US Sailing Center Martin County, 100 points
10. Ray Davies, Master, Zeilclub voor Waterratten, 102 points.

ILCA 6 (40 Entries)

1. Christine Shope, Apprentice, Sail Newport, 49 points
2. David Waiting, Apprentice, Severn Sailing Association, 63 points
3. Tim Woodford, Great Grand Master, Bras d'Or Yacht Club, 65 points
4. Jamie Carter, Master, Portland Yacht Club, 67 points
5. Duncan Whitrow, Master, Britannia Yacht Club, 68 points
6. Jean-Yves Fillion, Grand Master, New York Yacht Club / American Yacht Club, 71 points
7. Luke Hookings, Apprentice, ASC/PLYC, 73 points
8. Sean Guinness, Grand Master, KYC, 85 points
9. Jon Andron, Legend, St. Francis Yacht Club, 92 points
10. Chris Boom, Legend, St. Francis Yacht Club, 92 points

Full results can be found here.

Related Articles

Tschüss 2 powers ahead in Transatlantic Race
Her nearest rival, some 300 miles astern, is Oliver Kobale's VO65 Sisi Six days into the West-East Transatlantic Race, Christian Zugel's Volvo 70 Tschüss 2, co-skippered by Johnny Mordaunt, has raced over 2,000 miles and is the clear leader for both Monohull Line Honours and the overall IRC win. Posted on 23 Jun
Competitors readying for epic battle
Distance racing is inherently an uncomfortable sport Enjoying a spectacular evening cocktail reception overlooking Newport Harbor, one competitor in the upcoming Transatlantic Race 2025, which starts tomorrow off Castle Hill Lighthouse just after 1 pm. Posted on 18 Jun
M32s at the NYYC 171st Annual Regatta
Clean Sweep Continues: Surge Takes Top Spot Ryan McKillen's Surge is four for four. The M32 team remains undefeated in 2025 after winning the M32 fleet at the New York Yacht Club 171st Annual Regatta, the opening event of the M32 Newport One-Design Series. Posted on 16 Jun
171st Annual Regatta at the New York Yacht Club
Coast Guard Cadets Show Their Mettle With About Face Sometimes a regatta win is just that. Sometimes it can mean a little bit more. For those looking for a splash of positivity that extends well beyond the racecourses at the New York Yacht Club's 171st Annual Regatta, consider the performance of Elan. Posted on 16 Jun
Team Racing Worlds at Newport, RI, overall
Corinthian Yacht Club puts on top notch performance to win Sustained winds in the low 20-knot range and choppy seas brought on another challenging day in the final stretch of the 2025 Team Racing World Championship. Posted on 2 Jun
Team Racing Worlds at Newport, RI, Day 3
Epic breeze cuts racing short; clear division between teams sets scene for final day Sunny skies met big breeze on Day 3 but by 12:30 p.m. racing was postponed, and as the wind built to 25+, the Race Committee abandoned racing at 3:00 p.m. Posted on 1 Jun
Team Racing Worlds at Newport, RI, Day 2
Consolidation In the Ranks: U.S. Teams Lead A thrilling action-packed series of races on Day 2 of the 2025 Team Racing World Championship saw the three teams representing the United States consolidate at the top of the leaderboard. Posted on 31 May
Team Racing Worlds at Newport, RI, Day 1
Tricky conditions & challenging 2v2 format tests Team Racing fleet Gray skies, intermittent rain and shifty light winds were not enough to dampen the energy and enthusiasm on Narragansett Bay for Day 1 of the Team Racing World Championship under way at Harbour Court. Posted on 30 May
All set at the 2025 Team Racing Worlds
12 teams ready to battle it out at New York Yacht Club Last time Pete Levesque raced in a Team Racing World Championship was 2011, in Schull, Ireland, when he was a skipper on Team Extreme representing the New York Yacht Club. Posted on 28 May
NYYC hosts 2025 World Sailing Mid-Year Meeting
Board conducted a series of productive strategic meetings The gathering brought the World Sailing Board and Council together in person at the Club's historic 44th Street Clubhouse in Manhattan—an iconic venue designed by Whitney Warren, renowned architect of Grand Central Station. Posted on 19 May
GOAT MarineOcean Safety 2023 - New Identity - FOOTERDoyle_SailWorld_728X90px_GP BOTTOM