The 27 participants in the 2010 Ski/Sail National Championships unanimously agreed that it was the best weather anyone had ever seen for the event, which consists of a day of dinghy racing on Lake Tahoe, a day of ski racing at Squaw Valley, and a party in between. Ralph Silverman, Founder and King of Ski/Sail, stated for the record, “In the 165 years (okay, 17 years) of hosting this event, we have never had such great sailing or skiing conditions. Five to fifteen knots of breeze and over 10 feet of snow. What could be better?” Luckily for everyone involved, the 10 feet of snow were already on the mountain well before the regatta.
On April 24, eleven Lasers and eight Vanguard 15s descended on Lake Tahoe for first portion of the event, some round-the-buoys races in perfect breeze—well, perfect for Lake Tahoe, where you don’t really want more than 15 knots in a dinghy. That water is cold, and it’s better not to end up in it! Luckily for the racers, it was a balmy 60 degrees out, allowing for six races—more than Ralph can usually get off before everyone’s fingers start to go numb. First time Ski/Sailors Alex Symes and Brian Kerr led the Vanguard 15 fleet after the sailing, and no one was surprised to see Nick Pullen in first in the Laser fleet.
The second portion of the event, the party, was held at the Cornice Cantina at Squaw Valley. A key part of the party is the passing on of The Suit, a bright yellow, skintight, ski-racing suit that must be worn by its recipient for at least two laps of the party. This year’s recipient, Matt Gregory, took it to a new level and wore the suit for most of the night, including into the hot tub. This type of behavior is not necessarily encouraged, but no one’s decision-making skills are expected to be at their best on Saturday night of Ski/Sail.
Squaw Valley, one of the regatta sponsors, put on the ski racing portion of the event on Sunday in T-shirt conditions. As always, the Laser sailors, mostly Tahoe locals, had ski-race times that were approximately half that of the Vanguardians, who are primarily weekend warriors from San Francisco. “Don’t worry, it’s a casual event,” Ski/Sail organizer Stacy Connor kindly pointed out, so the Vanguard sailors wouldn’t feel too bad about themselves. Each competitor did four races, with the one throw-out per person making up for a few Olympic-quality crashes. Even with a goose egg on his forehead from the prior day on the lake, local Justin Roach had the fastest ski times of the Laser fleet, and three-time Ski/Sail champions Chad Gray and Adam Eichorn once again edged out the rest of the Vanguard fleet in the skiing.
As always, Ralph and Stacy put on a fantastic event, ordering in perfect weather, providing a good time for all, and working with sponsor Helly Hansen to provide some fancy ski and sailing gear as prizes for the top three in each fleet. Full results are available at www.skisail.com.
"Race 1" is the sailing overall, "Race 2" is the skiing overall.
Here are the detailed sailing results and the detailed skiing results.
Also check out some photos posted by Adam Rothschild. |
