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Big News For Gale Force Sailing – A Very Personal Note
May 24, 2010
Friends!
I am happy to announce that there are a few changes coming for Gale Force Sailing. In April I accepted the position of Executive Director with the Downtown Sailing Center in Baltimore, Maryland.
The Downtown sailing center is an incredible organization that is doing some very big things. The Downtown Sailing Center is a volunteer-driven organization that instills confidence, teamwork and a sense of community through a range of educational and recreational sailing programs. The DSC is working to provide access to the freedom of sailing to everyone in the greater Baltimore area, especially those with disabilities or limited income. It is AWESOME! We do work with at risk kids, people with disabilities and individuals who long for the water, but are challenged by income. I get to help everyone go sailing! What could be better than that?
The DSC represents, for me, a culmination of all the things I have been doing professionally for the past 10 years. There is sailing, educating, advocating, motivating, managing, organizing, fundraising, strategic planning, communicating and a dozen other gerunds to describe what I view as a dream job. I am loving it.
What the DSC represents to Gale Force Sailing and our clients is opportunity, clarity and stability. Rather than scrambling to connect all the dots I will be free to pursue the best work and apply my best efforts – and not have to worry nearly as much about keeping the lights on at home. Whew!
It also means my weekends are shot, from now until forever, but that’s OK – because I love what I am doing. I know I am going to be busy juggling both responsibilities – but there is synergy between them. And personally my coaching work is now more important than ever. At my core I am an educator, and in order to continue developing professionally I must, and will, continue coaching. In fact, I joked with someone the other day, that I wasn’t jumping ship – I was sailing a catamaran. That was probably a bit of a stretch, but I think you get the idea.
So give me a call and let’s talk about your next program as well as my new adventure!
Thank you -
kb
ps- Here is what the DSC Board President, Steve Smith, was kind enough to say about me coming onboard with the DSC.
Contact: Steve Smith April 19, 2010
President, Board of Directors
410-667-0800 (w)
410-456-1591 (cell)The Downtown Sailing Center Appoints Kristen Berry to Serve as Executive Director
April 19, 2010, Baltimore, MD–The Board of Directors of the Downtown Sailing Center announced today the appointment of Kristen A. Berry as its Executive Director.
Mr. Berry is a nationally respected sailor, sailing coach and environmentalist, who facilitates teambuilding through sailing, and advocates for the protection of marine ecosystems. Berry has recently been honored as National Sailor of the Week by US Sailing, the national governing body of sailing, and selected by GQ Magazine’s Gentlemen Fund as its 2009 Conservation Pillar Honoree. Having sailed since childhood in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Berry has always been committed to quality sailing education and environmental awareness, serving as president of BirdPAC, a political action committee dedicated to bird conservation, director of communications and grassroots manager for The National Audubon Society, sailing coach and advisor for the National Maritime Heritage Foundation, and sailing instructor trainer for the United States Naval Academy. Berry also owns Gale Force Sailing, an Annapolis based organization that provides international coaching, instruction, innovative team building and leadership development programs.
According to Board President Stephen Smith, “Kristen Berry is held in very high regard by both sailors and environmentalists, is an outstanding educator, team builder and leader, and energizes everyone with whom he works. We believe that in addition to having the passion and vision to lead our award winning organization, Kristen also has that special quality of great educators to motivate our large volunteer base and to connect with and excite the great number of at-risk youth and persons with disabilities we are so honored to serve.”
The Downtown Sailing Center is a nationally recognized 501(c)(3) non-profit community based sailing organization that provides affordable and accessible sailing and educational programs to all persons across the spectrum, regardless of age, income, ability or disability. The Center’s 45 boat fleet and recently completed marina, located on the south harbor waterfront at the Baltimore Museum of Industry, provide a platform for a wide range of programs including a summer camp, disabled sailing, adult education, after work racing and sailing instructor training. The Center annually serves over 2,000 individuals from the Baltimore – Washington region and Pennsylvania.
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WATSON RETURNS HOME
May 17, 2010
Sixteen-year-old Jessica Watson has spent the past seven months in a self-imposed solitary confinement of sorts. For 210 days, the avid sailor skippered her 34-foot yacht, the Pink Lady, around the world, a feat few others, let alone teenagers, have accomplished.
But on Saturday afternoon, her solo trip ended in dramatic fashion as tens of thousands of cheering spectators and hundreds of boats turned out to welcome her home to Australia’s Sydney Harbor. “I haven’t seen a person for almost seven months and suddenly there’s just people everywhere — you know, faces, so much color, so much noise, so much everything,” she told a news conference. “All I’ve seen for so long is empty waves, so it was amazing and very overwhelming. At the same time, I achieved what I set out to.”
That achievement — her team claims she’s the youngest person to sail solo, nonstop and unassisted around the world — is not without controversy. A storm over whether she’d bested Jesse Martin, a fellow Australian recognized in 1999 as the youngest to make the voyage at 18, came to a head on sailing news websites last week, centering not on her age — nor on whether she circumnavigated the globe — but on whether she had sailed far enough.
Sailing websites such as Sail-World.com reported last week that Watson’s route wasn’t long enough orthodromically — that is, by measuring the shortest distance from point to point on a route — to hit 21,600 nautical miles, the length of the equator. Watson’s team has said she had sailed about 23,000 nautical miles, though it hasn’t claimed the distance is orthodromic. Critics have said her logged distance includes zig-zags that yachts inevitably make, and those zig-zags do not count for orthodromic distance.
The World Sailing Speed Record Council, which certified in 1999 that Martin was the youngest to make the trip, mandates 21,600 orthodromic nautical miles for round-the-world courses. Watson’s team has responded that it wasn’t aiming for any WSSRC record, because the council has stopped recognizing the “youngest” category. — CNN
Virgin Island Weather
March 30, 2010
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WHEN A DSQ BECOMES A DNF
March 30, 2010
WHEN A DSQ BECOMES A DNF
By Jos M Spijkerman, International Umpire/Judge
Summary of the Facts
Between the preparatory and starting signals, Ephesian on starboard tack and
Jupa on port tack approached each other head-to-head. Both boats were heavy
keelboats, 33 feet (10 m) long. Neither boat was aware of the other. The
bowmen on both boats, who normally would have been stationed by the
forestay, were handling their genoas, and no other crew members were keeping
a lookout. Ephesian was moving slowly with limited manoeuvrability. They
collided, causing serious damage to Jupa, who therefore retired. In the
resulting protest, Jupa was disqualified under rule 10 (opposite tacks), and
Ephesian was disqualified under rule 14 (avoiding contact). Ephesian
appealed, claiming that she could not have avoided Jupa by changing course
or speed.
Decision
Rule 14 begins ‘A boat shall avoid contact with another boat if reasonably
possible.’ This requirement means a boat must do everything that can
reasonably be expected of her in the prevailing conditions to avoid contact.
This includes keeping a good lookout, particularly in a crowded starting
line situation.
The protest committee concluded that if either boat had seen the other a
collision could have been avoided, even at the last minute, particularly if
Ephesian had hailed Jupa when it was clear that Jupa was not changing course
to keep clear. Until that moment, rule 14(a) allows a right-of-way boat to
delay acting to avoid contact. It follows that at that moment she must begin
to act in an effort to avoid contact. The word ‘act’ is not restricted to
changing course or speed. Hailing was an action that Ephesian could and
should have taken. Ephesian broke rule 14. Because the collision resulted in
damage, the protest committee’s decision to disqualify Ephesian was correct
(see rules 14(b) and 64.1(a)). Her appeal is therefore dismissed.
Clearly, Jupa broke rule 10. As a result of the serious damage she suffered
in the collision, she retired from the race and thus took the applicable
penalty (see rule 44.1(b)). Rule 64.1(b) prohibits penalizing her further.
The disqualification of Jupa is reversed and she is to be scored DNF.
Source: http://rrsstudy.blogspot.com/2010/03/pillowcase-of-week-9-107.html
Singles on Sailboats (SOS) Spring Training Presentation
March 14, 2010
Today I spoke to two groups of more than 50 folks at the Singles On Sailboats Spring Training. This is the third year that I have done this program and I really enjoy doing it every spring. I get to try out some new things and the feedback is great!
Here is a slide show of the material presented. I will be doing voiced over slide shows of the segments this week, so stay tuned!
About me
I am the owner of Gale Force Sailing and write about all things related to coaching, instruction and team building. contact me>>
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