Annie Haeger and Luke Ramsey, 2016 Olympians, sailed a C-Scow at the 2017 ILYA Championship Regatta at Lake Geneva, WI.  With very little time in the boat, they finished 8th in a tough 66-boat fleet.  Here they share C-Scow race course notes, including developing boat speed, strategy, and discuss the skill level of the fleet compared to high level international competition.

Key points:

• They used 6.2 knots as a target speed for upwind sailing in breeze, and think this was a good target to maximize VMG.
• Strategy varied from day one to day two, with day one being more of an oscillating breeze and day two requiring you to favor a side and cross the middle only in good pressure.
• Importance of being able to hold a lane, especially because scows generate so much bad air.
• Recognition that, while the skill level of the fleet is very high, they see more aggressive boat handling during starts in international competition.  They spent 60% of their pre-ILYA practice time on improving acceleration and pre-start boat handling.

Vincent Porter Shares Race Course Notes at ILYA Championship Regatta
Peter Keck Shares Race Course Notes at 2017 ILYA Championships