Our first team training saw 4.5 sailors out on the water today...for both some glassy and lovely breeze on Lake Merritt. We had a great time...with a warm sunny afternoon in January. Yes, global warming and drought conditions are not good...but it makes for a nice winter day in California!

And speaking of training, we've set our training schedule for anyone interested in learning more about racing as well as for those interested in participating in the Gay Games in Cleveland...more on that part in a moment. First, the schedule...

We will be scheduled to meet twice a month on the 2nd and 4th Sunday afternoons from 1-4pm at Lake Merritt Boating Center...with the next training date on February 9. You enter at the Fairyland entrance and it does cost a flat $5 fee to park on the weekends, but there's usually plenty of parking in the lot right next to the boat house. We will meet outside the office on/by the lake map painted on the ground. We'll plan on have both "chalk talk" time as well as sailing time...more inside rules discussion and strategy coaching if the weather isn't cooperative, but we'll still plan to meet. The key will be flexibility. Sometimes we may not meet for the full 3 hours, and sometimes we may just plan to meet at a nearby eatery instead of at the boat house...we'll be in touch with announcements here and on Facebook as well as with each other directly.

Would like to repeat the invitation to anyone interested in racing at all, you do *not* have to be going to the Games. You'll learn more about racing and we'll have more people in boats to train with! We share in the cost of the boat rentals.

Now...important info about Gay Games registration!

Anyone who is planning to be a skipper needs to have at least one other team member registered on your boat or the "team" gets nullified and you are just a sailor/skipper without a team. January 31 is the deadline to get at least two people registered for your team. As of today, there were 21 competitive teams registered (spinnaker), but they're trying to figure out how many sets of sails they'll need for the Lightnings. Please be sure to register now!

If you haven't registered at all...including the general registration to the Games, you should be able to use the code TEAMSF to get a $30 discount on the general registration until January 31. There is not discount on the $280 sailing fee.

Please be sure to stay tuned in here for more info specific to SF Sailing Team specifics and to the GG9 sailing webpage for general event info:
http://www.gg9cle.com/participate/sports/sailing

It's starting to happen...August will be here quick! :)

Team Blog

Racing Training Schedule & Important GG9 Info