Lido 14 Class Championships Evolution Sails V1 of 1
From High Sierra Tuning to the National Podium: A Lido 14 Campaign at Huntington Lake
by Cameron Feves Lido 14 3474
Building up to a National Championship requires speed, strategic preparation, and the resilience to overcome unexpected hardware failures under pressure. Having not sailed the Lido 14 in over a year—and with minimal prior time in the class outside of a few Thursday night races at Alameda Yacht Club—my crew, Cade Morris, and I set out for a two-week campaign at Huntington Lake, California. Equipped with a brand-new sail package and expert guidance from Greg Dair, we used the annual High Sierra Regatta as an aggressive tuning platform before taking on the Lido 14 National Championship.
https://www.fluid-dynamics.design/shop/sails
https://lido14.theclubspot.com/regatta/lwA6WP7u8B/results
Part I: High Sierra Regatta – Pushing Limits & Dialing In Downwind Pace
Our campaign began with the annual High Sierra Regatta at Huntington Lake, competing in a 11-boat fleet. After driving up through Fresno and setting up camp in the dark at Rancheria Campground, we hit the Lakeshore launch ramp early Saturday morning, rigged the boat, and unrolled our new sails for the first time.
Knowing our ultimate goal was to peak at the National Championship the following week, I told Cade (my crew) we should treat the High Sierra regatta as a full-scale laboratory:
Aggressive Starts: We deliberately put ourselves in challenging, high-density starting positions to practice fighting out of dirty air and bad spots. We also tried to put ourselves in tight to leeward and tight to windward spots to see if we could hold our lanes.
Course Validation: We intentionally pushed to sides of the course we were uncertain about to test wind patterns and shift reliability at Huntington Lake.
The upwind speed with our new sail package was immediate and dominant. We rounded the top mark in first place in nearly every single race. However, we quickly figured out that we didn’t have the pace on the downwind legs.
Mid-Regatta Sail Trim debrief
On Saturday evening, I reached out directly to Greg to troubleshoot our downwind performance. Greg walked us through several critical operational adjustments:
Sailing slightly higher angles downwind to keep the sail loaded and maintain consistent pressure.
Raising the centerboard significantly higher than we previously had to reduce underwater drag and keeping the VMG similar by letting the boat slide more..
The impact of Greg’s advice was instantaneous. Our downwind pace surged on Sunday. Ultimately we went into the last race winning the event, and had a pretty decent race…that is until the wind shut off at the last leeward mark rounding. We rounded in 3rd, and it took us over an hour to cover the last half of the beat (30 boat lengths) and got passed by 3 boats that drifted past us. We finished that race 6th, our worst score of the event, but we still pulled out a tie for 1st Place overall, but losing the tiebreaker for a 2nd place overall. More importantly, we left High Sierra with complete trust in our upwind speed and a proven playbook for Nationals.
Intermission: Refueling & Recalibrating
With a rest day scheduled before Nationals, we took a quick supply trip down to Fresno to pick up a new VHF radio, enjoyed a solid meal or two, and recharged mentally after days of camping. We returned to Huntington Lake locked in and ready for the 3-day National Championship format.
Part II: Lido 14 National Championship – Breakdown, Rebuild, and Match Racing for the Title
The Lido 14 National Championship format consists of a 3-race Qualifying Series on Tuesday to divide the fleet into Gold and Silver divisions, followed by a reset of the scores and two days of championship racing.
Tuesday: Qualifying Series & On-the-Water Repairs
We opened Tuesday’s qualifier in solid breeze and made an immediate statement by winning Race 1 with a sizable lead.
Race 2 began just as strong, we executed a clean start near the pin end, which carried about a 5° port bias. Rolling straight over multi-time National Champion Stu Robertson right at the gun, we popped out into clear air toward the favored left side of the course.
Two minutes into the beat, riding a fresh left shift, we executed a roll tack. Mid-tack, a loud BANG echoed across the deck- the port shroud chainplate pulled completely out, sending the rig sideways.
Trying not to let our spirits down but also upset that our qualifying effort might be over, we raced back to the dock holding the mast up by hand and flying the jib only. Fortunately, regatta volunteer Dana McClish rushed to assist with tools from his van. Together, we stripped the sails, dropped the rig, drilled two new mounting holes, and re-secured the chainplate. Against all odds, we returned to the starting line for Race 3, sailed carefully on the repaired port shroud to finish 2nd place- scoring 15 points total, putting us in 8th place in the qualifying series out of 22, and securing our primary goal of making the Gold Fleet.
Wednesday: Gold Fleet Racing & The Team Trophy
Wednesday brought an exciting secondary goal: under regatta rules pairing high-qualifying Gold Fleet sailors with lower qualifying Silver Fleet competitors, our poor qualification standing paired us with one of the top Silver teams for the event’s Team Championship Trophy.
However, early adversity struck again in Race 1 when our forestay fitting came undone. While continuing to sail upwind at reduced speed, we managed to re-attach the forestay mid-race. Though we crossed in last place, we used that race as our throw-out for the series and spent the rest of the day chipping away at the leaderboard with consistent finishes, entering the final day sitting 5th overall (7 points behind 1st and 5 points off 3rd).
Thursday: The Final Championship Showdown
On Thursday, our boat speed and tactical execution peak aligned seamlessly. We delivered a ruthless 2-2-1 performance in the first three races of the day. Heading into the 8th and final race of the regatta, the mathematical standings were dead heat: we were tied for 1st Place overall with two-time defending champion Mark Ryan, with 3rd and 4th place trailing by just a point or two. (6 total, 3 consecutive titles for Mark)
The final race turned into an epic, course-wide match race:
A slight starting line error put us on the back foot early, forcing an aggressive comeback effort.
We engaged in a classic duel with defending champions Mark Ryan and Sarah Schaupeter, trading blows and lead changes on the upwind leg as we worked through shifts and tactical covers.
Mark snuck ahead on the final downwind to take the race win and lock up his third consecutive National title.
Unfortunately that means we did finish second. Having said that, I’m really proud of how we sailed, with limited prior experience and new sail design. We also did win the team trophy and by a very wide margin!
Without the speed of our new sail package, Greg’s setup expertise, shore-side help from Dana McClish, boatwork support from Jackson McCoy, and the tireless efforts of my crew Cade Morris, this podium finish wouldn't have been possible.
We are already looking forward to returning next year to chase the top spot on the podium!
