February! – It’s been cold for a while now and I’m sure we all are hoping it will warm up soon. It’s a good time to consider your goals for the year and what you hope to do accomplish. This year one big focus for the board will be education both on and off the water. To this end I encourage all of you to organize clinics either in conjunction with regattas or as standalone events. These could cover anything from rigging to on the water skills and be targeted to a wide range of sailors. Please reach out to your Regional Representative, or any board member with questions about this.

Learn to Race regattas and classes are a great way to introduce sailors to racing and can cover many topics from the basics of what is a start sequence and race course to strategies to get around the course. The recordings for Conner Blouin’s seminar on Starts and Mike Inghams seminar on Strategy and Tactics as well as Dave Perry’s seminar on rules are all online at sunfishclass.org>MEMBER ONLY CONTENT, and we will be adding more this year. You will need to log into the site to be able to access these.

At the end of letter is a summary of the inaugural article for our USSCA Library - Strength Training: The Silent Crew Member Every Competitive Sailor Needs. The library is part of the MEMBER ONLY CONTENT.

Please take the time to renew your membership. This runs January to January so the sooner you sign up the sooner you can enjoy our members benefits including a discount from Zim Sailing! 

Feel free to reach out to me with any suggestions or questions. I am always happy to hear from you. 

Susan Mallows

President USSCA
ussca.president@sunfishclass.org 

I would also like to announce the new USSCA Sail Number policy. In brief, this codifies our standard practice for assigning sail numbers and allows for a new category of Vanity Sail Numbers to be assigned. Vanity Numbers are 3 digits or less. If you currently have a 3 digit or less number please contact the Class Administrator to have it formally assigned to you. This will avoid duplicates of this number. We are encouraging a $250 donation to the USSCA Foundation to be assigned one of these numbers.  More information on Sail Numbers, USSCA Vanity Numbers and proper installation CLICK HERE. Contact the Class Office if you have questions at info@sunfishclass.org. 

USSCA FOUNDATION

The USSCA Foundation has realized 88% of the matching grant of $10K provided by Hank Saurage. We would like to thank everyone for donating as this is a great start to developing funding to support class activities such as education and the clinics and seminars we are planning this year. More information or to make a donation CLICK HERE. 

US SAILING FOUNDATION

We also have been awarded a grant from US Sailing Foundation to support our top US Sailors to go to the World Championships. The goal of this grant is to prepare our best sailors for Pan American Games in 2027. Congratulations to Taylor Eastman (Women's NAs), Wyatt Romberg (Youth NAs) and Conner Blouin (top US finisher at NAs). 

Considering buying a new boat?
Look for the World Sailing Plaque

World Sailing Plaque: Why It Matters

A World Sailing (WS) Plaque confirms that an ISCA boat was built to approved class specifications. It ensures consistency among boats and guarantees that any changes have been approved by the class, the builder, and World Sailing. A WS Plaque helps maintain long-term boat value and is also required to race in any race that applies class rules if you intend to do so.

What does the World Sailing Plaque mean?

World Sailing is the world governing body for the sport of sailing. World Sailing Plaques are issued only to boats that are approved by World Sailing for official World Sailing classes. In 2025 World Sailing approved the ISCA boat as the class-legal successor to the Sunfish® (all Sunfish produced prior to 2025 continue to be legal). World Sailing also approved Zim Sailing as the builder of the ISCA. All new class legal boats come with an ISCA World Sailing Plaque (sticker) in the cockpit of the boat.

Boat owner notice:

Per our class Rule 2.5, all hulls produced in 1998 and later carry a World Sailing Building Plaque. Boats built by Laser Performance between 2021 and March 2023 may have been delivered without compliant plaques. Owners of boats from this period -- or boats built between 1998 and 2020 that don’t have an ISAF or World Sailing plaque -- should contact the class with their hull number for assistance (info@sunfishclass.org). 

Examples of earlier and current World Sailing plaques, including the plaque introduced in January 2025, are shown in the below images. If a new boat you are considering buying does not have these plaques it has not been built to class standards.

The below article was authored by Megan Justice in conjunction with Doug Kaukenin. Megan is a well-known consultant who works with multiple members of the class to focus on specific strength training strategies

At its core, strength training (also known as resistance training) is any physical activity designed to improve muscular fitness by exercising a specific muscle or muscle group against external resistance. You don't necessarily need a gym full of iron to do strength training. Resistance can come from several sources:

• Bodyweight: Using your own mass (e.g., push-ups, squats, pull-ups; planks).
• Free Weights: Dumbbells, barbells, or kettlebells.
• Weight Machines: Devices with built-in cables or pulleys.
• Resistance Bands: Elastic bands that provide tension when stretched.

At all the levels of sailing, victory is rarely decided by wind alone. It is shaped by how well an athlete can become part of the boat under constantly changing forces. Strength training acts like a seasoned crew member below deck, unseen but indispensable, keeping performance sharp when conditions are anything but calm 

Here’s why structured strength training belongs at the core of high-level competitive sailing programs.

Force Production Meets Force Absorption

Sailing demands the ability to generate force while simultaneously resisting it. Grinding, trimming, hiking, and rapid sail transitions all require powerful, coordinated muscular effort. Just as critical is the ability to absorb unpredictable loads from wind shifts, waves, and sudden maneuvers.

Strength training enhances:

• Maximal and explosive force production for sail handling and rapid adjustments
• Eccentric strength to decelerate movement and protect joints during sudden load changes
• Tendon and connective tissue resilience, reducing the risk of overuse injuries

The result is an athlete who stays composed and effective when the boat, and the sea, get unruly. 

Continued... USSCA MEMBERS, to continue reading please go to sunfishclass.org and LOGIN, Go to MEMBER ONLY CONTENT> USSCA Library - Strength Training from the drop-down menu.  If you are not a member, please renew today! 

Griffin Sisk (Westhampton Yacht Squadron, NY) hiking hard at 2025 ISCA Worlds!