Regatta Recap: 2021 VX One Southeast Regional Championship Series

We catch up with Ken Corsig and Pete Marriot after their 2nd place in the first ever VX One Southeast Regional Championship Series.

Karl Felger: What conditions did you encounter at the event, and how did you set up the boat in preparation?

Ken Corsig & Pete Marriott: With this being a series with different regattas and venues, we had big breeze to light breeze and shifty. We bring the rig to base at the start of every day, then adjust based upon wind conditions.

KF: Tell us about your team, their positions and how you interact with them during the race.

KC & PM: Our team is made up of the co-owners Ken and Pete, we alternate driving every other regatta and the other is tactician/crew; we have found this helps us get better as a driver and tactician, overall making us stronger. Pre-race we game plan together looking up the course trying to come with a strategy for the start and first leg. During the race we are communicating on what is going on outside the boat and what to expect next. We filled in the events with a third depending upon conditions, always looking at personality and fit. With an attempt to bring new people to the class.

KF: What was the biggest contributor to your success at the event?

KC & PM: Consistency has helped; we discuss how to improve after each race and regatta. We sailed a lot this summer from our clubs Thursday night series to every regatta in the series which gave us a lot of tiller time; also, having the team from Evolution assist with tuning and some practice sails greatly helped us improve our boat speed.

KF: Can you give us some insight on what made you and your team so fast?

We go out to have fun and compete well, we work hard as a team to be fast but when things go wrong, we look forward at what is coming and how to we need to respond vs harping on any mistakes.

KF: What are the top 3 things you and your team do to make the boat go fast?

KC & PM: Boat prep, we go over the boat to ensure all gear/equipment is in great shape. Ken and I both exercise to be able to handle the long days on the water and not get tired. Communication, we are always looking up the racecourse discussing what we need to be doing and where we need to be.

Photo courtesy of Tom Payne