Hello everyone,
When I first got to the dock
on Saturday morning I wondered if the Cold 'N Nasty would be a blow-out. The wind kept building and around
Rich sailed with Jeanette Krstolich, and Ed Krstolich was
our race committee. Many thanks to him!
Once we got out on the
course I realized that the wind was just plain ugly.
South south-west is NOT a
good breeze on the pond. We set 2
different weather marks depending on the breeze, but neither was ideal. The short course that we used for 5 races had
such short legs that it was hard to find a passing lane, but on the other hand
it was a better upwind leg. The longer
course with the mark to the southwest made for better downwind legs but you hardly
had to tack at all. And if you got
greedy and went too far south you lost a lot of the breeze.
I never did figure out the
best starting strategy for this day. I
had some great success starting at the boat end in the first couple of races,
for even if that end wasn't favored it seemed like I got the puffs first. Later on it was often better to start at the
pin and then immediately cross the fleet.
We all had our moments, and we all took turns getting lagooned!
Steve Lavender and Liz
O'Conner won the first two races handily--quite impressive considering the
tricky winds. Steve was particularly
sharp on the downwind legs of the second race.
He saw the wind shadow from the island and sailed all the way to the north
shore before gybing over to starboard. Those of us that took the "rhumb line route" had to watch Steve leave us in the
dust. We often sat with sails flapping
while watching the motor boat wake behind Steve!
Mark Kastel
and Mike Pierce won the next 3 races. It
seemed that besides getting good starts that Mark knew when to tack and when to
sail on the header. We had a couple of
races where getting around the weather mark was just awful, with boats sailing
parallel courses on opposite tacks. I
got stuck in irons a couple of times, and every time I bore off the wind went
with me. Looking back I probably sailed
into a big hole, so my forward speed was causing the velocity shift and I would
have been better off just coasting for a bit.
We had a lot of rules "discussions" at the marks but
everything was settled on the water.
In the last race we decided
to go 4 times around the marks instead of the usual 3. Steve was leading the race and thought he had
one more lap to go, and Rich let him know that it was
time to cross the finish line. Steve
rounded up but hooked the mark so he had to re-round. Rich ended up winning the last race with Mark
in second. Mark had come from behind
after doing a penalty turn and he really made up the distance quickly. His second allowed him to drop his third
place in the first race and he ended up with only 7 points. Steve was second with 15 points, and Rich got
me by one point and finished third with 17 points! Rich also wins the quote of the day award.
After one especially tough
race he sailed over to me and asked, "Do you really do this every Sunday?!"
After the racing we headed
over to Dick and Darlene's house for the party.
It was a wonderful evening
and I hated to leave early for a concert.
After awarding the top three in the regatta we presented Dick with 2
trophies.
One makes him an honorary
member for life in our fleet, and the other will be awarded to a different
person every year who best exemplifies excellence in sailing on and off the
water. Then it was time for "Tenner stories" and boy, did we have some
stories! I particularly enjoyed the one
where Dick capsized and then Steve tee-boned him while Cottie
was thinking Steve was going over to help!
But underneath all the stories were the common themes that we're really
going to miss sailing with Dick, and we all see him as a friend and mentor.
On Sunday 5 boats gathered
to sail again, and this time the weather was much nicer but the wind was still
challenging. We set a very short course
with the weather mark to the southwest, and Mark Kastel
and Mike Pierce ran the races from their boat since we didn't have race
committee. It took us awhile to figure
out where to set the starting line, but we generally had pretty good
beats. Like the previous day it was often
very difficult to round the weather mark, and the fleet generally bunched up
since there was very little breeze there.
Overall the right side paid off a little more even though there were
some nice shifts from the left. It was a
day when it was sometimes better to go for pressure rather than angle. Mark won the first two races and appeared to
be running away with the day. I posted
two seconds, and Fritz had two thirds.
Fritz nailed the start of the third race and jumped ahead of the fleet. He rounded the weather mark in first and I
was a few boat lengths back. Mark was right
behind me and immediately gybed to port. While gybing he was
hit by a big puff and I watched with some concern as he rounded up and was
going, going, GOING! At the last
possible second he avoided a chilly swim but his boat was quite full of water. Bill and Mike passed Mark, and Fritz and I
hung on to finish first and second.
Mark posted a fifth, so at
this point he had 7 points along with Fritz, and I had 6 points. Fritz led the fourth race for the first lap,
and then I passed him on the second beat.
Seconds away from the finish line Mark caught Fritz as well so I guess
Mark had managed to bail all the water out of his boat. The fifth race was all Mark from start to
finish. I hung on for second but almost
lost Mike Boyle on the second beat. In
the last race Mark was leading on the second beat when I got a puff and a lift
on starboard that put me in the lead. I
had to hold Mark off on the run along with Mike who was going downwind really
well. Mark finished second but ended up
winning the day by one point over me--second day in a row I lost out by one
point. I was both pleased and
discouraged with my boat speed using my new light air sail. My regular sail is
only two years old and I hate to see it compare so poorly to the new sail. I've been saving this light air sail for 2
years hoping I could use it in the Internationals but it hasn't happened since
'03 and I decided it was time to start using it.
Coming up: Thanksgiving
races are just around the corner--weather permitting. Dick will be race committee but he needs
someone to pick up the crash boat at Lloyds beach in
Sunday, November 26th is the
annual single-handed championship. Bring
your water bottles and your cold weather clothes.
Kastel/Pierce: 3--2--1--1--1--2 = 7 points.
Lavender/O'Conner:
1--1--6--5--4--4 = 15 points.
Chapman/Krstolich:
2--3--8--8--3--1 = 17 points.
Pegis/water: 4--4--3--4--6--3 = 18 points.
Rickard/water: 5--5--4--2--7--6 = 22 points.
Hanselman/water: 7--7--2--7--5--5 = 26 points.
Boyle/water: NS--NS--7--3--2--NF = 30 points.
Perley/water: 6--6--5--NF--8--8 = 33 points.
Provencher/water: 8--8--9--6--NF--7 = 38 points.
Kastel/Pierce: 1--1--5--2--1--2 = 7 points.
Pegis: 2--2--2--1--2--1 = 8 points.
Hanselman: 3--3--1--3--NF--NS = 15 points.
Boyle: 4--4--3--4--3--3 = 17 points.
Perley: 5--5--4--5--4--4 = 22 points.
Hope to see you next Sunday!
Regards,
Jon