Short Tacks – July 2010

East Coast Butt-Whipping Congratulations to Chris Small, who didn’t just win the 2010 East Coasts Championships (for the second straight year), but completely dominated them. Out of nine races, he collected seven bullets and a pair of twos, one of which he threw out, for a total of nine points. Nine points in nine races!! There was no second place. Chris and crew were simply untouchable. For the record, Team Pandapas/Kaznoski took second with 24 points and the Raisides/Pendleton team took 3rd with 30. Solid performances also were turned in by the four other Fleet 5 teams, including Saunders (6th), Reynolds/Shoreman (7th), Despres (10th) and Boyd (11th). Marblehead’s domination of the regatta – seven of the top-11 finishes, earned Fleet 5 its second straight East Coasts Fleet trophy, which will be on display for the duration at the Corinthian Yacht Club.

Register, Register, Register As of June 29th, there were precisely 10 boats registered for Race Week. 10 boats!!! People, please! To paraphrase an oft repeated and over used quote heard at East Coasts, “could you help a brother out?” Race Week is in three weeks. Press this link http://www.sailingworld.com/nood-regattas/marblehead now and save yourself a $50 late fee. And while you’re at it, click http://www.r19nationals.com/2010/ and get your Nationals registration done too.

The Men of Fleet 5 So overpowering was the spell cast by the shirtless Rick Saunders over the female team members at East Coasts, that we are inspired to put together a 2010 Men of Fleet 5 calendar. The distraction actually proved to be a competitive advantage for Rick as certain members of opposing teams temporarily lost focus during critical moments in starting sequences, crossings and mark roundings. This phenomenon was not lost on the race committee, who awarded Rick a bottle of Hawaiian Tropic at the awards banquet. Photos for inclusion in this first annual Men of Fleet 5 calendar can be submitted by email to kpandapas@comcast.net. If it’s not funny, don’t bother sending it. Do We Know You? You know a fleet is healthy and growing when you don’t recognize a bunch of the people on the race course. That means new folks are joining, which is terrific – new blood is the life blood of any fleet. But chances are that if we don’t know you, we won’t be able to joke with you on the starting line or poke fun at you when you beat us. You also may not be getting the appropriate attention in the high quality literary periodical before you. So send us your story. What’s your name, where did you come from, how long have you been sailing, what’s your favorite post-race beverage, which boat do you want to beat the most? Lay it on us – we want to know. Send anything you want to share to Christina Pandapas at Cpandapas@comcast.net.

Let’s Talk Some Trash They say that 50% of sailing is social, and we agree. The Corinthian porch is where you’ll find the most R19, post race, trash-talking action on the waterfront. Lots of folks don’t realize that the Corinthian operates a cash bar after MRA racing. They do that precisely to entice you to make the CYC porch your post-race destination. See you there soon (or someone might talk some trash about you!).