*Road To The Cup – Week 6 (Father’s Day Edition)*
*Top-10 as of 6/21/15* (With Kim traveling, this week’s Road To The Cup is
brought to you by Charlie Pendleton.)
It was back to our regularly scheduled programming this week and the
results are tightening up a bit for the cup. There have been a lot of
questions about the road to the cup scores and inquiries to *Jim* about why
scores change the way they do. A lot has to do with when you take a
bye. Remember – your bye for those races you skip is the average of the
races you do sail for the series. So, the average changes as you continue
to sail. Suffice it to say, two boats taking a bye at the same time aren’t
scored the same – they are scored their average. It’s great that everyone
is paying close attention, you can see the results tighten and shift each
week!
*Twilight Series: *(contributed by *John Casler*) The June 18 Twilight Race
was sailed in a beautiful SE breeze, just a little lighter than 10k. The
angle was tough though for the RC to get a course, using the government
marks, that had a true beat. All four boats approached the first mark, the
nun off Ft. Sewall, overlapped. *Steve Uhl*, sailing with long time
Twilight ace crew *Tracy McGonagle*, rounded on the inside, and was able to
fetch the second mark, Can 1, on one starboard tack. *Rob Ferro* and *Kent
Hallawell *in 2435 had to take *Steve’s* bad air all the way down the one
legged beat, and ultimately had to tack to make the mark. 1775, with *John
Casler* and *Connie Blake*, rounded third and lagged the first and second
boats, while *Sarah Sheldon* rounded behind the others and sailed the beat
with no chance to break through. The reach back into the harbor and the
second go round provided no opportunities for position changes. A note on
the course- evening breezes this June have tended to die, and sending us
out to marks which might have provided a true beat would also have risked
long paddles back in.
NOTICE: The race on Tuesday June 30 will provide a unique opportunity for
less experienced racers to give Twilight racing a go. It will be a
practice race, and we will attempt to have help on hand for those looking
for advice on the starting sequence, course, etc. The details will depend
on how many newcomers are interested, and therefore have yet to be fully
worked out. Email johnscasler@gmail.com if you are interested. This will
be the first R-19 Tuesday Twilight Race since the early ’80s.
*Out on the MRA line:* I got my first view from the front of the bus this
past Saturday, crewing for Jim – who came off the bench cold to drive 1217
for the first time all season. So, for once, I actually got to see what
was going on out on the race course. The day started off as sort of an
extension of the East Coasts. NE breeze with a forecasted sea breeze.
The strong NE winds that we all enjoyed on the way out to the start dialed
back as if on queue, to give us another very light air day. Unlike the East
Coasts though, we were left with a lot of chop. Add to that: cruising
boat, power boat, competitor generated waves… you get the idea. The words
“washing machine” were uttered on more than one boat. We had 11 boats
start the first race – maybe a bit of East Coasts hangover, but for the
first time I can remember, we were not the largest fleet on the starting
line! The J70s were 12 strong. It was great to see some new faces out
there for the first time this season. *Debbie Noble*, *Rick Berliner*, *Bruce
Bolin (with Peter Sorlien and John Casler!)* to name a few.
*Race one* saw what looked like it would be the beginning of the sea breeze
kick in. With a new second windward mark set further to the right, the
lead boats around the first leeward mark (*Raisides*, *Nelson*,*Hourihan*)
bit on the forecasted sea breeze and pushed the right. But *Larry
Ehrhardt* (sailing
with local woman’s-Laser-rock star *Callie Naughton*) smartly played a
small left shift and (more importantly) pressure up the second beat to come
out of the left to round the last windward mark in first and cruise on home
to a bullet to open up the day – followed by *Raisides*, *Nelson* and
*Hourihan* to round out the top four.
*Race two* saw more head fakes from the forecasted sea breeze. Despite
pre-race right favored winds, at the start a left/down-speed breeze made it
hard to get off the line on starboard. *Ehrhardt*, *Nelson* and *Lane* rounded
the windward mark in the top three spots. The first downwind leg was
pretty interesting, with some big pressure differentials coupled with a few
sizable shifts. *Raisides* gybed immediately at the windward mark and made
the most of more pressure and a right shift to slip past all but
*Nelson*. The
last windward leg was all about dodging Vipers and staying in pressure as
the waves and light wind made you pay for mistakes. *Raisides* rounded the
top mark ahead of *Seamus* and *Nelson* and the finishing order held from
there. *Joe Fava*, sailing with *Ken Cormier* punched out the four spot –
those two are dangerous together – read on.
*Race three* was weird. Let me explain. First, we had ONLY *seven* Rhodes
on the line. This, *despite Rick Berliner *joining the races after race
one to bring us to twelve Rhodes. Five Rhodes sailed in and bailed on the
last race!? I feel like I must have missed the memo – was there a party
on-shore that we weren’t invited to?? I did find out from *Josh* that
*Mike* had to go to a dance recital. The thought of *Mike* in a tutu is
pretty disturbing but I hope it all worked out for him! More weirdness –
the start. Immediately after the starting gun we were greeted on the VHF
by Suzy’s cheery voice “you’re all over”. It was like some kind of
Chinese fire drill (totally not PC – sorry, but most of have done this at a
red light as teenager). All the boats went into an odd sort of backwards
ballet, scrambling to get back and re-start… with no real wind. This,
with an A course, meant it was anyone’s race! Long story short, the
finishing order was *Seamus*, *Larry* and *Joe/Ken* who gybed at the
windward mark and cleaned team *Raisides*/*Pendleton’s *clock downwind with
some heads up tactics. Nice work!
On the day, *Hourihan*/*Frisch* and *Raisides*/*Pendleton* tied for first
overall with 7 points (shout out to *Jim* for a rock-solid first day back
on the stick this season – no rust on that guy). Next up – *Larry
Ehrhardt **with Callie Naughton *sailed incredibly well. I hope to see
more of them – what a good team. *Dave Nelson* followed with his son
*Cameron*. Honorable mention goes to team *Fava/Cormier* – nice work.
A few notes – first, we saw another mast break at the hands of the EYC
hoist this weekend. I’ve been there – Jim and I bent 1217’s mast badly a
few years ago on the hoist and spent the evening getting her straight,
using our trailer as a brace. Be careful on the hoist – I hate the idea
that we’re going to be missing some of our best peeps due to busted
equipment. Next – see the attached picture. It explains why stalwart
racers – the Berliners – are a little late to the party this year. Snow
did that – right along the port bench. Makes me thankful that I chose to
climb on 1217 and shovel off what felt like close to a few thousand pounds
of snow!
So in Cup competition, things stay relatively the same with regard to the
pecking order: Team Hourihan/Frisch atop the leader board with Steve
Uhl only 8 pts back. But it’s *early*. The top-10 are listed below.
1st
1210
Hourihan / Frisch
54.29
2nd
2585
Steve Uhl
61.86
3rd
1217
Pendleton / Raisides
64.75
4th
982
Team Pandapas
81.86
5th
1090
Dru Slattery
91.00
6th
2623
Mike Lane
94.57
7th
2435
Larry Ehrhardt
99.00
8th
1683
Matt Hooks
104.00
9th
2692
Team Heffernan
110.00
10th
1316
Fava/Mazareas
114.00
Week 7 is sure to see more Rhodes out on the water racing. The post ECs
hangover in the rear view mirror, it’s time to get serious. With no
racing July
4th weekend, THERE ARE ONLY *THREE* more MRA days before race week. Get
out there and practice. See you out there Saturday!
(And now, back over to Kim for the rest of the summer – thanks for loaning
me the microphone!)
– Charlie
–
[image: Rick.jpg]
