Road To The Cup – Week 17

*Road To The Cup – Week 17* *Top-10 as of 9/13/15* I have been delinquent in failing to report the sad news of *Bill Lampe’s* passing this spring. Anyone who’s been around the class for a while and attended a Nationals or two would have had a hard time not getting to know Bill, who sailed with the Chicago fleet. If there was a more gregarious, personable, fun-loving guy in our class than Bill, I sure didn’t know him. This short piece from Fleet 12 sums it up. “*Bill Lampe*, 69, passed away in his home on May 31, 2015, of complications from diabetes. Bill was the owner of Rhodes 19, PAX, a brand new Stuart Rhodes. He was fleet captain of our Fleet 12, chaired the Nationals here at CCYC in 1993 and was class president from 1999 through 2001. He went to every Nationals he could and in *Rodney Dangerfield* fashion took pride in having the longest streak of finishing last in the Nationals. Participation, not winning was his thing. He sold his boat in 2000 and moved to Colorado with his wife, Mary, whom he had married in 1984. He was a jack-of-all-trades, especially enjoying photography and cooking. He loved to make people laugh and laugh with them.” [image: F5F617FE-31BC-486C-9859-7B66243A4D56.png] What a guy. He is missed.

Lots of stuff in the mailbag this week. For starters, *Rick Saunders* wrote in to tell us that he is now the proud owner of 1686. Rick skippered his own boat on and off over the years, and for the past couple of seasons, has crewed with *Steve Uhl*. But now he’s got his own ride again, so we can look forward to another regular boat on our line next year (*settle down ladies…* ). Also on the new boat front, old friend *Jeremy Bloxham* continues to make progress restoring and optimizing his boat, which he expects to be ready for next season. Without a doubt, Jeremy is the most hands-on, resourceful boat owner I know. Check out this homemade hoist he built for turning his boat upside down. [image: 763DF20C-7EC1-4C35-B266-947ACDEE8E22.png] [image: 7EB5BA93-E4E9-4894-BCBF-E9BE2F2781FB.png] Finally, you may have heard that *Charlie Pendleton* is racing this week for the EYC in the New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup ( www.nyyc.org/yachting/invitational-cup/2015-invitational-cup) on a boat skippered by *Bill Lynn*. *Ben Richardson* is also part of the team. It’s a big deal event that will last for the entire week. You can follow the action a bunch of ways, as described at www.nyyc.org/images/pdf/2015_ic/2015_ic_how-to-follow.pdf. With MRA done for the season, the results are finally in. I’ll remind you that the MRA overall includes the three summer series plus the just completed Labor Day regatta (Series 4). Both the Spring Series and Fall Series are stand-alone events hosted by EYC and CYC respectively. While not included in MRA scoring, they of course are included in our Cup scoring. Anyway, congratulations to *Team Hourihan / Frisch* who took 1st with 99.3 total points. They sailed consistently all season long, winning the first series and finishing 2nd, 4th and 3rd in the next three. Congratulations on a fine season. Finishing 2nd overall with 105.8 points was *Team Pendleton / Raisides*, who also were top-4 in all four series, winning two of them and finishing 4-1-3-1 – another banner summer for them. Taking 3rd was *Team Pandapas*, who despite missing most of the 1st series and failing to crack the top five in the 2nd, came back to win the 3 rd series and finished 5th in the 4th series, putting up 138.9 points. Finishing 4th with 145.6 point was Fleet Captain *Mike Lane*, who finished top-5 in 3 of the four series, and taking 5th was *Steve Uhl*, who put up 191.9 points. Congratulations to all. Just a reminder – a permanent R19 trophy listing the top-10 MRA finishers of the last 2-3 decades hangs in the CYC trophy room, and of course, these results will eventually be recorded there too. If you’ve never seen it, check it out next time you’re at CYC. So, for Fall Series, the weatherman predicted sunny skies and a light northeasterly and that’s exactly what we got. Unfortunately in this case, ‘we’ refers only to *Steve Uhl* sailing with *Maura Power*. They rigged and sailed out, only to find no one to play with. The horror! Here’s what Steve had to say. “Wimps! What happened to my fleet? Maura and I ventured out on a beautiful day only to have nobody to play with. I guess I need an Etchells if I want to race in the fall! ” (Ouch!) Honestly, I don’t remember the last time no one showed up for a race. I, of course, am not one to talk, as I haven’t sailed a Fall Series race for years, but still, what’s up with that? Anyway Steve tells me they had a nice cruise day nonetheless. So, in Cup competition, as you’d expect, nothing has changed. The top-10 are listed below. 1st 1210 Hourihan / Frisch 223.29 2nd 1217 Pendleton / Raisides 231.75 3rd 982 Team Pandapas 271.86 4th 2623 Mike Lane 331.57 5th 2585 Steve Uhl 331.86 6th 3172 Dave Nelson 345.00 7th 1683 Matt Hooks 360.00 8th 2692 Team Heffernan 383.00 9th 1316 Fava / Mazareas 387.00 10th 1926 Team Taylor 388.00 Week 18 – In case you missed it, the Fall Series race next week (September 19th) has been cancelled, so there will be no racing in Week 18. The following Saturday September 26th (week 19) will be the 2nd and final day of Fall Series, which will bring our 2015 season to a close. –kp *kpandapas@comcast.net* <kpandapas@comcast.net>