Road To The Cup – Week 1

Road To The Cup – Week 1

Top-10 as of 5/28/17

There were no Twilight this week as far as we know.  If there was one, it would have been a practice race and not scored.  Race 1 starts this Thursday.

Out on the MRA line, Spring Series brought us beautifully uncharacteristic conditions, though it didn’t start that way.  The Saturday forecast was for 8-10 NE under cloudy skies, which is not what we got.  Instead, we rode out in a spirited, building northeasterly that topped out at about 15-16 knots, under sunny skies and bone-chilling temps.  Classic spring conditions, which may have encouraged a team or two to get to their gardening instead.  But by the time racing started, it had moderated and turned into one of those chamber of commerce days with an oscillating breeze that generally trended right through the first couple of races, rewarding the boats who protected that side.  By the end of the 2nd race it was July, and outgoing current took over as the dominant condition in a dying sea breeze.  Day 2 was kind of a mirror image.  Early conditions picked up where Day 1 left off, treating us to sunny skies and a pleasant 10-12 knot easterly that built over the day, topping out at 14-15 with pretty impressive seas and the occasional surf downwind.  By the 3rd race, the skies were overcast and sky over Boston looked threatening.

Four fleets showed up on Saturday (R19s, IODs, E22s and Vipers) and the J70s joined us on Sunday.  For Fleet 5, a respectable nine boats showed up on Day 1.  We lost one of those on Day 2 but picked up another, so nine boats each day.  The EYC RC hit the water in mid-season form, as PRO Susie Schneider got in three races on Saturday and three on Sunday.

For the day results, Team Pandapas took Day 1 on a tie-breaker with a 4-3-2 for 9 points.  Finishing 2nd was Team Felton who rolled a 2-4-3, also for 9 points.  Taking 3rd was Team Lane-Heffernan with a 1-5-4 for 10 points.  Honorable mentions go to Team Frisch-Hourihan, who took 4th with 7-1-6 for 14 points, and Larry Ehrhardt, who took 5th on a tie-breaker with a 9-6-1 for 16 points.  Who was he tied with?  Glad you asked.  Taking 6th with a 3-8-5, also for 16 points was young Wilson Kaznoski (with his dad crewing).  How awesome is that?  

Day 2 belonged to Larry Ehrhardt, who shook off the rust and rolled a 1-2-3 for 6 points to win the day.  Taking 2nd just one point back was Steve Uhl, who finished with a line of 2-1-4 for 7 points.  And taking 3rd was Team Lane/Heffernan with 3-6-1- for 10 points.  Honorable mentions go to Team Felton in 4th with a 4-3-6 for 13 points, and Team Frisch/Hourihan (with Bill Kaull driving) in 5th with a 5-4-5 for 14 points.  

So congratulations to Larry Ehrhrdt, who took the series with 13 points.  Well done.  Finishing 2nd just one point back was Team Lane/Heffernan with 14 points, and taking 3rd was Steve Uhl with 15 points.  Pretty tight racing.  Worth noting is that four different boats took the gun out of six races.  

So in Cup competition, with no Twilight, our opening top-10 mirrors the Spring Series results.

Week 2 racing will include the Twilight race on Thursday night and the 2-3 races of MRA Series 1, Day 1 this Saturday.

Other News

Clinic  The clinic was reasonably well attended and seems to have been a hit.  My core take-away was around the concept of risk management, and using risk/reward to inform decisions at every stage of the race — so simple, yet so powerful.  I can think of countless decisions I’d have made differently had I filtered them through that framework.  Many thanks to our panelists Jud Smith, Tomas Hornos and Charlie Pendleton.  Thanks also to Mike Lane who provided the pictures.

Measurement  Thanks to Peter Sorlien and Josh Wheeler for volunteering their time to measure boats last Saturday.  They measured four boats, which isn’t a bad start.  We’ll keep you posted about additional measurements.  Here is a shot of Peter at work.

Jackson Cup  In other news, the Jackson Cup was held a few weeks ago and Elise Nash was kind enough to write a recap.

Started in 1999 and named in honor of BYC Past Commodore Robert F. Jackson, the annual Jackson Cup team race kicks-off the sailing season each spring.  2017 brought unusually nice weather, for an event typically sailed in classic New England spring weather, 40 degrees and raining.

In addition to the three local clubs BYC, EYC and CYC, five out of town team competed this year including New York Yacht Club, Larchmont Yacht Club, Noroton Yacht Club, Southern Yacht Club and Royal Canadian Yacht Club, for a total of eight clubs.

Sunny and 80, Saturday allowed for the competition of one full round robin and the start of the second.  The second was completed Sunday morning and used to seed a final four knockout round.  Corinthian finished the round robins tied with NYYC for first place with records of 10-4, with Southern and Boston securing the three and four spots.

The final four started off with Corinthian versus Southern and NYYC against Boston. Corinthian beat Southern, while NYYC beat Boston, pitting NYYC against Corinthian for the top spot while Southern and Boston contended for the final podium spot.  In the end, New York beat Corinthian to take first, with Corinthian in 2nd, Southern in 3rd and Boston Yacht Club in 4th

Not surprisingly, there were many Fleet 5 and honorary Fleet 5 members representing the three local clubs including: Evan Cooke, Pat Donegan, Bill Mann, Elise Nash, Doug Sabin, Forbes Barber, Max Bulger, Sam Madden, Tim Wadlow, Sean Greely, Brent Larlee, Ery Largay, Matt Hooks and Tomas Hornos.  A few other Fleet 5 members, including Christina & Kim Pandapas (with Kayla), Joe Fava and Charlie Pendleton came down to spectate. And if you haven’t already seen them on Facebook, Bruce Durkee captured the action in some beautiful photos.  Here’s one of the CYC team.

Notices

New MRA Circles  Just a reminder not to sail out to Tinkers next weekend.  We will be racing the North Line (the top one in the chart below) over in the general vicinity of Satan’s Rock.

Post Race Cocktail Party  Our first season gathering will be Saturday June 3rd at the home of Ann & Jim Taylor.  The party will be potluck, and Elise Nash will supply the bar.  The idea of this party is to gather after racing, not after you go home and gussy up.  So put your boat away, grab an app and head straight over.  Let’s enjoy first post-race drinks together.  And please RSVP so we get enough of everything.

NOOD Registration  NOOD registration is open here.  MRA registered boats don’t have to pay but do have to register.  

Race Week Party  Circle your calendars.  The RW party will be on July 27th at the home of Jennifer & Steve Uhl.  Elise Nash will supply the bar.

Boats For Sale – There are still several excellent boat on the market.  For info, either see the May Newsletter or email the fleet captain kpandapas@comcast.net.  Also as an fyi, Rick Smyers wrote in to let us know that they are dropping the price on 892 to $10K.  Great boat at a good price.

New Partnership – Looks like Steve Sovis, who had been looking for a boat to buy, will be partnering with Stefan Ianchulev in 1645.  He writes, “I went to look at Sefan’s boat and he was not that anxious to sell it and really wanted a partner.  That’s best for me too so we are going to do it.”  That’s awesome.  Congrats and welcome.

Sail Donations – Toby Rodes wrote in on behalf of the Kollegewidgwok YC in Blue Hill Maine. They have a thriving junior sailing program, which several years ago got two Rhodes 19s so is looking for sails.   Contact Toby at toby.o.rodes@gmail.com.  

Mail Bag

A few folks wrote in about the clinic, most along the lines of this from Joan Thayer, “The panel provided lots of helpful tips.  Now if I can just remember a few of them for my skippers, Anne and Sarah.  Thank you for organizing the event.”  

MRA member Mike Lane wrote in with this BYE reminder.  “Just a reminder that BYE’s can be requested through the MRA web site at  www.mheadrace.org/page/resources_links/report_bye/.”  You also can contact MRA scorer Jim Whipple.

Obviously open heart surgery isn’t enough to keep Ken Cormier down.  Not only did he show up at the clinic, but he’s also been crawling around in his boat.  Now that’s a competitor!  He writes, “Had to clean up this cockpit before I put on refinished floorboards and combings.”

We reached out to John Casler to find out if there was any twilight sailing on Thursday night.  Here’s what he said.  “I skipped for the last cocktail party of a spectacular 50th Reunion because it was pouring.  The possibility of a Twilight Race didn’t remotely enter my mind.  And I have witnesses.”  Nice threads!

Finally, Alex Felon lobbed in these pictures to use as a trivia question.  “My brother keeps discovering more stuff.”  Take a look at the pictures below.  For the one of the left, he asks, “What is it and what was stored on it?  Unfortunately, I don’t remember when it was legal to be removed.”  For the one on the right, he simply said, “Here’s another one.”

So, what are they, what were they used for, and when did it become legal to remove them?  Email in your answers and you could win a prize.  –kp  kpandapas@comcast.net