Road To The Cup – Week 5

 

Road To The Cup – Week 5

Top-10 as of 6/25/17

Conditions for Thursday’s Twilight weren’t optimal, as reported by our man on the scene, John Casler.  “Seven Rhodes, no wind.  The wind was dying as the start time approached, and we drifted across.  After 20-30 minutes the race was called.  Walter & Mathew Colsman were in the lead when the race was called, but nowhere near reaching the middle-of-the-harbor can.  The other six were 1775 (Casler), Bill & Renee Heffernan, Steve & Jennifer Uhl, Jim Taylor, Team Martini, and Sara Sheldon’s boat.  They came in late and I didn’t get close enough to see who was sailing it.  The evening featured the longest post-race R19 Harbor Room gathering – perhaps ever, including old friends Eckart & Tilda Colsman.”  

I’m going to take a flyer and assume that Sara Sheldon’s boat was sailed by Ann Sousa.  Bummer about the drifter conditions, and also about the fact that five weeks into the season, we’ve only scored one Twilight.  There are just two Thursday’s left in the 1st Twilight Series, so let’s hope we get them in.  Awesome of course about the post-race Harbor Room gathering, and to hear that old friends Eckart & Tilda Colsman made the scene.  If you haven’t done that yet, what are you waiting for?  

Out on the MRA line, the last day of Series 1 started with rain and threats of thunderstorms that evolved into pea soup fog, which inspired the collective RCs of the CYC and BYC to fire off two before we left the dock.  The fog finally lifted around 1:30, they lowered AP and we sailed out in a light fickle southwesterly, that eventually yielded to a more traditional northwesterly.  By the time we arrived at the signal boat for check-in, the breeze was about 330ish and in the 12-14 range with gusts in the high teens.  The CYC RC, who was on the South Line, reported gusts in the mid 20s, but I don’t think we ever saw that kind of pressure.  

11 boats showed up, though I’m sure it would have been more had it not been for the long onshore postponement.  Team Lane / Heffernan was one of the boats forced to stay behind.  Mike Lane had a family commitment – his daughters’ dance recital.  He couldn’t miss that.  He had planned to sail and perhaps skip the 3rd race, but the delay forced him to blow off the whole thing.  That had to be killing him, right?  Leading the series (I think), leading in cup scoring and having to stay behind.  As far as I’m concerned, that earns him this week’s ‘What a Guy’ award for putting his kids first.  If it were me, I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t have gone that way, but I digress.  Anyway, making their season debuts were Jeff Shoreman & Dave Reynolds, and Grant Adam with dad Chris Adam crewing.  Welcome to them.  Also joining us was Tomas Hornos sailing with Beanie Eisner, again in Jim Ouelette’s 1217.  

We got in two races, the second a short one due to the lateness of the hour, and thanks to the BYC RC for giving us that option.  The racing was a classic northwesterly race to the corners and anyone forced up the middle loses.  (Have I mentioned that I hate northwesterlies?)  Left seemed generally to be the call, not just because the lefties seemed to hold going into the mark, but also because there seemed to be a bit more pressure there.  There also was a ripping outgoing current that typically forced starboard approach boats to throw in a couple of extra tacks, which favored port approaches.

Team Frisch / Hourihan obviously has no problem with northwesterlies as they sailed an impressive 3-2 for 5 points to win the day.  That’s pretty remarkable consistency for the random unpredictability of a northwesterly.  Finishing 2nd was Matt Hooks, who rolled a consistent 2-4 for 6 points – also very impressive.  And taking 3rd was Bill Heffernan & Yati Harsono with a line of 4-3 for 7 points.  Honorable mentions go to Steve Uhl in 4th with a 1-9 for 10 points and Team Taylor in 5th with a 10-1 for 11 points.  Congratulations to all.

With that, MRA Series 1 is in the books.  Congratulations to Team Frisch / Hourihan who took 1st with 25 points.  Finishing 2nd was Dave Nelson with 30 points and finishing 3rd was Team Lane / Heffernan with 34 points.  Worth noting is that both Dave Nelson and Team Lane / Heffernan managed to finish in the top 3 despite both missing a day, which is testament to how well they sailed.  Honorable mentions go to Team Pandapas in 4th with 37 points and Team Cooke / Kaznoski (aka Pete & the Kid), who took 5th with 37.3 points (took a BYE in week 4).

So, in Cup competition, the combination of an outstanding day for Team Frisch / Hourihan and a forced DNC for Team Lane / Heffernan results in a new top dog.  Interesting that some totals actually went down this week due to the inclusion of the 2nd discard in MRA Series 1 after getting to 10 races.  The top-10 are listed below.

Week 6 racing will include the Twilight race on Thursday night and the 2-3 races of MRA Series 2, Day 1 this Saturday.

Other News & Notices

Joint Party with the J70 Fleet 9  We thought it might be fun to get the Rhodes and J70 Fleets together for a combined party, so we reached out to J70 Fleet 9 Captain Daan Goedkoop, who loved the idea.  It only makes sense, right?  We share a line all summer, do crossings and mark roundings together, occasionally shout at each other, so why not get together, toss back a few and celebrate the season together.  So, we are going to give it a try on Labor Day weekend.  Circle Saturday September 2nd on your calendars, and the event will be generously hosted by Sloan & Charlie Pendleton.  As usual, the event will be pot luck, though in all likelihood, we may end up with burgers or something like that too.  The social Czars for each fleet, Alix Israel for the J70s and our own Elish Nash will work out the details, combine the two fleet bars and make sure no one leaves thirsty.  More details as we get closer.  

Race Week Party  Also on parties, don’t forget that the Race Week party will be on Thursday evening July 27th at the home of Jennifer & Steve Uhl – again (those guys are so awesome).  Elise Nash will supply the bar.  Expect an evite in the next week or two.

Scoring Anomalies  Alert scoreboard watchers may have notices some crazy looking series totals on Regattaman last week.  Always alert MRA scorer Jim Whipple saw it too and quickly got to the bottom of the problem, which apparently had to do with software versioning issues.  Dave Curry of Regattaman wrote in to remind all MRA scorers to use version 4 (V4) of the software (not beta or some other version).

NOOD Registration  NOOD registration is open and Fleet 5 currently has just 12 boats registered (as compared with our friends in the J70 fleet who have 18 boats).  People, people, people!  Are you going to take that?  Here are the links. Info, Online Entry, Current Entries.  MRA registered boats don’t have to pay but do have to register.  

Nationals Registration Nationals Registration is open here and early sign ups are greatly appreciated by your regatta planners.

Nationals Committee Looking for Charter Boats  Nationals Co-chair Matt Hooks reports that they still need charter boats.  If you’re not sailing, please help the regatta committee by making your boat available for charter.  Email Matt at mhooks@gmail.com.  

Nationals Committee Looking for Hosts  The Nationals Committee also still needs hosts for sailors from out-of-town.  Contact Yati Harsono at yati_harsono@yahoo.com.  Currently, teams from Savannah, Buffalo NY, Chicago and Maine are looking for housing, and there will be more.

Upcoming Measurements  The Fleet is planning three measurement days on Sunday July 9, Sunday August 13 and Tuesday August 15.  Measurer Peter Sorlien will start at 9AM each day.  Contact Peter at psorlien@gmail.com / 781-631-5956 to reserve your spot.  

Boats For Sale – There are still several excellent boat on the market.  For info, either see the May Newsletter or email the fleet captain at kpandapas@comcast.net.  

Mail Bag

Old friend Josh Wheeler has been getting in a little blue water racing before his migration to the Sub Continent.  He wrote, “Wanted to pass along that Fleet 5 alum, yours truly, was a member of the team that took 3rd place line honors in the 40th anniversary Marion to Bermuda race aboard Pipe Dream (formerly Jumpin Jack Flash) in her Atlantic racing debut.  Unfortunately, two days of calm followed by the new wind coming up from behind the fleet put the kibosh on any chance to bag class honors as well.  We were in 2nd to 4th place overall until the wind died on day three.”  So been there – becalmed in the Sargasso Sea is no fun, but congrats on a great race.

Josh adds, “This may be my last race in a while as it seems like I’m off to India around July 31st, but I may be able to put in a farewell appearance at the Race Week party.”  Josh, we hope to see you there.

EYC PRO Susie Schneider appreciated our acknowledgement of the good job CYC rookie PRO Tim McCaffrey did last week in tough conditions.  “Just wanted to say a big thank you for your kind words for Tim in ‘The Road‘ for this week.”

Finally, J70 Fleet Captain Daan Goedkoop is apparently excited, not just about the combined party but about the fleet bar they are building.  He sent in the shot below with the caption, “Shredin with Bad Hombres!”

 

Elise Nash got a chuckle out of the picture, writing.  “Haha – that’s what the inside of my garage looks like.  Sometimes I think the guys over at Vinnin Liquors think I have a drinking problem…”

–kp  kpandapas@comcast.net