Road To The Cup – Week 11

Road To The Cup – Week 11

Top-10 as of 8/5/18

We’re pretty sure no one sailed last Sunday’s morning series as we were all getting ready to go bob around waiting for the wind to fill in for the final day of RW.

Seven boats made it out Thursday night for the resumption of Twilight Series 2, which is a pretty good turnout considering RW burnout.  Steve Uhl provides this account.

“Nice SW breeze; great evening to be on the water to cool off from the sweltering 90+ degree day.  Course was out to green can near Chappel Ledge and back twice around, second lap shortened to harbor green can.  Pretty even start and run; though as always there was some uncertainty as to location of the mark, which cost a few boats some distance.  There were also a lot of velocity changes. Steve Uhl & Mindy Fox narrowly rounded first, followed closely by Walter & (12 year old son) Matthew Colsman.  Matthew helmed for much of the race.  With an outgoing tide, everyone sailed in towards Little Harbor.  Right near the harbor rounding, Team Martini gained the lead, with Colsman close by.  In a very close finish, it was Uhl, Colsman and then Martini.  Team Sheldon, John Casler, Jocelyn Cook followed as well as old friend Rob Ferro sailing with Jay Wager.”  John Casler added, “Team Colsman was joined in the Harbor Room by Patriarch Eckart – a welcome sight for all of us.”

Thanks gents.  So congratulations to Steve Uhl who finished 1st, Team Colsman in 2nd and Team Martini in 3rd, with honorable mentions to everyone else for getting out there so soon after RW.  By the way, we understand that Jay Wager bought from Rob 1219, the boat he and Rob were sailing.  Welcome to Jay. When are we going to see you on the MRA line?

Out on the MRA line, after consulting the weather radar and taking a look out the window, EYC PRO Jack Cochran pulled the plug at 10:15, firing off three and hoisting N over A at all three clubs.  Always a tough call to blow off an entire sailing day, but with the sky turning purple and a line of storms stretching down to Philly, it was absolutely the right thing to do.  The timing looked like the festivities would start between 11 and 12 and last until mid-afternoon. The last thing you’d want to do is send a bunch of boats out into that (as they did in Chicago a couple of years ago), only to have to turn around and shepherd them back before you could even run a race.  And postponing until 2 or 2:30 waiting for the line of storms to pass would be silly, as it wouldn’t leave time to run races. Layer onto that the fact that the post RW attendance was going to be spotty anyway. On that last point, we didn’t see a lot of activity at either EYC or CYC, J70 or R19, and the Town Class had their own line going for their Nationals.  So, there you go. Series 3 remains tied at zero.

So, in Cup competition, with no MRA, last week’s numbers haven’t changed much as they were impacted only by Thursday’s Twilight.  The top-10 are listed below.

Week 12 racing will include Twilight 2-4 on Thursday night, the 2-3 races of MRA Series 3-2 this Saturday and the informal (unscored) CYC Cooke Town Class Sunday Series on Sunday.  

Other News, Notices & Miscellaneous Scuttlebutt

Sportsmanship Update –We heard of no spins on the Twilight course, and of course there was no MRA racing, so no new spins to celebrate.  Below are the standings, and thanks to those on it for their sportsmanship. Remember, if you spin, send it in.

Labor Day Party – Circle Saturday September 1st for our annual Labor Day Party, which this year will hosted by old friends Vonda & Jim Raisides after sailing.  Like we did last year, we’re planning to mix it up with our friends from the J70 fleet.  More details to follow.

2018 Lobster Bowl Regatta – Hosted by the Portland Yacht Club in cooperation with Etchells Fleet 27 and R19 Fleet 52.  This 2-day regatta is in Falmouth, Maine. Boat launching and skippers meeting will be Friday September 21, and racing will be Saturday and Sunday September 22-23.  Early entry fee is $225/boat if paid before August 15. Entry fee after that is $275/boat. Here are the links for the NOR and to register.

Nationals in New Orleans – This year’s Nationals will be in New Orleans on October 3-7, hosted by our friends at Southern Yacht Club.  If you’ve never been, take it from us that the Southern guys know how to throw a party. You can get more info and download the NOR here.

Mail Bag

We were completely remiss last week in failing to acknowledge Norm Cressy winning the Fowle Trophy for sailing in his 70th Marblehead Race Week.  Shame on us. Thank goodness Karen Finocchio Lubeck was on the case and posted this.  “Norm Cressy accepting the Fowle Trophy at Marblehead Race Week after competing in his 70th Race Week with, yet again, another class victory (IOD)!  Norm who has participated in and given back more to the sport of sailing than most of us will ever realize richly deserves this honor. Norm is the epitome of a true Corinthian, consummate competitor and all-around great guy.  From us sailors who have learned from you, a heartfelt congratulations and sincerest thanks!”  Thanks Karen, I couldn’t have said it better.

And while I’m at it, congratulations also to former R19 national champ Jud Smith who won the J70 class, and in so doing, won the overall event.  

We got a note from old friend Mike Hebert of the Hingham Fleet, who wrote, “I really like that RTTC you put together.  Must be a ton of work though. The solution to your 4 hoist problem is wet sailing, then maybe we'd have a chance against you guys!”  Hmm.  Well, believe me when I say that a mooring sounds a lot less of hassle than dealing with cranes every week.  The problem is the scarcity of moorings and our 15-year mooring waiting list.

Mike went on to rub it in a little, “I got my ass kicked by Dave Nelson at East Coasts, so I was happy to see he put a shellacking on all of you guys at RW.  Misery loves company!”  Shellacking is right.  Wonder if Dave plans to head to New Orleans to try to claim the illusive Triple Crown.

There was a little back and forth as we attempted to identify the owner of 1219 in Thursday’s Twilight.  Clarity ultimately came from John Casler (as it so often does), who wrote, “Rhodes 1219 is owned by CYC member Jay Wager, who bought the boat from Rob Ferro.  I believe last night Jay skippered and Rob crewed.  Unlike other Rhodes out of the Ferro stable, the sail number is correct.”  And Rob corroborated, with this, “This is true, his numbers are correct.  It's a good boat that needs its bottom cleaned.”  I’ll bet it does.

And speaking of John Casler, in a good natured jab at me for mis-prioritizing work over Twilights, John wrote, “In the words of someone, ‘Work is the curse of the drinking man.’  Churchill? Dickens?”  Well, first of all, I couldn’t agree more.  But to dig into John’s question, this is variation on a clever Oscar Wilde quote, “Work is the curse of the drinking classes,” which he said as a sarcastic mock of Karl Marx’s quote, “Drink is the curse of the working classes.”

Finally, Karen Finocchio, apparently on vacation in, of all places Omaha, sent this in.  “Hi Kim, Chris and I are in Omaha, NE and look at what we found.  It's a Jeff and Dave store. Hahaha…”

Thanks Karen.  We’ve always thought the name was a reference to the movie Superbad, but now we know the truth.  Mystery solved.

–kp (kpandapas@comcast.net)