Road To The Cup – Week 4
Top 10 as of 6/16/19
Happy Father’s Day!
Eight teams exchanged a bunch of emails on Thursday, lamenting the crappy weather, analyzing the unfavorable forecast (one model said 25 with gusts to 38 at game time) and debating whether or not to sail. CYC’s David Graham mercifully ended the debate at about 12:30 by officially pulling the plug. So, there was no Twilight race on Thursday night.
Out on the MRA line, several folks made their 2019 debut, including old friend Bill Rothwell sailing with Eric Thornton, Sarah Sheldon & Ann Sousa, Jeff Shoreman & Dave Reynolds and Rick & Jess Berliner. Great seeing all of them and nice to have them join the party.
The weather Gods and the BYC RC treated us to just a spectacular day. The forecast called for sunny skies and a building southwesterly, and that’s exactly what we got. Race 1 was a relatively light-air affair, with a course of 210. The breeze backed a little to 190 for Race 2 with a bit more pressure, and then for Race 3 clocked back to 210 with the pressure building to 14-15 knots (three on the rail for us). Though the breeze was oscillating, right was favored all day because it was generally trending that way, there seemed to be a little more pressure on that side and you benefited a little from the tide sweeping out of Salem Sound.
Team Taylor couldn’t have played those conditions better, especially in Race 1 when they banged right off the start, caught a 10-degree righty and pulled a horizon job. They sailed beautifully from start to finish, putting up a 1-2-1 for 4 points to win the day. What a great day for them. Taking 2nd was Matt Hooks & Rob Pascal, who also had a very consistent 2-3-3 for 8 points. And finishing 3rd was Steve Uhl & Abbott Lowell who rolled a 5-1-7 for 13 points. Honorable mentions go to Team Lane / Heffernan who finished 4th with a 4-5-5 for 14 points and Team Pandapas in 5th with a 6-7-2 for 15 points. Congratulations to all.
So in Cup competition, Team Taylor adds to their commanding early lead on the strength of their Saturday performance. Their Cup totals, in fact, went down after the Series 1 throw-out kicked in. The top-10 are listed below.
Week 5 racing will include Twilight 1-4 on Thursday night, the 2-3 races of MRA Series 1-4 this Saturday, and Day 2 of the (unscored) CYC Cooke Sunday Series on Sunday. The complete Sunday schedule, by the way includes June 16, 23 & 30, July 14 & 21 and August 4, 11 & 25.
Other News, Notices & Miscellaneous Scuttlebutt
Race Tracking on June 29 – The EYC has been trying out Kattack, a web-based tracking software that records boats’ positions throughout a race and effectively creates a birds-eye view animation of the race that you can watch online later. How cool is that? It’s pretty simple too. Each boat downloads the Kattack app to their phone, turns on the app before racing, and the app uses GPS to track the boat’s movements during the race. Jack Cochran and Peter Frisch seem to be championing this effort, and have offered Fleet 5 the opportunity to give it a try on June 29th, the next time EYC has the North Line. The J-70s tried it out already, and you can watch a few of their races here. The current plan is as follows. On Monday, June 24th, Jack Cochran will send an email to all MRA registered R19s with step-by-step instructions on how to download and setup the app. Then on Friday June 28th, he will send a second email reminding people to charge their phones and when to activate the tracking function. Stay tuned for more on this.
Sportsmanship Update – We got a late report of a Week 3 spin from Team Martini. “Let me report that IPR spun on Saturday! A question arose as to whether I had tacked too soon, since the port tacker had to alter course. Always hard to judge these matters on the go, so we just spun.” Awesome. We also heard from David Rubin, who wrote, “I fouled 722 in the 3rd race and did a 720.” Thanks to Teams Martini & Rubin for doing the right thing. Below are the spin standings, and thanks to all for their sportsmanship. Remember, if you spin, send it in.
Want to Try Out a 2.4 Meter? – Old friend Shan McAdoo has extended an invitation to Fleet 5ers to try out one of their spare 2.4 Meters some Sunday morning. How awesome is that? If you’re interested, contact Shan at r19slr@gmail.com.
NOOD at Marblehead Race Week – The centerpiece of our season will be held Thursday through Sunday, July 25-28, hosted by BYC. Registration is open. A reminder that your MRA fee covers the entry fee, so you don’t have to pay more, but you do have to register.
Race Week Party This year’s Race Week party will be on Thursday evening July 26th, generously hosted by Jennifer & Steve Uhl at their home on Front Street. Larry Ehrhardt will provide the fleet bar.
Nationals 2019 – The 2019 Championship Regatta will be held August 21-24 in Hingham Bay, hosted by our friends at the Hingham Yacht Club. The NOR is available on the regatta website.
For Sale – 2015 race ready Rhodes mast made by Cape Cod Shipbuilding. $1500 OBO. Please call or text Mark Rubin: 202-591-5981.
Brian Bones Boat For Sale – Brian Bones’ daughter Bridget Bones is looking to find a home for her late dad’s boat, either by selling it or donating it. We don’t have much info on the boat’s condition, but if you’re interested, you can reach Bridget at bcbones@gmail.com.
Is It Time For Club Boats? – John Hillman wrote in with this inquiry. “I have a Rhodes 19 that has been garage kept since the last time it was in the water. That was in 1986. I would like to look into donating it to one of the sailing clubs in Mass. It has been kept in our house on Cape Cod. Do you know who I could contact?” Hmm. Several boats have become available lately, including this one and Brian Bones’ boat. Forgetting for a second that John’s boat is likely a centerboard model, this flurry of activity has led us to wonder how we might solve their problem while addressing one of our own: loaner boats for new recruits. Certainly it’s way above my CYC pay grade to formally recommend this, and frankly, CYC’s Jack Carney (and his dockmaster brethren) would likely frown on yet another club-owned one design. But given the constraints around moorings and crane access, and the steady decline in MRA numbers, it might be time for all three of the clubs to give it some thought.iuillman
Mail Bag
We got this from David Rubin, who some of you may have noticed floating around with sails down before Race 1. Now we know why. “We had a little drama on the boat today that I wanted to share. About 15 minutes before the first warning gun, we discovered that we had lost our jib halyard up the mast. Sailing back in to free it up was not a good option, so Stefan Thibodeaux shimmied up the mast, grabbed the halyard, put it into his teeth while he grabbed onto the shrouds and brought it down. We were able to start the race in time. It was an impressive feat. I think we should give him the Tarzan award. After Stefan got back down, he said I should have videotaped it. I was holding onto a lobster pot, however, and getting ready to spot him if he lost his grip. Fortunately, that did not happen.” Wow, Stefan – you animal. I do wish we had the video.
Mike Hebert, who is part of the Hingham Nationals regatta committee, wrote in on behalf of Chicago’s Bob Bernstein with this very interesting offer. “Bob Bernstein from Chicago would like to attend nationals and skipper a crewed boat. Might be a great opportunity for someone shorthanded on crew or someone looking to break their nationals maiden with an experienced hand on the tiller. We put the word out to our fleet. Feel free to spread the word to yours.” Consider it done. This could be a perfect fit for a Fleet 5 owner who prefers crewing. If you’re interested in Bob’s credentials, he finished 2nd (on a tie breaker) in Chicago Nationals three years ago, behind Team Pendleton/Raisides/Nash and tied with Team Pandapas.
Steve Uhl wrote in with this about measurement certificates. “Just a reminder that all measurement forms (that Peter Sorlien has worked tirelessly to amass), are posted online on the Class Website at Rules / Measurement page. That’s where to go for all the official forms for the entire class.”
Also from Steve Uhl, apparently Thursday night wasn’t the only big air of the week. Steve sent in this picture of his Laser mast after Tuesday night Laser sailing, with this comment, “Went laser sailing in big breeze tonight. This is what is left of my mast.”
You beast. That’s just crying out to be made into a new laser trophy. Here is what the wind actually did that night, courtesy of Patrick Andreasen.
Finally, old friend Charlie Pendleton downsized the winches on his J-70 and found an unusual aftermarket for them, writing, “Can you imagine if we had a winch handle on the Rhodes… that would have been used a weapon.” Check it out.
OMG – are you kidding me?! So, beyond the obvious comment that this guy must be out of his mind, a few additional observations. First, has he ever heard of 2:1? Honestly! Second, I thought winches all operated in a clockwise manner. The winch in the photo on the left seems to be loaded backwards. That aside, at least conceptually it makes some sense, which is more than I can say for the photo on the right. And that brings me to the final point. I have no idea what’s going on here. Clearly there is some confusion around the concept of a fairlead, which in this case is anything but fair. As far as I’m concerned, this provides irrefutable evidence that marijuana and boats don’t mix (though admittedly there are few locals who seem to have made it work – you know who you are). I’d love to see how the rest of this boat is rigged. My guess is that it could qualify as a life-sized hacker award.
–kp (kpandapas@comcast.net)