Road To The Cup – Week 7
Top 10 as of 7/11/21
I start today with some very sad news about long-time CYC RC stalwart Jim Whipple. This update from his brother Joe Whipple was circulated among the RC and broader CYC community yesterday. “Unfortunately, Jim has undergone a rapid decline in his condition over the past week. After several days in Salem Hospital, he was moved this afternoon to the hospice facility in Danvers, Kaplan House.” This is painfully sad news to all of us who have known and worked alongside Jim for so many years. Jim has for decades been a respected pillar of our sailing community, serving on RC, on the MRA board and as MRA scorer. In addition to his sailing activities, he has been a regular supporter of Pleon and a long-serving volunteer at the Boston Symphony. Fleet 5 lends its voice to the chorus of condolences flooding in, and we give Joe and the rest of the Whipple family our heartfelt sympathies during this difficult time.
Mother nature is certainly a fickle mistress, or so someone said. But the last couple of weeks, someone must really have ticked her off. She continued to conspire against sailboat racing this week, foiling Wednesday night again, interrupting Pleon, putting the kibosh on departure plans for a few Eastern cruise folks and importantly killing our second straight Twilight. I think this pretty much covers it.
I’ll tell you that PRO David Graham is none too happy about it, sending this note in on Friday morning. “Given that last evening’s canx was the 3rd consecutive Twilight booth race cancellation in-a-row (Thursday, 9/1 – Tuesday, 9/6 – and yesterday, 9/8) – and although they were admittedly my decisions, I am going to be very reluctant to do any further race canx this season; that is, unless there are some VERY compelling reasons (such as more area t’storms) for doing so! In all the years I have been honcho’ing the Twilight Series, I’ve never had to do three-in-a-row cancellations, let alone three-in-a-season!”
We hear you, Dave, but that begs the question as to what else might be ‘very compelling?’ I’ll bet a named storm would fit the bill, and maybe even a nor’easter, but my guess is 15 knots and a little rain won’t do it. I will look on with interest over the rest of the summer. Godspeed.
So with that, Twilight Series 1 stumbles anticlimactically over the finish line, getting in just four of the six scheduled races, which of course is one shy of being able to throw out your worst score. Sorry for the spoiler but the final results are just as I’ve published them for the last two weeks. Taking 1st on a tiebreaker was Steve Uhl, who put up a line of 1-1-6-3 for 11 points. Congrats to Steve and crew Kathleen Lane. Taking 2nd, with a line of DNC-2-2-1, also for 11 points, was Mike Lane, who is likely bitter that Steve got lucky with a cancellation while he was off working in Alaska. And finishing 3rd was Team Martini, who finished with a line of 3-3-1-9 for 16 points. Honorable mentions go to Stephan Thibodeaux in 4th with 20 points, and Jocelyn Cook in 5th with 24. Congratulations to all.
Out on the MRA line, 12 boats turned out for our second-to-last Saturday before Race Week. That’s a surprisingly weak showing as I’d expect people would be ramping up for the big event. One of those 12 was the debut of Anne Marije Veenland, and I’m pretty excited about that. Anne Marije picked up her boat towards the end of last season, and impressively, has been working on it herself ever since. Welcome to her.
Conditions included an up-and-down northeasterly that just couldn’t decide what it wanted to do. We went from two on the rail to light and lump and back again more times than I can count, and that in just on one leg. It was squirrelly, for sure. The RC did a nice job of essentially setting up two courses, one at 50 and the other at 65, and they used whichever was most appropriate for a given leg. The tide was flood to start our day and then went out for both of our races, which made for a safe starting line and a lot of over standing at the mark.
Team Lane/Heffernan obviously loved the conditions, and had themselves a brilliant day. They rolled snake eyes to win the day handily and take an early lead in Series 2. They got good starts, they were fast, positioned themselves well on the course and executed flawlessly (aside from a broken shackle). Well done! Taking 2nd was Larry Ehrhardt, who put up a 3-2 for 5 points, and finishing 3rd was Team Pandapas with a 2-5 for 7 points. Honorable mentions go to Pete & the Kid in 4th with a 5-3 for 8 points, and Team Taylor who took 5th on a tiebreaker with a 7-4 for 11 points. Steve Uhl rolled a 4-7, also for 11 points. Congratulations to all.
So in Cup competition, Team Lane / Heffernan padded their lead a little on the strength of their strong MRA day, though with Pete & the Kid a mere 13 points back. That’s not a lot with Race Week still in front of us. The top-10 are listed below.
Week 8 racing will include Twilight 2-1 on Thursday night and the 2-3 races of MRA Series 2-3 this Saturday.
Other News, Notices & Miscellaneous Scuttlebutt
NOOD –Race Week is in 10 days. If you haven’t registered yet, what on Earth are you waiting for? Your MRA registration fee covers the entry fee, but you still have to register, and now we’ve passed the July 6th deadline so you’re going to get whacked with a $75 late fee. Can’t say we didn’t warn you. You can register, pick up your NOR and get a current scratch sheet here.
Race Week Party This year’s Race Week party will be on Thursday evening July 22nd starting at 6:30, generously hosted again by Jennifer & Steve Uhl at their home on Front Street. The evite went out on Friday so and please RSVP.
Measurement –If you don’t have a certificate or you’ve had work done since your last measurement, please reach out to Fleet Measurer Stefan Thibodeaux at sjthibodeaux@gmail.com. Do it before Race Week!! You can check your certificate status here.
Twilight SI Amendment Reminder – Just a reminder that CYC amended the SIs on the topic of penalty turns through the insertion of article 11. Here is the change.
11. Penalty System: For the Rhodes 19 fleet RRS Appendix V, Alternative Penalties, will apply. For all other classes RRS 44.1 is changed so that the Two-Turns Penalty is replaced by the One-Turn Penalty.
If You Spin, Send It In – Just one foul this week (at least on the water). Walter Colsman spun after a close port-starboard, despite no hail of protest. Awesome sportsmanship! That’s how the game is supposed to be played. Below is our season count.
Flying Pickpocket – At CYC Saturday morning, the perpetrator below (or one that bears a strong resemblance) swooped down and picked up a Ziplock containing Timmy Dittrich’s cell phone. Timmy watched in horror as his phone went flying off over the water. Fortunately, the gull landed on the float by the bread racks, presumably to start pecking away at its score, but Timmy and his crew rushed down and shooed him off before he had the chance. All’s well that ends well.
Mail Bag
Old friend Rick Saunders sent in this, “I was hoping to borrow Jerry Blouin’s old boat Spot’ for Nationals, but unfortunately it’s got a pretty good size hole in it. Courageous staff are unsure about the repair date.”
Hey, I’ve seen worse. Slap a little duct tape on it and go sailing.
Peter Sorlien lobbed in yet another reference to 982 (for the second straight week). He writes, “The name may be a coincidence, but too good to pass up. Did you trademark it?”
Nope, no trademark, because we stole the name from a reputable company who does have the trademark. Can anyone tell me what company? Jerry Blouin, if you’re out there, I may need a lawyer. Anyway, there is a story there, and as you’d expect, it involved alcohol. ‘Nuff said.
–kp (kpandapas@comcast.net)