Road To The Cup – Week 15

Road To The Cup – Week 15

Top 10 as of 9/6/21

Eight boats made it out for the final race of Twilight Series 2. Conditions ended up generally pleasant, which is shocking considering that the day started with a tropical monsoon as the remnants of Ida pushed their way through. The count would have been nine boats and possibly more, but the CYC crane pier remained closed, preventing Team Lane and potentially others from launching. That had to have killed Mike, who was planning to defend his 1st, but I get it. I wouldn’t want to reattach that float in surge. You can lose a finger that way, and safety has to come first. Anyway, this week’s report is from Steve Uhl with a few comments lobbed in by Walter Colsman.

“After Ida came through, the skies cleared at 2pm for a beautiful SW twilight race to Grey’s Rock and back. I think 7 boats sailed [it was 8].”

Walter Colsman added, “It was beautiful post Ida evening. So much for the 25 knots my windy app was declaring (glad I don’t have the ’pro’ version). There were even some question if we would have wind at all, but we settled into a nice steady light breeze, a touch puffy at times. Seas were not choppy but had some decent swell. It was a reach start. Steve Uhl won the start at the pin, followed by Martini, Casler, and Colsman behind. The remainder of fleet including Dittrich, Anne Marije, Shake Your Buoy, and Tim McCaffrey were upwind but perhaps a bit further from the mark.”

Back to Steve.Walter Colsman had great speed and led the broad reach to the mark, followed by Team Martini and Steve Uhl. The beat back to the harbor was mostly a long port tack but there were some big shifts, current, and pressure differences that kept it interesting. Martini almost passed Colsman but Walter held on so it the finishing order was Colsman, Martini and Uhl.”

Well, alright. So for the record, taking 1st was Walter Colsman, 2nd was Team Martini and 3rd was Steve Uhl. Honorable mentions go to the mystery boat with sail number 1219 in 4th (unregistered, thank you very much) and Timmy D. in 5th.

So, with that, our 2021 Twilight season draws to a close. For Series 2, taking 1st was Walter Colsman, with an impressive line of 2-1-1 for 4 points. Taking 2nd on a tiebreaker was Team Lane, who put up a line of 1-5-DNC for 15 points. And finishing 3rd was Team Martini, with 6-7-2, also for 15 points. Honorable mentions go to Steve Uhl in 4th with a 3-DNC-3 for 16 points, and Team AMV (Anne Marije Veenland) in 5th with a line of 5-3-DNC for 17 points. Congratulations to all.

Below are the top 5 finishers for Series 1 and Series 2, followed by Twilight overalls, the winner of which is awarded a year of beer-can bragging rights and the coveted Charlie Bar trophy. Congratulations to Mike Lane, who managed to squeak it out with 26 total points, despite the years of his life he lost not being able to sail the last race. Taking 2nd overall just 1 point back with 27 points was Steve Uhl, and finishing 3rd with 28 points was Walter Colsman. Honorable mentions go to Team Martini in 4th with 31 points and Team Shoreman / Reynolds who took 5th on a tiebreaker with 49 points. Congratulations to all.

Out on the MRA line, MRA wrapped up its summer racing with the 2-day Labor Day Regatta, aka MRA Series 4. Twelve boats sailed, ten on Day 1 and nine on Day 2, as a few teams were forced to sail just the first day. Still, at 12, the R19s were the largest fleet, which is far cry from the Labor Day Series of 15 years ago when seemingly we all had more time. The weatherman accommodated, serving up two nice race days. Both presented race management challenges, particularly the northwester on Day 1 which is enough to make any PRO ask for a double. But Susie Schneider and her team managed through it and did a great job all weekend.

Ten boats showed up for day 1, which featured sunny skies and an up-and-down northwesterly that was generally in the 5-10 range, except for the occasional 20-second blast into the mid-teens. Like all northwesters, this one was an adventure that featured 20-30 degree shifts and wild pressure differentials across the course, all with the backdrop of meaningful outgoing tide. In the end, however, the only thing that mattered was whether you went right, as right paid on five of the six beats. Bang the right and you were in it. Don’t and you were forced to take the long port tack of shame watching everyone cross you (as Team P. did most of the day).

The first to figure that out was Team Frisch / Hourihan, who rolled a 1-2-1 for 4 points to win the day. Taking 2nd was Team Dailey, who rolled a 2-3-4 for 9 points, and finishing 3rd was Steve Uhl, with a line of 3-5-5 for 13 points. Honorable mentions go to Team Lane / Harsono in 4th with a 7-1-6 for 14 points, and Stefan Thibodeauxl sailing with Peter Sorlien, in 5th with a 5-4-7 for 16 points. Great to see Stefan in the mix, as he was all weekend. Also worth noting was a 2nd in Race 3 for Jocelyn Cook sailing with Joan Thayer. They put together a complete race. They positioned themselves well, they sailed fast and they executed well at the corners. Really well done. More of that to come from them, I’m sure.

The Day 2 forecast was 5-10 out of the south, and building late in the afternoon with the approach of a cold front. The building part had several on the porch all aflutter. One team even added a 3rd. Of course, all of that proved unnecessary as we got 5-10 from 210-190 most of the day. It kicked up a little in the 3rd race – maybe to 12, which made for a fun day of sailing. Current was again a factor, flowing out hard, which dragged boats from right to left going up the course, and made for adventurous weather mark roundings for those who cut it too tight.

All of this seemed to play to Team Pandapas’ strengths, as they put up a 3-1-1 for 5 points to win the day. Finishing 2nd was Team Frisch / Hourihan, with a beautifully consistent line of 2-3-3 for 8 points, and taking 3rd was Team Lane / Harsono, who rolled a 5-2-2 for 9 points. Honorable mentions go to Team Dailey in 4th with a line of 1-4-5 for 10 points, and Team Colsman in 5th with 4-5-4 for 13 points.

For the series, congratulations to Team Frisch / Hourihan, who sailed consistently well all weekend and took the series by 5 points, putting up a line of 1-2-1-2-3-(3) for 9 net points. When your throw-out is a 3, you’re definitely doing something right. Congrats to them and well done. Taking 2nd on a tiebreaker was Team Pandapas with a line of 6-(8)-3-3-1-1 for 14 points, and finishing 3rd was Team Dailey, who put up 2-3-4-1-4-(5), also for 14 points. Honorable mentions go to Team Lane / Harsono in 4th with a line of (7)-1-6-5-2-2 for 16 points, and Stefan Thibodeaux in 5th with 5-4-7-(7)-6-6 for 28 points. Congratulations to all.

So in Cup competition, Team Lane maintains a 32-point lead going into the Fall Series, which I have to tell you is pretty substantial. The fat lady is not only in the house, but I can hear her warming up. The top-10 are listed below.

In contrast to each of the past 10 years when this esteemed publication stuck it out to the season’s bitter end, in deference to a busy fall schedule, competing weekend priorities and the unlikelihood Team P. will make it out for the Fall Series, I’m going to make this the last edition of RTTC for the 2021 season. There will, of course, be a final Holiday Edition in December, and we’ll be back in the spring to do it all over again. I know – a total bummer, especially for the scoreboard watchers who want to see how it all turns out. To them and everyone else, I’d encourage you to show up for our annual awards party, the details of which are below.

But before I go, a few shout-outs are in order. Thanks to the fine folks of MRA, without whom there would be no regular summer racing. You’ll find their names here, and they all deserve our appreciation. Thanks also to the legions of RC volunteers who continue to give up their days so we can play. I’d like to give a special and well-deserved shout-out to David Graham, who labors every week of the summer to bring us Twilights.

Finally, please know that while I sign these little gems, it takes a village to put them out every week. Huge thanks to John Casler, Steve Uhl and Walter Colsman for keeping us informed about Twilights, and thanks also to everyone else who has contributed pictures and emails. Thanks also to my better half, Christina Pandapas, who does the all-important job of keeping me out of trouble with questions like, “Geez, do you really want to print that?” And thanks to our distribution department, Martha Martini, who took time out of her summer Sunday mornings to email them out to you. Thanks also to Nat Taylor who posts them to FB and the Fleet 5 web site. I ask that they all accept a grateful and appreciative tip of my cap, and I urge you to thank them when you see them.

I’m not sure when you’ll see the next full newsletter, which of course is up to Madam President Elise Nash, but I’d guess sometime before our awards party.

Week 16 racing will include Day 1 of the 3-day Fall Series on this coming Saturday and the unscored “Around Misery Island ’ race on Sunday – first gun at 1PM. There also will be unscored Twilights for the next two weeks for anyone trying to keep the summer alive, and those starts will be at 5:30.

Other News, Notices & Miscellaneous Scuttlebutt

Informal Twilight Email List – As mentioned above, there will be two more unscored Twilights. John Casler is planning to organize an informal communication on the Tuesday or Wednesday before each of those two races, ultimately to gauge whether there will be enough turnout to have an interesting race. He will share the results of those informal polls with anyone who indicates an interest. If you want to opt in to those emails, let John know at johnscasler@gmail.com.

If You Spin, Send It In – We know of just one spin this weekend, though there may have been more. Team Thibodeaux tagged a weather mark and immediately did the right thing (as he was chastising himself for choosing to tack where he did). Thanks to Stefan for his sportsmanship, and thanks to everyone for doing their part this season to promote fair sailing.

2021 Awards Party on November 6th – Circle the date! Fleet 5 will hold its 2021 awards gathering on Saturday November 6th at the home of Christina & Kim Pandapas. As usual, the event will be potluck and Larry Ehrhardt will see to it that the Fleet Bar is fully stocked.

Savannah Needs Sails – Fleet Captain Doug Powelson of Savannah’s Fleet 49 wrote in looking for used sails. Their fleet operates a club-owned boat model so has need for a lot of sails. In his words, “Could you please ask your club members or other Rhodes 19 sailors if they have any used sails they would like to sell to our fleet? In Savannah we are sailing every weekend and our inventory of good quality sails is very low, especially spinnakers.” So if you have sails for sale, please reach out to Doug at dpwlsn@gmail.com. They’ll pay for shipping.

Mail Bag

Just one item in the mailbag this week, and that from Jocelyn Cook, who wrote in with this thought about their Saturday 2nd place finish. “In the four years I’ve owned Calgon, I’ve had the pleasure of having Joan Thayer aboard here and there, who I’ve been blessed to have support from since I learned how to sail 6 years ago. Our time together on the water is always exciting but it wasn’t until yesterday she finally took the helm and boy did she kill it!” Yes she did.

–kp (kpandapas@comcast.net)