Road To The Cup – Week 7
Top 10 as of 7/9/23
Thursday proved to be yet another perfect night for racing, featuring sunny skies, warm temps and nice sea breeze. The evening also featured one of the first general recalls I can remember on a Thursday night. Here is our summary from Steve Uhl. “Nine boats made it out for a picture-perfect evening, which was welcome after the dreary 4th. A solid sea breeze kept it interesting. Archers Rock was the destination, and Jim Taylor won the start (after a general recall!) and rounded first. Joe Fava making a twilight debut rounded seconded, followed by a scrum of other boats. The beats were long enough, and the shifts and pressure changes did allow some passing lanes. In the end it was 1926, 2585, 2561 (Walter), 2485 (Fava) and 1790 with a solid performance.”
So, finishing 1st and spoiling Steve Uhl’s chance for a perfect Series 1 record, was Jim Taylor. Well done. Sullying his perfect record with 2nd was the legend himself, Steve Uhl, and finishing 3rd was Walter Colsman. Honorable mentions to Joe Fava in 4th and Team Colehower in 5th. Congratulations to all.
So that concludes Twilight Series 1. Congratulations to Steve Uhl for some awesome sailing and a truly dominant series, throwing out a 2 and finishing with 5 points, 12 points in front of Team Martini in 2nd who had 17 points. Finishing 3rd with 22 points was Walter Colsman. Honorable mentions go to Jim Taylor in 4th on a tiebreaker with 25 points and Team Colehower in 5th, also with 25 points. Congratulations to all.
Out on the MRA line, it was just one of those days. After around an hour of reaching around through AP and the other four (consolidated line) starts, the fog rolled in, prompting PRO Jim McCulley to make the sensible decision to send us all in. From late stragglers and patrol boat problems to pea soup thick fog, Jim and his team clearly were delt a bad hand pulling RC duty for this one. We thank them for their efforts. 10-12 teams made the trek, which isn’t a bad turnout considering the dreary forecast, but on this day, it was just not to be. In the words of the philosopher, ‘that’s sailboat racing.’ We live to fight another day.
So while we have no new MRA scores to factor in, there were minor corrections to last week’s scores. A few boats were rescored in Race 1 to correct data entry errors in Clubspot, which now match the results to the finishing sheets. Those scores also have been corrected in our fleet scoring and reflected below.
So, in Cup competition, Team Uhl / Lane actually picked up a point by virtue of the MRA scoring corrections. That plus another 10 points to Thursday night’s DNCs gain them a little breathing room. Team Pandapas, and everyone else who didn’t participate in Twilight Series 1, are carrying 40 points for that series. The top-10 are listed below.
Week 8 racing will include Twilight 2-1 on Thursday night (the first race of Series 2, and the 2-3 races of MRA Series 2-day 4 this Saturday.
Other News, Notices & Miscellaneous Scuttlebutt
On-The-Water Clinic Preview. Here is a preview of our pre-Race Week clinic from Joe Fava. “Reminder that Saturday July 22 will be our summer on-the-water clinic. Stan Schreyer of North Sails will be coaching Fleet 5 through a day of practice starts and short course racing beginning at our normal 1230 start time. We will have our own line between the mouth of the harbor and Children’s Island. While we hope you will keep your boat in the water and sail the Fast Mermaid pursuit race the next day, we will wrap up in time to beat the Etchells to the crane (oops – did we really say that?)
“IMPORTANT – The clinic debrief will be Sunday morning July 23 in the CYC Harbor room at 9am, complete with video and photos from the prior day. Advil will be provided for those who attended the prior evenings CYC Ball. Don’t miss this opportunity to practice, learn and tune up for Race Week. Questions? Joe Fava – (617-880-9807 or Joseph.c.fava@gmail.com).”
Thanks Joe. An additional reminder that the fleet voted to do this clinic instead of sail MRA that day, so there will be no R19 MRA start that day. See you at the clinic.
Fast Mermaid Pursuit Race – The Fast Mermaid Pursuit Race, a fund-raising event for Lindsay Smith, will be held July 23rd. You can register and get more info here.
Race Week Registration – We have just 17 boats registered for race Week, which isn’t bad, but we have a long way to go. Your MRA fee covers the entry fee, so you don’t have to pay, but you do have to register, which you can do here.
Fleet 5’s Race Week Party – Fleet 5’s annual Race Week party will be Thursday evening July 27th, hosted (yet again) by Jennifer & Steve Uhl. The event will be potluck and, as usual, will include the freshly restocked fleet bar. The evite went out Friday. Please RSVP and mention what you plan to bring.
If You Spin, Send It In – We had no spins this week, but Rich Denton wrote in to tell us about an infraction from last week’s first race. “Not sure if it qualifies, because a general recall was announced just after we gybed (we did eventually finish the 360), but we took a foul during the first attempted start. On a chaotic pin-favored line, we hoped to cross the fleet with an early tack to port. Suffice to say, it was not enough to make it over Anne Marije-Veenland’s Loki, who thankfully avoided us.” That, of course raises the question, is a foul a foul even if the start is called back?” We say, absolutely. This is about promoting sportsmanship and doing the right thing, and that, Mr. Denton, is exactly what you did (the spin, not the crazy-assed tack onto port). We solute your sportsmanship and record it below for posterity.
Remember if you spin, email kpandapas@comcast.net and let me know how many fouls you committed for which you exonerated yourself.
Crew Available – Long time Fleet 5 member Rick Saunders is available to crew. You can reach him at ricksanders784@outlook.com.
Rick, by the way, has been sparring with his old college sailing teammate Shan McAdoo, as he and Maureen MacKinnon train to represent the US at the Allianz World Sailing Championship. Rick was nice enough to send this shot of Team USA.
2023 Nationals in New Orleans – The 2023 Nationals will be held October 4-8 in New Orleans, hosted by Fleet 7 and the Southern Yacht Club. It’s never too early to register. You’ll find more details here.
Looking For Used Main – Don Schwartz of Manchester is looking for a used main. Contact him at donschwartz06@icloud.com.
Mail Bag
No mail today, but we got this for the blooper reel. Photographer extraordinaire Bruce Durkee sent in this shot from last week’s Commodores Cup of Team CYC’s (and eventual Fleet 5 member) Sean Greely after taking an unintended swim.
Complaints Department
Got Gripes? Don’t be shy. Unload at kpandapas@comcast.net. The buck stops here.
–kp