Road
To The Cup – Week 3
6/9/24
What You Need To Know
- There will be no MRA start for Rhodes this week.
- East Coasts will be Saturday & Sunday June 15-16. Register
here.
Last Week’s Racing
Five boats showed up on an unsettled evening for what proved to be the first Twilight of our season. Below is a shot that gives you a flavor of the conditions.
Here is a summary from Steve Uhl. “It was a touch-and-go day with fog rolling in and out, but those who were patient were treated to a nice little easterly, dry, albeit with enough fog to require some guess work as to the location
of the green cans. Walter Colsman and Anne Marije Veenland (sailing with
Marine Regnault) had good starts, and from where I sat, Anne Marije just sailed away. I’d say horizon job, but fog job would be more apt since I couldn’t see her. The
Martinis battled back to get 2nd. All in all, a fun little outing, ably run by PRO
Bart Snow standing in for David Graham this week.”
We also heard from Anne Marije Veenland, who sent in this additional color.
“It was pretty foggy and the wind died around 5pm, but an hour plus later the fog disappeared (to only came back a bit later again.) but the breeze came up and hold and we got a short race in. Thanks to Steve in keeping all participants informed and RC
making it possible to get a race off. AM and Marine sailed in Loki, we almost wish we put our winter hat on, but it was fun!”
So there you have it. Congrats to Team AMV, who took 1st to notch their first bullet of the young season. Finishing 2nd was
Team Martini and taking 3rd was Walter Colsman. Honorable mentions to
Steve Uhl in 4th and John Casler in 5th. Congrats to all.
Out on the MRA line, a honking westerly kept most of the smart people on shore to enjoy some gardening, walking the dog and whatever else people who don’t race do on Saturdays. A few teams showed up to sail but never got as far as rigging.
But 23 teams across five classes made a go of it, nine of them Rhodes 19s (4 Etchells, 5 IODs, 2 J70s and 3 vipers).
Conditions appeared relatively manageable early on and close to shore, but by around noon, we had sustained in the high teens-to low 20s with impressive puffs in the high 20s and 30s. The data below from Children’s Island probably overstates
it a little due to the altitude of the anemometer, but you get the idea.
Compounding the conditions were seas, which while not nor’easter massive, were of the short interval, large square, pound variety, which combined with puffs and big shifts, made upwind driving a bit tricky and left several concerned about
breaking something a week before East Coasts. The sea state leads me to wonder why MRA didn’t take advantage of their new Bowditch line, which in a westerly would have been flatter water, but that’s above my paygrade.
So for the record, of the nine teams who made the trek out to North Line, four bailed before the first start, including
Teams Pandapas, Ehrhardt, Gabriel and Thornton. The other five started but two,
Team Taylor (sailing with three and broke a block) and Joe Fava sailing with
Dan Gabriel kept going past the weather mark and headed in. The remaining three teams didn’t just finish the first race, but they stuck around to do the second.
Team Uhl, Team AMV (Loki) and Team Regnault-Stoel were the last three standing and proudly carried the Fleet 5 flag for the rest of the day. Worth pointing out is that of those three teams, two were women and two were card-carrying
members of the Laser fleet.
Anne Marije Veenland, who I should point out is both a woman and a Laser sailor (as is her crew
Liza Clinton), sent in this note. “Good opportunity for the few boats out on the MRA line yesterday to practice moving through heavy chop and challenging breeze, a beautiful but spicy day!”
She added that Team Loki “sailed with a reef, which actually worked really well. I asked sailmaker
Roy Downs to put reefing points in the old (original “78) sail that came with the boat. This is the first time we tried it out, and definitely a recommendation for lighter crew boats.”
So, taking first on the day with a 1-1 was Steve Uhl. Finishing 2nd on a tiebreaker with a 3-2 for 5 points was
Marine Renault-Stoel, and taking 3rd with a 2-3, also for 5 points was
Team Loki. Congrats to all.
With that, MRA Series 1 is in the books for us, as we will be sailing East Coasts next week instead of Series 1 Day 5. Taking 1st with 21 points was
Team Pandapas. Finishing 2nd just 2 points back with 23 points was
Team Uhl, and taking 3rd on a tiebreaker with 32 points was
Team Lane / Heffernan. Honorable mentions go to Team Fava / Nash in 4th also with 32 points, and
Team Gabriel in 5th with 38 points.
So, in Cup competition, Steve Uhl comes on strong forcing a tie at the top with
Team P, who were DNC for the week. The top 10 are listed below.
Week 4 racing will include Twilight 1-3 on Thursday night 6/13, first gun at 7PM, and the East Coast Championships on Saturday & Sunday, June 15-16. You’ll find details in the NOR.
Other News, Notices & Miscellaneous Scuttlebutt
Race Week Registration – The Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta, will be Thursday through Sunday, July 25-28. Your MRA fee covers the entry fee, so you don’t have to pay an additional fee, but you do have to register, which
you can do here.
Nationals Registration –Nationals will be held this August 22-25 in Hingham Bay, sponsored by Fleet 46 and the Hingham and Hull Yacht Clubs. Register and pick up the NOR
here.
If You Spin, Send It In (aka Road to the Pie) – We heard of no infractions this week, so the spin count remains unchanged
East Coasts Crew – Stefan Thibodeaux needs crew for East Coasts. If he can’t find a crew, he also is available to crew himself. Contact Stefan at
sjthibodeaux@gmail.com.
Attention Ladies – EYC Women’s IOD Invitational – The Eastern Yacht Club and the Marblehead
IOD Fleet are holding a 2-day women’s regatta this September: The 2024 EYC Women’s IOD Invitational. Open to all-female teams, this regatta is not limited to IOD Sailors. They expect entries from Manhattan, Newport, Annapolis, and other one-design sailing
communities. For more info, contact Greg Mancusi-Ungaro gregmu@gmail.com.
Boat For Sale – 1972 O’Day Rhodes 19 keelboat for sale. Well maintained. Chainplates, floatation and bottom recently refinished at Lewanda Marine. Hull #1727, raced in Marblehead in the 1980s and later enjoyed for day sailing.
Includes two sets of sails, one set of blades and a trailer. Currently in Essex Massachusetts. Asking $5,000. Please contact
Noel Johnson at 617-755-0976 or nwj40@comcast.net for more details and to view.
Happy Birthday Elise – On Saturday, Elise Nash turned 21 … again. Teammate
Joe Fava quipped that his present to her was not breaking the mast.
Mail Bag
We heard from new recruit Doug Morgan, who wrote in about his first day this season sailing 1210.
“We had a great day… (and we need lots of work on sets and /takes downs with only two people ) Looking to get out more frequently in the second half of the summer (juggling lots of 420 travel also).
Bill Rothwell and I are planning to race in the east coasts.”
Twilight PRO David Graham wrote in with this mea culpa about last week’s Twilight cancellation.
“After all these years of running the Twilight Race program and in studying local weather conditions, it was on last Thursday late afternoon at 4:00 PM that I was acting purely on long-term instinct (bolstered by some projected forecasting that had the existing
rough and lumpy conditions continuing into the evening), when I pulled the plug on the evening’s initial race of the season. However, it was some 90 minutes later, when the bottom fell out of the forecasted conditions – – – that I felt badly about having
made such a decision. All I can do is offer you my apology – – – and move on.” No apology necessary Dave. We appreciate your ongoing commitment to running races for us all summer.
Finally, Steve Uhl added his voice to chorus of positive comments about our short course MRA day.
“Great job by BYC running short courses on inside line, best racing-to-total time ratio we’ve had in a long time. 0.4 mile leg worked well with 9 boats, dinghy starts and minimum time between races was great, with the added bonus of short sails to and from
race course. Good to have this format as part of the mix.”
Complaints Department
Got Gripes?Don’t be shy. Unload at
kpandapas@comcast.net. The buck stops here.
-kp