Road
To The Cup – Week 5
6/23/24
What You Need To Know
- Twilight 1-5 will be Thursday evening.
- MRA 2-2 will be Saturday on Brimbles Line for another day of short-course racing.
- If you haven’t registered yet for Race Week, you can do it
here.
Last Week’s Racing
Just four boats made it out Thursday night, due most likely to threat of thunderstorms, which on this day proved a legitimate concern. PRO
David Graham was of course on top of things, and as usual, split his afternoon between perusing the Doppler radar sites and consulting his Ouija board. So diligent was he that he even tracked down the CYC dockmaster, who happened to be enjoying a day
off in Maine at the time. As it turned out, the storm did in fact hit, but just after racing and thankfully, all Rhodes were safely back on their moorings. I’m not 100% sure I can say the same for the Townies. We got this weather synopsis from
John Casler.
“All through the day, there were severe thunderstorm warnings. As game time approached. i.e., 5 ish to 7 ish, those warnings were still posted, storm eta generally around 8, or later.
Jim Taylor, Tim Dittrich, and I discussed the situation and decided to take a pass. As my son Charley and I left CYC at around 6:40, the
Martinis had left their mooring, Steve Uhl was at the mooring rigging (with a crew of 3), and
Walter Colsman, apparently single handed, was rigging up. As Charley and I drove across the causeway, the wind was dying. About 7:30 there was dead calm, and shortly after 8 the sky became purple/black/purple and the storm hit.”
Always a tough decision. Anyway, here is the race summary from
Steve Uhl. “Only four boats came out for twilights, maybe due to risk of thunderstorms, but the storms held off and sailing in a nice southerly was a great way to beat the 96-degree heat. The RC had us do a short leeward/windward, twice around,
to keep us close by in case the storms hit. Walter Colsman led most of the race, though both
Uhl and Dittrich had brief moments in front. Team Martini also was second for a bit but their rudder decided to do battle with a lobster pot. The finishes were 2561, 2585, 1217, 1466.”
Walter Colsman added, “Wind velocity was very up and down, overall pleasant. A lot of jockeying for position on both downwind legs provided a lot of entertainment. As I got off the launch, the wind had shifted 180 degrees and
the puffs were much cooler air. The townies were still finishing. Half an hour later or so, the storm hit.”
So for the record, taking 1st sailing solo was
Walter Colsman. Taking 2nd was Steve Uhl and finishing 3rd
Timmy D. Honorable mention to Team Martini in 4th. Congrats to all for braving it.
Out on the MRA line, ten teams made it out for our second outstanding day of short course racing on the Brimbles line, courtesy of the BYC RC, who did another terrific job. The Townies were scheduled to be there as well, but they took
a pass, leaving us to enjoy the rare treat of having a line to ourselves. Warm welcomes to newest recruit
Doug Morgan, sailing with old friend Bill Rothwell in 1210, as well as to
Nick Burke, standing in for Christina Pandapas who was otherwise occupied sailing the
Thayer with the CYC team.
Conditions were essentially NNE and gradually built from mid-single digits to about 12-13 knots over the course of the afternoon, with chop of about two feet. The RC had its hands full staying on top of the 30+ degree shift, making good
use of the three weather mark options. They ran conventional 3-minute starts (sound signals only and no flags), and aside from a couple of shift-driven APs, kept things moving. We got in 4 races and sailed in around 4PM.
Congratulations to Team Lane / Harsono, who totally brought it, putting up a line of 1-3-1-1 for 6 points to win the day handily and take an early Series 2 lead. Taking 2nd on tiebreaker was
Team Pandapas / Burke with a line of 3-1-3-3 for 10 points. And finishing 3rd was
Team Uhl / Lane,who rolled a 2-2-4-2, also for 10 points. Honorable mentions to
Team Morgan / Rothwell in 4th with a 5-5-2-6 for 18 points, and
Team Rubin in 5th with a 6-3-5-7 for 21 points. Congratulations to all.
So, in Cup competition, it’s tight at the top with Steve Uhl legging out to a 6-points on
Team P., who took a DNC on Thursday’s twilight. And coming on strong is
Team Lane, just 9 points off the pace. The top 10 are listed below.
Week 6 racing will include Twilight 1-5 on Thursday night 6/27, first gun at 7PM. MRA 2-2 will be on Saturday 6/29, again on the Brimbles Line for short course forma, this time with the EYC RC.
Other News, Notices & Miscellaneous Scuttlebutt
Fleet 5ers Turn Out For Thayer – The annual Thayer Trophy, CYC signature woman’s team race event was held this weekend. As I write, there is still a day of racing left, so no results yet. But it’s worth mentioning that,
between EYC and CYC, six of Fleet 5’s exceptional women are sailing, including
Ashley Hoguet, Debbie Noble, Julianna Testa, Christina Pandapas,
Elise Nash and Karen Finocchio.
Race Week Registration – The Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta, will be Thursday through Sunday, July 25-28. Your MRA fee covers the entry 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 about a few more EC infractions.
Mike Lane wrote in that he spun twice on Sunday, but he didn’t say why, so we’ll assume they were both fouls.
Team Martini also let us know they spun after hitting a mark. We also heard from
Marine Regnault-Stoel about an incident on the MRA line. “Just letting you know that I made a circle cause I didn’t give enough space at the start to Mike (I think?).” Thanks to all for leaving it on the course, with this reminder. It’s easy
to get heated in the heat of the moment. We should all continue to work to communicate respectfully on the water.
Mail Bag
Mike Hebert wrote in about the shot in last week’s RTTC of his crew up the rig retrieving a halyard. “Great write up as usual and glad someone got a picture of our halyard retrieval. That was 70-year-old
Ken Wilson who volunteered to go up on Father’s Day rather than his 11-year-old granddaughter. Not easy to do without a winch but fortunately he’s long and lean.”
Impressive, Ken!
Complaints Department
Got Gripes?Don’t be shy. Unload at
kpandapas@comcast.net. The buck stops here.
-kp