Road
To The Cup – Week 12
Top-10 as of 8/11/24
What You Need To Know
- There will be no MRA racing this weekend.
- The ‘Around Misery Island’ race will be Saturday August 17th. No SIs yet.
- Nationals will be August 22-25 in Hingham Bay. 32 Boats are currently registered. Details below.
- A reminder that the fleet voted not to score MRA Series 3 – Day 3 on Saturday August 24th, because it conflicts with nationals. MRA will hold a start for Fleet 5 members who want
to sail but racing that day will not be scored.
Last Week’s Racing
Eight boats showed up for the second race of Twilight Series 2. Here is our report from
Steve Uhl. “A nice night despite overcast ceiling; nice easterly although the neck blocked the breeze in the harbor making it very squirrely.
Walter Colsman sailing solo won the pin and the reach to the nun off Fort Sewall, but on the beautiful beat to the bell buoy,
Mike Lane sailing with Renee Heffernan managed to catch up by sailing fast and going hard right to the light house. The two of them battled back and forth the rest of the way with mike ultimately prevailing.
Anne-Marije Veenland came from deep on the last leg to finish 3rd.”
Thanks Steve. So for the record, finishing 1st was
Team Lane / Heffernan, taking 2nd was Walter Colsman and finishing 3rd was
Anne Marije Veenland. Honorable mentions to John Casler in 4th and
Team Martini in 5th. Congratulations to all.
Out on the MRA line, glory be – we finally got to race. Nine teams showed up for Series 3, Day 2, which as you know was actually Day 1 for us because of last week’s ridiculousness. Anyway, while not a huge turnout, it proved to be just
one boat less than the other three fleets combined (three Etchells, 3 J70s and four Vipers). Take pride in the fact that Fleet 5 continues its decades long trend of being MRA’s biggest customer. But I digress. The lineup included the return of
Doug Morgan, sailing with Bill Rothwell, and it was great to see them out in 1210.
The forecast looked iffy midweek as the remnants of tropical storm Debby were forecast to make their way to New England. Thankfully, the storm took a northerly track well west of us. So instead of the Armageddon that could have happened,
we got an up-and-down 5-10 knot westerly, building to 10-15 with sunny skies and 80-degree temps. Not bad. The breeze picked up considerably around 4PM (see below), making for a sporty last leg and ride in.
The RC set up comfortably beyond the Classic Yacht starting area. The breeze trended right all day, starting in the 220 range and clocking all the way to 280 before backing to 250. The shiftiness made it hard to set a square course, as
by the time marks were set, it had gone right another 10. So the courses were a bit lopsided without a ton of starboard tack. Despite that, we got in three races, which believe it or not, was the first time we’ve managed that since June 29th.
Shout out to PRO Don Miller and his BYC team for making it all work.
So taking 1st on the day was Mike Lane, sailing with
Yatti Harsono, who rolled a 1-2-2 for 5 points. Taking 2nd one point back was
Team P. with a 2-3-1 for 6 points, and finishing 3rd was Team Uhl / Lane, who put up a 5-1-3 for 9 points. Honorable mentions go to
Team Denton in 4th with a 3-4-4 for 11 points, and Team Noble in 5th with a 4-6-DNS for 15 points. Congrats to all.
Astonishingly, that leaves just two more scored MRA days for us this season. There is no MRA racing this weekend, and August 24 conflicts with Nationals. That leaves just the two days of Labor Day weekend for all the marbles. With that
in mind, it’s worth noting that the MRA season championship is tight at the top and very much up for grabs.
Team Uhl / Lane currently holds a tenuous 1st with 49 points,
Team P. is in 2nd with 50 points and Team Lane is in 3rd with 51 points.
So, in Cup competition, Team Lane extends its lead on the strength of winning both Thursday and Saturday. The top 10 are listed below.
Week 13 racing will include Twilight 2-3 on Thursday evening. There is no MRA racing this week, but the popular Around Misery race will be Saturday the 17th.
Other News, Notices & Miscellaneous Scuttlebutt
Fleet 5ers at the Morgan Cup – Three Fleet 5ers travelled to Newport this weekend to sail in the NYYC’s Morgan Cup.
Evan Cooke and Elise Nash are sailing for CYC and RW winner Adam Roberts for San Diego Yacht Club. With another day of sailing to go, Team CYC (picture below) is tied at the top with 11 wins. You can follow the action
here.
Nationals –Nationals is August 22-25 in Hingham Bay, sponsored by Fleet 46 and the Hingham and Hull Yacht Clubs. Register and pick up the NOR
here.
Labor Day Regatta – A reminder that we have repackaged MRA Series 3 Days 4 & 5 as a standalone regatta. There will be no changes to MRA scoring, which will go ahead as usual. But Fleet 5 will score those days independently
as a 2-day regatta, and hold an awards ceremony at the Fleet 5 Labor Day party on Sunday after sailing. That party, by the way, will be at the home of
Rebecca & Larry Ehrhardt. Thanks to them, and to Joe Fava for doing all the heavy lifting on this.
Laser Housing Needed – EYC is hosting the ILCA US Masters Sept 20-22. They expect 100 boats and are looking for housing. Anyone willing to host a Laser sailor can contact
Ledyard Mcfadden at 978-828-0685 or
Ledyardmcfadden@gmail.com.
If You Spin, Send It In (aka Road to the Pie) – No spins this week.
Remember if you spin, email
kpandapas@comcast.net and let me know how many fouls you committed for which you exonerated yourself.
Mail Bag
Lisa McNamara is getting into the mystery fleet theme, sending in this.
“Following along with Jeremy’s lead, I also have some interesting boat pics from ME. Here is a fleet of Rhodes that are used for recreation and instruction at Linekin Bay Resort near Boothbay. But my next pic will be of a “mystery fleet”-cousins to Fleet
5 vessels.”
Complaints Department
Got Gripes?Don’t be shy. Unload at
kpandapas@comcast.net. The buck stops here.
-kp