Road To The Cup – Week 8
7/13/25
What You Need To Know
- Twilight Series 2 begins this Thursday July 17th.
- MRA Series 2 day 5 will be this Saturday July 19th.
- Race Week starts on Thursday July 24th. Strap in. Register here.
- Our traditional Race Week party will be hosted by Jennifer & Steve Uhl on Thursday evening, July 24th. Please RSVP through the evite.
- Register for Nationals here.
Last Week’s Racing
Five teams showed up on a dismal, overcast and decidedly un-festive evening for the final race of twilight Series 1. Steve Uhl provides this brief summary.
“Though a dreary, overcast day, it was great twilight conditions, with a steady light breeze and a long fair beat to Grays Rock and back. Neither side really seemed favored. Mike & Kathleen Lane led at the mark, followed closely by Steve Uhl. We sailed the run back overlapped the entire time, which was a fun battle. Uhl won out by a boat length. As an aside, the course was changed, properly before the warning, and announced on the radio, but one boat missed the change and sailed some extra distance. Always good to double check course before start.”
So, for the record, taking 1st (again) was Steve Uhl. Finishing 2nd was Team Lane and taking 3rd was John Casler. Honorable mentions to Team Martini in 4th and Jay Wager in 5th. Congrats to all.
So with that, Series 1 is in the books. With his fifth bullet in six races (he missed a race), Steve Uhl completed his complete domination of Twilight Series 1, bringing it to a decisive and merciful close. Here are the final results.
Out on the MRA line, 10 teams made the short trek to the Brimbles line to start tuning up for Race Week, which believe it or not boys and girls, is just over a week away. Making their 2025 debuts were Team Sheldon / Sousa / Thayer in Garuda, and Team McNamara sailing Ripple. It’s unclear if Frank plans to sail with us or his J70 for RW, but we were happy to see him and are always excited to have him back on our line.
The forecast predicted sun and pleasantness, with SE 8-12, but that’s not exactly what we got. To be fair, we only saw 12-13 with perhaps the occasional mid-teen gust, but it was chilly and clammy, lumpy, foul weather pants and two-butts-on-the-rail type of day. I understand things brightened a bit as the day wore on, but I wasn’t there to see it as Team P. suffered an uncharacteristic breakdown during race 1 and went in. Also worth mentioning is that Tim McCaffrey and his CYC RC team had some trouble finding bottom that would hold, and spent the better part of an hour between Race 1 & 2 trying to hook up, which made for a later day than expected.
So for the record, finishing 1st. on the day was Team Lane / Heffernan, who put up an impressive 2-1-1 for 4 points. Well done. Finishing 2nd was Team Denton, with a 4-2-2 for 8 points, and taking 3rd was Team McNamara, who rolled a 3-4-3 for 10 points. Honorable mentions go to Team Uhl / Lane in 4th, with a 1-5-DNC for 11 points, and Team Morgan / Rothwell in 5th with a 5-3-DNC for 13 points. Congratulations to all.
So, in Cup competition, after the Twilight win and an MRA throw-out (and despite yesterday’s Race 3 DNC), Team Uhlfights his way back, setting up a dog fight at the top. The top 10 are below.
Week 9 racing will include the first race of twilight Series 2 on Thursday 7/17, and the 2-3 races of MRA Series 2 Day 5 on Saturday 7/19, which is expected to be on South Line.
Other News, Notices & Miscellaneous Scuttlebutt
Nationals Update – Nationals Regatta Chair Jeff Shoreman provides this update.
“The countdown to the 2025 Nationals is on! As a reminder the regatta is being hosted by EYC and Fleet 5 on August 22nd to 24th.
“We currently have 14 boats registered. We are 26 short of our goal. We hope everyone will be able to sail. If you haven’t done so already, please go online and register today! Getting boats registered is a huge help to the organizing committee and it only takes a minute. By registering early, you will also avoid repeated emails, texts, and nags from the event chair (aka me).
“We also need volunteers to: 1) help greet, launch, and pull out of town boats on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday; 2) help with registration on Thursday and Friday; 3) sell raffle tickets during the events. If you are interested in volunteering, please send me an email and we will add you to the list. It is going to be a fantastic event! Any questions – please send them my way at jshoreman@gmail.com!!
Fleet 5 to Be Featured – Bunkakobo, a Japanese media production company, has been producing a weekly mini-program called“Minato Jikan”(“Harbor Time”) for TV Asahi, one of Japan’s national television networks. The program focuses on sailing culture and the stories of ports and maritime communities around the world. They are planning to feature Marblehead in an upcoming episode and reached out to Fleet 5, “hoping to follow a local family of Fleet 5 sailors—highlighting both the seriousness of one-design competition and the multigenerational connections that define community-based sailing.” Christina Pandapas agreed to lead the effort for Fleet 5 and is working to provide them member story lines and access. They’ll be filming and interviewing during Race Week, so keep an eye out. If you’re interested, visit their program website and click on the sail icons on the map to view past episodes.
Twilight SI’s Amendment – Twilight sailors can expect another Twilight amendment requiring solo sailors to wear PFDs, which, by the way, makes all the sense in the world. If you’re racing by yourself, why on earth wouldn’t you wear a PFD? We’ll let you know when we see it.
Nationals Measuring –If you don’t have a certificate, or if your certificate is out of date because you made alterations to the boat since the last time you were measured, please email Stefan Thibodeaux at sjthibodeaux@gmail.com to schedule a measurement.
Nationals Charter Boats Needed – The nationals regatta committee is looking for a few boats available for charter (see next item). If for some reason you plan not to sail Nationals and would be willing to offer it for charter, contact Jeff Shoreman at jshoreman@gmail.com.
Need Charter Boat – Liz Johnson from the Rhodes 19 Fleet 12, Chicago Corinthian Yacht Club, wrote in inquiring about a boat to charter/borrow/sail for the Nationals competition. She borrowed Rhodeo from Joe ONeil last summer in Hull, and just chartered a boat for the ECCs in Cottage Park. If your boat is available, Liz can be reached at babeand4boys@gmail.com” style=”color:rgb(149,79,114);margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer”>babeand4boys@gmail.com.
If You Spin, Send It In – Pete Kaznoski dropped us this note, “One spin for us today. We hit the windward mark in race one.” We also heard from Marine Regnault, with this, “Letting you know that we did two spins because we hit a windward mark yesterday in the third race.” Why two spins for one hit mark? Did you hit it twice? In any event, thanks, Pete & Wilson, Marine & Stefan for your sportsmanship and for leaving it on the course.
A reminder that if you spin, please let me know at kpandapas@comcast.net with the subject line ‘Spins.’
Hacker Award Update – You’ll recall that Joe Fava & Elise Nash won last year’s coveted Hacker Award for their handling of an admittedly unusual situation involving a bat on the racecourse. Here is a reminder of that event.
You may also recall that the rightful recipients of the award have the right (and obligation) to add to the award’s majesty through their own creative artistic enhancements. Inexplicably, the Hacker Award still resides at my house waiting for the winners to collect it. But in what can only be regarded as positive motion, Elise Nash was by recently and made a good faith attempt to fulfil her obligation by augmenting the award with a toy bat. Creative, right? On point, contextually relevant, funny. However, after installing the bat, she again left the award to languish at my house in a K-9 accessible location. Look, I know it’s hard to carry something when you’re on crutches, so I get it, but our dog Tessa clearly took issue with its continued residence and was less forgiving. Take a look.
It’s definitely time for the rightful winners to take home their prize.
Mail Bag
We heard from Joan Thayer, just before going to press, who shared this about an available crew she recently met.
“I met two younger women at this past Friday’s Women on the Water sail. One is very eager to get back on the water sailing and racing. Below is info on one and we have Race Week coming up. Thanks for putting this into the Road to the Cup. (And what a day out there yesterday. Our first day out. Made it around in one piece.)
“Ail Piatelli – 413.427.2559 – raced J22s since age 10, coached opti race team for 3 summers. Has spent time racing a J 24. Would need a non-race day to practice foredeck work, as she has spent more time on the tiller than a crew. Is happy and eager to crew and expand her adult sailing skills. Positive attitude!”
Thanks Joan, and please let us know when you have contact info for the second.
Complaints Department
Got Gripes? Don’t be shy. Unload at kpandapas@comcast.net. The buck stops here. -kp