Road to the Cup – Week 5 – 2016

Top-10 as of 6/26/16

 

Before I get started, please note that NOOD Registration is open.  You can register right now by clicking here.

 

Four boats made it out for Twilights, to do beer-can battle in conditions that included 2-3 knots from the east with gusts to 15 from the south and alternatively gusts to 15+ from the north.  Steve Uhl characterized the breeze as “The weirdest winds I’ve ever seen.”  Apparently the race started on time in barely perceptible breeze leaving the four competitors adrift at the mouth until, “in random order, Steve Uhl (sailing with BJ Mansfield), John Casler, Team Martini, and Walter & Matthew Colsman got puffs and headed out to Cat Island and back, follow the leader style.  On the second time around, Team Martini edged past John Casler in another sequence of gusts and holes.”  Hmm!  Sounds like the rest of us were winners for missing that, but congratulations nonetheless to Steve Uhl who took 1st, Team Martini 2nd and John Casler 3rd. Worth mentioning is that old friend Eckart Colsman enjoyed spectating from the porch, passing on the opportunity to field a 3-generation boat.

 

Keeping an eye on the bigger beer-can picture, with three races sailed and two to go in Twilight Series 1, Steve Uhl holds the lead with 6 points, Team Colsman is 2nd with 7 points and Team Martini is 3rd with 8 points.

 

Out on the MRA line, 18 boats showed up for a chamber of commerce day that featured sunshine, flat water and a relatively consistent 5-10 from the southeast.  Several folks made their 2016 debuts, including Bill Heffernan sailing with Shannon Lane, Stuart Boyd, Peter Weise, Bill Dalton, Team Berliner and Team Hoguet, featuring young Ashley Hoguet on the helm.  Also, Fleet 5 welcomes Callie Naughton, who sailed Larry Ehrhardt’s boat, as well as 470 sailor Adam Bookman who sailed with Steve Uhl and skippered the last two races.  We’d love to see them keep coming out.  And finally, with Joe Fava taking a day off, Elise Nash made her 2016 steering debut sailing with Josh Wheeler.

 

Taking the day with a 1-1-1 for 3 points was Team Pandapas, who apparently liked the conditions and had one of those rare, dialed-in days where every decision works out and mistakes don’t matter.  Finishing 2nd was Dave Nelson, again sailing with daughter Haley Nelson, who put up an impressive 2-4-2 for 8 points.  Taking 3rd was Matt Hooks & Beanie Eisner, who rolled a 6-2-5 for 13 points.  Honorable mentions go to Team Pendleton / Raisides who took 4th on a tiebreaker with a 4-3-8 for 15 points, and Team Frisch / Hourihan, who finished 5th with 3-6-6, also for 15 points.  Congratulations to all.

 

Alert racers might have noticed that Team Heffernan has chosen to mix it up with the Lane family this season, with Renee Heffernan sailing with Mike Lane and Bill Heffernan sailing with Shannon Lane.  It would be irresponsible of me not to track that competition, right?  So let the record show that Bill & Shannon drew first blood with 21 points, beating Mike & Renee who put up 28.  Let the games begin.

 

That closes the book on MRA Series 1.  Finishing 1st was Team Pandapas with 9 points.  Taking 2nd was Dave Nelson with 10 points and finishing 3rd was Team Frisch / Hourihan with 22.5 points.  Honorable mentions go to Team Pendleton / Raisides who took 4th with 26 points and Matt Hooks who finished 5th with 41 points.

 

So in Cup competition, we’ve had a substantial reshuffling of the deck, driven by Series 1 throw-outs, EC byes and a good day for Team Pandapas.  The top ten are listed below.

 

 

Week 6 racing will include the Twilight race on Thursday night and the 2-3 races of MRA Series 2, Day 1 on Saturday out on Tinkers Line.

 

Mail Bag

Absentee RTTC editor Christina Pandapas lobbed in her contribution after the fact with this: “Corrections for next week’s RTTC – Chris Hufstader and Megan Watson were Ben’s crew.”  See what happens when I work without a net!

 

Dave Nelson noticed our confusion about his daughter’s name, writing, “I was sailing with my daughter, Haley last weekend.  She just turned 13 and this was her first time as the bow person on a Rhodes.  She thought the wave surfing was awesome!  I didn’t know a Rhodes could go that fast.”  How great is that?  Welcome Haley Nelson and we look forward to seeing you more often.

 

In the never-ending saga of twilight SIs and which side to round marks, Russ Chapman clarifies his position by adding, “The indication/notification of which side to round a mark is not made on the mark itself,” and further goes on to talk about the usual standard of sound signals accompanying visual signals.  Okay, thanks and fair enough.  I think we’ve beaten this horse and hope you’ll forgive me for moving on.

 

Peter Sorlien writes in to let us know that he, “delivered my boat to Chris Small last week,” and hopes Chris gets it going soon so he can get out there this season.  Peter goes on to write, “BTW, thanks for continuing to write and publish great newsletters too.  Road to the Cup is a must-read, cover-to-cover for me.”  Well how could we not print that?

 

Several folks would have enjoyed taking better advantage of the awesome conditions in Rockport last Sunday by sailing more than one race.  Most comments were along the lines of this from East Coasts champ Ben Richardson who suggested they might have considered running “three races because we surely would have finished the second before the time limit.”  We agree, though are mindful that the organizers may have been considering leaving some Father’s Day time after haul-out and awards.  Ben went on to quote 3rd place skipper Jim Raisides who said “This is my Father’s Day present!”

 

CYC Commodore Brent Larlee seems to have noticed our interest in him and wife Beth Larlee joining us.  He writes in, “Thank you once again for the shout out in your newsletter, but it got me to thinking.  I wonder if any other mediocre sailor has been as heavily recruited to join a fleet?”  Hey, who are you calling mediocre Commodore?  But ok, you got us.  We’re really just recruiting you to get to Beth, and don’t be calling her mediocre.  Truth be told, we want to pad our husband-wife numbers which, by the way, are double digit.  How could you not want to be part of that?

 

On a related topic, and in the say-it-ain’t-so file, Joe Duplin’s daughter Angela Duplin is selling her boat.  If you don’t know who Joe Duplin is, you should, but suffice it to say that between Joe and Greg Dolan, this boat is optimized.  Angela writes, “Excellent racing condition!  2007 East Coast Championship 1st place, 2004 Chicago Nationals 5th place.  Foam ribs, closed cell foam flotation tanks.  Hull faired and painted with VC performance epoxy.  Keel re-installed and balanced.  Center seam glassed from stem to stern.  Hull is solid.  Recessed spin blocks, 2 point center lifting straps, barney post, stern traveler.  (2) sets of sails (main/jib), (1) spinnaker.  Asking:  $12,000.  Call Angela Duplin @ (617) 605-6195 or email for more info @ daveandangela5@comcast.net.”  Sounds like a deal to me.  In response to my sadness that she’s selling the boat, Angela added, “I know, but now I will be available for crew!”

 

Finally, everyone knows that Team Shoreman / Reynolds has had to cut back racing in order to be good parents (something Team Pandapas would know nothing about).  But that hasn’t stopped them from getting out on the water.  Jeff writes in to share the photo below, “Father’s Day sail on McLovin – Wyatt Reynolds (left) and Ben Shoreman (right).”