Road To The Cup – Week 19

Road To The Cup – Week 19

Top-10 as of 10/2/16

Let’s start with a shout-out to our friend Susie Schneider, who broke her foot last week.  We have no specifics on when or how this happened, but it’s an immense drag that prevented her from serving as PRO for the Laser Masters this weekend.  Fleet 5 sends our heart-felt best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Speaking of Laser Masters, OMG.  In all, there were more than 100 registered boats, including 69 full rigs and 33 radials.  Wow!  Congrats to regatta organizers Tom Dailey and Patrick Andreasen for making that happen.  The weather gods definitely did not smile on this event, serving up a cold, rainy northeasterly for three straight days.  But the laser fleet, full of machismo and unwilling to take no for an answer, went out into those unpleasant conditions and got it done.  Several Fleet 5ers showed the flag, including Tom Dailey, Steve Uhl, Abbott Lowell, Charlie Pendleton, Ben Richardson, Matt Hooks and old friend Rob Hallawell.  My hat is off to all of them.  And talk about deep!  Any fleet that has JB Braun in the mid-teens has to be pretty competitive, right?  As I write, Ernesto Rodigues of Miami is leading the full rig fleet with a (3)-1-1-1-1-2 for 6 points.  I don’t even know what to do with that!  

The Fall Series ended abruptly with a Friday MRA email to sailors cancelling racing on Saturday.  I’m sure that decision didn’t cause a lot people heartache, given that it was mid-50s, pouring rain and blowing 20 out of the northeast.  My guess is, however, that Mike Lane would have been game, and knowing that, so too would Team Frisch/Hourihan holding a thin one-point lead.  Also worth mentioning is that I heard from Ann Souza on Friday night wondering if there would be racing, suggesting that she too would have headed out (and should be added to the MRA distribution list).  Tip of the hat to them, though honestly, I’m pretty sure that would have been it.

So with five races sailed, that locks in last week’s standings.  Congratulations to Team Frisch/Hourihan who took 1st with a line of 1-(2)-1-2-1 for points 5 points (after throw-out).  Taking 2nd just a thin point back with a line of (2)-1-2-1-2 for 6 points was Mike Lane.  And taking 3rd was Ann Souza, who put up a 3-3-(4)-4-3 for 13 points.  Congratulations to all.

In Cup competition, our 2016 season ends, locking in last week’s top-10.  Congratulations to 2016 Cup winners Team Pendleton/Raisides for another great season and another season championship.  On top of winning the cup, they came tantalizingly close to winning the triple crown (ECs, RW and Nationals), dominating both RW and Nationals.  And by the way, they sailed well enough to win ECs too, but wound up 3rd there due to exceptional regattas by Ben Richardson and Tomas Hornos.  Just an outstanding season!  So congratulations to them and to all who cracked the top-10, listed below.

Notices

MRA Awards Party  The MRA will host its annual awards party on the evening of Wednesday October 12th at 6:30 at the BYC.  Circle the date and please plan to come support this year’s R19 winner, Team Frisch/Hourihan, as well as series winners and the winners of the other fleets.

Fleet 5 Awards Party Date Change  Another reminder that Fleet 5’s Fall awards party will be held on Saturday November 12th.  We moved the event back a week so that it wouldn’t conflict with the Halloween Team Race at EYC.  The event will again be generously hosted Elise & Mike Nash, be potluck, feature the fleet bar and start at 6:30.  So circle the date and keep an eye out for your email invitation.

Outstanding Crew Award  Nominations are still being excepted for the 2016 Outstanding Crew Award.  Nominations must include a supporting paragraph describing why you think your nominee should win, and if it includes something funny or embarrassing, all the better.  The winner will be decided by the Fleet leadership, who for the most part are above board and cannot be bought!  Send your nominations to kpandapas@comcast.net by October 28th.  (As an aside, so far I’ve received exactly zero nominations, which makes me crazy.  People, people, people…  Don’t think I’m above posting a wall-of-shame list of skippers without the good sense to recognize their loyal crews!)

Doyle Pre-Buy – Several folks have asked if we received Doyle’s 2017 pre-buy pricing yet.  Not yet, but stay tuned.  We’ll make sure you don’t miss it.  

892 For Sale – In the say-it-ain’t-so department, Rick Smyers and Jeff Sachs are letting go one of the fastest boats in the fleet.  Once owned by Jim Taylor, this boat was reconditioned by Jeremy Bloxham in the late 90s, who then went on to sail it to victories in ECs, RW and Nationals.  Here’s the listing.  “Rigging includes jib fine tune (accessible from the rails), adjustable jib cars, barney post, and stern traveler.  Brand new sails (main was literally never used; jib just used once) and a spare set.  Keel ground and faired in 2016.  Mast replaced in 2013 and used sparingly since then.  Boom replaced in 2011.  2 spin poles.  Trailer included.  Asking $11,000.”  You can reach Rick at ricksmyers@gmail.com.  

Mail Bag

Astonishingly, we had no mail this week.

So with another season in the books, we end another season of RTTC.  A couple of quick thoughts before I sign off.

The fleet leadership is planning to get together in December to start planning next season.  If you have thoughts or suggestions on how we can make 2017 better than 2016, please let us know.

As I do every year, I took a look at some of the season stats to get a sense of parity and how deep the fleet really is.  I say all the time that we have close to 20 boats capable of winning a race, which makes for both competitive racing as well as a healthy distribution of success and post-race bragging rights.  But do the numbers back that up?  In a word, yes.  Jim & Charlie’s terrific season notwithstanding, in aggregate over the course of our season, we sailed 61 races (not including East Coasts).  In those races, 17 different teams earned bullets, 20 earned 2nd place finishes and 25 earned 3rd place finishes.  Seven different teams won the day (not counting Thursday nights), and 7 different boats won series.  That’s pretty awesome, right?

Many thanks to the three clubs, the MRA and the scores of race committee folks who volunteered their time and experience so we could play.  Thanks especially to our two wounded warriors, Judy Adam and Susie Schneider.  Hope you guys heel quickly.

Finally, I may sign these RTTCs but as you know, getting them out every week is a team effort.  Huge thanks to John Casler and Steve Uhl for keeping us informed each week about Thursday nights.  Thanks also to Joe Fava and Elise Nash, who were regular contributors.  Thanks to scorer Christina Pandapas, who also did the more important job of keeping me out of trouble with questions like, “geez, are you sure you really want to say that?”  And thanks to Fleet Secretary Jeff Shoreman who routinely dropped everything (except presumably his new son) to get these out to you every Sunday.  I ask that they all accept a gracious and appreciative tip of my cap, and I urge you to thank them when you see them.

The next full newsletter will come out on Nov 1.  

Week 1 racing will include the first day of the two-day Spring Series on Saturday May 27th, 2017.  Have a great offseason.   

-kp  (kpandapas@comcast.net)