Road To The Cup – Week 12

 

Road To The Cup – Week 12

Top-10 as of 8/13/17

 

Twilights this week looked like a dying southerly that still had a few kicks left in it.  Here is the rundown from John Casler.

 

“The wind was out of the South at 6-8, with significantly interesting gusts.  The course was out to the nun marking the iconic North Shore landmark Williams Ledge, then over to Can “1MH”, twice around.  Four boats were approximately even on the downwind start, but Steve Uhl, single handing 2585 in the light air, oozed ahead over the course of the run to round first and held that lead throughout the race.  Team Martini in 1466 passed 1398 on the beat to 1MH, and also held that lead.  The second time around was shortened to just include the nun off the Fort, with no lead changes.  The finishing order was thus 2585, 1466, 1398, and 1775.”

 

So congratulations to Steve Uhl, who single handed his way to a bullet.  Nice job.  Taking 2nd was Team Martini and Ann Sousa took 3rd.  Honorable mention goes to John Casler in 4th.

 

Out on the MRA line, just 14 boats showed up for the final dress rehearsal before Nationals.  Conditions were spectacular.  The forecast called 10-15 (depending on what you read) from SSE and trending right.  What we got was an oscillating southerly that started at 5-6 knots and slowly built to about 15.  The RC planted its flag deep in the Brimbles (what my wife refers to as the toilet bowl), and we raced in the general direction of Halfway Rock.  PRO Susy Schneider kept things moving and despite an early AP, we managed to get in three.  

 

The big story of the day was the arrival of old friend Chris Schreiber and his wife (sorry, don’t remember her name).  Chris is former fleet captain of the St Croix fleet, who has recently relocated in Camden Maine.  They are going to be sailing Nationals with us, chartering Chris Small’s boat, and decided to drive down for a trial run.  Interestingly, Chris had the best of intentions planning to stay out of our way so as not to impact our series.  But good sailors sail, and when the gun goes off, instincts kick in.  I don’t know his finishes for the first two races but he won the 3rd.  As an unregistered MRA boat, his scores were not included so everyone behind him moved up a point.  But how great is it to have such a solid sailor sail with us.  We’d all be well advised not to lose sight of him this weekend.

 

Congratulations to Team Frisch /Hourihan, who rolled a 4-1-1 for 6 points to win the day. Again, the final race was actually a 2, but they get credit for the bullet nonetheless.  Taking 2nd was Team Pandapas, who rolled a 1-4-5 for 10 points, and finishing 3rd was Steve Uhl with a 3-5-3 for 11 points.  Honorable mentions go to TeamLane / Heffernan, who put up a 2-2-8 for 12 points to take 4th, and to Team Heffernan / Harsono, who rolled a 5-6-4 for 15 points and 5th.  And a final honorable mention to Chris Schreiber and his wife.

 

So, in Cup competition, the top 4 remain unchanged but there was a little movement below that.  The top 10 are listed below.  

 

 

Week 13 racing will include Nationals.  In support of Nationals, fleet 5 will score neither Twilights nor MRA this week.  The CYC will run Twilights as usual, but we won’t be scoring them, as we’d prefer you attend the annual meeting at the EYC.  Ditto MRA.  In fact, you may recall that we told MRA last Spring not to plan on even holding a start for the Rhodes this week.

 

Other News, Notices & Miscellaneous Scuttlebutt

Nationals Update  Just about here!  We are up to 31 boats.  If you registered, you should have received an update email providing you info, which is repeated here below.

 

1. The Eastern Yacht Club Sailing Center is regatta central and where all events will be located except where indicated

2. Registration Schedule (full schedule of events is attached)

• Thursday 0800-1000

• Thursday 1600-1700

• Friday 0800-1000

3. Sail Measurement – Drop any unmeasured sails off per the schedule below

• Wednesday 0900-1600: Sail Measurement Drop-Off

• Thursday 0800-1000: Sail Measurement

• Thursday 1800-1900: Sail Measurement (if necessary)

4. Boat Measurement

• Boats needing measurement should plan on being measured Wednesday or Thursday; if you are unsure of your status contact Peter Sorlien psorlien@gmail.com

5. Don’t forget the Annual Meeting Thursday after the practice rate.

 

More Boat Measurement  The Fleet has just one more additional pre-nationals measurement planned on Tuesday August 15.  Measurer Peter Sorlien plans to start at 9AM.  Please note that Paragraph 6 in the NOR (http://2017nationals.rhodes19.org/notice-of-race/) says that you’ll need the measurer’s written approval before you’ll be allowed to complete registration.  Contact Peter at psorlien@gmail.com / 781-631-5956 to reserve your spot.  

 

Mail Bag

Stefan Thibodeaux wrote in with this observation of Saturday’s racing.  “Lovely day, except there seems to be a lot of fouling at the windward mark and not a lot of penalty turns being done.  I think the fleet could learn from the laser fleet.  I also wish people would read the rule about tacking inside the circle.  There seems to be some confusion about who has the right of way or boats are just deciding to forgo the rules.”  Thanks Stefan.  Regrettably, I have observed the same thing (though in fairness, I saw several boats spinning around that mark too).  Look, we all know that port tack approaches are high risk in traffic, especially in the zone.  Jud talks about filtering every decision through a risk reward framework that encourages him to avoid low probability outcomes (like winning the favored pin or banging a corner).  Port tack approaches in traffic are a weak hand and the probability of coming out of that smelling like a rose is low.  So please think twice, and if you foul someone, take your lumps and do the right thing.  By the way, what Stefan refers to is the Laser Fleet’s celebration of the day’s highest penalty turn total by making it a day prize.  It’s usually good for a glass, a six pack or possibly even a chocolate cake.  What I like about it is that it elevates sportsmanship to something that is recognized and celebrated just as much as winning the day.

 

We got a few things wrong last week, and thankfully Ann Sousa helped us straighten it out.  For starters, remember there was some confusion about the number of boats who sailed and finished the Twilight race?  Well mystery solved.  “Sarah Sheldon was skippering this past Thursday and I was on the boat. We did start and battled it out with the Martini’s till the last mark when they went toward peaches point and got a very fine lift into the harbor.  Yes, we did finish!”  Ok, thanks.  So we’ll score them 5th.  

 

Also, you’ll recall that we hypothesized that there weren’t a lot of folks interested in sailing Saturday, based in part on the EYC being a ghost town when we swung through at 10am.  Ann Sousa helped us with that too.  “There were three boats at the EYC Saturday waiting to rig up. Team Sheldon/Sousa, Team Noble and Team Frisch.”  And lest you doubt, that was corroborated by Beanie Eisner, who wrote “Peter, Debbie and Sarah Sheldon were all at the EYC on Sat and ready to go if AP came down.” We stand corrected.  Thanks.

 

RW winner Ben Richardson wrote in to share his experience putting up the kite on the cancelled Saturday of RW (during the nor’easter).  “I think I speak for Chris as well in saying that we would trade in the entire rest of Race Week for the ride we had from near Halfway Rock down past Tinker’s on Saturday with the kite up after you and Hooks and Larry went in.  We set on starboard and had favorable waves going left to right looking downwind, so surfed way past hull speed for extended periods of time.  Deciding we didn’t want to sail straight in to the neck we gybed on to port and buzzed through the J70 fleet which was bobbing around waiting for a race course.”  I’m not sure the J70s were doing any bobbing in those conditions but still impressive, right?  On our way back in, we were surfing close to hull speed without the kite.  Truth be told, I remember being a bit apprehensive about launching the chute in those seas, which probably helps to explain why we finished 7th and they were 1st.

 

Jocelyn Cook, who has been sailing with Ann Sousa wrote in with this.  “I’m thinking more and more about buying a Rhodes.”  Awesome.  Let us know how we can help.  

–kp (kpandapas@comcast.net)