Road To The Cup – Week 0

Road To The Cup – Week 0

2018 Preview –5/20/18

It’s that time again.  Anticipation, wrapped in optimism with a pinch of the edgy apprehension that drives us all to achieve.  This weekend kicks off our 2018 season and annual battle for the Nick Nichols Trophy, aka “The Cup,” and to quote my Brother Jim Raisides, “I love opening day.”  Are you ready?

So here’s a quick refresher.  The Cup is among our most coveted prizes because it’s not just about winning a day or a regatta, but about sustaining a competitive campaign over the entire season.  To win the Cup, you have to sail just about every week and turn in consistently solid results. You don’t necessarily have to win, but you do have to show up and be competitive.  As you know, we’ll keep you up to date by publishing the top ten every week here, and you might consider setting a goal of making sure your name makes that list.

As a reminder, Cup scoring includes Spring Series, all MRA series, Race Week, Fall Series and Thursday night Twilights.  Don’t ignore Twilights either. You might be able to win without them, as Team Frisch/Hourihan has done the last couple of years, but it’s a lot harder.  Think of Twilights, not just as fun, low key sailing, but also as a way to pick up 4-8 points a week on the guys who don’t show up.  Team Frisch/Hourihan won last year by just 13.5 points, so picking up 4-8 point every week matters.  

As Jim Taylor mentioned in the last newsletter, we’re experimenting this year with Twilight style racing on Sunday mornings with our friends in the Town Class, which starts on Sunday June 17th.  That sounds like fun opportunity to get your kids out as well an opportunity for more tiller time for those of you who can’t get enough.  To be clear, those races will not be included in Cup scoring.  You’ll find the entire racing schedule here.  

So I’m ready, as is your entire RTTC team.  In addition to me, this year’s team includes Twilight reporters John Casler & Steve Uhl, the distribution department Secretary Jeff Shoreman, sideline reporters, contributing photographers and of course, my life editor-in-chief Christina Pandapas.  They’re all here, they’re jacked and ready to go.  The machine is cranking up, belching out a little blue smoke, about to rev up and start purring like a kitten.  Let the games begin.

So, in Cup competition, we’re all tied up.  If you don’t see your name below, that means you haven’t registered yet.  If that’s the case, you can take care of that here.

Week 1 racing will include the two days of Spring Series on Saturday May 26th and Sunday May 27th, and Twilight 1-1 on Thursday May 31st.  

Other News, Notices & Miscellaneous Scuttlebutt

Rules Clinic – Huge thanks to Greg Wilkinson and Matt Lindblad for delivering a really high quality clinic.  They focused primarily on Rule 18 and the related rules and definitions that guide us around the top and bottom marks.  They also provided some valuable coaching to help us approach and round those marks, while also making us more aware of our rights and obligations in those situations.  Thanks also to Jim Taylor for moderating and Joe Fava for putting it all together.

If You Spin, Send It In – To promote fair sailing and the idea of keeping it on the race course, the Laser Fleet awards an apple pie each week to that boat that does the most circles.  Great idea, right? So we’re considering taking a page from their book and adding a prize for the boat that does the most circles over the course of the season. But we need your help.  If you spin, please send me an email right after each race day with the subject line ‘Circles’ and let me know how many fouls you committed for which you exonerated yourself on the water.  I’ll tally them up and give an appropriately congratulatory weekly sportsmanship shout-out. I’ll also keep the season totals, and maybe we’ll award a few apple pies in the fall.  

Twilight Series Scoring – As we do every year, we break Thursday night Twilights into two series.  Twilights usually run from Memorial Day to Labor Day (with a break for Race Week).  This year, we understand that the CYC has extended racing by adding two additional days in September which adds one race per series, which is good considering the number of drers we usually get.  So here’s the break down.

Series 1 – May 31, June 7, June 14, June 21, June 28, July 5, July 12

Series 2 – July 19, Aug 2, Aug 9, Aug 16, Aug 23, Aug 28, Sep 6, Sep 13

First Fleet Party on June 2 – Circle the date – Fleet 5 will hold its first party of the season after sailing on June 2nd, generously hosted this year by Rebecca & Larry Ehrhardt at their home on 11 Ballast Lane, just up from the EYC.  Huge thanks to them, and to Dave Reynolds who has taken on the daunting task of managing the Fleet Bar.

East Coast Championships – Mark your calendar – our 2018 East Coast Championships will be held in Padanaram June 22-24.  You can register here.

MRA Byes – While on the topic of East Coasts, just a reminder that MRA allows you one bye during the season (where you miss racing and are scored average points for the series).  You only get one per season , you can only use it during Series 1 or Series 2, and you have to notify the MRA scorer by no later than noon the day before. So folks planning to go to Padanaram may want to plan to use their bye on June 23rd.  Bye rules are in the MRA SIs paragraph 18.3.

NOOD at Marblehead Race Week – The centerpiece of our season will be held Thursday through Sunday, July 26-29. which will be here before you know it.  A reminder that your MRA registration fee covers the entry fee, so you don’t have to pony up any more money. But you do have to register.  Click these links to register and download the NOR.

Compass Rule Reminder – Alert tinkerers may have noticed that there is a new device out which can give you distance to the line (www.velocitek.com/pages/prostart), and as nice as that would be, remember that our rules prohibit it.  I quote, “Electronic compasses or other electronic devices capable of providing tactical or navigational information, or any information other than or in addition to, real-time direction, are prohibited.”  Sorry about that, but don’t shoot the messenger!!

Fleet 5 Members Hit Match Racing Clinic – Several Fleet 5 members tried their hand at match racing this past weekend in a clinic hosted by CYC and coached by Dave Perry.  The 2½ day clinic, which was organized by Joe Fava, started on Friday afternoon and ran all weekend.  The program included classroom work, dryland walk-throughs and plenty of time on the water.  Dave Perry is nothing short of spectacular – what a coach, and what a teacher.  If you ever have a chance to attend one of his clinics, do it. Four Fleet members teamed up to crew on one of the six Sonars, including Joe Fava, Beanie Eisner, Christina & Kim Pandapas.  

Also sailing were Fleet 5 regulars Linda Epstein and Rob Ferro, plus honorary Fleet 5er and Olympian Tim Wadlow, who as you might expect was a pretty fast learner.   The shot below includes Tim standing with long-time crew Sean Greely.  

Thanks to Fleet 5ers Ken Adam and Tommy Tompkins who ran RC.  Elise Nash had planned to participate but thought better of putting her unborn child through that. Beanie quote of the weekend, spoken when the sky turned black on Sunday, “I don’t want to die on a Sonar.”  For anyone interested in trying their hand at match racing, Joe Fava is organizing Friday Night Fights, which will be on June 15, June 29th and July 6th.   If interested, email Joe at joseph.c.fava@gmail.com.  

Mail Bag

On the rules clinic, Fleet Captain and clinic moderator Jim Taylor sent in this quick summary of key takeaways.  “Several takeaways for me:  

• Forget ‘new rules’ and ‘old rules’, just concentrate on ‘the rules.’  Those are all that matter.

• No boat ever has ‘no rights’, all boats just have obligations, and some result in right of way for one.  A good example is a boat with an overlap to leeward at three lengths coming into a port rounding bottom mark.  The leeward boat has the right of way (windward boat can’t sail below her proper course), but the leeward boat is obligated to give mark room.

• Matt’s really helpful (and surprising) visual aid of a 3 x 19 = 57 ft rope to illustrate what three R19 boat lengths looks like.  It is just over one CYC ballroom, a new unit of length, a new unit of measurement.”

New recruit Jocelyn Cook wrote in to share a photo of the new love of her life.  Looks fast to us.

Ken Cormier wrote in to alert us of this opportunity:  “I see Bill “Okie” O”Connor’s boat going for short money at $2500.  Would it be good enough for an intro boat for the fleet?”  We agree.  Thanks for letting us know.  

Also, ever the tinkerer, Ken wrote in again to keep us apprised of his mast plans this year.  “Trying jumpers this early season.”  We’re looking forward to seeing how that works out..  

Finally speaking of Ken, how about a Caption Contest – This is too easy, right?  Send in your favorite, and if it’s clean enough, we’ll print it.

–kp (kpandapas@comcast.net)