Road
To The Cup – Week 6
6/30/24
What You Need To Know
- Obviously, there will be no Twilight on Thursday July 4th. The Twilight Series 1 finale will be July 11th.
- MRA 2-3 will be Saturday on South Line, which will be one consolidated line for all fleets. CYC is RC.
- Fleet 5’s popular On-the-Water Clinic will be Saturday July 13th. Details below.
- If you haven’t registered yet for Race Week, you can do it
here.
Last Week’s Racing
Six teams made it out for Twilight 1-5 on what might have been the best twilight conditions of the season. Here is the summary from
Steve Uhl. “Six boats came out for a beautiful evening with a very fresh WSW breeze. Course was out to Eagle Rock and back, twice around. It was good to see
Rob Ferro make his first appearance. Mike & Kathleen Lane took a small lead on the first beat, followed by
Jim Taylor, sailing with Tim Dittrich, and Steve Uhl. It was a very long starboard tack due to wind shifting towards WNW. By the second leeward mark it was a fetch back to the finish, putting a premium on tacking immediately at the leeward
mark. That allowed Steve Uhl to get a slight edge to pass the leaders.” Sounds like fun.
So for the record, taking the bullet was Steve Uhl, who seems to have won the race sailing solo. That’s pretty impressive in 16-17 knots. Putting those laser hiking skills to work! Finishing 2nd was
Team Lane and taking 3rd was Jim Taylor. Honorable mentions to
Rob Ferro in 4th on his first time out, and to Team Martini in 5th. Congrats to all.
By the way, old friend John Casler took a pass on this one for all the right reasons.
“Utterly beautiful evening for a sail, but the dock house readings at 6:30 were 18 with gusts to 20. Too much for elderly single handing, especially with an elderly boat and a mooring close to the shore.”
So with one race to go in Series 1, here is how things stack up. Bear in mind that as the first race of the series was a washout, there have been only four races so far, and you need five for a throw-out, so no throw-out-yet. Race 1-6
will be on Thursday July 11th.
Out on the MRA line, we had our third short course format day of the season, and like the first two, it was a fantastic day of racing. The Rose Cup junior match racing regatta moved out to Brimbles for the day, bumping us to the Archers
line, but that worked fine. Aside from a little motorboat wake, Archers is a great location, and you can’t beat the sail in. The RC was EYC, but with the BYC’s
Karen Tanenbaum filling in for Susie Schneider, who was off running a Snipe regatta. Also onboard was EYC Sailing Director
Franny Charles. The RC work was again excellent (though the decision to move the weather mark as racers were approaching on the second beat in Race 3 raised some eyebrows). We started on time, got in four races and sailed in around 4PM, despite a short
AP. Thanks to the RC volunteers who gave us a great day.
Nothing pleases me more than to finally welcome Greg Hefler to our line. For those who were out there, he was the guy with huge grin on his face all day. Greg, you might recall, is a CYC member and former Etchells sailor who had
to put it all down due to a health issue that ultimately resulted in a heart transplant. I believe Saturday was his first race since, and I’m excited for him. Greg has his own boat which he eventually plans to sail with his daughter, but on this day, he
skippered Timmy D’s 1217 with Timmy crewing. Huge welcome to Greg, and a tip of the cap to Timmy D. for making it happen.
A few others made their season debuts, including a team I didn’t recognize sailing 1680,
Team Noble and Team Kaznoski, with the talented young Wilson Kaznoski at the helm.
Team K. is sporting a new mast, so they were quick, but mid-season form doesn’t begin to describe how well they sailed. Wilson had a commitment that forced them to skip the last race, but it’s worth noting that they were winning the day when they sailed
in. How awesome is that? I believe Evan Cooke will be at the helm for Race Week, which makes that program even stronger and one to keep an eye on.
So Saturday’s forecast was less than festive, with overcast skies and 10-15 knot southerly gusting to 20, and a chance of showers. What we got was more like a shifty, up-and-down 5-12 that, combined with the strong incoming tide and washing
machine seas, kept you on your toes. It was a gear shifting day for sure. The wind briefly died after the third race, and the RC hoisted AP for 5-10 minutes until it filled back in, after which we got in our fourth race.
Congratulations to the very consistent Team Uhl / Lane, who put up a 2-2-3-2 for 9 points to win the day. Taking 2nd on a tiebreaker was
Team Pandapas, with a 5-5-1-1 for 12 points, and finishing 3rd was
Team Lane / Heffernan who rolled a 1-4-4-3, also for 12 points. Honorable mentions to
Team Kaznoski in 4th with a 4-1-2-DNS for 18 points, and Team Dailey / Westhoven in 5th with a line of 3-3-9-4 for 19 points. Congratulations to all.
So, in Cup competition, Steve Uhl increased his lead a bit and
Team Lane bumped Team P. out of 2nd. The top 10 are listed below.
There will be no Twilight race on Thursday night due to the holiday. Week 7 racing will include MRA 2-3 on Saturday July 6th. Racing will for all fleets will be consolidated on the South line, with the CYC RC presiding.
Other News, Notices & Miscellaneous Scuttlebutt
Fleet 5 On-The-Water Clinic – Saturday July 13 (1pm on the water) – Sunday July 14 (Debrief – 9am CYC Harbor Room) – Back by popular demand is the Fleet 5 clinic.
Stan Schreyer will run us through an afternoon of drills, practice races and coaching on Saturday July 13. Be on the water in the Archers Rock area at 1pm. The debrief will happen at 9am Sunday July 14 in the CYC Harbor Room. Fleet members who don’t
sail on Saturday should still attend the debrief. Questions? Contact Joe Fava
– Joseph.c.fava@gmail.com, or 617-880-9807.
East Coast Photos – You’ll find East Coasts photos courtesy of Bruce Durkee and
Phil Smith at these links.
Race Week Registration – The Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta, will be Thursday through Sunday, July 25-28. Your MRA fee covers the entry fee, but you do have to register, which you can do
here.
Nationals Registration –Nationals will be held this August 22-25 in Hingham Bay, sponsored by Fleet 46 and the Hingham and Hull Yacht Clubs. Register and pick up the NOR
here.
If You Spin, Send It In (aka Road to the Pie) – We heard of no infractions this week, so the standings remain unchanged.
Looking for Used Spinnakers – U. Mass Dartmouth needs a Rhodes 19 spinnaker or two. If you one kicking around that you’d be willing to donate, contact
Bump Wilcox at Bump@newwaveyachts.com.
Boat for Sale – Jim Ouellette is selling his boat.
“I have a very nice Rhodes 19 for sale. New ribs, in case in 1708 biaxial cloth. New keel bolts, bottom was taking down to bear glass, fared and has five coats of interlock 2000 barrier coat sanded to 400 grit. New topsides paint, galvanized trailer.
Sails are older. Asking only $6,500 for quick sale.” Email Jim at
daysail2002@yahoo.com.
More Boats for Sale – Mike Lane regularly trolls the internet looking for used boats, and sent in this listing.
Rhodes 19 –
Keel Model – Oday – $3,450 (Hamilton)
Mail Bag
Twilight PRO wrote in to comment on the difficulty of making race calls when thunderstorms are in the forecast.
“Weather calls vs. the pressure to race, can often prove to be difficult ones to make. This past Thursday afternoon and evening, we watched the weather RADAR imagery like a hawk!!! Luckily, as you noted, the Rhodes made it back in time to complete the
race and to be safely on their respective moorings, as did most of the Townies; that is, all but the last three in their race. These were the ones that “ran-out-of-steam”, requiring a tow and, in fact, were brought to their trawl and let loose just as the
T-storm broke! As it turned-out, the three were finally put safely on their Townie trawl but it proved to be a close call.
“In reflecting back upon a “Friday-morning quarterback effort”, a shortened “Once Around” course would have been a wiser course of action to have been taken by this PRO, at least for the Townies, but it would have been a lousy race!
Still, we all need to keep in mind that safety is always paramount! Keep up the good work in producing the weekly “Road To The Cup”, Kim! We all enjoy reading it.”
Complaints Department
Got Gripes?Don’t be shy. Unload at
kpandapas@comcast.net. The buck stops here.
-kp