Road To The Cup – Week 14 – Nationals Edition
Top-10 as of 8/26/24
Before we start, I’d like to take a moment to remember
Henry Peper III, who passed away on August 5th. Long-time fleet members will remember that Henry sailed often with his dad
Henry Peper Jr. on their boat Chili. Both he and his dad loved to sail, including big boats, small boats, around the buoys and blue water. They were Fleet 5 regulars who rarely missed a race. We saw less of Henry after his dad passed away in 2017,
but we’ll never forget the joy he brought to our starting line.
The fleet offers its heartfelt condolences to his family, which includes sister
Sally Tompkins, her husband (and R19 national champ) Tommy Tompkins, and their children
Cricket & Buck Tompkins. You’ll find Henry’s obituary
here.
What You Need To Know
- MRA Series 3, Days 4 & 5 on August 31st / September 1st will constitute Fleet 5’s Labor Day regatta. Details below.
- Our Labor Day party, which will double as a Labor Day Regatta awards, will be
right after racing on Sunday September 1st at the home of Rebecca & Larry Ehrhardt. No need to bring anything but yourselves. Evite is out. - The 3-day Fall Series will commence Saturday September 7th and continue through the next two Saturdays (14th and 21st).
A reminder that we voted to include Fall Series in Cup scoring.
Last Week’s Racing
Our next-to-last scored Twilight of the year featured picture-perfect conditions, inspiring five teams to show up, even despite the many regulars who couldn’t be there because they were
in Hingham/Hull for Nationals. Both John Casler and Jim Taylor were kind enough to send in summaries, so we’ll start with John.
“A moderate breeze and a beautiful late afternoon made for one of the best race settings of the year – of this year in particular. The Race Committee gave us a run out to Can 7, just
beyond Children’s Island, then a beat over toward Nun 2, marking iconic Williams Rock, finishing with a close reach into the harbor and the finish. Turnout was low, five boats, as many were away at the Nationals.
1775 won the start, and carried a modest lead out towards Children’s, where the breeze lightened significantly. In the lull, all five boats rounded overlapped, or almost so, with
Jim Taylor and Walter Colsman, each single handing, moving well into the lead coming out of the rounding. At that point, the breeze filled back in, and that was almost the last I saw of them. They finished one-two, but I can’t tell you more
than that other than that the rest of the race provided a beautiful sail.”
And Jim takes it from there with this color commentary, “Team Martini sailed the best first leg, again getting the puffs first from behind and closing right up on the leaders.
The elder (OK, old…) half of Team Taylor used good positioning to round a close second behind
Walter Colsman, but a really sloppy singlehander’s rounding forced 1926 to go with a ‘low and fast’ mode to get clear air. Continuing right for a while turned out fine, as even after a comically bad tack to starboard (1926’s single handing was, um,
rusty!), Walter just got across on port. This time 1926 continued left to improve the odds that he could fine Mark 28 while 2561 went right, and when we came back together, we both laughed that the margin was exactly the same. The two split tacks again,
however, and this time 1926 found something (more breeze?) on the right that put her a surprising 4-5 boat lengths ahead. 2561 called a good layline while 1926 paid to call a close range ‘chicken’ layline with an extra tack, which cut the lead to about 3
lengths at the mark. From there the rich got richer by getting the puffs first, it was a ‘no passing lane’ reach from Mark 28 to the finish, and the wind dropped out, which exaggerated the time deltas to the boats further back. As John said, it was a gorgeous
night for a sail, and for what Walter dubbed the ‘Twilight Nationals’.”
Thanks to both. So for the record, taking 1st was
Jim Taylor sailing solo. Finishing 2nd was Walter Colsman, also sailing solo, and taking 3rd was
Team Sheldon / Sousa. Honorable mentions go to Team Martini in 4th and
John Casler in 5th. Congrats to all.
So here are the standings going into this season’s final scored Twilight, both for Series 2 and for the Twilight overall.
Out on the MRA line, four teams showed up on a beautiful Saturday, even though we voted last spring not to score this day as an encouragement to go to Nationals. Four boats isn’t bad relative
to the other MRA fleets, whose participation numbers seem to reflect a lot of people off on vacation. The IODs put up the best numbers with seven, followed by Rhodes (4), Vipers (4), J70s (3), Etchells (2) and Townies (2).
The four teams included
Walter Colsman, Team Thornton (Eric & Stan Schreyer) and
Timmy Dittrich. The 4th team was Alix (Israel) Houldin making her Fleet 5 debut in her new boat 1936. Huge welcome to her and we look forward to seeing more of Alix out on the starting line!
If the conditions were anything like Hingham, it was a chamber of commerce day with a light southeasterly, but that’s speculation on my part. To the best of my knowledge, the RC set up
on Archers and got in four races. Tip of the cap to PRO Karen Tenenbaum, who was nice enough to forward along the finish sheets which helped us piece together these results.
Congratulations to
Team Thornton, who rolled a 2-1-1-1 for five points to win the day. Finishing 2nd was
Team Colsman with a line of 1-2-2-2 for 7 points, and taking 3rd was
Timmy D. with a 3-3-3-DNS for 13 points. Honorable mention and a warm welcome to
Alix Houldin with 4-4-4-3 for 15 points. Congratulations to all.
Hingham/Hull Nationals
Let’s start with a tip of the cap to the Hingham and Hull fleets and their respective yacht clubs, who rolled out the red carpet for visiting competitors, putting on a well-organized and
memorable Nationals. There are a lot of logistics and moving parts involved hosting an event like this jointly by two clubs, but they made it work.
Measuring and registration happened at both yacht clubs while events alternated between the two, starting with the annual meeting on Thursday in Hull, then skippers meeting in Hingham, then
dinner in Hull, and so on. I can’t emphasize enough the genuine gracious hospitality shown on both side of Hingham Bay, for which we are profoundly appreciative.
Huge thanks to regatta chairs
Tod Riedel and Dave Nelson for their 18 months of organization and planning,
Ken Wilson for doing a lot of everything, and particularly PRO Bill Collins and his team for managing through tough conditions.
Getting straight to the bottom line, I have no words to adequately convey how pleased and excited I am to tell you
Steve Uhl & Kathleen Lane are our new class champions. In a quirky, light-air regatta of just five A-course races that demanded good starts, precise racecourse positioning and virtually no margin for error, and in a field of 39 boats filled with former
national champs, including some very good locals and many of the top Fleet 5 teams, they put up a line of 2-(21)-1-1-7 for 11 net points. Don’t let the 21 in race 2 fool you into thinking they weren’t consistent, as that was a drifter that should probably
have been abandoned. Simply put, in a venue and conditions where the slightest mistake could instantly cost you 5-6 points, they sailed lights-out.
To say that no one deserves it more sounds trite and overused, but in this case, it’s true. Both Steve and Kathleen have been around Fleet 5 for at least 30 years, though not necessarily
sailing together – that started that about five years ago. Both have been dedicated to doing all (or most) of the travel regattas, including last year’s nationals in New Orleans when they earned 3rd place. Both sail virtually every week (including
twilights) and are perpetual MRA, RW and Cup contenders.
But it’s way more than that. Steve has done just about everything it’s possible to do to support Rhodes sailing, including fleet captain and class president. He volunteers to help with
every regatta, and with no fanfare says yes to virtually every request made of him, from hosting the RW party for the past 20 years to most recently helping refresh the Fleet 5 web site. For all these many years that I have served as fleet captain, he has
served as my consiglieri. He does it all.
Kathleen’s support also has been significant, including serving on the EC regatta committee earlier this season, not to mention the ongoing support of a spouse who also takes on everything
asked of him. Bottom line is that this one is well deserved and long overdue.
Finishing 2nd and earning the
Norm Cressy class trophy was Adam Roberts and Alden Reid, who you’ll recall won RW earlier this season. They finished with a consistent line of 1-(13)-8-4-1 for 14 net points. Well done, and so glad to have them part of Fleet 5.
And taking 3rd was old friend, former national champ, regatta co-chair and former Fleet 5 member
Dave Nelson sailing with Ken Delpapa, who rolled a 6-1-2-10-(17) for 19 points. Dave is always tough, but it’s super impressive that he podiumed while also co-chairing the event.
Honorable mentions go to last year’s national champs
Mike Lane & Renee Heffernan with a line of 3-6-4-(UFD)-8 for 21 points (UFD is U-flag starting penalty), and former national champ
Steve Clancy from Hull in 5th with a line of (20)-3-16-2-3 for 24 points. Congratulations to all. You’ll find the complete results
here.
As to the perpetuals,
Steve Uhl won both the Wet Bottom and the Bob Jenson Masters trophy. In an ironic turn of phrase,
Adam Roberts won the Novice trophy, the Presidents’ trophy went to regatta co-chair
Tod Riedel and PRO Bill Collins, and the Don Quixote to Jim Gabriel. Finally, the fleet award went to Fleet 5, who took three of the top five and seven of the top ten.
Nationals – Day 1
Friday was a postcard day the Chamber of Commerce would be proud of, with sunny skies, warm temps and flat water. The only thing missing was breeze. We sailed out for the scheduled noon
start to a modest westerly that was strong enough to get us to the racecourse, but it crapped out by about 11:30, prompting PRO
Bill Collins to hoist AP.
The thing about Hingham Bay is that the tide funnels in and out through the narrow Hull Gut, resulting in substantial current running one way or the other, though stronger in the deeper
water to either side. That’s an important tactical consideration in most conditions, but particularly impactful when you’re drifting. No wind and big current resulted in a lot of paddling for a lot of us, mostly just to avoid getting sucked back into the
harbor. It became quickly evident that competitors were carrying their anchors because most of them were forced to use them, resulting in a bay of bare polled R19s bobbing around. Here is a view of the conditions from 982 after hooking up to a lobster buoy.
At one point, old friend
Rick Myers stopped by in a power boat to say hello, and even he succumbed to the drifting spirit of the day and was forced to get a tow in with engine trouble.
The RC pulled the plug at 3pm and we all got a tow in. So, day 1 ended in a 39-boat tie for 1st.
Nationals – Day 2
More of the same conditions, but this time, the RC hoisted AP ashore, allowing us to conserve energy by avoiding paddling while affording us a little social time. The easterly finally showed
itself by mid-afternoon, so they lowered AP and off we went. I think our first start was around 3:30.
The RC set up between Hull and Bumpkin Island just to the NE of the 4.2-foot spot shown in the chart below, setting an upwind mark just off the Hull shore to the east.
Racers were anxious to sail, resulting in a competitive starting line. That was exacerbated by both the incoming tide dragging us towards the course side, as well as a relatively short
line for 39 boats. A consummate professional, PRO Bill Collins to his credit recognized the problem after a couple of generals and extended the line, after which we got in some racing.
We sailed two races, both 0.8 mile A-courses (up-down). The shorter courses were motivated by the need to get in races after Friday’s washout. Race 1 was legit, with shifty though relatively
consistent breeze that greatly favored boats that went right and hugged the shore of Bumkin Island. Race 2 started in a dying breeze and ended up a drifter that could arguably have been abandoned.
Somehow, through skilled racecourse positioning and the patchiness of a dying breeze,
Team Lane managed to get around the weather mark 20 minutes ahead of the 2nd place boat (and somehow within the 30-minute time limit). It took the rest of us –some on port, some on starboard, some with chutes, all going the same direction
– up to 45 minutes or so.
A light easterly finally filled back in down the center of the track, compressing the fleet for a variety of unexpected finishes, but bringing the race to a merciful end.
Team Lane, by the way, saw their lead eventually evaporate and were passed by five boats, turning their hard-earned bullet into a 6.
So taking 1st on the day was old friend
Dave Nelson, with a 6-1 for 7 points. Finishing 2nd was Team Lane, putting up a line of 3-6 for 9 points, and taking 3rd was
Joe Berkeley with a 7-5 for 12 points. Honorable mentions go to Team Roberts in 4th with a 1-13 for 14 points, and
Team Shoreman / Reynolds in 5th with an 11-7 for 18 points.
Nationals – Day 3
Day 3 started like the previous two – with AP, which went up on shore at 11am, as Sunday’s start time was an hour earlier. With a warning no less than one hour after AP comes down, and
no warning after 2pm, it seemed the best we’d do was get in one race, which would bring the total to three races and, per the SIs, a regatta. But the RC wanted more than one, and smartly decided to drop AP at 11:15, even though conditions were not yet sailable,
to avoid being locked into that hour delay, which proved prescient. The southeasterly filled in 30 minutes later and we started our first race at around 12:30. Thanks to the efficiency of
Bill Collins and his team, we ended up getting in three As for a total of five for the regatta.
So finishing first on the day was
Team Uhl / Lane with an impressive 1-1-7 for 9 points. Taking 2nd was
Team Roberts with an 8-4-1 for 13 points, and finishing 3rd was
Team Denton, who rolled a 3-3-12 for 18 points. Honorable mentions go to Hull’s
Steve Clancy in 4th with a 16-2-3 for 21 points, and team Shoreman / Reynolds in 5th, putting up a line of 10-7-6 for 23 points.
Team Uhl’s two bullets jumped them into 1st and the third race sealed the deal.
Moving on. So in Cup competition, with no MRA scoring this week, changes to our season scoring reflect just Thursday’s Twilight. The top 10 are listed below.
Week 15 racing will include Twilight 2-5 on Thursday evening, our final Twilight of the season. It also will include our final two MRA days of the season: Series 3 Days 4 & 5 on August
31st / September 1st, which also will constitute Fleet 5’s Labor Day regatta (see below).
Other News, Notices & Miscellaneous Scuttlebutt
Labor Day Regatta & Party – A reminder that we have repackaged MRA Series 3 Days 4 & 5 as a standalone regatta. There
will be no changes to MRA scoring, which will go ahead as usual. But Fleet 5 will score those days independently as a 2-day regatta and hold an awards ceremony at the Fleet 5 Labor Day party on Sunday after sailing at the home of
Rebecca & Larry Ehrhardt. Thanks to them for generously hosting, to Anne Marije Veenland
for managing the fleet bar, and to Joe Fava for doing all the heavy lifting on this.
2025 Nationals Coming to Marblehead – It’s official. Class members voted enthusiastically to approve Fleet 5’s and
the EYC’s bid to host Nationals in 2025. The event will be held Thursday August 21st through Sunday August 24th.
Jeff Shoreman is the regatta chair and has already begun assembling his team. He’ll need a lot of help, so please reach out to him at
jshoreman@gmail.com.
Nominations for Outstanding Crew –The Richie Santos Outstanding Crew trophy is awarded annually to that crew who has
demonstrated excellence over the season in a crewing capacity. Nominations for this award must be in writing to the Fleet Captain, usually, but not necessarily, by their skipper. Award candidates will be carefully considered by a super-secret jury, who will
weigh the evidence and select the winner based on merit, a bit of subjectivity and the quality, humor and persuasiveness of the nomination letter(s), which will almost certainly be read aloud at the awards banquet.
We received exactly zero nominations for outstanding crew last year, which is an egregious insult to crews and a bad look for skippers. So we’re sending out this reminder early, to give
you plenty of time to do the right thing. Email your nomination to
kpandapas@comcast.net.
Sail Salem Pursuit Regatta 2024 – The 2024 edition of the Sail Salem Pursuit Race will be on September 2nd
and hosted by BYC. Sail Salem is a donor-funded community youth sailing program supported by events like this. You can find out more
here, or by emailing board member
Anne Marije Veenland at annemarijeveenland@gmail.com.
Laser Housing Needed – EYC is hosting the ILCA US Masters Sept 20-22. They expect 100 boats and are looking for housing.
Anyone willing to host a Laser sailor can contact Ledyard Mcfadden at 978-828-0685 or Ledyardmcfadden@gmail.com.
If You Spin, Send It In (aka Road to the Pie) – No Twilight spins this week so the results remain unchanged.
Remember if you spin, email
kpandapas@comcast.net and let me know how many fouls you committed for which you exonerated yourself.
Mail Bag
No mail this week.
Complaints Department
Got Gripes?Don’t be shy. Unload at
kpandapas@comcast.net. The buck stops here.
-kp