Road To The Cup – Week 18 – Final Edition
Top-10 as of 9/22/24
What You Need To Know
- MRA Awards will be Friday, October 25th at BYC. Details below.
- Fleet 5’s Awards Party will be Saturday November 2nd at
Chez Pandapas. Keep an eye out for the Evite. - This is the final edition of RTTC for the 2024 season. The next fleet publication will be the November newsletter, which should go out around November 1st.
Last Week’s Racing
Mother Nature delivered an abrupt and unceremonious end to our season this weekend in the form of a stubborn low-pressure system sitting just southeast of New England that appeared in no
hurry to go anywhere. That system produced a healthy northeasterly for us in the range of 20 knots with gusts to 30. It all started Thursday afternoon and is still blowing as I write. We all know what several days of northeasterly do to the sea state around
here, and this event was no exception, pushing the seas up into the 6-8-foot range. Of course, the forecast raised concerns among the waterfront staffs of the yacht clubs, who shut down their waterfronts on Friday at noon.
MRA got out in front of this and sent this message at about 2:50 Thursday afternoon.
“There will be no MRA races on September 21, as all Marblehead waterfronts are shut down due to forecasted heavy winds and seas.”
And just like that, our season was over. Fall Series wasn’t the only casualty. Conditions also killed the weekend’s Collegiate New England Match Racing Championship, which surely was a
disappointment to a bunch of college sailors, not to mention event organizer
Joe Fava. However, it didn’t stop the
ILCA Masters Regatta, which was scheduled Thursday through Sunday. They practiced Thursday and raced Friday but took a pass Saturday as conditions were just nasty. As to Sunday, we’ll see, but still, laser sailors’ excitement to go out in just about anything
is super impressive and totally on brand. They live for this stuff.
Here is a look at their Friday conditions.
Anyway, several members of the Fleet 5 family participated, including in the Radial division
Bill Rothwell, Kate Dailey (Tom’s better half) and Anne Marije Veenland, and sailing full rigs,
Ulf Westhoven, Adam Cooke (Jocelyn’s husband), Tom Dailey and former Fleet 5 national champ
Rob Hallawell. Tip of the cap to all of them. You’ll find the results
here.
So in Cup competition, the cancellation of the last day of Fall Series closed out our season and locks in our season results. Congratulations to
Team Lane / Heffernan, our 2024 season champs, who put up 130 points across all scored races, including MRA, Twilights, Race Week and Fall Series. They sailed consistently well from Memorial Day to September, and unquestionably earned the right to hoist
the coveted Nick Nichols Trophy, not to mention enjoy a year of bragging rights. We offer them a congratulatory tip our caps.
Finishing 2nd on the season with 153 points was
Team Pandapas, and taking 3rd with 195 points was Team Uhl / Lane. Honorable mentions go to
Team AMV in 4th with 270 points, and Team Fava / Nash in 5th with 277 points. Congratulations to all. The top 10 are listed below, followed by the expanded season rankings and underlying series results.
Finally, our annual emphasis on sportsmanship,
If You Spin, Send It In, this season yielded eight teams who did their circles and left it on the course. Thanks to all of them for their sportsmanship, and for reminding us what Corinthian sailing is all about. Winning the apple pie this year with
one foul and a whopping three hit marks was Team Gabriel. We look forward to appropriately celebrating them at the awards on November 2nd.
And with that, our 2024 season draws to a close. Though this is the final edition of RTTC, we’ll send out our traditional Holiday Edition in December, and of course be back in the spring
to do it all over again.
Before I go, a few shout-outs. First, thanks to the EYC, BYC and CYC who make all this possible. The three clubs and their memberships provide the assets and resources to enable sailboat
racing, without which none of this could happen. Thanks particularly to the
fine folks of MRA, a collaboration of volunteers from each of the three clubs, without whose hard work building and executing the harbor sailing calendar, there would be no regular summer one design racing. I’d single out MRA chair
Jud Smith, who took it upon himself this year to shake things up a bit with the hope of stimulating interest and increasing participation. Some of it worked beautifully, some less so, but the important part was the positive intent and willingness to
experiment. A well-deserved tip of the cap to him. And thanks to the legions of RC volunteers from all three clubs who continue to give up their days so we can play, with a special shoutout to Twilight PRO
David Graham, who continues to bring us Twilights. All these volunteers deserve our appreciation.
Finally, I might sign these emails, but it takes a village to put them out. Huge thanks to
Steve Uhl, Walter Colsman and his eminence John Casler for keeping us informed about Twilights. Thanks also to photographer extraordinaire
Bruce Durkee for sharing his excellence with us, as well as to all of you who contribute pictures and emails. And finally, thanks to my better half,
Christina Pandapas, who despite her predictably annoyed eye roll when I interrupt her Sunday morning paper to take an edit pass, does the all-important and unenviable job of keeping me out of trouble. I ask that they all accept an appreciative tip of
my cap, and I urge you to thank them when you see them.
Week 1 racing is expected to include the first two days of MRA Series 1 on Saturday May 24th and Sunday May 25th, 2025. Have a great offseason.
Other News, Notices & Miscellaneous Scuttlebutt
Deadbeat Skipper Award – We’re thinking of introducing a new Fleet 5 perpetual award to recognize that skipper who
most consistently underappreciates and overlooks his or her crew. What do you think?
Nominations for Outstanding Crew – The nomination period is open for just one more day (as we have some engraving to
do). If you haven’t sent in your nomination yet, do it now or risk being nominated for the Deadbeat Skipper Award. Email your nomination to
kpandapas@comcast.net.
MRA Awards – The 2024 MRA awards will be Friday October 25th at the BYC. The event will start at 6:30 pm and is free
to all MRA members, crew and RC. The format will be similar to last year with light dinner fare (vegetarian/GF options), cash bar, music and a wine pull.
Fleet 5 Awards – Fleet 5 Awards will be Saturday November 2nd at the home of
Christina & Kim Pandapas, starting at 6pm. Keep an eye out for the Evite.
Doyle One Design Fleet Discount – Doyle One Design has issued its Fall Fleet Discounts. Orders of six sails or more
receive discounts of 20% if submitted by Oct 31, 15% by Nov 29 and 10% by Dec 31. Find a couple of friends and pull together an order. Flyer and order form are attached.
Christensen’s Debut Delayed – One unfortunate casualty of losing the last day of Fall Series was the delay of the racing
debut of Peter & Katie Christensen. You’ll recall that Peter & Katie are a husband-wife team who moved to the area from Long Beach recently and are interested in sailing Rhodes.
Tom Dailey’s generously offered them his boat to sail Saturday, but the weather derailed that. We hope to see them at upcoming parties during the offseason and look forward to crossing swords with them in the spring.
For Sale – Rhodes19 Spinnaker in nearly perfect condition, stored clean and dry and minimally used. Cannot make out
the manufacturer but it is clearly premium nylon material. One end has a few abrasions that are shallow and of no apparent structural significance. Detailed photos are available. Thinking $600 or best offer. Phone Don in Manchester at (978) 879-7898.
For Sale – Rhodes19 Spinnaker Pole 1.5 ” diameter and 6 ‘ 8″ long, double end UXP slides and double bridle to secure
center ring. Anodized aluminum has mottling but structurally perfect. Double slider bridle works smoothly. Detailed photos are available. Thinking $400 or best offer. Phone Don in Manchester at (978) 879-7898.
Mail Bag
New recruit
Alix Houldin wrote in with this. “Thanks for the shoutout! We will keep trying to get the boat in racing shape, appreciate the warm welcome on the start line.”
With regard to last week’s Resolute Cup article, an anonymous mailer provided this added color about Marblehead’s participation.
“Off the record but… The Mudheads, skippered by Peter Lynn with crew
Bill Lynn, Lily Lichtenstein-Swain (who is I think a past R19 National Champ – with Tomas and Duncan) and
Chris Keller were third. The EYC ended up third on the tiebreak. Clinton Hayes drove for the EYC and was joined by
Alden Reid, Hannah Lynn (Rhodes sailor) and Alex Cook. EYC member
Kelsey Wheeler was on the NYYC boat. So psyched for the CYC team. And quite a showing for Marblehead to be represented in all three of the podium boats and for two clubs to finish in the top 5 two years in a row.”
Rob Patterson writes in with another one design challenge.
“Since the last one was a Star, here is one related to the Star. I’ve taken out the insignia. I know that a couple of local sailors will know.”
Complaints Department
Got Gripes?Don’t be shy. Unload at
kpandapas@comcast.net. The buck stops here.
-kp