Road to the Cup

Road To The Cup ­ Week 18

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We have a few items from the mailbag this week.

First, you may recall that *Charlie Pendleton & Ben Richardson* were racing
for the EYC in the New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup (www.nyyc.org/yachting/invitational-cup/2015-invitational-cup) on a boat
skippered by *Bill Lynn*. You’ll be pleased to know that they did EYC and
Fleet 5 proud, finishing 3rd in a fleet of 17 boats with 78 points over 12
races, one point behind NYYC in 2nd and just 7 points behind Royal Thames
YC who won it with 71 points. This regatta looked like a dogfight that
absolutely came down to the final race, but EYC sailed well and kicked
hiney. Congratulations to them. (*Editor’s note – Last time I used the
word hiney, it sparked a lengthy email exchange with Shannon Lane who
challenged the correct spelling of that word, and frankly, seemed to enjoy
the topic. In deference to Shannon and in the hope of not arousing her
again, I have used her spelling.*)

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Road To The Cup – Week 17

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*Road To The Cup – Week 17* *Top-10 as of 9/13/15* I have been delinquent in failing to report the sad news of *Bill Lampe’s* passing this spring. Anyone who’s been around the class for a while and attended a Nationals or two would have had a hard time not getting to know Bill, who sailed with the Chicago fleet. If there was a more gregarious, personable, fun-loving guy in our class than Bill, I sure didn’t know him. This short piece from Fleet 12 sums it up. “*Bill Lampe*, 69, passed away in his home on May 31, 2015, of complications from diabetes. Bill was the owner of Rhodes 19, PAX, a brand new Stuart Rhodes. He was fleet captain of our Fleet 12, chaired the Nationals here at CCYC in 1993 and was class president from 1999 through 2001. He went to every Nationals he could and in *Rodney Dangerfield* fashion took pride in having the longest streak of finishing last in the Nationals. Participation, not winning was his thing. He sold his boat in 2000 and moved to Colorado with his wife, Mary, whom he had married in 1984. He was a jack-of-all-trades, especially enjoying photography and cooking. He loved to make people laugh and laugh with them.” [image: F5F617FE-31BC-486C-9859-7B66243A4D56.png] What a guy. He is missed.

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Road To The Cup – Week 16 – Extended Labor Day Edition

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First things first – I’d like to extend a grateful tip of the hat to *Sloan
& Charlie Pendleton* for hosting our Labor Day party on Saturday night.
They decided to shake things up this time by catering it with Tennessee
barbeque instead of the usual potluck – that was awesome. The event was
reasonably well attended, particularly considering the number of people
away for the long weekend, and most of those in attendance were still going
strong when *Christina* dragged me out sometime after 10PM. Good party!
Many thanks to *Sloan & Charlie*, and to *Elise Mazareas & Mike Nash* for
managing the bar

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Road To The Cup ­ Week 15

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They blew off three at the last Twilight of the season, bringing to an
unceremonious end Twilight Series 2 and lowering the curtain on our 2015
Twilight season. Our scorer spent the weekend getting a little R&R with
his family and I didn’t have the heart to bother him. So we’ll get you the
Twilight results next week.

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Road To The Cup – Week 14 – Nationals Edition

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So let’s get straight to the bottom line. Congratulations to* Dave Nelson
& Frank Hart *sailing with Frank’s son *Colin Hart*. These guys sailed
such a beautifully consistent regatta, putting up just 31 points over 10
races. They finished with a line that included nine single digits,
including two bullets. Their only double-digit finish was an 11. That
level of consistency (which is my performance holy grail) is just
mind-boggling, particularly in the erratic northeasterly condition we
enjoyed for two of our three days. But more important in my view than
winning is winning well – *how* you win really matters, and these guys won
well. Sportsmanship counts for so much, and you’d be hard pressed to find
more respectful, gentlemanly, good-natured sportsman on our racecourse
than *Dave
Nelson & Frank Hart*. That makes this outcome even more pleasing. Really,
*really* well done!

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Road To The Cup – Week 13

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*Road To The Cup – Week 13* *Top-10 as of 8/16/15* There was a lot of nationals stuff in the mailbag this week. For starters, you can pick up your info package at www.r19nationals.com/content/pdf/R19WelcomePacket.pdf and the NOR at www.r19nationals.com/notice-of-race. The complete schedule is in the info package but the quick & dirty looks like this. … Read more

Road To The Cup – Week 12

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*Road To The Cup – Week 12* *Top-10 as of 8/9/15* Not a lot in the mailbag this week, other than a couple of emails expressing solidarity with last weeks rules rant. You guys in fact are being particularly quiet in this calm before the nationals storm! Very uncharacteristic! Four boats showed up Thursday night … Read more

Road To The Cup – Week 11

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Road To The Cup – Week 11 Top-10 as of 8/2/14 The dominant theme in the mailbag this week was rules and exoneration after committing a foul (nothing like a street brawl to get people digging for their rule books). I guess the issue is that we don’t seem to be spinning as much as … Read more

Road To The Cup – Week 9

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*Road To The Cup – Week 9* *Top-10 as of 7/19/15* A 2015 season-high seven boats showed up to do beer-can battle last Thursday on a beautiful evening in a dying sea breeze. Our report this week is stitched together from the accounts of three participants –*Steve Uhl*, *John Casler* and *Kent Hallawell*. The course … Read more