2002 Fleet Championship Series

Like Riding a Bike

26SEP02 - Downtown wrapped up the season by winning the final Thursday evening race of the year.  And they did it with a guest helmsman - Randy Kruger.  Randy raced his J24 Majic for many years, but traded up for a bigger boat as his family grew.  He hopped on Downtown, won the start, and sailed away from the fleet for a convincing win.  USA 3225 finished second and Slippery finished third.  Click here for full results

This race also wrapped up the Fall Thursday Series.  It was a very competitive series which saw different boats win each race and the top four positions separated by 2 points (gotta love those tie breakers).  Bill Hickson and the crew of USA3225 won the series with very consistent finishes of 1-2-2-2.  Last Kid Picked finally caught a break on the tie-breakers and finished second.  Downtown rounded out the top three. 

Downtown Wins Lake Champlain One-Design Regatta

21-22SEP02 - The Lake Champlain Community Sailing Center hosted the annual Mt. Gay Lake Champlain One-Design Regatta the weekend of Sept 21-22 in Burlington, Vermont.  Saturday dawned with 20+ knots of wind out of the south and temperatures in the 80s.  Just another Fall day in Vermont.  The course of the day was a double windward-leeward the the start/finish in the middle.  The first race saw the most of the fleet working to the left side of the course.  Ice Cube rounded the weather mark in first followed closely by Downtown and Last Kid Picked.  The downwind leg was a very fun twings-down run.  The waves were at a great angle for surfing on starboard gybe and made the boat 'a little rolly' on port.  The crew of Last Kid Picked (Al Ouellette, Tim McKegney, Geoff Halsted, John O'Rourke, and Jill Gange) went right initially on the second beat and did an end-run into the lead.  They were able to hold on to the lead to win the first race with Downtown finishing second followed by Ice Cube in third.

The second race saw a big left shift at the start.  Downtown lead the fleet to the left and rounded in first, followed by Last Kid Picked and Ice Cube.  USA3225 won the freestyle portion of the event during the run by dipping their spreaders in the lake.  The rest of the race saw the wind slowly easing and the fleet changing to genoas.  Downtown finished first with Last Kid Picked in second and Ice Cube rounding out the top three.

The final race of the day was sailed in about 10 knots of wind.  Several of the boats were unable to sail in the final race due to 'prior commitments'.  Downtown won the start and bee lined to the left, followed by Bob Connell on Polar Express and Last Kid Picked.  Downtown sailed away from the fleet to finish first.  Polar Express finished in second, beating Last Kid Picked by a couple of feet.

The party Saturday night featured great food by The Sandbar Resort and lots of Mt Gay rum and Harpoon IPA.  Everyone arrived Sunday morning to find that the Boathouse had been placed inside a big Ping-pong ball.  Somebody call Maine, they are probably looking for their fog!  The race committee waited until 11, and with no sign of wind, cancelled the day's races.  Team Noone, consisting of Tom Noone, Peter Coleman, John Reynolds, Chris Williams, and Mike Finch, won the regatta with 4 points.   Last Kid Picked finished second with 6 points.  Polar Express rounded out the top 3 with 14 points, beating Ice Cube on tie breaker.  Click here for full results.

Slippery Wins the Gold Rush

19SEP02 - Another interesting twist for the Fall Series.  If the wind is out of the south, we have a downwind start.  The start resembled the Oklahoma Gold Rush, a wide range of boats all trying to find clear air.  Last Kid Picked, USA3225, and Downtown all started at the pin end of the line and gybed towards Coates Island, figuring that the inside overlap would be huge at the leeward mark.  Mean while, Al Russell and the crew of Slippery nailed the start with their chute up a drawing.  Apparently the practice last week paid off.  They staked their claim to first place at the end of the first leg and never looked back.  USA3225 finished second followed by Downtown in third.  Click here for full results.

Last Kid Picked Finishes First

12SEP02 - Actually, Rod Carr was the last kid picked.  Rod's J-92 is on the land getting some work done, one of the regular Kids got trapped at work, so Rod hopped on the Last Kid Picked for the evening as tactician.  The Fall Series is interesting in that all the fleets start at the same time.  35 boats ranging from Lightnings to J-120s all fighting for clear air at the start.  Al Russell and crew on Slippery would like to ask for another 5 minutes for Christmas - they were seen with their chute up while boats were lining up for their final approach.

At the gun, Last Kid Picked and USA3225 were on the line at the boat end with Downtown a little further down towards the pin.  The left side looked like it had more velocity for the first beat.  LKP went into point mode and was able to force USA3225 to tack away.  Then it was a matter of staying in phase and "crossing 'em when you can".  Last Kid Picked rounded first, followed by Downtown, USA3225, and Slippery.  Downtown gybed back towards the middle of the course early and got stuck in a whole lot of nothing and watched USA3225 and Slippery sail by in the dying breeze.  The Race Committee very wisely shortened the course at the leeward mark.  Al Ouellette and the crew of Last Kid Picked finished first followed by USA3225 and Slippery.  Click here for full results.

Lake Champlain Fleet 23 Championship Series Decided

01SEP02 - It is always fun to come to shore not exactly sure who has won.  That was the case for the Fleet 23 Championship series as everyone hovered around the scorer while the results were typed in.  The Fleet 23 Championship series consisted of 5 separate days of racing over the course of the summer at Malletts Bay Boat Club on Lake Champlain, Vermont.  Each day's results were scored as a single race towards the Fleet Championship.  Going into the final day, any one of 5 boats could claim the Championship with a win:  Mike Quaid and Ice Cube, Bill Hickson and USA3225, Tom Noone and Downtown, Al Ouellette and Last Kid Picked, or Al Russell and Slippery. 

The final day provided perfect conditions with sunshine and a very shifty 10 knot southerly breeze.  Downtown won the first race and Fawn Liebowitz finished second.  Ice Cube managed to get back to third after having to do circles shortly after the start because of a port-starboard incident.  So far so good for Downtown.  The next race saw Fawn Liebowitz finish first, Ice Cube finish second, and Downtown finish in third.  Fawn Liebowitz won the third race (sensing a trend?), Last Kid Picked finished second and  Downtown finished third.  After 24 separate races, the stage was set.  Basically if Downtown or Ice Cube won, they would be Fleet Champion.   Naturally, Fawn Liebowitz won the final race with Ice Cube finishing second and USA3225 finishing third.  Al Hobart and crew on Fawn Liebowitz won the day's racing with 5 points.  Downtown and Ice Cube tied with 11 points with Downtown taking second on the tie-breaker.

And the 2002 Fleet 23 Champion is...  Mike Quaid and the crew of Ice Cube!  Downtown and USA3225 finished in a tie for second, with Downtown winning on the tie-breaker.  Click here for full results.

Downtown Comes From Behind to Win Last Thursday Night Race

29AUG02 - Another rainy Thursday night - I thought we are in a drought.  More boats braved the conditions this week and were treated to a very wet and entertaining race.  The course was a windward-leeward twice around that was shortened after the first lap because it is starting to get dark way too early.  The start was slightly pin favored.  Last Kid Picked started there with USA3225 and Downtown just to weather.  Downtown and Slippery tacked right after the start and went to the right side of the course.  LKP went to the left and USA3225 played the middle in a very unstable breeze.  You would be looking at the other boats thinking we look great, we are last, we look great.  All in the space of a minute.  Cross a boat, tack, get crossed, get back ahead. That was the story of the first beat.

In the end, USA3225 rounded in first followed by LKP and Slippery.  Downtown rounded in 4th and decided they were going to sail a hot angle to the corner.  They did an end-run around the boats ahead to finish first.  USA3225 (you guys really need to name that boat anything other than Snowbird) and Last Kid Picked rounded out the top 3.  Click here for full results.

Fleet 23 is Made of Sugar

22AUG02 - Apparently the fleet is made of sugar.  The heavy rain kept everyone except Last Kid Picked in the harbor.  Click here for full results

Downtown Locks Up MBBC Summer Series

15AUG02 - I can't really tell you much about what happened other than that if you went right initially you ended up about a mile behind at the end of the first beat.  The wind filled from the left accompanied by a left shift during the first beat.  Downtown hooked into it and waved Bye-bye to the rest of the fleet, finishing first by over 5 minutes.  The win locked up the MBBC Summer series for Downtown with two races remaining.  Click here for full results    Click here for pictures

Ice Cube Recovers to Win

08AUG02 - It was a beautiful evening for racing.  So beautiful that Andy Crocker came out of retirement to sail with Ice Cube, Mike Dressell joined Al Hobart on Fawn Liebowitz, and Doctor's Orders joined the fleet for their first race of the year.  Rich Miller set a double windward-leeward.  The fleet was lined up perfectly down the line.  Can't wait to get going.  General recall.  The second start saw a little bigger crowd at the boat end of the line.  Ice Cube found themselves over the line with quite a bit of time left before the start and had to circle the boat.  The fleet was going left, they figured they had nothing to lose, so they tacked and went to the right corner.  Fast forward to the weather mark, Ice Cube goes around in first place followed by Slippery coming in from the left corner, Downtown, Doctor's Orders, and Fawn Liebowitz.  The wind eased as the fleet sailed the first run, allowing the boats who were looking around to gybe to puffs and make up ground.

The second beat saw a parade to the right corner.  Last Kid Picked rounded deep in the fleet and tacked to the left to clear their air.  They tacked back and crossed Doctor's Orders, who had rounded just ahead of them.  Could the right be working?  The Kids tacked back and Doctor's Orders crossed them easily.  LKP went to the port layline and rounded the weather mark in third, just behind Ice Cube and Fawn Liebowitz.  The run to the finish was a nail-biter as the wind died to almost nothing.  Ice Cube held on to beat Fawn Liebowitz and Last Kid Picked finished third.  Click here for full results.  Click here for some great pictures of the first mark rounding.

Downtown Beats Fawn Liebowitz in Light Conditions

04AUG02 - The fourth event in the Fleet 23 Championship saw Downtown win the last 3 races to beat Fawn Liebowitz by 1 point.  The series consisted of 5 windward-leeward races.  The first race started in a light southerly.  About half way up the first beat, the wind started to fall apart with small patches spread all over the course.  Fawn Liebowitz and Last Kid Picked were able to open up a lead on the rest of the fleet and set chutes for the run.  About halfway down the run, the wind filled briefly from the northwest prompting sail changes back to genoas to get around the 'leeward' mark.  The direction changes weren't done yet as it then filled back in from the south for the final leg to the finish.  Fawn Liebowitz won the race with Last Kid Picked in second and Downtown coming back from the dead to finish third.  Mark Gardner postponed after the first race to allow the wind to decide what direction it was going to blow from.  It finally settled in from the northwest (which was not in the forecast) and the fleet was able to sail 4 more races in a fairly steady breeze of less the 10 knots.  To be honest it is hard to remember the details of each race - they are all a blur of aggressive starts, crowded mark roundings, and shooting the finish to beat the other boat by a foot.  Fawn Liebowitz won the second race and then Downtown kicked into high gear to win the remaining 3 races.  The top 3:  1.  Downtown,  2.  Fawn Liebowitz, 3.  Slippery.  Click here for full results.

As far as the Fleet 23 Championship, this race turned into a throwout for the top 2 boats, Ice Cube and USA3225.  The top three are Ice Cube with 6 points, USA3225 one point back, and Down Town and Last Kid Picked tied for third with 10 points each.  It is shaping up to be an exciting finale on September 1st.  Click here for full results.

USA3225 Wins a Close One

01AUG02 - It had been calm for most of the day.  A little storm blew through around 4pm and wound up the wind machine giving us between 5 and 10 knots of wind from the south.  Ed Hutchison sent us on a triangle-windward-leeward course.  A fair start had the boats distributed pretty evenly up and down the line.  The right side had a slight advantage on the first beat (I think there was a little more velocity over there).  At the weather mark the first 4 boats were separated by about 10 seconds.  The first reach saw the fleet compress even more as the lead boats were forced high to protect their air.  The gybe mark was shaping up to be rule-testing 7 boat overlap.  Fortunately, just as the boats reached the mark, the wind shifted forward and turned the rounding into a gybing parade.  There would be no such luck at the next mark.

The next reaching leg saw the boats sailing high towards more velocity.  USA3225 and Fawn Liebowitz were glued together with Downtown making up ground quickly.  Slippery got caught low after the gybe and was rolled by Ice Cube, and Last Kid Picked.  Last Kid Picked was able to roll Ice Cube a little further down the leg.  At this point, boats needed to gybe to starboard to get down to the mark.  Throw in couple of PHRF boats and you end up with a very crowded mark rounding.  Hobart and Hickson bumped over an inside overlap issue which ultimately lead to Al Hobart withdrawing from the race.  The next beat saw the boats split pretty evenly between the right and the left playing the shifts and oscillations.  The final run favored the boats that gybed early as they found a little more pressure.  USA3225 nipped Downtown at the finish followed by Last Kid Picked in third.  Click here for full results.

Gas

25JUL02 - It was all about gassing the competition.  A wind shift just before the start made port tack massively favored.  The boats that stayed on port for the first half of the beat opened up a lead.  It then turned into the "Who to gas" game as the fleet approached the weather mark.  It was lighter to the right, but there was gas from the other fleets on the port lay line.  Tom Noone and crew on Downtown finished first, followed by Fawn Liebowitz and Slippery.  Twelve seconds separated the top three boats!  This was also the last race in the July series.  Bill Hickson came out on top followed by Downtown and Slippery.  Click here for results

Ice Cube Wins Chiott Regatta

20JUL02 - The third event in the Fleet Championship was sailed at MBBC on Saturday in perfect conditions.  We sailed a series of seven races and at the end of the day Mike Quaid and crew on Ice Cube came out on top, winning 5 of the seven races.  Mark Gardner ran a great regatta, squeezing in seven windward/leeward races.  Every race was hotly contested and all the sailors came off the water grinning.  Having clinched first place, Ice Cube opted to not sail the final race, leaving Last Kid Picked and USA3225 to match race for second place.  Many, many tacks later Last Kid Picked crossed the finish line just ahead on USA3225 to finish second for the day.  Ice Cube's win also moved them into first place for the Fleet Championship.  They now lead the series by 1 point over USA3225 with 2 more events remaining.  Click here for full results. 

Don't Throw Gum

18JUL02 - Another great night of racing in Malletts Bay!  We sailed an Olympic course in a northwest breeze that varied between 5 and 10 knots.  The fleet was pretty evenly split between the left and right sides of the course for the first beat.  About halfway up the first beat it became pretty obvious that right was not the way to go.  The lead group of Slippery, Bill Hickson, and Fawn Liebowitz rounded the weather mark with a pretty significant lead over the rest of the fleet.  After a couple fairly uneventful reaching legs, racing resumed on the next beat.  Click here to see how Al Hobart got ahead of Bill Hickson.  The top 5:  1.  Fawn Liebowitz, 2.  USA3225, 3.  Slippery, 4. Last Kid Picked, 5.  C-Jam Blues.  Click here for full results.

Oops, almost forgot the 'Gum Incident'.  Just before the race, Tom Noone on Downtown threw his chewed up gum on to the deck of Last Kid Picked, bouncing it off valuable crew member Chuck Garrapy.  Shortly after the start, Downtown sailed through a HUGE mat of weeds and then consolidated their grip on a throw out race by being the right most boat on the first beat.  Coincidence?  Does Chuck have evil powers?  You decide.

Mayor's Cup:  Last Kid Picked 4th Overall

13JUL02 - Last Kid Picked, Slippery, and Gemini competed in the 25th Annual Mayor's Cup in Plattsburgh, New York in what can only be described as wildly variable conditions for one of the largest PHRF regattas held on the lake.  The morning started with winds in the upper teens and some BIG waves.  Al Ouellette and crew on Last Kid Picked started at the pin with most of the fleet to weather.  When they tacked, they were able to cross all the fleet except for 2 boats.  They picked up a favorable shift and were first at the weather mark with Slippery close behind.  The run started with enough wind and waves to do some good surfing.  Both boats changed to genoas during the run with Slippery gaining a little by the mark rounding.  LKP played the right side of the course as the breeze started to ease and was able to open up a lead.  They were the first C boat to finish and ended up second overall, losing to one of the Solings by 3 seconds.  

In between races, Tom Bissonette (bow on Last Kid Picked) asked if there were any Advil on board.  Turns out he had broken his hand just before the first race and didn't mention it.  Tom wins the He-man award.

The second race started in a rapidly dying southerly.  The right side was the place to be for the first beat.  Many boats tried going left only to find themselves parked in huge holes.  The first run turned into a beat to a shortened finish.  Last Kid Picked was able to pass a couple of boats and finish third in class.  That finish combined with the first race was good enough to finish 4th overall.  Click here for Class results.  Click here for overall results.

There's a New Sheriff in Town

11JUL02 - There's a new sheriff in town and his name is Al Hobart.  Al showed up at the Club at 3pm with Fawn Liebowitz in tow, threw the boat in, and sailed to a victory over John Reynolds and Tom Noone on Downtown.  That is not a typo, John Reynolds was actually out racing.  C-Jam Blues was sailing with two boat owners aboard as Charly Dickerson and Jim Farina teamed up once again.  We had perfect conditions, 15+ knots of wind out of the northwest with lots of oscillations.  Gerry Davis sent the fleet on a windward leeward twice around.  It was the first time in quite a while that you had to make a decision between big and little jibs with a little more than half the boats choosing big jibs.

The start found several boats struggling to not be over early.  All the boats except Mike Quaid on Ice Cube started cleanly.  Playing the shifts was very important on the first beat and the velocity was sufficient that the boats with little jibs were competitive.  After several lead changes, Downtown rounded first with Hobart and Al Russell close behind.  Same deal on the run.  All the boats worked to sail as low as possible.  

The wind eased a bit on the second beat allowing Hobart and Downtown to break away.  Slippery, Bill Hickson, and Last Kid Picked rounded the weather mark as a group.  Last Kid Picked gybed almost immediately for a puff that allowed them to pull even with Hickson.  They gybed on to starboard and forced Bill to gybe away.  LKP then gybed back for another puff that let them sneak into third at the finish.  The top 5:  Fawn Liebowitz, Downtown, Last Kid Picked, Slippery, and Bill Hickson.  Bill, you need to name your boat.  Click here for full results

A Matter of Inches on the 4th

04JUL02 - Racing on the Fourth of July was a matter of inches.  Slippery missed a great start by a couple of inches, Bill Hickson came from behind to beat Downtown by a couple of inches, and earlier in the day Last Kid Picked won the Ethan Allen Regatta by a couple of inches.  The Kids were Race Committee for the Thursday night race.  They sent the fleet out on a windward leeward course in a light Northeasterly.  The race took about a half hour.  Al Russell and crew on Slippery found themselves over early at the pin. The boats spread out over the course for the beat.  Tom Noone on Downtown rounded the weather mark with what appeared to be a safe lead.  Bill Hickson and Al Russell rounded about 30 seconds later.  The run to the finish featured a huge left shift that allowed Bill Hickson and Slippery to erase Downtown's lead.  The 3 boats all finished within 10 seconds of each other with Bill Hickson claiming the win.  Click here for full results

Last Kid Picked on their way to victory in the Ethan Allen Regatta

Bill Hickson Wins Second Event in the Fleet Championship

30JUN02 - Bill Hickson beat Al Russell and Slippery by one point to win the second event in the Fleet 23 Championship.  The victory also has moved him into first place for the Fleet 23 Championship, where he is leading Mike Quaid and Ice Cube by 1 point.

The morning arrived with a couple of boats still scrambling for crew.  Jim Farina teamed up with Charly Dickerson, and after a couple of phone calls, headed to the course with a full crew.  Mark Gardner and Tom Noone set up a windward leeward course with the start/finish in the middle in a southerly breeze that struggled to be 5 knots all day.  They ran 5 races in quick succession, the first race being twice around followed by 4 single lap races.  Mike Quaid and company were probably the most consistent boat of the day.  They never finished worse than second in the races that they finished (and we will leave it at that).  Every race featured tight mark roundings and close finishes.  The boats would spread out over the course on each leg and then regroup at each mark rounding.  No lead was ever big enough and every smart tactical decision or bad tack instantly translated into a change in position.  Bill Hickson won the first 2 races, edging out Ice Cube in the first race and Last Kid Picked in the second.  Al Russell won the third and fifth races and Mike Quaid won the fourth race.  Click here for full results. 

Racing Around the Course Overlapped with Other Boats

  Downtown Holds on to Win

13JUN02 - Downtown continued their winning ways Thursday night at MBBC in a rapidly growing fleet.  The boat was slightly favored at the start and the fleet congregated there.  3-2-1-Bang...Last Kid Picked was over early (insert Homer Simpson D'oh! here) and went back to restart.  Al Russell and Slippery got the start they were looking for and were able to tack and head right towards what they perceived to be better wind.  Didn't quite work out that way as the boats that went left initially were able to open up a lead.  The consistent wind made for very close racing with lots of close crosses, tacks, and crowded mark roundings.  There was one incident that was maybe a little too close and resulted in Bill Hickson doing a 720.  Al Russell learned that the overtaking speed of a J-120 is significant.  He was approaching the weather mark at the end of the second beat slightly short of starboard layline.  Looks over his shoulder and there is the J-120 going twice as fast.  Slippery had to bear off, gybe, and try again (insert second Homer Simpson D'oh! here). Tom Noone and Downtown held on to their lead during the final run to win by 6 seconds over Ice Cube.  Bill Hickson finished third.   Click here for full results.

Downtown Dominates First Regatta of the Fleet 23 Championship

09JUN02 - Tom Noone and his crew won three of four races on Sunday to set the pace for the fleet championship.  Their consistency is even more amazing when you add in the fact that the wind spent the entire day trying to decide if it wanted to blow out of the north or out of the south.  It was a day of very close racing with different boats leading at just about every mark rounding.  Mike Quaid (Ice Cube) picked up Al Russell off the dock due to last minute Slippery crew cancellations. Ice Cube was the only boat other than Downtown to win a race and ended up second for the day  All the hard work that Bill Hickson has put into his boat this spring paid off with a third place finish.  More...

Tom Noone and Downtown Win in Another Light Air Thursday Night

06JUN02 - Thursday night brought us another shifty, light air race. The pin was the place to be at the start. Last Kid Picked tried a port tack start, but couldn't quite cross. They tacked slightly ahead of Tom Noone's Downtown and headed off to the left. One by one, the boats tacked and sailed into a right shift. A couple of tacks and a small shift at the end of the beat put Last Kid Picked in first at the weather mark, followed by Slippery and Downtown. Slippery and Downtown gybed towards the middle of the course while LKP held out on starboard gybe a little longer. As the boats converged on the leeward mark, Al Russell lobbied LKP hard for an overlap. Didn't really matter because bad roundings by both LKP and Slippery left the door wide open Tom Noone and Downtown. They hooked into "a puff from God" and were gone. Thanks to Patrick Zachary for a great job as Race Committee.  Click here for results.

Al Russell and Slippery noses out Downtown to win the first Thursday night

30MAY02 - Very fun, tactical evening of racing. No Cubeheads because Mike is STILL legislating. Marty Olsen set a windward leeward course, twice around, in a southerly that was unstable in both direction and velocity. Slippery started at the pin on port and 'crossed' the fleet. Al Ouellette sailing Last Kid Picked went left with Tom Noone (Downtown) on his hip. Noone tacked first. Last Kid Picked went a little further left before tacking and used a left shift at the end of the beat to cross Downtown and lead around the first mark. No changes on the run. For the next beat, LKP went left again initially. When the boats came together, LKP could not cross Downtown. They chose to duck and were never seen again. Slippery rounded the weather mark hot on Downtown's heels, caught a puff at the end of the run, and squeaked through to leeward of Downtown for a win at the pin.  Click here for results.

Last Kid Picked 2nd in Coffee Pot

Local Boat Competes at J-Daze

On the Brink of a Wipeout!

Dressel/Horton finish 2nd at Nationals!