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Fleet 23 - Lake Champlain, Vermont |
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2003 Race Season ReviewLast Kid Picked Wins Late Fall Series22NOV03 - The Late Fall J24 Series at MBBC finished up on Saturday, 22NOV03. It is kind of weird to get up in the morning and try to decide if there is enough time to take a couple of ski runs before sailing. That was the case this past Saturday as the final day of J24 racing coincided with the opening of Stowe Mountain Resort. Such tough decisions to have to make.
Last Kid Picked, USA3225,and Ice Cube all opted to sail and were rewarded with a beautiful afternoon of racing. Sunny and around 15 knots of wind out of the north allowed Charly Dickerson to run 4 double windward/leeward races. Since everyone was short at least one crew, the fleet decided to use little jibs. Last Kid Picked, crewed by Jim Finch, Rod Carr, Jon Vass, and Al Ouellette, won all four races to win the series. "We got very lucky in the first race." At the line with about 10 seconds to go, we gybed and ducked both Ice Cube and USA3225. Got a little bit of separation to the right and tacked back to starboard. A small right shift put LKP first at the weather mark and they never looked back. It looks like the Late Fall Series will become a permanent part of the MBBC racing calendar. Click here for full results
The Late Fall Series Begins01NOV03 - The inaugural race day of the Late Fall J24 Series was held at MBBC on 01NOV03. The series was supposed to have started the previous weekend, but the weather did not cooperate with 25+ knots of wind and hail. What a difference a week can make! The first day of November had temperatures in the 60s and a wind that started out at zero, went to 20, and finished around 10.
Mike Quaid and the crew of Ice Cube showed up early Saturday morning to put the boat together (probably the first time a J24 mast has been put up in November in Vermont). Last Kid Picked and USA 3225 launched and the fleet headed out. Last Kid Picked towed Charly Dickerson out to the course in the Whaler because the elusive Whaler key was accidentally left in Stowe. USA3225 set the weather mark, Ice Cube set the leeward mark, and LKP set up the start line about half way up the beat. The fleet sailed a twice around course and each race took about 15 minutes. No time for the crew to get cold!
The exciting moment of the day happened during the first run of the second race. USA3225 got a 'little tippy' during the run in a big puff of wind. The best part was they were heading straight at Charly in the Whaler (keep in mind that Charly did not have a key for the motor). Fortunately the crew got things stabilized and just smiled as they flew by.
The fleet got in 5 races, with Last Kid Picked winning three and Ice Cube winning the other 2. The series continues this Saturday, November 8th, weather permitting. We are expecting to add 2 more boats. There are definitely opportunities to crew if you want to give J24 racing a try. Burlington Regatta Results
Hobart Wins Drifter11SEP03 - Thursday night served up another light air race with an average wind speed of about 1 knot. Al Hobart and the crew of Fawn Liebowitz were able to tack immediately after the start, cross the fleet on port, and never looked back, winning easily. They were followed around the course by USA3225 who finished in second. The battle for third is where it gets interesting.
Doug Hamilton on Yeti started at the pin and lead the group that decided left would be the way to go. Light air, head to the shore. Stoopid idea as the boats on the right sailed the entire beat in decent velocity. About half way up the beat, Charly Dickerson, Mary Hooper, and the crew of C Jam Blues crossed over to consolidate their lead over the boats on the left. They continued to the left and benefited when the wind proceeded to shift 20 degrees to the left. They maintained their position on the run and finished third for the evening. Nice job C-Jam! Click here for results Opaque and Last Kid Picked Compete in Downeast Regatta06-07SEP03 - Portland, Maine. Click here for results Click here for event web site and many photos. Yeti Sighted in Malletts Bay04SEP03 - Winter must be approaching because there was a Yeti on the course. Doug Hamilton sailed to a win on board Yeti in the first race of the Thursday night Fall Series. The Fall Series is unique in that there is one start for all the classes and the start location is always off the club. This translates into a down wind start when the wind is out of the south. And the wind was out of the south.
28 boats on the starting line ranging from a J92 to a Cal 25. Four J24s participated in the race and at the start, all four were at the pin within 5 boat lengths of each other. One Design racing imbedded within a fleet race. Al Russell and the crew of Slippery nailed the start at the pin on starboard. It was imperative to immediately gybe on to port. Have you ever seen the start of a Formula 1 race where the driver with pole position stalls the car at the start. That is a good description of what happened to Slippery as Yeti, Downtown, and USA3225 rolled over them. The run saw Downtown use their clear air to close the distance on Yeti.
Yeti lead at the leeward mark followed by Downtown, USA3225, and Slippery. Yeti tacked almost immediately around the mark as did Downtown. USA3225 built a little leverage before tacking over. Proceeding up the beat, the bottom appeared to be falling out of the left as the wind built from the right. Downtown tacked over, but was unable to get to USA3225 who sneaked by to claim second as the RC shortened the race. Congratulations to Doug Hamilton on Yeti for his first race and first victory of the season. Click here for full results Last Kid Picked Wins Fleet 23 Championship31AUG03 - Click here for results Last Kid Picked Wins Summer Midweek Series28AUG03 - The final race for the Thursday Night Midweek Series proved to be one of the most entertaining races of the summer featuring an almost constant reordering of the fleet. Gerry Couture sent the fleet on a triangle windward/leeward course in a 10 knot northerly breeze. It seemed like there were 50 boats on the course with all the tacking that went on. Fawn Liebowitz rounded in first followed by USA3225. Last Kid Picked rounded next followed by Downtown. Both boats delayed their sets on the reach leg to get up to a passing lane. They were both able to initially roll over USA3225 however an aft shift turned the reach into a run about half way down the leg. This allowed the 'low boats' to return the favor and blow right by LKP and Downtown.
Both LKP and Downtown had to gybe to get back in line. The Gybe mark saw about 5 boats arrive at the same time. LKP was in the last boat in the pack, but were able to gybe tight to the mark and roll over the group just in front of them. The rest of the leg featured 'pole-on-the-forestay reaching'.
The next beat was extremely tactical with 20 degree shifts. The run of thumb was if their bow is pointing at your stern, cross them. The final run to the finish saw a persistent shift to the right that favored the boats that gybed immediately after they set. Fawn Liebowitz finished first followed by Last Kid Picked and USA3225. Click here for full results
Fun thing to do at the party after racing: Start a rumor that your female friend is pregnant because she is drinking non-alcoholic beer.
21AUG03 - No race write up because I sailed LKP to Shelburne after racing. Click here for results Fawn Liebowitz Drifts to Win
Fawn Liebowtz lead the way to the right side and were able to cross Last Kid Picked. Last Kid Picked crossed Downtown and tacked on them, thinking they were on the lay line. Hobart then tacked on LKP. A left shift allowed LKP to tack to clear their air (which also cleared Downtown's air). LKP tacked into a clear lane at about the same time Downtown tacked to come get them. Still not on the lay line, LKP tacked to cover Downtown (a quick check of the calendar showed that it was, in fact, "Tack on Tom Day"). In the mean time, Hobart and crew had continued along unimpeded to weather mark.
Remember Slippery going left at the start? They found decent wind and a left shift and rounded the weather mark in second right behind Fawn. I must digress a moment back to Slippery's perfect start last week. Turns out that just before the start they were getting eyeballed by the State Police. Al Russell had to quickly locate his registration numbers and put the 2003 stickers on (because he still had his engine on the stern). By the time he looked up, he was about 4 minutes from the line with about 4 minutes to go. The recipe for a perfect start.
Any way, Slippery rounded second at the weather mark. They did a bear way set and gybed. LKP rounded in third. Al Ouellette gybed the boat as the crew was setting the spinnaker thinking "They'll sort it out". The immediate gybe allowed LKP to get over the top of Slippery. The wind was dying and it seemed imperative to get out of the middle of the bay.
About halfway down the leg, the wind absolutely shut off, turning the race into a sailing lottery. The boats that gybed towards the middle of the bay looked great initially. But all good things come to an end as the wind lottery came up 'light southerly' turning the run into a beat with Hobart winning the lottery followed by Last Kid Picked and Downtown. Click here for full results. Click here for some amazing pictures.
Finally, a big Hello to the Pilcher's on Doctor's Orders who made it out for their first race of the season! Hope to see more of the green boat.
Fawn Liebowitz Wins Chiott Cup09-10AUG03 - Al Hobart and his crew of showed amazing consistency by finishing first in 9 of 10 races to win the Chiott Cup. Click here for full results Another Shifty Light Air Race07AUG03 - The 'persistent upper level low' that has the weather more closely resembling that of the tropics than that of northern New England dealt Fleet 23 another evening of shifty, light air racing. Al Russell and his boatload of women had a start that Vanderbuilt would have been proud of - hitting the line with speed at the gun. Most of the rest of the fleet was tangled up at the pin. Fast forward to half way up the first beat and we find Hobart and Slippery launched relative to the rest of the fleet. Decision time. Slippery went left, Fawn Liebowitz went right. A giant right shift with pressure put Hobart first at the weather mark followed by Downtown and UA3225. The shift also turned the run into a reach and the RC mercifully shortened the race at the leeward mark (it had nothing to do with the Giants/Patriots game at 8). Click here for full results. Hobart Wins Four out of Five03AUG03 - The Fleet Championship Series continued with 5 races held on a perfect day on Malletts Bay. The day was a blur of tight mark roundings and photo finishes. Al Hobart and the crew of Fawn Liebowitz won four out of five tightly contested races. Mark Gardner set up a short windward leeward course with the start/finish line half way up the leg. Last Kid Picked won the pin on the first start and lead from wire to wire with USA3225 just squeaking by C-Jam Blues at the finish to claim second. The second race was won by Fawn Liebowitz with Last Kid Picked finishing second and USA3225 finishing third. The third race was also won by Fawn Liebowitz with Charly Dickerson and the crew of C Jam Blues finishing second and USA3225 finishing third. The 4th race saw the closest finish of the day with Hobart beating Last Kid Picked by inches and C Jam Blues finishing third. The final race of the day saw Hobart finish 1st and Last Kid Picked inching out USA3225 in another photo finish. Click here for full results. Click here to view the current Fleet Championship standings. Light Air Causes Insanity31JUL03 - A double windward/leeward in less than 5 knots of wind. These are the conditions that therapists love. And USA3225 proved how well adjusted they are by cruising to victory by almost 2 minutes over the second place boat. A miscommunication lead to USA3225 using their 'cloth sails' as the nice, dry, racing sails got left in the basement. Oops. The evening also saw the debut of Jon Vass and the ISS crew racing Jon's J24 Kaya.
Slippery and USA3225 positioned themselves at the start to go left and it paid huge rewards at the weather mark as they rounded with a substantial lead after sailing the entire leg in a persistent left shift with more velocity. Downtown lead the pack from the right side of the course followed very closely by Fawn Liebowitz and Last Kid Picked. The run saw a little confusion as many assumed the course would be shortened at the leeward mark. This made for several, shall we say, less then tactical, mark roundings. Downtown was fouled very badly by the E-Scow Stampeding Turtle at the leeward mark, allowing Hobart and LKP to slip by. A little further up the beat the same scow fouled Last Kid Picked on a port-starboard issue. Nothing says "I'm sorry" like a 720.
The final run saw Hobart continue his charge through the fleet as he rolled over Slippery to finish second. Interestingly, he sailed the entire race with his fenders out. Could this be a fast new light air technique? Top 3: 1st - USA3225, 2nd - Fawn Liebowitz, 3rd - Slippery. Click here for full results. Click here for photos. USA3225 Storms to First24JUL03 - Thursday night was another exercise in variable weather. Torrential rain followed by rainbows and then more rain. It also saw the return of Al Hobart and his crew on Fawn Liebowitz (actually hull #58 because 2901 is still down in Morgan's Shop of Horrors). The RC set up a windward/leeward course in a south wind with very ominous black clouds to the west. Typically in a southerly you start at the pin and first boat to the left wins. The approaching storm made the first beat very interesting. USA3225 and Fawn Liebowitz played the shifts in the middle of the course and found themselves leading at the weather mark. The wind shut off as they rounded, leaving Last Kid Picked trapped at the weather mark in third.
Enter storm right with a building west wind. Chutes up, poles on the head stay, hold on, chute down. Downtown rolled by Last Kid Picked by switching from the chute to the genoa at the perfect time. Top 3: USA3225, Fawn Liebowitz, and Downtown. Click here for results Last Kid Picked Moves into First in Fleet Championship20JUL03 Click here for results Big Shifts Shaft Slippery17JUL03 - The classic race. Great start. Extend your lead by playing the shifts. Win. That was the plan Al Russell and the crew of Slippery were following as they went around the weather mark with a huge lead, set, and continued on starboard gybe followed by Ice Cube and the rest of the leading group.
Starting line antics found Downtown and Last Kid Picked deep at the weather mark looking for a miracle. Enter a small storm passing by to the north. As it went by, the storm pulled the wind about 40 degrees to the right and doubled the velocity. Downtown and Last Kid Picked both gybed immediately after they set and found themselves pointing at the leeward mark. Huh. The shift inverted the fleet as Slippery gybed and started debating whether or not they needed a jib to get to the 'leeward' mark.
Last Kid Picked rounded the leeward mark in first followed by Downtown and USA3225. "Some times you just get lucky." The rest of the race was a drag race in a steadily increasing breeze. Last Kid Picked finished first followed by Downtown and USA3225. Click here for full results Big Wind at the Mayor's Cup12JUL03 - Last Kid Picked and Gemini competed in the 26th annual Mayor's Cup regatta in Plattsburgh, New York. The J24s raced in the PHRF C class. Last Kid Picked ended up winning with firsts in both races and Paul Reese and the crew of Gemini finished 4th. Click here for more...
Last Kid Picked Continues Winning Ways10JUL03 - Unsettled weather resulted in a lesson in traffic management and the return of Al Russell to the helm of Slippery. A HUGE right shift during the start sequence resulted in being able to just about lay the weather mark from the start. This made the boat a very popular place. Downtown found themselves over early due to a miscommunication between the two halves of the boat. "We're over! We're over!...How come you didn't tell me I was over?" Last Kid Picked won the boat with Slippery right behind them. Slippery tacked right for clear air while LKP continued on towards the mark and Downtown restarted. As the boats sailed up the beat, there was more velocity on the right, allowing Slippery and Downtown to gain back some distance on LKP. At the weather mark, boats set and immediately gybed. With 35 boats on the course, it was hard to keep your air clear and stay clear of other boats. There were lots of differing opinions as to high vs. low and spinnaker vs. genoa. In the end, LKP's advantage from the start held up as they finished first. Downtown was able to overcome their over early to finish second and Slippery rounded out the top three. Click here for full results. Limited Attendance the Last Couple of Races06JUL03 - Fleet Championship #2 Daily results - 1. Ice Cube, 2. Last Kid Picked, 3. C-Jam Blues. After 10 races, Last Kid Picked and Ice Cube are tied for first with 15 points and C-Jam Blues is in third. Click here for full results. 04JUL03 - Ethan Allen Regatta - Last Kid Picked finished 4th, C-Jam Blues finished 9th Click here for full results. 03JUL03 - Midweek Race - Last Kid Picked Won Click here for full results. 28JUN03 - Double-Handed Race - Last Kid Picked finished second, C-Jam blues retired half way through the first race with a mysterious mast problem. Click here for full results. Last Kid Picked Sweats out a Win26JUN03 - Repeat after me: "I will never complain about it being to cold". The third straight day of temperatures in the 90s made for a very steamy night on the water. Mark Gardner, with help from Al "I'm convalescing" Russell and Kathy Manning, set a windward/leeward course in a surprisingly pleasant breeze. The southerly breeze usually favors the boats that go left on the first beat, making the pin the place to be at the start. Slippery arrived at the starting area with about 2 minutes to go and ended up winning the pin. Al Hobart commented that, by arriving late, they did not have time to mess up their start. Also in the neighborhood of the pin were Last Kid Picked and USA3225. These 3 boats bee lined to the left with other boats tacking to the right searching for clear lanes. The Hooper/Dickerson team on C-Jam Blues opted to go all the way right.
Back to the left side of the course, LKP was first to tack on to port. USA3225 followed suit and Slippery planted a good one on Last Kid Picked, bouncing them further to the left. Slippery tacked to cover LKP as USA3225 continued on port. Slippery and LKP traded a couple more tacks as they approached the weather mark. USA3225 rounded first with LKP right on their transom followed by Slippery, Downtown, and C-Jam. USA3225 and LKP were able to extend on the other boats. LKP waited until USA3225 was tangled up with a J-120 and gybed towards the finish and the gun. USA3225 finished second. Downtown was able to close in on Slippery and in a photo finish... Slippery third, Downtown fourth. Click here of full results.
USA3225 Wins Again19JUN03 - Sorry, no write-up for this race due to jet lag. 1st - USA3225, 2nd - Last Kid Picked, 3rd - Slippery USA3225 Wins12JUN03 - What a difference a week makes! Perfect weather, lots of boats, tight racing. Gerry Couture set up a triangle/windward/leeward course with a very short starting line (kind of gave it that big regatta feel). Harry Reindel and the crew of USA3225 had a perfect start at the boat, hitting the line at the gun at full speed. After being mowed down by USA3225, Last Kid Picked tacked to the right looking for clean air as most of the fleet continued to the left. A little more pressure on the right allowed them to get across almost everyone except USA3225, who executed a perfect lee bow and bounced LKP to the right again. USA3225 rounded the weather mark in first followed closely by LKP, Slippery (with guest helmsman Al Hobart), and Downtown. Racing was placed on hold while boats paraded around the reaching legs.
LKP tacked around the leeward mark and headed to the right, splitting away from USA3225. Slippery split the difference, initially sailing on port, picked an opportune moment to head left, and slipped Last Kid Picked. Where's Harry? Gone. Bu-bye. USA3225 played the shifts perfectly on the second beat and opened a huge lead. The top of the beat saw USA3225 round in first place (by a lot). Slippery rounded second with LKP right on their transom. LKP and Slippery both gybed immediately and spent the next 3/4ths of the leg less than a boat length apart. Both boats gybed onto starboard as they neared the lay line with LKP blanketing Slippery. LKP gybed back for what they thought was more air and then gybed back on the starboard lay line, into a bit of a hole. In the mean time, Slippery stayed in clear air and consolidated their second place finish. The top three: USA3225, Slippery, Last Kid Picked. Click here for full results. Last Kid Picked Takes an Early Lead in the Fleet Championship08JUN03 - The first event of the 2003 Fleet 23 Championship series turned into a match race between reigning champion Mike Quaid and the crew of Ice Cube and the new and improved Last Kid Picked (now with 25% more whitening power). The forecast southerly stopped for brunch on the way to the club, sending a very unstable northerly thermal breeze to hold it's spot for the first couple of races. Mark Gardner set a once around windward/leeward course with the start/finish in the middle of the leg. The first start found Ice Cube trapped to the right of the Committee boat with about 30 seconds to go. A sudden 60 degree left wind shift turned Ice Cube's position into a winner. They were able to slip in between Last Kid Picked and the Committee boat, win the start, and the first race.
The second start was very similar, except there was no wind shift. Last Kid Picked pushed Ice Cube to the right of the Committee boat and this time set up much closer. Last Kid Picked started at the boat end of the line with Ice Cube directly astern. Ice Cube tacked at the boat. "But the wind looks better to the right..." At this point, Geoff Halsted on LKP pointed out the he was the 'Smacker' for the day. If you watched any of the America's Cup racing, it seemed that very often the lead boat would inexplicably fail to cover when the trailing boat tacked away. The Smacker's job on the boat is to whack the Tactician on the head when he fails to stay between the trailing boat and the next mark. But I digress, Last Kid Picked covered Ice Cube move for move and won the second race.
The third start was the most hotly contested featuring a lot of circling. Ice Cube had trapped Last Kid Picked above the starting line. LKP used the Committee boat ("Hi Mark!") to scrap them off and managed to catch Ice Cube in a port/starboard coming out the other side. Penalty circles gave LKP the lead and the Smacker maintained it.
The final race saw the boats dial up in the center of the start line FOREVER... Last Kid Picked started at the pin on starboard, Ice Cube started at the boat on port. LKP was ahead at the first cross and once again the Smacker did his job, never giving Ice Cube any leverage to get back in it. The day's racing gives Last Kid Picked a 2 point lead over Ice Cube in the Fleet Championship Series with a lot of racing remaining. Click here for full results
There is No Bad Weather, Just Bad Foul Weather Gear05JUN03 - The short version: It was raining and the only J24 that went out was Last Kid Picked.
The long version: 5:00 - Arrive at the club, lots of people standing around in a light drizzle and no wind. 5:15 - Boat on dock 5:30 - RC heads out, still not much wind 5:45 - Wind starts to fill in from the west 6:27 - First gun At this point we would normally talk about how the J24s did. But since only one J24 sailed, it would be a pretty dull. Sooooo.... The course set up was remarkably similar to last Thursday night - had to be at the pin and needed get on to port as quick as possible. Playing the part of Tom Noone this week was Marci Finch on Toad's Wild Ride. They found themselves at the pin with about 20 seconds to go and a wall of starboard boats behind them. They quickly pulled out a magic marker, drew an escape hatch on the wall, and gybed out. The starting gun found the Pearson 26 Swan Song at the pin going fast with the next lane occupied by Mike Ray on Impulsive. There were small shifts that could be played on the first beat and Toad opened up a good size lead. That lead disappeared on the run. Last Kid Picked was able to ride a couple of puffs down the course and ended up going around the leeward mark overlapped with Toad. LKP tacked to the left and watched Toad sail off into the sunset. But remember, we are racing against stop watches and no lead is big enough. Toad crossed the finish line about 40 seconds ahead of LKP. This translated into a 3 second victory in corrected time. Apparently every second does count! In other news, Jonathon Hass and the crew of Prime Time pulled a horizon job on the non-spinnaker fleet, the Carrdelmann duo continued their winning ways in B Fleet, and the Lightnings stayed home. Click here for full results. Hope everyone that left early made the most of their evening because you missed a fun evening of racing out on the water. Last Kid Picked First to Finish29MAY03 - Let the Thursday night racing begin. Marty Olsen set a triangle windward/leeward course. Mother Nature sneered at the MBBC Race Chairman by throwing in a HUGE left shift just before the start. This made a pin end start very important. Downtown was at the pin, unfortunately there were still about 5 seconds on the clock. Next in line was Last Kid Picked. "We're ok, we're not ok, we're going to have to gybe, oh, wait a minute, we can make it, whew!" LKP tacked on to port and never looked back, leading at every mark of what turned into a boat speed contest. Click here for full results.
Last Kid Picked Wins the Coffee Pot25MAY03 - The first race of the MBBC season was won by the J24 Last Kid Picked. This series of 2 PHRF races was held in very light, shifty conditions. The fleet included a wide range of boats; from a Pearson 26 to a J-120. LKP's finishes of 1-2 earned them the top spot. Other J24s in the race were Slippery and Ice Cube. Slippery ended up in 4th place with finishes of 3-4. They had great starts and lead at the end of the first weather leg in both races. Ice Cube ended up 6th for the day with a 4th in the first race and an OCS in the second race (something about an I flag...). Click here for full results. New Crew Seminar24MAY03 - Fleet 23 held a "new crew" seminar at MBBC. The attendees viewed Will Crump's J24 Boat Handling CD and then spent a couple hours on the water going in circles tacking and setting spinnakers. A quick thank you to Mike Quaid for the use of Ice Cube. |
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