2003 Race Season Review

Downtown Wins Fall Midweek Series

23SEP04 - The final race of the Fall Thursday night series started with great promise.  10 knots out of the north and a clear, warm evening.  Gerry Davis set a slightly boat favored line, which made for a very exciting start.  Twenty seconds to the gun, Downtown is at the boat.  Uh-oh.  Better reach off a little.  Next up, Last Kid Picked.  Good start at the boat with Fawn Liebowitz just to leeward.  LKP (using their 'good' sails) were able to match Fawn's speed as the boats sailed to the left side of the course.  Downtown tacked to port and ducked Fawn and LKP.  LKP tacked, but couldn't cross Downtown when the boats came together a couple of minutes later.  LKP tacked back to cover Fawn Liebowitz.  Downtown rounded the weather mark in first followed closely by LKP and Fawn.

LKP, USA3225 and Fawn gybed immediately as Downtown headed towards Coates Island in the slowly dying breeze along with the rest of the fleet.  USA3225 and LKP got tangled up trying to keep their air clear and waved goodbye to Fawn.  USA3225 gybed away towards the center of the course.  Fawn Liebowitz followed suit shortly after, escaping before the wind shut down completely on that side of the course.  LKP sailed into a black hole from which there was no escape.

The boats that initially sailed towards Coates enjoyed the tail end of the dying breeze and were able to make up huge ground.  Fawn Liebowitz rounded the leeward mark in first followed by Downtown.  After that it was kind of hard to see the order because it got dark.  Fawn Liebowitz won the race followed by Downtown in second.  Somewhere in the darkness Blindspot got by USA3225 to finish third.  Downtown's second place finish meant they won the shootout for the Overall Fall Series.  Click here for full results.

Downwind Starts are Interesting

17SEP04 - The Fall Midweek Series resumed after a week hiatus due to a severe lack of wind.  This week provided 10 to 15 knots out of the south and a perfect Fall evening.  Bill Fastiggi from Shore Sails was Race Committee.  The Sailing Instructions for the Fall Series dictate that the course is a windward/leeward twice around and that the start will be just off the Club.  When the wind is from the south, this means a downwind start.  Oh yeah, there is also just one mass start for all the classes.  Think Oklahoma Gold Rush.

The pin is the place to be on a crowded downwind start.  Even with 35 boats on the line, is was mostly J24s fighting for the pin with Fawn Liebowitz emerging first.  After the start, the goal is to get to an edge and keep your air clear. Hobart did a good job using his starboard advantage to hold off all attempts of boats to get to the inside.  Fawn rounded the leeward mark in first followed by Last Kid Picked. USA3225 and Downtown were the next 2 boats to round (along with about 7 other boats).  There was a lot of 'on the water discussion'.

After that first mark rounding, the rest of the race was anticlimactic.  Everyone maintained their position, minimizing leverage and staying in phase.  Fawn Liebowitz finished first followed by Last Kid Picked.  Downtown rounded out the top three.  Click here for full results.

Next Thursday is the final race of the Fall Midweek Series.  It promises to be an interesting race - there are 5 boats within 3 points of first.  Click here to see the current standings.

Yeti Wins First Race of Fall Midweek Series

02SEP04 - The Fall Midweek Series.  Mix together 36 boats, including Portsmouth and Non-spinnaker boats, on one starting line in light air makes for an interesting start.  Doug Hamilton and the crew of Yeti were more than equal to the challenge, sailing away from the masses in clear air on the favored tack.  The wide range of boats make for some very interesting conversations.  "We can cross the C&C 99, but we will need to duck the Lightning."

Yeti and Slippery battled for first and second while the rest of the J24s struggled to find a clear lanes in a very crowded race course.  Yeti avoided sailing into any holes on the run to finish 15 seconds ahead of Slippery.  Downtown rounded out the top three.  Click here for full results.

Last Kid Picked Wins Fleet 23 Championship Series

28AUG04 - The final day of racing for the Fleet 23 Championship Series consisted of three races in a dying breeze.  Al Hobart and the crew of Fawn Liebowitz won the day and Last Kid Picked won the series.  Congratulations to everyone that competed in the series and thank you to Marty and Becca Olsen for providing Race Committee.  Click here for full results.

Reynolds Returns

26AUG04 - Thursday night brought another perfect evening for racing sailboats:  borderline little jib conditions and sunshine.  In fact, the conditions were so good that they brought John Reynolds out of his self-imposed exile to helm Downtown to their first Thursday night victory of the season.  Mike Birnbaum set a fairly short starting line which gave the start that 'big regatta' feel.  The short line plus the 'UsualLastSecondWindShiftRightBeforeTheStart' caused quite a jam up at the Committee Boat.  Downtown had been loitering just above the start line and positioned themselves perfectly to win the start.  

The lead boats held starboard gybe on the first run.  Last Kid Picked was just about the last boat around the weather mark after a particularly 'brilliant' start that featured being on port at the Committee boat about a minute after the gun.  Any way, they gybed immediately on to port and made up huge ground on the leaders by sailing dead down at the mark while the other boats were playing luffing games.  Fast forward to the end of the run.  Here comes Fawn Liebowitz, Blindspot, and Ice Cube luffing each other on port.  Starboard was the last thing the wanted to hear :)  Last Kid Picked ended up with a big inside overlap advantage, going from last to third on the run.

The evening was not without incident for Downtown.  They switched trimmers mid-race and during the transition, Tom Noone's hat blew off his head.  USA3225 was just behind them and their bow person scooped the hat out of the water as thy sailed by.

The rest of the race is kind of a blur.  Top three were Downtown, Fawn Liebowitz, and USA3225.  Click here for full results.  The race was also the final race for the Summer Midweek Series.  The top three for the summer were Last Kid Picked, USA3225, and Ice Cube.  Click here for full results.

Some Things Never Change

19AUG04 - Hobart gets a great start, Hobart has great boat speed, Hobart wins.  Al Hobart and the crew of Fawn Liebowitz came away from their first race of the season with a win.  And that was the only thing that was clear about the evening as the rest of the fleet spent the evening running into each other and protesting.  

Due to the volume of protests, the Committee will be publishing their findings on Tuesday.  Stay tuned for further developments.  Since we can't talk about the race, I'm going to take a couple of minutes to review rule 15 - Acquiring Right of Way.  The rule states that "When a boat acquires right of way, she shall initially give the other boat room to keep clear, unless she acquires right of way because of the other boat's actions."  Further, ISAF Case 24 states:  "As soon as B established the overlap, rule 12 ceases to apply.  A becomes bound by rule 11 and B by rule 15,which embodies the principle in the rule that when the right of way suddenly shifts from one boat to another, the boat with the newly acquired right of way must give the other boat space and time for response and thus a fair opportunity to keep clear.  B's obligation under rule 15 is not a continuing one; it protects A only temporarily, and only if she responds promptly after the overlap begins.  However, an unnecessary or excessive luff by A causing contact with B is a breach of rule 11."

Basically this rule says that a burdened boat must immediately take action to stay clear.  If the burdened boat doesn't take immediate action and the right of way boat needs to avoid contact, the right of way boat can protest right away.  Rule 15 places an initial limitation of the right of way boat.  This limitation quickly goes away and only applies if the burdened boat promptly takes action to keep clear.  

We need to look at one more rule.  Rule 16.1 states that "When a right of way boat changes course, she shall give the other boat room to keep clear."  Burdened boats often site this rule saying that the right of way boat has to give them "room and opportunity" to keep clear.  This rule only comes into play if the right of way boat is changing course.  If the burdened boat is preventing the right of way boat from changing course, the burdened boat has fouled the right of way boat by not keeping clear.

Last Kid Picked Wins Chiott Regatta

14-15AUG04 - Those who were patient were rewarded with 7 races in 5 to 10 knots of wind.  Last Kid Picked finished first with 10 points followed by USA3225 with 10 points and Ice Cube with 15.  This moves Last Kid Picked into the lead for the Fleet Championship with one day of racing remaining on 28AUG04.  Click here for full results.

Yeti Picks Up First Thursday Night Win

12AUG04 - Doug Hamilton and the crew of Yeti spent the night passing boats on the way to their first win in the Thursday night summer series.  The light air and rain kept all but the most dedicated crews on the shore.  "If you are only going to sail in perfect weather, you better move to Hawaii."  Last Kid Picked took advantage of a shift during the start sequence to port tack the fleet.  LKP, Yeti, and USA3225 traded tacks the entire way up the first beat.  USA3225 were able to lee bow LKP on the starboard lay line and shoot them out the back.  LKP tacked for clear air and were able to pass the lee bow on to Yeti.

The run was a no-air affair that saw USA3225's huge lead at the weather mark evaporate as they parked in a hole.  Chutes down, jib up, jib down, chute up.  These sails just don't seem to work in no wind.  Yeti positioned themselves to the east and were rewarded by a couple zephyrs that blew them over the finish line in first followed by USA3225 and Last Kid Picked.  Click here for full results

Last Kid Picked Wins

05AUG04 - Another perfect night.  The boats that got out to the course early got to do a little pre-race planing in little jib weather.  In what is quickly becoming a Thursday night ritual, you arrive at the boat, hank on the genoa, sail out to the course, and then do a sail change to the little jib.  Everyone but Ice Cube started the race with their little jib in borderline conditions that quickly became genoa weather.  Ice Cube was unable to convert the advantage when they got buried at the pin and were seen on port shortly after the start with Downtown glued to them.

Last Kid Picked started at the boat with Yeti just to leeward.  Yeti had great speed off the line and were able to pull ahead slightly.  They tacked and were a-l-m-o-s-t able to cross LKP.  Yeti tacked back, LKP held on to the lay line, and both boats easily crossed the boats from the right to round 1-2.

The first run was, once again, an exercise in hanking as everyone switched back to big jibs.  Yeti and LKP were able to sail low and extend from the next group of USA3225, Ice Cube, and Downtown.  The second beat was very shifty with opportunities to make large gains and losses.  Downtown went left initially, made large gains, and were able to get back in contact with Yeti and LKP.  LKP split left from Yeti towards the end of the beat and were able to open a small lead that held up to the finish.

The final run was very starboard favored.  However, there were definite gains to be made by watching for puffs to leeward, gybing to port to hook into them, and then gybing back.  Yeti held off Downtown to finish second and third followed by a lot of other boats in a very short time frame.  Click here for full results

Ice Cube Drifts to Victory

29JUL04 - Light air and a Race Committee who are determined to get in a race.  Not exactly the best conditions for a sailboat race, but we had one any way.  Thursday night defined light and variable.  Several boats voted with their motors and left before the start.  Last Kid Picked won the start after shooing a couple of PHRF boats out of the way (ominous music playing in the background).  Ice Cube was over early and rounded the Committee Boat.  Slippery started down towards the pin, looked good initially, but were never able to escape.

Ice Cube, C-Jam Blues, and Blindspot tacked to the right in a move that took a lot of courage, as port tack put you at almost 90 degrees to the rhumbline.  This move paid off in the end as the 'wind' filled from the East and they found themselves in clear air.  The boats that stayed left got swallowed up by the living dead (also known as PHRF) fleet and once they get a hold of you, they don't let go.

A close battle developed between Ice Cube and Blindspot for first, with Ice Cube catching the last puff and the victory.  C-Jam blues rounded out the top three.  Click here for full results.  Click here for photos.

A Whole Lot of Racing

23JUL04 - Normally if it is 90 degrees, there is not much wind.  The Weather Gods must of felt like they owed us one after the last 3 weeks of rain and no wind because we got to race in 10 to 20 knots out of the South.  The threatening clouds to the west waited until everyone was back on shore to dump their load of rain.

Mike Birnbaum set a windward/leeward twice around course.  The first start had to be abandoned because the RC boat dragged so far downwind that you couldn't cross the line on starboard.  After a quick delay to acquire more anchor line (thanks Marty), the fleet was off.  The pin was slightly favored and was won by USA3225.  A couple of boats 'almost won the pin' and were seen on port shortly after the start searching for a hole to sneak through.

The first beat was one of those legs where it seemed like every one was going the same speed.  Didn't matter where you were or what the compass said.  The boat you just crossed would cross you and every time boats came together there was a new leader.  In the end, USA3225 was able to take advantage of their good start to round the weather mark in first.

All the boats except for Tom Noone on Downtown started the race with little jibs.  The big jib decision paid off at the end of the first beat when the wind eased off.  Downtown was able to use the extra power to round in second and escape the peleton of Yeti, Slippery, Last Kid Picked, Ice Cube, and Blindspot.  All the time on the water paid off for the Last Kid Picked crew as they were able to set and immediately gybe.  This separated them from the pack and they were able to sail the entire leg in clear air and round the leeward mark in second, followed by Downtown in third.  

The fleet spread out across the course for the second beat and continued the cross and be crossed game.  The extra power of the big jibs got Downtown and Last Kid Picked (they changed jibs on the first run) to the weather mark first.  Both boats set and gybed immediately, with Downtown throwing a hard luff in for good measure.  Last Kid Picked was able to defend and rolled over Downtown, bringing USA3225 along with them.  The 3 boats traded the lead for the rest of the run to the finish with LKP catching the last puff to finish first followed by USA3225 and Downtown in third.  Click here for full results

Finally, you may have noticed the larger font size.  This has been done at the request of one of the Fleet Elders who was having to sit on the other side of the room in order to read about the racing.  Let me know if this is acceptable.

Fleet Championship Racing Cancelled

17JUL04 - The second day of racing in the Fleet 23 Championship Series was cancelled due to a lack of wind.  Thanks to Tim and Heather Ambrose for doing Race Committee and having the good sense to not try to run races in no wind.  Next up is the Chiott Cup the weekend of August 14-15.

Finally

15JUL04 - We finally got to race on a Thursday night in July.  The previous 2 weeks were cancelled due to severe thunderstorms in the area.  The difference this week was that the dark clouds on the horizon weren't throwing out bolts of lightning, so Tim and Heather Ambrose sent the fleet out for a quick race before the 40 knot storm the weather radio was talking about arrived (Tim really wanted the first place score you get for being RC).

The course was a windward leeward once around.  Pre-race discussion concluded that heading left towards the scary black clouds (and the Club) probably made the most sense.  The discussions were rendered pointless when the clouds arrived about 40 seconds before the start and pulled the wind so far to the left that everyone ended up on the port layline.  Last Kid Picked was the first boat to tack onto port and sailed around the course by themselves to wrap up the win.  

I need to back up a bit.  Before the race, Rick Wagner and Rich Miller from Blindspot came over to ask if I had a bosun's chair.  "Of course I do, it is at home in my basement (50 miles away)".  You are all my witnesses that I promise to keep the bosun's chair in the locker at the Club from now on.  Any way, they say it's ok, we will use the one we made.  Picture a piece of wood with a 1/4 inch steel cable looped through it.  A scary couple of minutes later and Blindspot had a new, max length forestay.  And it paid off as they finished second, their best result to date.

Tom Noone and the crew of Downtown finally got to sail in a race.  The boat arrived from Texas on July 1st and has been parked ever since.  There has to be some way to blame Tom for all the thunderstorms because it is just too big a coincidence.  They tacked on to port just after the start and found themselves mired in a pack of boats.  Mike Quaid and Mike Chase, sailing Ice Cube double handed, started on port at the committee boat by themselves.  Proving the theory that a pack of boats sails slower than a boat by itself, Ice Cube finished third and Downtown won the battle of the pack to finish 4th.  Click here for full results

Big Breeze to Wrap up June Series

24JUN04 - The final race of the June series provided great racing in 20+ knots of wind.  Being out of the south, the wind strength was deceptive - definitely big jib as you left the mooring area that turned into 'anyone want a life jacket' as you got to the starting area.  Why, Tom, did you unroll the genoa?  Jonathon Haas set a windward leeward twice around course.

The start was even with the majority of the fleet, lead by Yeti, working towards the left side of the course.  Last Kid Picked forced USA3225 to tack away.  USA3225 picked up shift and more velocity and were able to cross LKP about 2/3rds of the way up the beat.  USA3225 tacked on LKP.  A couple of down speed tacks later, LKP was able to split to the right and get the starboard advantage at the lay line.  USA3225 tacked on to starboard behind LKP.  

Now it gets interesting.  Here comes Yeti on port.  They are able to tack into the 2 and a half boat lengths between LKP and USA3225.  LKP cracks off slightly to gas both boats into having to do 2 tacks to get around the mark.  Last Kid Picked then follows up that maneuver by pinching up and rounding the mark and then having the world's worst spinnaker set.  Apparently setting the chute once before the race is a good idea.

Downwind, the idea was to wait for the velocity to fill and then gybe onto port.  The trick was to not go past the port lay line.  The further down the course you got, the more wind there was.  Ice Cube, with special guest helmsman Todd Cox (and his separated ribs) set and gybed almost immediately into a huge puff and made up a lot of ground, rounding the leeward mark in second.  Yeti introduced the guys on Blindspot to J24 racing by repeatedly luffing them until they broke the overlap at the leeward mark.  Yeti then forced Blindspot to do circles when they tried to sneak inside at the leeward mark (if only that jib had come in...).  Blindspot did their circles and then almost caught Yeti by the weather mark.  Ice Cube continued their charge through the fleet, rounding the weather mark overlapped with LKP.  LKP sailed high and were able to set and gybe inside Ice Cube on to what turned out to be the lay line to the finish, winning the race and the June Series.  Ice Cube was once again the victor in a photo finish, edging out USA3225 for second place by 1 second.  Click here for full results.

Slippery Uses Binoculars to Watch Racing

17JUN04 - Once again Slippery needed binoculars to watch the J24 racing.  Crewed by Al Russell, Allyson Russell, and Laura Daubenspeck, Slippery sailed away from the fleet to win Midweek 3, finishing over 5 minutes ahead of the next boat.  They started at the pin on port in very light conditions for the windward/leeward course.  Yeti tacked to leeward of them just after the start and the 2 early leaders enjoyed clear air to open a lead on the rest of the fleet.  About half way up the beat, Slippery split to the left, found a couple of puffs and waved goodbye to the rest of the fleet.  Yeti continued to the right and found a huge hole in the wind that was probably more suited to swimming and water skiing than racing sailboats.

The race for second was closely contested between USA3225, Ice Cube, and Last Kid Picked.  These boats played the middle of the course during the first beat and continually swapped positions all the way around the course depending on who had just sailed in velocity.  USA3225 rounded the weather mark overlapped with Last Kid Picked and slightly ahead of Ice Cube.  LKP was initially able to sail away from the pack, but then got run down by USA3225.  USA3225 finished second and Ice Cube was able to beat Last Kid Picked by about 2 inches to claim 3rd.  Click here for full results.

Ice Cube Takes Lead in Fleet Championship Series

13JUN04 - The trimmers came off the water exhausted on Sunday after a very entertaining first day of racing in the Fleet Championship Series.  8 races in a southerly breeze that ranged from 10 to 20+ knots.  Consistency paid off for the team on Ice Cube who finished either first or second in 6 of the 8 races to claim the top spot.  Last Kid Picked finished second for the day 1 point behind Ice Cube.  They were able to win 4 of the races, but also had some 'not so good starts' in the other 4 races.  Click here for full results.

We also had a MOB situation.   Just after the start of one of the races, one of the boats was tacking and had a jib sheet foul which knocked the boat over and one of the crew into the drink (water temp is around 50 degrees). The boat that lost the crew and 2 other nearby boats all immediately dropped their jibs. One of the boats threw the person a horseshoe. The boat that got knocked over was able to quickly able to pull the crew member back on board, but if there had been a problem, there were 2 more boats lined up to help.  The fleet decided to abandon and restart the race.  It's an honor to sail in a fleet where people have their priorities straight.

Many Firsts

10JUN04 - Lots of firsts this week.  First race of the year for Doug Hamilton on Yeti.  First J24 race ever for Rick Wagner and the crew of Blind Spot.  First time on a J24 for most of Ice Cube's crew.  And the first time Last Kid Picked has sailed since getting the deck redone (they were still bolting on hardware during the sail out to the start).

Mark Gardner set up a windward-leeward twice around in about 10 knots on wind from the north.  A perfect course for a perfect night to be on the water.  Dan Simkins (steering Doug Hamilton's boat Yeti) won the start and lead the fleet to the left.  Last week's race winner Slippery tacked right after the start and cast their fortunes on the right side.  Last Kid Picked, sandwiched between Yeti and Blind Spot, tacked off to the right as well.  About half way up the beat, LKP bailed out of the right side.  They crossed behind the lead group of Yeti, Ice Cube, USA3225, and Blind Spot, who took the battle for the lead to the right side for the last half of the beat.  All five boats arrived at the weather mark at almost the same time.  Ice Cube rounded first with LKP overlapped to leeward followed by USA3225, Yeti, and Blind Spot.  Where was Slippery?  Al Russell summarized it best.  "We need binoculars for the boat.  Last week to see the boats behind us, this week to watch the J24 racing."

LKP went low as they set and were able to escape.  USA3225 pushed Ice Cube to the hard towards the port layline and passed them when they gybed.  LKP and USA3225 rounded the leeward mark overlapped.  LKP tacked to the left as soon as they were up to speed and were able to build a slight lead over Yeti, who got around USA3225.  The rest of the beat was balancing act of trying to play the shifts while minimizing the other boat's leverage.  Last Kid Picked protected their lead to finish first.  Yeti held off a late charge by Ice Cube and USA3225 on the final run to finish second  Ice Cube finished third.  Click here for full results.

And They're Off...

03JUN04 - You would think that an afternoon of hail and thunderstorms would make for some exciting racing.  This was not the case for the first race of the Thursday night series.  The departing storms took the breeze with them, leaving nothing but a swirling bit of air movement in their wake.  The Race Committee (Al Ouellette and Geoff Halsted from Last Kid Picked) decided that the conditions made it appropriate to have a season-opening-on-the-water-get-reacquainted-social, so up went the Postpone flag.  The RC pulled up the anchor and decided they would not start a race until the boat started drifting.  Their patience was rewarded an hour and a half later as a storm passing to the north created a little breeze.

Down came the AP and off the fleet went for a quick windward-leeward.  Hey, we are over stood, ease sheets.  Uh oh, we better tack.  The 90 degree wind shift made for a bizarre first 'beat'.  Al Russell and the crew of Slippery built on their great start to get the first win of the year.  USA3225 and Ice Cube traded tacks on the first leg with USA3225 rounding the mark in second followed by Ice Cube.  That would prove to be the final finishing order.  Click here for full results.

Boats on the Road

15MAY04 - Mike Quaid and the crew of Ice Cube raced race in Annapolis. Had some boat speed issues and a lot of fun.  And a certain Chuck Tailor High-top wearing bow person should pursue a sponsorship from Solarcaine...

Alan Ouellette, Mike Quaid, Ken Britting, Mike Finch, and John O'Rourke took Last Kid Picked for a little road trip to Canandaigua, New York, for the J-Daze regatta.  27 boats.  15 to 20+ knots of wind.  I had horrible starts on Saturday.  Apparently skiing all winter does nothing for starting skills.  We spent the day passing a lot of boats.  There would be about 2 boats behind us at the end of the first beat and by the end of the race we would finish 13th or 14th.  Made Dark and Stormys Saturday night.  I think Heather is right, I do sail better with a hangover.  Sunday we had 2 good starts and finished 3rd and 4th.  Ended up 10th of the weekend.

Driving back was an adventure.  There we were in the middle of northern New York on Route 8 at 5pm on a Sunday when all of a sudden there is a weird vibration.  "Hmmm, is that from the pavement?"  Immediately stop and walk back to the trailer.  Look at one of the wheels - three of the bolts that hold the lug nuts on to the hub had sheered off.  Fortunately we stopped before the last 2 broke.  Jacked the trailer up and tightened the remaining 2 lug nuts.  Went 5 miles an hour for about an hour and a half until we found a little store in Johnsburg, New York.  The woman working there called her Dad who had a shop next door where he worked on cars.  He had an old hub from a truck that we banged the studs out of and replaced the stubs on my trailer.  Ended up getting home around 12:30 after about a three hour delay.

When was the last time you checked the lug nuts and  wheel bearings on your trailer?

Downtown Competes in Beasley Cup

31MAR04 - The following is an e-mail report on the Beasley Cup courtesy of Tom Noone:

This race is the first on the Texas circuit for the 2004 season and the Beasley family sponsors the event along with the Houston Yacht Club.  The Club itself was a pretty nice place to have a race with boats coming in and having to be set up, two hoists, two mast cranes and lots of extra dock space and parking.  All boats at this club and for that matter the entire area were at slips, there are no moorings.

The Houston area is home to the second largest concentration of boats in the USA, only San Diego is larger.  However, not many boats leave the docks because of the heat of summer, the lack of places to go, and the Gulf of Mexico is hours and hours away.  The guys from there said that in summer you don't even think about going sailing till 6:00 P.M. The water was very brackish, hardly any salt ,warm, and very BROWN.  Kind of like sailing in a giant chocolate shake.

Enough of the downsides.  The wind was great, 12 to 18 knots both days.  The weather, well, I sailed barefoot and needed sun screen, some clouds, and 78 to 83 for temps. 27 boats came for the races, and they came from New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, other parts of Texas and VERMONT!  The level of racing skill is quite good with the top 10 to 15 boats close all the time.  Mr. Happy won with Flood Tip a close second.  Mr. Happy was just back from the Mid Winters where they finished second.  

We finished 7th , with a mostly South American crew... Juan drove, Pedro trimmed and Spanish was the language of the boat.  It was like watching your favorite show in Spanish, not really knowing exactly what was said but having a good idea.  When I spoke, my words would be translated and talked about in Spanish and then, I would hear" O.K. Tom" and we would tack or gybe.  All spoke almost perfect English, but would revert to Spanish in the heat of the moment.  Between the Spanish and boats with N.M. 3456 , T.X.7890 and CL.1234 I had no problem knowing I was in the South West. 

Another observation is that there are a lot of older boats in the fleet.  The Sea Scouts were using USA 6. USA 93 and USA 667 were just some of the other oldies.  The set up that is allowing me to do all this, while I'm unemployed for the winter is this:  We have a corporate sponsor, Cape Fear Yacht Works, that pays the entry fees, and the fees to have the boat and some rock stars moved around.  We also have a sail maker, U.K. Houston, that gives us sails to use for a few races...i.e., the sails we had used in St. Pete, Tampa and Houston were sold and sent to Argentina, and a new set is in the works for the next race for Downtown, in Austin.  The sails that U.K. are making are some of the best I have ever used.  They are using tape drive, and laminate technology to make a great genoa.  A friend, Juan Mauri, drives and he and I make up the core group at the different races. He makes the arrangements for the boat to move around and who the crew will be in the various races.  I just cash in frequent flyer miles, show up, set the boat up, and race it.  I also meet new sailors, and come to find out they like to drink beer, go out to dinner, and show off their club and their city, just like us.

They would ask me "Where do you sail in Vermont on little ponds and such?"  I swear some wanted to ask me where Vermont was but were too embarrassed. In response to the size of our ponds, I would point to Galveston Bay and say "we don't sail on a pond this small, Lake Champlain is 113mi. long, and when we drive as far as some of you drove, we get to an ocean."  Texas is big and they all think that way, they think that big only exists in Texas.  Vermont, now isn't that a real small state, again I would respond with, "our lake is one of the largest bodies of water within the US and Vermont has the 6th longest coast line in the US".  Now didn't that get some strange looks.  In the end we are all 24 sailors and it's the same game with the same kind of people, just in a different place.  Everyone is very friendly and helpful and when you go to leave, they would come over say, thanks for coming, and please come back it's fun to sail with boats from that far away.  As strange as it may have been for them to sail against a Vermont boat, I wonder how many of us have ever sailed against a boat from Kansas, better still how would you like to say, you got beat by some boat from Kansas.  Ahh, I dodged that bullet, and now it's time to saddle up, and head for Austin....Stay tuned....

Click here for Tom's pictures and a full report on Tom Noone's winter escapades.

Click here for results and more pictures.