Champagne Series: Sunday May 24, 2009

CHAMPAGNE SERIES

Memorial Day weekend at North Cape is the traditional occasion of the Champagne Series. One race on Saturday afternoon, two races on Sunday. With the other club activities on Saturday: the Commodores Memorial Service and Opening of the season, the brunch and the Steak roast on Saturday evening, it makes for a very busy day for those members who try to participate in everything. This year we decided to try something a little different and just hold all three races on Sunday so as not to overlap with the Saturday events. I’d be interested in getting your feedback on whether that proved to be a good idea. Please let me know your thoughts.

Sunday morning looked to be a good day for racing with predicted winds of 10 to 12 knots from the northeast. A front was moving through about two hours before racing was scheduled to start with the rain staying to our north. At the club we got the higher winds from the front. By race time at 11:00 AM, the winds were still blowing about 17-20 knots, consistently out of the northeast and the seas had built into the three or maybe four foot range. The wind direction would stay fairly steady all day, shifting around five to ten degrees more easterly by the end of the racing with the wind staying up longer than expected and then gradually lessening to about 8-10 knots by the end of the third race. Sixteen boats signed up, thirteen in PHRF and three in JAM but by race time Three Niner, a Farr 30 new this year to Dave Branson, had decided to climb the learning curve a little more conservatively and changed to JAM for the day so we had four good fleets of PHRF A, B, C and JAM.

In PHRF A, Jeff Maludy’s Farr 30 Adrenalin show consistent boat speed and excellent crew work all day in sweeping the class wins. Roger Stark’s Abracadabra and Rob and Beth Olson’s Lynx traded 2nd and 3rd in the first two races with Abracadabra prevailing in the third and final race to capture second. Lynx provided the best sights of the day at the weather mark in the windy first race when a knotted spin sheet resulted in a big roundup and subsequent dumping of the chute prior to resetting.

In PHRF B, a good mix of five boats: three Hobie 33s: Viva Las Vegas, 007 and Fupastank; Baci, a C&C 110; and Legs a Shakin, a Beneteau 10R mixed it up all day long. Positions were traded in every race with ultimately Connie and Steve Attard’s Viva Las Vegas putting together wins in races two and three after a 3rd in the first race to take the class win. Rick Pethoud’s 007 did the opposite, winning the 1st race and then taking 3rd in the next two to secure 2nd in the series. And Dave Sullivan’s Legs a Shakin combined seconds in races one and three with a 4th in the middle race to secure third for the series. Beth and Jeff Eischen’s Baci found that the handicap of sailing with only four on board was a little too much to overcome in the windy conditions and Spencer Norris and crew were coming to grips with Fupastank, and played it close to the vest in this new Hobie to him. Some of you will recognize Fupastank, which this year sports a new bright yellow paint job as the resurrection of the former Fish With Legs after some significant repair work.

In PHRF C, there was the normal tussle at the top by the usual suspects. John and Judy Greiner’s Red Cloud and Jeff Mackay’s Wizard traded with 1st and 2nd places in races one and two with Mark and Lynne Melchior’s Full Tilt close behind. Race #2 saw only the slimmest of margins, with a one second win going to Wizard. As the wind dropped a little in Race #3 Wizard pulled out the win to take the class series with Red Cloud in second. Full Tilt matched their previous results with a 3rd in taking third for the series. Matt Notario’s Chaser 29 Red Pearl had a difficult challenge facing those three veteran campaigners and while not quite matching the speeds of the larger and faster boats was still showing progressively better results as the day went along. Matt, we’re just sorry we didn’t have a camera at the weather mark to capture the infamous upside-down spinnaker set in race #2. Not to worry, it happens to everybody sooner or later and is always good for a story!

JAM found the original class of three of Orange Crate, Jagen and Wing Jammin joined at the last minute by Three Niner. Jim and Chris Davis on Orange Crate and Tim Branson on Jagen always have good battles but on this day Jagen was sailing shorthanded and with it huge sailplan and high winds, Jagen decided to call it a day during the first race. This left Tim’s son Dave Branson on Three Niner and Bill Pribe’s Wing Jammin to battle it out with the Crate. On this day, the 35th anniversary of the launching of Orange Crate, the Davis ’s brought home the bacon, err, the champagne, sweeping all three races to take first place. Three Niner captured the red flag for second and Wing Jammin, also sailing shorthanded hung in for third place.

Dave and Barb Shaffer headed up the race committee on their boat Wooly Bully. They were ably assisted by Cris and Leanna Hastin, Dave Snyder and Sandy Gardam. Ron Coons volunteered to help me with setting the marks on Foghorn. Many thanks to all of the above for surviving the lumpy conditions on the committee boats and to the many racers who came out to support the series. I trust the good sailing and the champagne afterwards for all competitors made the effort worthwhile.

HELP NEEDED

On a down note, Jeff Mackay discovered after the race that the mast on Wizard, his Evelyn 32, had cracked almost clean through right where it passes through the deck. On seeing it after it was pulled, I’m actually damn surprised that they didn’t lose the rig during the race. However, because the break is pretty clean, Jeff feels that it is probably repairable by sleeving the mast on the inside and bolting the sections back together. As of this writing, I think that Jeff is still looking for an aluminum section with which to splice the mast. If you happen to have about a six foot chunk of old mast or even boom that might be appropriate and that you’d be willing to part with, I’m sure Jeff would like to talk with you. Please contact Jeff directly at (734) 243-6026 or by email at jeff6026@charter.net . If you can help get this boat and its veteran crew back to the race course, we will all be the better for it.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Don’t forget that this coming weekend is NCYC’s Commodore Perry Race on Sunday May 31st. Leading up to that on Saturday May 30th are two port-to-port feeder races, one from Port Clinton Yacht Club and one from Grosse Isle Yacht Club. Contact those clubs for details on how to participate. The Commodore Perry leads us into Toledo Yacht Club’s Mills Race the following weekend so we are in the midst of the height of the racing season already! NCYC will provide a place to dock for any visiting boats that are coming for the Perry and then staying over for the Mills. Be a part of the fun of racing on Lake Erie !

Saturday night, May 31st at North Cape we are having a Reggae Party with food, drinks and a live reggae band to get you all in the mood for the Perry Race. See you all there!

Thanks again to all who were a part of the Champagne Series.

Kent Gardam
NCYC Yachting Activities