Notes and results: September 2nd

Shamelessly swiped from another site, the 16 reasons Sailing is better than sex:

1. You don't have to hide your Sailing magazines. 2. It's perfectly acceptable to pay a professional to Sail with you once in a while. 3. The Ten Commandments don't say anything about Sailing. 4. If your partner takes pictures or videotapes of you Sailing your beachcat, you don't have to worry about them showing up on the Internet if you become famous. 5. Your Sailing partner doesn't get upset about people you sailed with long ago. 6. It's perfectly respectable to Sail with a total stranger. 7. When you see a really good Sailor, you don't have feel guilty about imagining the two of you Sailing together. 8. If your regular Sailing partner isn't available, he/she won't object if you Sail with someone else. 9. Nobody will ever tell you that you will go blind if you Sail by yourself. 10. When dealing with a Sailing pro, you never have to wonder if they are really an undercover cop. 11. You can have a Sailing calendar on your wall at the office, tell Sailing jokes, and invite coworkers to Sail with you without getting sued for harassment. 12. There are no Sailing-transmitted diseases. 13. If you want to watch Sailing on television, you don't have to subscribe to the Playboy channel. 14. Nobody expects you to Sail with the same partner for the rest of your life. 15. Nobody expects you to give up Sailing if your partner loses interest in it. 16. Your Sailing partner will never say, "Not again? We just Sailed last week! Is Sailing all you ever think about?"

I'll get a report and results on last Sunday's final midweek Fall Series race out to you soon but I realized that the results got corrupted when I reran them last night. So, I'll have to stop by the club and fix the results before I can send them out.

Last night was the first race of the three-race Captain Morgan's Series. A beautiful evening just approaching a full moon but with fairly light easterly winds that had been dieing off in the late afternoon. John and Judy Greiner are serving their traditional role of Race Committee for the entire three-week series (thanks tons, Greiners!) and decided to limit the race to out to the Center Mark and back. As it turned out, a very good choice. The course set up as a good (if slow) beat from West to Center, a 1.4 mile leg, and then a run back to the finish for only 2.8 miles total but enough given the conditions. We have inverted the starts for the Morgans Series so JAM B (9 boats) then A (7 boats) preceeds PHRF C (8 boats), B (8 boats) and finally A (9boats). A very nice turnout, but then what would you expect when we are finally getting down to the serious prospect of racing for real prizes: RUM! The inverted starting order makes for lots of good passing opportunities on the race course, both upwind and down and gives you the opportunity to see some of the fleet you might not otherwise get to sail close to during the balance of the season.

The beat was pretty square and had slightly lumpy leftover chop from the earlier wind of the day so figuring out your best boatspeed to weather was king. The downwind leg provided opportunities to research what angles your boat would go quickest in light apparent wind. The Jammers turned at the Center mark and mostly went wing-and-wing straight to the finish. The spinnaker boats exhibited lots of options: some straight down, some reaching off to the left, other parts of the fleet reaching away to the right side of the course. Eventually everybody found their way back together at the finish line with plenty of overlaps to keep the race committee busy guessing who would be ahead of whom. Jim and Chris Davis's Orange Crate led the parade getting the first gun of the evening by a few seconds over Andrew Regan's Rocket Science

In JAM B, from 9th to 1st, it was Seahawk, Full Ride, Caprice, Fiasco, Aftermath2, Autumn Wind, BeachComber3, Super Zena and Jamaican Me Crazy, Chris Kretz's Catalina 22 that took the measure of the class.

IN JAM A, 7th to 1st were the Hunter 460 (sorry, I need to find out who you guys are), Baci, Double O Seven, Breakaway, Mega, Rocket Science and Orange Crate.

PHRF C saw 8th to 1st as La Chiva, Flak Bait, Sophia, Saving Grace, Orange Barrel, Defender, Wildcat and Laszlo Goda's Splash Dance taking the win.

In PHRF B, 8th to 1st was Group Therapy, Wicked, Foghorn, Liberty, Consigliere, Baby Clown, Send in the Clowns, and Wizard bringing out the guns to climb to the top of the podium.

IN PHRF A, 9th to 1st were Three Niner (showing some radical angles downwind, especially on port jibe), Holy Toledo, Legs-A-Shakin, Jubilate Deo, Fupastank, Natural High, Time Machine, Abracadabra and Bad Fish.

Thanks all for coming out on a great evening. See you the next two Wednesdays.

Don't forget this weekend's events:

FRIDAY Full Moon JAM Race at 7:00 PM. Pizza and salad afterwards available at the club.

SATURDAY: Dedication Day Race to Port Clinton 9:00 AM Start time. Registration Friday night or before 8:00 AM Saturday.

SUNDAY: PCYC's Green Island Race. Registration info available on-line at http://www.portclintonyachtclub.com/SailingInfo.htm

Have a great weekend!