North Cape Yacht Club Sailing

Two New NCYC Champions! Plus upcoming weekend races

2009-09-09T14:06:00.001-04:00

I am pleased to be able to report two new championships earned by members representing North Cape Yacht Club:

1. Gary Hall's and Bruce Geffen's catamaran Nice Pair has repeated its 2008 Great Lakes Multihull Boat of the Year championship once again in 2009. The Pair has built on its 1st in the Chicago Mackinac Race, and 2nd in the Chicago to Port Huron Super Mackniac, and 1st in the Port Huron Mackinac Race by now taking the overall championship for the lakes. Congratulations Gary, Bruce and everyone else involved in this effort!

2. Anna Tunnicliffe has (temporarily at least) changed disciplines and taken on Match Racing. After a nonstop year of Laser Radial sailing she has given crewed boats a try. In just her second match racing event ever, this past weekend against a fleet of eleven other boats crewed by members of the male persuasion, Anna and her crew of three other women have won the 2009 Detroit Cup at Bayview Yacht Club in Ultimate 20s. Congratulations Anna and crew!

Upcoming racing events:

1. This Saturday September 12th: North Cape hosts it final weekend race at the club for the year. The Mid-Channel Race is for PHRF and JAM. See the attached NORs, SIs and entry form.

2. This weekend, Grosse Ile Yacht Club is having its Blue Nose Regatta on Saturday and Sunday. Info is attached.

3. Next weekend, Jolly Roger Sailing Club is holding its Fall Series Regatta for PHRF, JAM and One-Deisgn classes. Info is attached.

4. Next weekend Ford Yacht Club is having its International Fall Classic. A Saturday race from Ford to Leamington and a Sunday Race back. Info is attached.

FUTURE EVENTS:Port Clinton Yacht Club's Snowflurries Regatta on October 3rd and 4th

NCYC's George O'Connell Memorial Fall Bay Regatta on October 10 and 11th

Notes and results: September 2nd

2009-09-09T14:04:00.000-04:00

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!

Notes and results: Sunday August 30th

2009-09-09T14:03:00.001-04:00

Well, Labor Day weekend is upon us: the traditional end of the Summer season and the beginning of Fall on the water. We surrendered our summer hopes at home and gave up on our above ground pool last weekend, the water temperature was never going to recover with our 50 degree nights. But what better reminder of Fall on the Great Lakes than the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. For those of you who don't have time for Gordon Lightfoot's epic version of the storytelling, here is a slightly shorter version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfHJ_G5V0M0&feature=PlayList&p=AB001B8CD5C604C5&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=21

I wasn't able to make last Sunday's midweek race due to a family birthday celebration and the desire to remain in the will. You know how that goes. But Sunday was the sixth race of the Fall Series and the final Sunday Potluck Race in our slightly expanded version of Wednesday Night Racing this season. For those of you who have chosen to not pay attention, let me beat you over the head with it one last time. In addition to the normal five Wednesday nights of each of the Spring, Summer and Fall series we opted to add a Sunday afternoon version to each series. Eacxh of the Sundays was followed by a potluck for the racers. I think the concept was pretty well received by the participants and was a worthwhile addition to our calendar. There is some thought that perhaps next year consideration be given to tweaking it into a separate series of once-per-month-Sunday-afternoon races. It's an idea worth exploring. Stay tuned.

With 24 boats participating, it was another good turnout.

In JAM B, La Chiva was 3rd, Beach Comber3 was 2nd and Mike Bellg's Fiasco took 1str place.

In JAM A, in a six boat class, Tyrannous was 3rd, Breakaway was 2nd and 1st place went to Orange Crate.

In PHRF C, Splash Dance was the 2nd place S2 meat in a J30 sandwich between Sophia in 3rd and Wildcat in 1st.

In PHRF B, with eight boats on the line, Baby Clown took 3rd behind a close battle between 2nd place Full Tilt and 1st place Wizard.

And in PHRF A, with 007 performing race committee duties (thanks Rick and crew!) it was Jubilate Deo in 2nd with Abracadabra in 1st place.

Overalls went to Orange Crate in JAM and Wizard in PHRF.

Thanks to all who were willing to give a new idea a try and helped make the Sunday races a success this year, both the race committees and you racers too.

Two more weeks of Wednesday Night Morgans Races. Don't miss them. It was great to see a couple of different boats out on the water for those races. Don't forget the first start is at 6:45 PM.

And though I know you don't need to be reminded of coming events, I get my hand slapped by the powers that be whenever I don't fulfill all my Yachting Activities Chair obligations of sharing information: so, tonight (Friday September 4th) is a Full Moon JAM Race on the actual Full Moon night this month, it promises to be a good one. Tomorrow, (Saturday September 5th) is the Dedication Race to Port Clinton (9:00 AM start, register tonight at the club or tomorrow before 8:00 AM) and Sunday (September 6th) is the Green Island Race. Monday you can cut your grass or join me in the walk across the Mackinac Bridge.

Have fun this weekend.

Notes and Results: Wednesday August 26th

2009-09-04T10:12:00.001-04:00

I just realized that I had failed to post this entry to the blog. Here it is for those who may have had sleepless nights worrying about its absence:

Oh ye of little faith! It is time to come to meet your maker! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05cyyVnZVSQ Wednesday afternoon you probably looked out the window at the office or glanced up from reading Mary Worth in one of America's formerly great newspapers in your easy chair and saw buckets of rain coming down and thought to yourself: "Self, it's raining today, I'm not going sailing" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6gBz9Hv3Mk Well, I'm here to tell you: you screwed up! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U09fj0iPT4M

Okay, it poured on the way to the boat, it rained as I got out of the car, it was coming down while I was getting the boat ready, it was drizzling as I dug my cell phone out of my foul weather gear to hear my crew (who were sitting at the bar in the club) try to beg for clemency and be let off for good behavior (as if!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-meudnw2KlA .

But those of us who were good and faithful true believers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRuXPsfaGNA were rewarded once again with a nice night of sailing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LANwIgpha7k

By the time we got out to the west mark, Skip Dieball and Team I-Ball were in place for race committee aboard Lola and a few boats were milling about. The weather was starting to look promising. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YvUSZ-Jajs Greiner and us were the only two PHRF B boats out so far and he instantly started lobbying to not put up our mains and just head back in! Soon enough though we were joined by Full Tilt, Clowns, Group Therapy and Baby Clown and PHRF B at least was going to happen this night. Overall twenty-three boats were out for the last regular Wednesday night of the season, only about half of the regular fleet. As for the rest of you, well perhaps a visit to this site is in order: http://www.manolith.com/2009/08/04/how-did-you-lose-your-man-card/

We had a northeasterly wind and so we were off on a weather leg start toward the North Mark. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6BCf_b8GfE

A nice square weather leg with a big lift just at the end for the boats coming in on starboard, a tight reach for the spinnaker boats to the East Mark (we set our A sail but most boats stayed with their jibs) and then a good downwind leg to the finish back at West. We even got done before it got dark! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOLSgB2Zuc0 Isn't it supposed to stay light til like midnight in the summer?

In JAM B, Aftermath2 led the way over BeachComber3, La Chiva, Fiasco and Autumn Wind.

JAM A saw all three participants on the podium with Rocket Science taking the gold over Mega and Tyrannous.

PHRF C was also a three boat class with Defender, the J22 showing its heals to its two big J30 sisters, Wildcat and Sophia.

PHRF B found Full Tilt getting the best of Send in the Clowns, Red Cloud, Group Therapy, Baby Clown and Foghorn.

In PHRF A, Fupastank, Abracadabra, Natural High, Legs-A-Shakin and Jubilate Deo captured the placings.

Overall winners were Rocket Science in JAM and Full Tilt in PHRF.

This Sunday is the final Sunday Midweek Series Race followed by a potluck. The race starts at 1:00 PM.. Be there and bring some food to share for the meal after. The grills will be available for you to cook out if you wish.

Next Wednesday starts the Morgan Series. Why is the rum gone? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JImcvtJzIK8 Never fear, we're racing for rum! Be there or we'll withhold your ration! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YMb9bBnrIA Three races, September 2, 9 and 16. We start at the West mark and sail out to one mark of the race committee's choosing, North, Center, East or South, and then return directly to the West mark for the finish. Red Cloud will be race committee for all three races. Start times is revised: the first start is fifteen minutes earlier than usual: 6:45. Start Order is also revised, slow boats start first: JAM B, then JAM A, then PHRF C, then PHRF B, and finally PHRF A.

Labor Day weekend gives you three opportunities. A Friday Night Full Moon Race. Saturday is the Dedication Day Race to Port Clinton. And Sunday is the Green Island Race at PCYC.

See you on the water!

Kent

16 Reasons: Notes and Results from Wednesday September 2nd

2009-09-04T10:08:00.002-04:00

News and Notes: Sunday August 30th Midweek Race

2009-09-04T10:08:00.001-04:00

Notes and Reults: 31st Annual Irene Southworth Memorial Race

2009-08-28T08:55:00.001-04:00

I'd like to give you a report on the Irene Race but unfortunately my dress was still at the cleaners and I had to miss the event. I long for those days when I had a whole wardrobe full of outfits for any occasion but unfortunately my cross-dressing days are mostly behind me now. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReJHZFge7n4 Also I broke a nail during Wednesday night's race and I'm just sick about it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jHpBkPcCl0

But seriously, last Saturday was the 31st Annual Irene Southworth Memorial Ladies Race at North Cape Yacht Club. This race dates from a time when women were much more the exception rather than the rule on racing sailboats and the race was started to help provide a venue wherein the women of North Cape could have an opportunity to race without an undue perceived pressure of competing against the men in the other races at the club. While I didn't personally know Irene, my understanding was that she was a real supporter of women's participation in racing and this race is a celebration of her memory. I suspect that at one time this annual event may have provided one of the few opportunities for the women of the club to "show their stuff" on the race course and this event regularly gathered a good number of boats with exclusively female crews. Over the course of years, as we all recognize and appreciate (at least I know I do) women have become a regular and valued part of our local racing crews and thus the concept of "women racing" doesn't provide the novelty and perhaps allure it once did. Over the years as participation began to wane, modifications were made to the rules of this event to encourage more boats to participate. Where once we had both Spinnaker and Jam classes and only women on board the boats, now all boats race Jib and Main. A Cruising Class was added to allow one male to be on board but not allowed to participate in the actual sailing during the race and then more recently a 50/50 Class where an entrant could have as many men as there were women on board, and the men could participate in the sailing with the restriction that only women were allowed to helm the boat during the race.

However even with the changes, this annual celebration is still a valued part of our summer sailing season here at North Cape and does provide us with the opportunity to see some boats out on the race course that otherwise are not present in any of our annual races. This year eleven boats participated in the event. Two in the JAM class of women only; three boats were in the Cruising Class that allows one male on board and six boats entered the 50/50 Class.

Race day dawned cloudy and unusually cool for what our August has been thus far. Joan O'Connell commented that it looked like we were having an Irene Snowflurries race this year. But the wind was present for a good day of sailing for our participants.

In JAM, Cindy Cherry's Full Ride took top marks with Judy Greiner's Red Cloud in second place.

In Cruising Class, first place went to Colleen Philips' Orange Burst, with Paula Nels' Hobby Sox in 2nd and Donna Eichbauer's Alibi in 3rd.

In the 50/50 Class, 6th place was Cindy Degolier's Lola, 5th went to Joan O'Connell's Tyrannous, 4th was taken by Robin Horvath's Erie Grog, the 3rd place flag was won by Barb Jordan's Liberty, 2nd place was gathered in by Michelle Porter's Jubilate Deo, and the winner of the largest class was Elizabeth Swisher's Jagen.

Following the race we were treated to a great meal prepared by the men of the club and then another appearance by Crucial 420, the reggae band that was such a hit at the Commodore Perry Race party.

Thanks to Kristen Kania for organizing this event and to one and all who participated in this annual tradition.

Kent Gardam

Notes and Results: Wednesday August 19th

2009-08-28T08:54:00.000-04:00

This week's Wednesday night race seems like it was almost a week ago. Okay, it was almost a week ago and I'm behind. My crew tells me I'm a little behind all the time. Well, at least that's the way I choose to interpret what they are saying. "Behind", "ass", they mean the same thing don't they?

Anywho, before we get to Wednesday's race, this weekend was the Trans Erie Race from Grosse Ile to Erie Pennsylvania. North Cape wasn't as well represented as it has been in some years, but those who went showed their stuff. Bill Bollin's Badfish reveled in the conditions and led the way in a sportboat assault on the course with an overall win in a record setting run of 15 hours and 40 minutes for the 140 nautical miles, an average of 9 knots including a couple of hours of little wind! Check out this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q5bF5HWLs4 from www.dieballsailing.com . Big time fun. That Melges 32 is not your typical 4KSB (if you know what I mean) or your father's Oldsmobile for that matter either. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDUrQS1C7dg . Results are attached.

Now back to our regularly scheduled feature. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sudrqrCxQQ Wednesday night's race was overcast but at least had more wind than last week. What is it about gray days that makes it seem like it's windier than it really is? It weas blowing about 11 to 12 but a number of boats were trying out their smaller jibs, even us, we went with a #2 although could have easily carried the #1. Course #2 took the spinnaker boats on a weather leg to East and then a chute run to North followed by a tight reach back to the finish at West. The Jammers beat to the Center Mark, turned left for a reach to the North and then back West. The first two legs were fairly uneventful. I think we went a little too far right with the leg slightly favored on the left side of the course. Figures, last week the right corner paid off. Our decision to go with the smaller shouldered reaching chute proving to be a decent choice for the fairly tight reach of the second leg. It seemed to be as fast with less drama than its bigger shouldered cousin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isM22ba4lVw .

We turned the corner at North to find that most of the fleet had decided that jibs made sense for the last leg. There were a few chutes up in front of us including the big black number on Presto. It took us a little while to square our act away but once we were dialed in, it proved to be a fairly easy chute leg after all. A little before the finish we saw Fred Hibbert's Fearless going the opposite way (northerly) alongside the race course with the sails being lowered. Hmmm, strange. But no visible signs of disress from the crew that we noticed. Dick Frazier's Sweet Carmela who was just ahead of us (and flying a jib instead of a chute) opted to go back to see what if anything Fearless needed. When we reached the finish a quick look over my shoulder confirmed that both boats were still back there and not headed in so we dropped sails and motored back up the course to see what was up. By the time we got there, Carmela had Fearless in tow and Fearless wass playing "crack the whip" in the waves at the end of the towline. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1nsz3pK6i4 The Fearless crew was gathered in the cockpit and didn't look all that happy about the situation. Tiller in hand, no rudder in the water. So what's more useless than a rudder broken off at water level? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-u9u_B_4OQ Okay, so now what? We motored up alongside Carmela (being careful to avoid getting tagged by Fearless http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHebZgv2_ck ) . Carmela suggested we take a line from our bow to Fearless's stern to try to slow the oscillations. Okay, done, with little discernible effect. We eventually figured out that by us motoring slowly in reverse with Carmela powering forward we could keep just enough tension on Fearless's bow and stern lines that we could keep them moderately under control. The only downside to that manuver is that Fred's formerly twenty-six foot long boat is now stretched to about thirty-two. Oh well, he was thinking about trading up anyway. At least we succeeded in getting them back in the cut!

In PHRF A, the night's festivities went to Holy Toledo sneaking in nine seconds in front of Abracadabra with Fupastank in 3rd.

PHRF B Full TIlt took honors in front of Red Cloud with Rodger and Carolyn Dutton's White Star showing excellent speed in 3rd.

PHRF C saw Rob Fox's J22, Defender, take the measure of the J30s with Robert Crumley's Sophia in 2nd and Wildcat in 3rd.

JAM A saw the orange boats take it to the red boats this week. MEGA in 1st, Orange Crate in 2nd, and Breakawy edging out Tyrannous for 3rd.

JAM B had Aftermath2 first, Dick Hamilton's La Chiva 2nd, and Bill Comber's Beach Comber in 3rd.

Overalls went to MEGA in JAM and a popular wind by Defender in PHRF.

Believe it or not, there are only two more of our regular midweek series races left, this Wednesday the 26th followed by our Sunday potluck race on the 30th. The Sunday race starts at 1:00 PM.

After that the next three Wednesdays are the Captain Morgans Series. We race out to one mark of the race committee's choice and return to the west mark for a two legged race as darkness tries its best to intrude on our fun.

Where, oh where is my underwear, errr, I mean, has summer gone?

For those of you planning a little ahead, Labor Day weekend will bring a Full Moon Friday fun race, the Dedication Race on Saturday to Port Clinton, and then the Green Island Race on Sunday. Hope to see you for one or more of those events!

Kent

Doublehanded Race: August 15, 2009

2009-08-22T22:39:00.002-04:00

Okay, I've got some catching up to do. I owe you some race reports and I'm a week behind. So let's get started with last Saturday's Doublehanded Race.

Thirty teams of two were entered in North Cape's annual Doublehanded Race. This year the race was one weekend later than our traditional slot of the Saturday after the Bay Week regatta. We had moved to accommodate a request from Ford Yacht Club to avoid the same day as their regatta. We'll evaluate whether there is any real conflict for the future. But as it turned out this year the Saturday after Bay Week was rainy almost all day long and might not have been that great for the doublehanders. Saturday August 15th, however, dawned bright and warm if not just plain hot. A nice day? Well, yeah, if lack of wind was not a concern to you. Cris and Leanna Hastin and Helene Weber joined my on Foghorn for Race Committee duties. We, and 30 boats worth of racing partners, set up at the West Mark and looked for some wind to attempt the 15 miles for PHRF boats and 10.5 for the Jammers. It was light pretty much everywhere but we could see some wind just to our south and it appeared to be making its way in our direction. John Greiner drifted by the committee and lobbied for a two-hour delay because of the light wind because John really doesn't like light air (remember that for later!) But on the RC boat we felt that the 4 knots of wind we were seeing was enough to get things underway and the forecast didn't really promise a whole lot more later that would make a postponement a worthwhile gamble. So at 10:00 AM we had the sequence underway. Three classes of PHRF and three more of JAM got moving off the line, and, if not spritely, at least they were headed in the right direction toward the first mark of the course, the Harborlight. A five mile leg that started off the wind and eventually became a weather leg and seemed to go on forever for the racers. Back on the start line the wind was light but steady, generally four knots, sometimes five, occasionally six. Bet those out on the race course would have loved to have seen that much for most of the race! Club members stopped on by in powerboats to see what if anything was going on, wandered out on the racecourse and would report back on their return: not much happening out there on the lake. After a couple of hours or so boats were around the Harborlight and heading for their second marks, R10 on the channel for the spinnaker kids and the East Mark for the white sails fleet. Another long leg, at least in time if not distance, and then a turn for home and the finish at the West Mark. By this time the wind had gotten to a pretty solid 6 to 8 at the finish line. Out on the race course it was lighter but somewhat better than it had been earlier. A downwind leg and finally the agony was over after six plus hours for most of the fleet. No speed records were set on this day.

Maybe next year we should look at an option that provides us with an alternative course that uses some of the marks closer to the shore. It might mean a few more legs and resulting sail changes for the shorthanded crews but in conditions like we experienced it could mean a much quicker and more interesting race.

In JAM C, Todd Hartmann and Ken "Yoda" Kania Jr. took the measure of the class with Dan Sadoski and Melissa Schmitt of JRSC in Look Far in 2nd and Rich and Cindy Cherry bringing Full Ride home in 3rd.

JAM B went to Les and Ryan Lashaway in Mega over Jonathon and Tim Vosler in Aftermath2 in 2nd and Elizabeth and Tim Swisher borrowing Tyrannous to come home 3rd.

In JAM A, Bill Sommers and Gary Bernard brought Breakaway home in 1st only 11 seconds in front of Jim and Chris Davis's Orange Crate in 2nd and Rodger Dutton and Dale Roberts in 3rd in White Star.

PHRF C saw Jody Kjoller and Charlie Johnson 1st in Jody's Kirby 25 named Roschambo for the occasion. 2nd was Norm and Jim GLadieux's Saving Grace with 3rd going to Jeffrey Gordon and Max Frati in Presto.

PHRF B found John Greiner and grandson Brian Goldberg on board Red Cloud in 1st, Dick Frazier and Jamie Matuszak in Sweet Carmela in 2nd and Paul Hickman and Ben Mercer gaining 3rd place aboard Splash Dance while owner Laszlo Goda was busily occupied preparing his famous Hunky Turkey dinner for the racers after the event.

In PHRF A, Steve Attard and his daughter Kristen brought home Viva Las Vegas in 1st. Fritz Peterson and Jim Meehan's Heartbreaker approached the finish line overlapped with Mark and Lynne Melchior's Full Tilt. Both boats rated the same and were racing for position. With Heartbreaker on starboard to Full Tilt's port approach, Full Tilt was forced to give way and Heartbreaker finished 2nd to Full Tilt's 3rd.

Overalls went to Mega in JAM and to Red Cloud in PHRF. Remember how Greiner said he hated light air and couldn't be competitive in it? Uh huh, right John.

The Doublehanded Race also awards flags to the highest placing male/female crews. In PHRF the winners were Steve and Kristen Attard of Viva Las Vegas and our JAM winners were Jim and Chris Davis of Orange Crate.

Thanks everyone for coming out on a slow but challenging day and for sticking with the race. Hope to see you next year on a faster course!

Kent Gardam

Notes and results: Wednesday August 12th

2009-08-13T11:11:00.000-04:00

Well, I guess we were due. It took til the 15th midweek race of the season before we had our first really light air night. Not quite a drifter, but certainly not a quick race either. Thankfully, although it resembled it, this race didn't last as long as the four days of my Chicago Mackinac experience this year.

Forty-seven boats participated last night. I think that's a season high. Thanks everybody for supporting North Cape's Midweek Program!

Before the race the wind direction kept flaking around, easterly, southerly, southeasterly. Jonathon Vosler and his Aftermath2 crew picked a tough night to be race committee. We consulted and chose Course #2 (East and then North; Center and North for JAM, marks to Port). No that wasn't going to work, the wind moved southerly and there wouldn't be a weather leg. Okay, then how about Course #3 (North and then South; North and Center for JAM, Marks to Starboard). By the time Aftermath2 picked up anchor and reset on the other side of the West mark the wind moved back to the southeast. Okay, one more try: Course #4 (South and then North, South and Center for the JAM fleet, Marks to Port). Aftermath2 was up with the anchor and moving again. This time the wind decided to stay fairly steady from the southeast. Thanks for being a good sport, Jonathon. So once again we were off to the South Mark for the first leg of the course. That's been happening a lot this year. This time however, it was a loooong weather leg. Two miles to weather at 2 to 3 knots or so ain't happening quickly! Most of the spinnaker fleet pack converged at the South Mark and journeyed together to North.with the JAM boats eventually finding their way to the Center Mark and a welcome turn for the finish line.

It was well after dark before much of the fleet finished and well after most people had gone home before I got a chance to crank out some results which are attached to this email. Congratulations to all the winners and also to everyone who came out to enjoy a quiet evening!

In PHRF A, Abracadabra pretended that there was plenty of wind and cruised to 1st. Mojito rode their subtle lime green chute to 2nd and Fupastank edged out the rest of the fleet for 3rd.

In PHRF B, John Kosmalski's J80 took the honors with a convincing win over Full Tilt in 2nd and Wizard in 3rd.

In PHRF C, Laszlo and the boys romped home in 1st, with Presto using their black chute to advantage for 2nd and Defender in 3rd. Apparently that class has finally found a way to beat the J30s, just sail on nights with no wind!

JAM A found Breakaway breaking away from the orange boats for the win with Mega in 2nd and Orange Crate in 3rd.

JAM B went to La Chiva in 1st over Beach Comber3 in 2nd.

In the overalls, PHRF was 1st Abracadabra, 2nd Mojito, and 3rd went to the J80. JAM was taken by Breakaway with Mega and Orange Crate in 2nd and 3rd.

Hope to see you all this weekend at the Doublehanded Race!

Kent

Coming Events: Ford Nite Race, NCYC Doublehanded, and MBC Ladies Race

2009-08-13T11:08:00.001-04:00

And now, coming events:

Three racing opportunities this weekend:

1) NCYC's Doublehanded Race is this Saturday August 15th.

2) Info on the Ford Nite Race on Friday August 15th:
Ford Yacht Club Nite Race, Starts 20:00 hours (8:00 PM EDT) Friday evening, August 14, until ??
Don't miss this AYC counter race. Around the Detroit Light, East Channel Marker and Colchester Reef light. Sailing Instructions: http://www.fordyachtclub.com => Sailing Tab Application form at the top and bottom of the page: http://www.fordyachtclub.com/Sailing/RaceApplication09_7-7-2009.doc

3) The Monroe Boat Club Ladies Race is this Sunday.

I-LYA BayWeek and Toledo Deepwater results

2009-08-13T11:06:00.001-04:00

The first of three separate posts today. This one has the results that I just received for the Toledo Deepwater Race and the Bay Week Regatta for both Handicap and One-Designs attached.

Congratulations to the following local boats on their results:

TOLEDO DEEPWATER
PHRF A
1st Lynx
2nd Abracadabra
3rd Wizard

PHRF B
1st Wildcat (by just two seconds!)
2nd Consigliere (so close!)
3rd Red Cloud

PHRF Overall
1st Wildcat (by those two seconds!)
2nd Consigliere
3rd Red Cloud

JAM A
1st Jagen
2nd Erie Grog

JAM B
1st Full Ride
2nd Cracker Jack
3rd Catch 22

JAM Overall
1st Full Ride
2nd Jagen
3rd Erie Grog

BAYWEEK HANDICAP
PHRF C
3rd Wizard

PHRF E
1st Red Cloud

JAM A
1st Orange Crate
3rd Jagen

JAM B
1st Discover
2nd Cracker Jack

Cruising Class
1st Shortwave

BAYWEEK ONE-DESIGN
Hobie Wave
1st Mike Fahle
3rd Ray Matuszak

Windsurfer
1st Rod Clevenger

Interlake
1st Bob Bradley
2nd Tom Marriott
3rd Ron Soka

BeachCats
3rd Mike Deye

Time Machine rescues sailors on Lake Huron

2009-08-07T08:13:00.001-04:00

Is this just an incredible coincidence or yet another example of a skipper and crew that are ultimately prepared for what can be encountered on the lakes? Judge for yourself the following story from Robert Gordenker's Time Machine blog:

http://tmsailing.blogspot.com/

Congratulations to Robert, his two unnamed crew members, and to their attention to detail. You make us proud at North Cape.

Notes and Results: Wednesday July 29th

2009-07-30T17:06:00.004-04:00

Last week I passed along my Chicago Mackinac Race thoughts. This week we have the following from an email Mike Fahle sent in. Mike crewed aboard one of the fastest of the multihulls in the Port Huron to Mackinac Race:

Hi Kent,

I raced aboard the "Cheekee Monkee" this year and spoke with this reporter (from the attached Detroit Free Press report on the race). I thought that you would know the people who might like to see this and be able to share it with them.

I read your Chi-Mac race report and hope you enjoy this brief account of racing the Cheekee Monkee. We had only three aboard so it was a workout and both nights it was probably the most difficult helming I have ever done.

Although I have known Ron White (who was the PRO and is the current chief measurer for the Chicago Mac) for many years, this was my first sail on Cheekee Monkee which started life as a stock Corsair F-31 and some of its modifications include: mast canting of about five feet side to side at the masthead, mast rake adjustment of about six feet at the masthead (both while under sail), lifting foils on each ama (not pontoons as per the article), a taller and longer chord all carbon wing mast, better designed all carbon beams with higher clearance (the rear beams on these boats typically act as brakes in wavy conditions), a whole new carbon interior, two feet added to the transom on the main hull, higher aspect ratio and better designed daggerboard and rudder, and all synthetic fiber rigging.

During the storms at night was probably the most difficult helming I have ever experienced. There was no horizon, no steering references, nearly constant firehosing, and chasing headings on the GPS or compass with even just a few seconds lag on a boat that can accelerate to 25 knots in a few seconds and quickly start flying the main hull was not only frustrating but also nerve wracking, especially when you do not know how much wind might be coming. The boat would easily plane and be out of the water to the daggerboard, feeling much more like a powerboat than a sailboat. It has a very flat bottom so it was slap, slap, slap on the wave tops with each slap sending big spray through the nets directly to the face (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHXve23fCZw&feature=fvw ). Just glad the great lakes are fresh water! The foils are amazingly effective and Ron told me that they were calculated to lift as much as 8000 pounds. That is why the beams had to be replaced (two broke under the load before they realized that the foils changed everything) and that is why the interior had to be redone in carbon to keep the hull from oil canning under the beam loads. Ron said the history of the boat has been responding to the next weakest llink as the previous one got upgraded. So it was a treat to be able to race the Cheekee Monkee and Ron is a passionate racer who would be fun to spend time with doing anything.

Thanks to Mike for that report. Cheeky Monkee took 3rd in the multihull class. So how about the rest of you? Still dreaming of racing aboard a multihull?

North Cape was represented by Nice Pair and Time Machine. Nice Pair with Bruce Geffen, Gary Hall and compatriots followed up their ChiMac win with yet another first place in the Port Huron Mackinac Race. Robert Gordenker’s Time Machine with Jeff and Colin MacKay, Rick Cross, Fred Berutti, William Hewett, Jim Schlee, Dennis Maurer, Carol Lybarger, and Shawn Hughes brought home a 4th in the J35/Thomas 35 class. Congratulations to you all.

This Wednesday was just another in a long line of great sailing nights we have had on Wednesdays this year. Fourty-four boats participated in another downwind start (we should be getting good at these), first leg to the South Mark, a beat (well, a port one-tacker) to the North Mark, and then a pretty tight off wind leg to the West finish. The wind either shifted between the time that the RC chose the course or else the direction was a little different out further on the lake then it was near to shore because Course #4 looked to be a good choice before the start with a fairly square beat from South to North. The first run was favored on port so that always sets up an interesting start line scenario. The few starboard tackers approaching the start have the right of way over the majority of the fleet coming in on port. It pays to pay attention and not get yourself in a position from which you have no options for escape. There was one starting line port-starboard protest in the PHRF A fleet but everyone else seemed to get away pretty cleanly. The run found some boats just pointing at the mark, some sailing the angles, and the asymmetrical boats touring the lake. None the less, at least in the PHRF B fleet we were all pretty close together by the time we got to the South mark. When we rounded South the beat was heavily favored on port tack and then freed up marginally by the end of the leg. I believe most boats ended up laying the North (or Center) mark and so with flat water and about 6 to 8 knots of wind, it was a good leg to work on boat speed compared to your competition. Turning the corner at the North mark, the question was “jib or spinnaker?” Of course I waited longer than necessary to decide and then called on my crew for a late change from our normal full shouldered downwind kite to the flatter small shouldered reaching chute and Davey, Barb, Helene and Sandy pulled it off flawlessly in the last couple of tenths before the mark. The PHRF fleet was divided on the “jib or spinnaker” choice with probably the majority leaning to jibs. Rounding the mark and setting the chute it seemed that perhaps it might have been the wrong choice as it took a couple of minutes to get everything in the groove and settled down for the leg. But we didn’t make a rash decision to go back to the jib and once squared away the chute speed was better than those who opted for jibs. It turned out to be a lovely last leg of the race even if fairly tight and was a really nice sail. Splash Dance pulled off one of the moves we are (in)famous for, going to weather with their kite to lay the finish pin, but they made it work. Thanks to the John Heagy and the bunch from Autumn Wind for Race Committee work. Another great night on the water.

In JAM B, Bill Comber’s Beachcomber3 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXhJ3HeTaBU ) showed Catalina 27 quickness in taking the win over Aftermath2 in 2nd and Full Ride (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IxXRqLjg5s See what happens when you wear a tinfoil hat?) in 3rd. Apparently that “3” in the name beats a “2”, huh Jonathon?

In JAM A it was Les Lashaway’s turn to shine with Mega ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbKYXiB5bKw OK, I apologize for that, a Britney Spears reference was just uncalled for.) in 1st besting Orange Crate in 2nd and Breakway in 3rd. Look for Bill Summers to be repainting his red boat orange this week to get in on some of that action (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxmu-UxQTVU ).

PHRF C found a common situation this year as Russ Atkinson and crew on Wildcat (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiFBbt-6yfU They take no prisoners!) got out early and stayed ahead to place 1st with Flak-Bait in 2nd and the aforementioned Splash Dance (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJtNh1F1mdk OK, I don’t understand it either but then that’s what Laszlo sounds like to me!) in 3rd.

PHRF B found Full Tilt (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXZQDtxV_8w ) taking the win with Sweet Carmela (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9hyu56wgtg ) in 2nd and Wizard in 3rd. Less than 45 seconds separated those three.

PHRF A saw Abracadabra (1st) sneak in 18 seconds ahead of Bill Phillips’ Natural High (2nd) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yci7PK6E7M There’s some cool cuts in that one) with Dave Branson’s Three Niner (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Larty_Three-Niner ) in 3rd.

Overalls in JAM went to Mega and in PHRF to Wildcat.

Oh, and just a little postscript. So you have thought that maybe someday in the future you could possibly be interested in considering serving as a flag officer at your yacht club? Well, let me tell you that here at North Cape we have incredibly high standards for our commodores. One must always comport themselves properly both off the water and on. Only the highest degrees of seamanship and proper boating technique and etiquette are acceptable for one who is willing to represent the club’s name. When out sailing for instance, one would never be caught with their fenders over the side. Or would they? See the attached photo. After all we don't want to encourage this type of behavior: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-HEkMWkDVU . I trust that Northcape's Board will be convening a court of inquiry in the near future.

Have a great week. For those who are going to the Bay Week Regatta or on the Deepwater Race, good luck, have fun and sail safe. Midweek Racers: remember that next Wednesday there will be no midweek race because of Bay Week so we’ll see you at the remaining midweek races on August 12th, 19th and 26th and Sunday August 30th. After that will be the Captain Morgan’s Series on September 2nd, 9th, and 16th.

Notes and Results: Wednesday July 22nd (and ChiMac thoughts)

2009-07-26T23:24:00.001-04:00

Zzzzzz, snort, zzzzzzzzz, mmmmmmm, zzzzzzzzz, huh?, wha?, yeah I’m awake, just let me grab another five minutes and I’ll be right with you, zzzzzzzzz. Still catching up from last weekend’s sleep deprivation.

So I’ve been dreaming that I was sailing on a big lake with a group of strangers, going hull speed on course straight to the fudge island. Yeah, definitely was a dream.
So anyway, I’m just a tad bit tardy with the report of last Wednesday’s race. I think I remember last Wednesday’s race. I was there, operating on a few hours sleep after the Chicago Mackinac Race, so I should be able to fabricate something to write about. I figure nobody ever reads this stuff anyway so whether what I write is true or not is pretty irrelevant. In fact, I could probably just fill these reports with some mindless prattle (what do you mean, that’s what you thought it was?) and nobody will notice. Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

So on to Wednesday in a bit but first allow me to prattle a little about my Mac experience. (Skip ahead to the next paragraph if you don’t have the time or inclination for this). I originally intended to take Foghorn back to the Bayview Mackinac this year. Last year was fast and wet and yet lots of fun. A return trip sounds like a good idea but unfortunately for a variety of reasons it just wasn’t in the cards for 2009. We’ll hope for better in 2010. But a month or so ago, a little too much time spent on the internet’s Sailing Anarchy developed into an opportunity to join a crew from southwest Michigan on a Schock 41. Quick Silver is a 20-year-old IOR boat that the current owner was going to take on his second Mac with the boat. A crew was coming together, Gint(aras), the owner, his two teenage sons, Aras and Vytenis, his good friend and dentist, Vidas (all of the afore are Lithuanians originally from Chicago) formed the regular core and six more of us were joining up for the race: Kevin Lemonds (owner of Say Uncle from Grosse Isle Yacht Club) and his son Matt, Jim Bougault (owner of Gus from GIYC), Mike from north of New York City, Craig (a cruiser from suburban Chicago), and me. It was a varied mix of talents and personalities that melded well and meshed into a nice crew that succeeded in pushing the boat hard for four days. We met at the boat on Friday, sat through the skippers meeting and weather briefing (if you think this stuff I write is fiction, you should check out what the race forecasters were passing off), and sat down to Greek food for dinner and race strategy. Eventually a plan emerged. We would hot foot it across the lake and work our way north in the eastern half of Lake Michigan. Not sure that Gint was completely sold on this strategy, he said that traditionally nothing good comes of going east of the rum line, but based on the forecasts it seemed our best shot. Saturday morning we were out early to try to figure out a brand new #1 and nearly new main. Our practice sailing went well but the wind was taking its leave from the area. By our start at 1:20, it was pretty well gone. So, 7 hours into the race we had managed 9 miles up the course. Hmmm, should I call my boss now and see if I can get my vacation extended to October? The good news, we weren’t alone in our suffering. Finally about 8:30 the wind filled in and we were off for a great night of sailing (actually the best sailing was at night all three nights). Sunday morning found us approaching Little Sable Pont and the wind departing. Another parking lot and test of patience. A lot of short tacking up the Michigan shore got us near Big Sable Point as the evening made its appearance. We had positioned ourselves inside the fleet and as the wind filled from shore we were reaching up the coast much nicer than the boats outside. Monday morning found us closing on the Sleeping Bear Dunes. Very pretty in the daylight from the lake. Next time I don’t need to see them so long. Continuing effort eventually brought us to a big time parking lot (remember how the Jeep parking lot used to look with all the unsold inventory sitting around waiting for shipment? We were that blue Cherokee with the aluminum wheels, 58th car over in the 63rd row, lost in a sea of similar looking cars) east of the Manitou Islands. This proved to be the turning point of our race. The fleet (including most of the five or six faster classes in front of us) was sitting there in the calm waiting for wind just beyond a very distinct wind line. We decided that just because everyone else had stopped didn’t mean we needed to. We worked the westerly side of the pack and just kept battling to keep the chute going when all around us were sitting. We ultimately worked about a half mile or more ahead of just about everyone before we also succumbed to the wind’s ennui. But, we were in front and as it turned out situated perfectly for the northwesterly that crept in on cat’s feet ever so gently in later in the evening. We jumped out while almost all the fleet sat with bated breath. As it turned out it ultimately took twelve full hours before the faster boats could run us down on Tuesday morning on the final approach into Grey’s Reef. One final parking lot just at Grey’s Reef for an hour or to before the wind built to a solid 15 on the nose for a 25 mile beat under the bridge and into Mackinac Island. At the start of the weather leg we knew that two boats in our section had gotten away in the various light spots and would have the battle for the win to themselves. Another boat in section (“class” for us on Lake Erie) had us by about 4 miles and then the rest of our 19 boat section were pretty close together. So it was a full on weather leg. As one of the slower rated boats in our section we were being passed by quicker boats but we knew we were in good shape to save our time on most of them. The slowest boat, however, had one helluva weather leg and came from well behind in the light stuff of Grey’s Reef to catch and pass us. Oh well, we aren’t going to beat them. So coming into the finish we knew at least four boats had beaten us and perhaps another. 72 and a half hours after the start our odyssey was complete and 5th or 6th out of nineteen isn’t so bad and would have been the best the owner had done on a Mac. Close but no cigar in a class where 4 flags would be given. But a surprise was in store. Later Tuesday evening after appropriate consumption of beers and Mount Gay, we got around to wandering down to the finish line tent to check the results. 4th! No way, check it again! 4th in section! All right! High fives all around. Where’s the skipper? We gotta let him know about the awards ceremony at 10:00 tonight! Back to the Pink Pony for some more celebratory alcohol. So, leaving the island on the last ferry Tuesday night was a great feeling. We were part of seeing our skipper earn his first Chicago Mackinac flag. Definitely a worthwhile expenditure of time and effort over those four days. Thanks to Sandy and Helene for making the meandering drive up (ask them about their Thelma and Louise trip) to fetch me and Bill Kellner, to Duane for the company and stories on the train ride to Chicago and to Dar for picking him up, and to Jeff Maludy and the crew of Adrenalin and Bruce Geffen, Gary Hall and the crew of Nice Pair for representing North Cape in the ChiMac fleet. Adrenalin got a 6th in their section and Nice Pair continued to demonstrate that it is a force to be reckoned with in the multihull ranks by winning their fleet and then continuing on to a 2nd place in the SuperMac Race which extended from Chicago clear around to Port Huron. As I write this, the Pair is racing back to Mackinac in the Bayview Race and nicely placed for another potential win.

So, back to the subject at hand. Wednesday. The Highlanders were at North Cape this week for their national championship and Ernie Dieball had recruited a number of them to crew on our Wednesday night race. We were fortunate to get Jon, his (approximately 12-year-old) daughter Ellie and their friend Boyd to come aboard Foghorn. A drizzly afternoon managed to shut off the spigot before the race started and the wind had put in an appearance, 12 or so knots worth from the southeast. Boyd drew jib winch duties with Barb and Helene there to coach in him anything that didn’t measure up to their standards (they are never shy about letting the guys on the crew know whatfor!) and Jon trimmed the main on the weather leg. Ellie spent the first leg on the rail. We rounded South and set the chute for the leg to the north followed by a jibe and the leg back to the West finish. Ellie joined me at the helm and did a great job steering a wheel boat having only ever steered tiller one-designs before. Hopefully the rest of the fleet and their visiting Highlanders had as much fun as we did.

The weather leg started square and then the boats on the left benefited from a nice shift that took them to the mark. That made the second leg a little tighter than expected for the chutes but the last leg was a fun ride. In PHRF A, it was Abracadabra’s turn to take the measure of the Hobies with Fupastank and Holy Toledo in 2nd and 3rd. PHRf B went to Wizard with Ernie Dieball on the helm and Mike D’Arcangelo and crew on Consigliere showing good legs to bring home 2nd ahead of Send in the Clowns 3rd. PHRF C went to Wildcat with Rob Fox’s J22, Defender in 2nd and Flak-Bait in 3rd. JAM A belonged to Blaine Little and Tom Corey’s J Bird followed by Breakaway and Mega in 2nd and 3rd. In JAM B, Dick Hamilton’s La Chiva led the way over Aftermath2 and Full Ride.

The overalls in JAM were J Bird, Breakaway and La Chiva respectively. In PHRF, the “W” in their names proved that Wildcat and Wizard would be the appropriate choices to tie for the win and Consigliere was a close 3rd.

Thanks everybody for coming out. See you this Wednesday!

Kent

July 15, 2009 Pictures

2009-07-16T11:26:00.007-04:00

Twelfth Night: Notes and Results from Wednesday July 15th

2009-07-16T11:01:00.001-04:00

Danger, Will Robinson! Danger! ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RG0ochx16Dg ) The following is loooong and I only have myself to blame.

First, I received a nice note from Bruce Geffen of Nice Pair after my posting of last week regarding swapping the helm assignment on our Wednesday Night Race. I hope people took it in the way that I had intended to write it, that is as an opportunity for learning and growing your knowledge on the boat. Bruce was kind enough to allow me to share some of his thoughts with you all:

"I want to tell you how valuable and meaningful a thing you did last night by giving up the helm. You may never fully grasp how beneficial that act was. So too bad other skippers/owners don't do it on a more regular basis. When I get an opportunity to speak with some of the elder statesmen/heads of our beloved sport, and listen in on the conversations they have at round tables, etc. the one consistent comment in how to grow our sport more for the masses is "let the kid drive." Or "let the woman drive." Some have even written on changing up crew duties on different races over a season. Not just once, but several times. I mean really, how important is that Wed night beercan flag, or whatever.On "Nice Pair," everyone drives, for the most part. And in the big races too. Rarely am I on the helm. I vividly remember a scene on my boat on the 2007 Bayview Mac race when we were at the top of the mitt, about 50-75 miles to the finish. I had 2 gals on board, one was Alan (Mr Clean) wife Mer, and the other was an old gal pal who sailed Crescents for years, and had done a race or so on my boat and is a whiz with the stick (helm). So it is in the last morning of the race and here was Mer and Kristen driving my boat around 10 kts or so, just chatting away about whatever gals chat non stop about, sharing a cig, and occassionally looking up at the sailsto check the trim or course or whatever, but only as an after thought to their own little world. Alan and I were down below and I elbowed him to check out that scene, and then mentioned how if it were me and him, we'd be trying to make it as dialed in as possible and would more than likely be going about 2 kts slower. We both roared and agreed wholeheartedly. And that sort of thing is how we roll on "Nice Pair."I know I am rambling on here but I can't tell you how many years I was on the bow, and a great bow dude too, if I may say so, but rarely, if ever, was my input or insight on a race ever considered or taken seriously. And we were all stuck doing the same job all the time. No one ever had a perspective of what the other team members were doing in sync with everyone else. Of course, later on as an older bow guy, my voice and input was accepted. And I also drive my boat just fine and am a more than decent helm.So what I am trying to say here is first off is encourage others in the fleet to do the same and change up folk's positions on a somewhat regular basis. I don't know...see what happens.Thanks for all your updates, and taking time to read through my long winded reply. Please pass on my "Hey!" to folks at NCYC and you all can track us for the Chi Mac/Super Mac, and Bayview Mac via internet and online tracking system that is updated every 10-20 minutes with the satellite. Also, you can follow us on Sailing Anarchy with "On The Water" reports by Alan (Mr. Clean) and Mer, his lovely wife, since they will be racing with us.Happy Sailing!Bruce"

Now on to this week's stuff:

So yesterday was the twelfth race of our Midweek Season. Allow me to wax poetic. Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears! I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them, The good is oft interred with their bones; So let it be with Caesar.

From Wikipedia: "One of Shakespeare's better known comedies, Twelfth Night, or What You Will, prepares the audience for its jovial feel of festivities consisting of drink, dance, and giving in to general self-indulgence. The subtitle What You Will, implies that the audience is also involved in the merry spirit found in the play. The subtitle also refers to the wealthier characters who do little work and possess the liberty to do as they please, focuses on the aristocrats of society who are entitled to their pleasures while the only hard work being done is by their servants." (Hey, this sounds a lot like the skippers at the helm of our boats and the efforts of the crews that make it all happen for them!)

"Twelfth Night is noted as one of Shakespeare's most studied and best loved plays: the twin-based comedy of cross-dressing and mistaken identity is accessible to even novice Shakespeare scholars. However, the play has also garnered much critical attention for its nuanced and sometimes elusive treatment of issues of gender disguises, thwarted social ambition, and all the forms of love: misguided love, love conventions, self-love, and true love that wins through in the end." (Cross dressing, mistaken identities, twarted social ambition, misguided love, self love: all the makings of a successful Wednesday night at North Cape: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydSyKhdOnPg Stick with this and give it a chance!)

But I digress. (Oh yeah, say the assembled multitudes, there's a new concept.) Our twelfth race of the year and final race of the Summer Series finally got around to one of those long cherished traditions of sailboat racing: a protest! In fact where one is good, two protests must be even better. (Speaking of cherished traditions, here's one that I think I witnessed at the North Cape bar. If it wasn't there, perhaps we should consider instituting it as it would undoubtedly reduce our costs for beer glasses: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLiHwHWYS7k ). So results were a little delayed last night while three of our faithful were imposed upon to hear the pleaings of the agrieved and the agrievers. Needless to say, the protests were not clear-cut, but when are they ever when two opposing viewpoints are involved? Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio, a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy. He hath bore me on his back a thousand times, and now how abhorr'd in my imagination it is! My gorge rises at it. Thanks go to John Greiner, Jeff Mackay and Joe Sweeney for serving on the protest committee, hearing the witnesses, sorting the wheat from the chaff, weighing the facts and arriving at decisions.

Rich Cherry and friends on Full Ride served as Race Committee and used the Ohio Lottery's bingo machine to select the ping pong ball for Course #2 ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvaFN-gMSLU&feature=PlayList&p=A13634A2B7F3FDC9&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=4 ) and a good choice it was. A fast off wind leg to East (or Center for those of you who swing that way http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luhhBY-z0Js see, now wasn't that simple? You can be the life of the next party at the club) followed by a very fun beat from the North mark back to the West mark finish in 15 or so knots of wind. The fleet of 41 boats was all over the lake on the beat spread from about as far left as you could go to almost all the way in to shore on the far right. Obviously lots of thoughts about where the fast lane was on that leg. But come the finish, everybody was back together and most of them at the same time. The RC was very busy with numerous overlapped finishes. Great sailing everyone and way to keep the RC on their toes!

Thirty Spinnaker boats were out for the race: a non-baker's dozen in A, 11 in B and 7 more in C were complemented by 11 more of the JAM persuasion with 7 in A and 4 in B. Lots of pretty chutes on the first leg. We even exercised our fluorescent green chute for the first time this year so that Mojito wouldn't feel too lonely with their wardrobe. (See some of the pics uploaded at www.ncycsailing.blogspot.com . I've been trying to take lots of pics at the races so email me and I'll be happy to share what I have of your boat. No guarantees on photgraphic excellence, (you take your chances just like you do when you are reading this stuff). Obviously since we sail in PHRF B, my best opportunities to get pics come in that fleet but if you happen to err and sail close to us I'll get you if I can and my crew doesn't yell at me too much to quit looking around.

In PHRF A, the Hobies once again showed their stuff with Fupastank taking the win over Holy Toledo with Abracadabra saving enough time on the balance of their fleet to capture a 3rd. The PHRF B competitors continue to be amazed at how well John and Judy Greiner and crew are sailing Red Cloud this year, with the victor's laurels once again finding their way onto their heads ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziuRtVUbjz8 "Give me my robe, put on my crown; I have Immortal longings in me.") Full Tilt and Send in the Clowns (All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages.) rounded out the podium placings. PHRF C found J-boats big and little on top. Wildcat took the measure of Defender ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53PumbeAImI ) with Splash Dance battling their way back from an On Course Start to sneak into 3rd.

In JAM A Tyrannous seems to have their groove thing going ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=du6hCaCOAGU ) with first place followed by Orange Crate ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JocdM-bGxfs ) and J-Bird ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPYyUpVOSB8&feature=related ) hot on their heels. Jam B was the province of Aftermath2 ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IMfQ0CXuF0 funny, I never visualized Jonathon as an Iron Maiden kind of guy til I saw this) with La Chiva ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O36XSjES8w8 Hey! Where have they been keeping that crew? "And thus I clothe my naked villany with odd old ends stol'n out of holy writ, and seem a saint, when most I play the devil.") and Autumn Wind ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmiVYFueNvQ ) in 2nd and 3rd.

So farewell—to the little good you bear me.Farewell? a long farewell to all my greatness!This is the state of man: to-day he puts forthThe tender leaves of hopes, to-morrow blossoms,And bears his blushing honors thick upon him;The third day comes a frost, a killing frost,And when he thinks, good easy man, full surelyHis greatness is a-ripening, nips his root,And then he falls as I do.

Or maybe more simply: "When shall we three meet again In thunder, lightning, or in rain?"
Sail well! See you after Chicago.

Kent

It just doesn't get much better: Sunday July 13th Notes and Results

2009-07-13T19:40:00.009-04:00

What a gorgeous day to be out sailing at North Cape. Our second Sunday afternoon Midweek Wednesday Evening Race (are you following that?) was yesterday and it was a fabulous day for sailing. If you were there, you know how much fun it was. If you missed it, well, shame on you. Summer sailing won't be better.

Thanks to Les Lashaway and the crew of Mega for RC duties and to John Heagy for providing the committee boat.

The weather leg was a real challenge. Constant mini lifts and headers, velocity up and down, major lifts and headers. I suspect that everyone was in first and in last at various points of the leg. Big fun!

Notes and results: Wednesday July 8th

2009-07-09T13:31:00.001-04:00

So, just another perfect weather night on the lake was waiting to greet us for the Wednesday night race. Is the lack of significant meteorological events depressing you too? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AFf0ysgNiM What I wouldn’t give for a good line squall or maybe just an old fashioned twenty-plus on the nose with short-spaced three-foot Lake Erie chop to make the weather leg interesting. Not buying this, huh?

Just so I don’t forget, let me start with upcoming events: Two more racing opportunities at North Cape this week plus Jolly Roger’s Buccaneer Race on Saturday.

Friday evening (July 10th) is our Full Moon Friday Night race for July. If you haven’t been out for a FMFN, they are laid back Jib and Main events giving us an opportunity to go sailing in a relaxed situation. Have someone different that normal steer, be sure to bring along some wine or another favorite beverage, provide a snack for the crew (aerosol spray cheese in a can is always a classy touch!) and enjoy! You don’t need to be a regular racer or have registered your boat and there is no fee for the race. Everyone is welcome! Starting time will be 7:00 PM. Oh and best of all, Barb Hickey has said she will have Lasagna available for us for after the race. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yhp_pLWHIvU Good Food! Good Times! Good drinks! It’s all a sailor needs. See you there. If the weather is questionable we’ll just eat drink and be merry and save the sailing for another day!

Sunday afternoon (July 12th) is the Summer Series Sunday Afternoon Midweek Race (SSSAMR, I’ve got to start working on better acronyms). If you missed this during the Spring Series, we have added one Sunday afternoon race to each five week Wednesday Night Series. Normal weeknight course followed by a potluck meal after. Bring some meat to do on the grills behind the club and something to share. It was a fun afternoon and a great feed last time and this one promises to be even better.

The Buccaneer Race (Saturday July 11th) is JRSC’s annual long distance race. I’m sorry I don’t have a lot of info to share but the start time is 10:00 AM and registration will be Friday evening at JRSC’s clubhouse on Edgewater Drive in Point Place. Come out and support the sport!

Now on to the business at hand. Last night aboard Foghorn we decided to change things up a tiny bit. Sandy drove the whole race except the start and did very nicely. She still needs to work on improving her ability to shoulder her way and slug it out in close quarters with other boats, but overall the race went well. I got to apply my considerable bulk to rail meat duties and handling the traveler during the tacks as I passed through the cockpit on my way from one rail to the other and I also got a whole new perspective on the crew’s interaction from that vantage point. Saw some things and overheard some stuff on the boat that I just don’t get to absorb when I’m attending to my duties behind the wheel. Can you say uuuuggggllllyyyy? Wow, it’s scary knowing what goes on in the rest of the boat!

We had one close crossing about three-fourths of the way out the weather leg with Group Therapy (we were on port but in retrospect clear ahead by a couple of boatlengths) but since Sandy has not normally been the person to assess the closeness of the crossing and whether to cross or duck or alternatively tack to avoid, that lack of experience resulted in a cluster eff for us. I probably should have been more aware of the possibility but from my spot on the rail the jenny blocked my view of GT (and other starboard tackers) coming at us and wasn’t able to help judge. When I am on the helm on a weather leg I am always tuned in to the concept of whether I am “making trees” on the crossing boat or whether conversely they are “making trees” on us and so it has become instinctive over the years as to whether we will cross, duck or tack. Bearing off ever so slightly and subtlely so as to duck a starboard tacker and having that boat appear close in front around our headsail at the very last possible moment is one of those few pleasures I get from the back of the boat as our weather rail crew instinctively sucks in their breath and goes “Woah, Baby” when the other boat suddenly appears. Perhaps that’s just sadism on my part to my crew, but then, hey, they undoubtedly deserve it for everything they put me through! While crossing situations can and do occur on the off-wind legs too, on a weather leg they are much more frequent, more intense, and the potential for harm seems much higher. But if you aren’t the one responsible for making that call on a regular basis then the natural reaction is to no doubt be conservative. So, back to our cluster. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFbwkO2nDU8 Sandy is driving and Cris is trimming the main. Cris is assessing the cross and telling Sandy that we are clear ahead. Not by a ton, mind you, but none the less, clearly ahead. Sandy, however, resorts to the natural reaction and decides at the very last moment to bail out and tack. It’s the natural reaction and that’s okay because you have to experience these situations in order to learn what is the correct choice, but it comes without warning to the five of us with our legs over the rail. Needless to say it’s scramble time as the boat starts its turn. Foghorn spins onto the new tack but unfortunately the old sheet can’t be released in time and the sail backwinds. Then as the old sheet is being unwound from the winch it fouls due to the new load from backwinding. So we are stuck in limbo, boat speed is gone and we can’t trim in to the new tack because of the fouled sheet on the other side. Nothing left to do but to tack back onto port and try to get the boat moving again. We do but lost a good number of boatlengths in the process. Oh well, that‘s part of the learning process, no collision, nothing broke, no injuries. Life goes on and Sandy will be better equipped to judge that kind of crossing in the future. In another of those close maneuvering situations, as we turned the East mark to set the chute Jubilate Deo turned just inside us and Sandy headed down to stay away from them. Jubie didn’t come up to course right away however as they were getting their chute up and so we found ourselves on the outside going the wrong way. Sandy, naturally enough again, kept going down with them to avoid them even those there was a margin of room for us to take Jubie’s stern. After a few subtle (well maybe not so subtle) words of encouragement from me, Sandy did poke our nose in there and we were on our way. Again, a case of learning to judge the available distance and the consequences of your actions. Another valuable lesson learned.

On the spinnaker leg from East to West I trimmed the pole to the wind the whole time and re-realized that the pole trimmer can make life a whole lot easier for the spinnaker sheet trimmer and their person on the sheet winch rather than if the pole is left static except for the occasional major readjustments during the big shifts. Last night the wind was great and it made for a nice ride on the offwind leg but it did come with some fairly constant changes in direction. With the spin sheet trimmed right for the curl, through my continually playing the pole it was a lot quicker and easier to keep the chute trimmed on the edge than it was by trimming the sheet continually. Many times when Helene would be calling to Barb for winch trim on the spin sheet I was already ahead of the game with the pole adjustment and before they could react to the angle shift the pole was already readjusted and the need for trimming the sheet was alleviated. The advantage in last night’s conditions of variable apparent wind angles was that the spin shape stayed relatively constant and oriented to the wind angle rather than flattening the chute through overtrimming to compensate for a tighter wind angle or easing the chute to belly it out when the wind comes back. This is pretty basic stuff that we as sailors all theoretically know, but it’s surprising how much more obvious it is when you adopt a different role on the boat and can see how the many parts interact. I know there are some crews who do a good job of rotating bodies around their boat so that everyone gets a chance to experience what others are doing on the boat and how their own particular job affects those others. I think it is good for all of us to do that occasionally so that when you get your chance to experience being on the bow during a gybe and realize that the person on the spinnaker guy hasn’t given you enough slack to work with to make the pole, then you gain a new realization and appreciation of how what you are doing (or not doing) on the other end of that line affects the success of the operation. Tailing in the cockpit during tacks, a seemingly simple (but critical) operation can gain you a ehole new appreciation for how your flying elbows can affect those around you. I think that rotating of crew members around the boat is a great practice and can only help to make all of your crew members more valuable to the success of your boat and unquestionably it makes all of them feel more a part of the operation.

So what else did I learn from my new perspective on the rail during last night’s race? One thing that hadn’t been obvious from behind the helm. The compasses on Foghorn (we have four: one magnetic built into the binnacle, one magnetic on the bulkhead, one electronic on the instrument pod over the companionway, and one more electronic mounted to the top of the grab rail on the binnacle. We also have the GPS on a swivel in the companionway.) are well positioned for use by the helmsman. With those five readouts, everywhere the helmsmen looks there is an indication of the current course. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac8ODZqe0mI However moving forward in the boat from the helmsman, that information is much less available to the crew. The main trimmer can see the GPS and two compasses. The jib trimmer can see the same if they are in the cockpit, but once you get to the rail, you can’t see nothing baby! From my spot on the rail I was left with judging tactics of when to tack by just observation of others around us. That’s okay but certainly is secondary knowledge and puts you in the position of reacting to what other boats are doing rather than making your own decisions. Gone was my ability to react to the changing heading and deciding whether a shift was something to tack on or not. Sandy steered well and kept us on the wind, but from the rail you don’t have that same innate sense of where you are with respect to the angle to the mark. In last night’s shifty conditions it definitely was a handicap for me. So the solution? I’ll be moving the electronic compass that is on the binnacle rail up to the mast where the rail crew will be able to access the info also and help to pick up on wind direction changes. Many eyes observing the changing situation is always better than only a few who may be distracted by other developments.

So all in all, another good night on the water. The choice of Course #6 (start at West, beat to South, reach to East for PHRFers or center for the Jammers and then offwind to the finish at West) was fun. The beat was good, there were enough shifts that playing them correctly was critical, the second leg turned out to be a fairly non-typical headsail reach for the PHRFers allowing them to play with jib lead positions forward and back and also athwartships (I always wanted to use that word) out to the rail to get best boatspeed, and then the final downwind leg was fun as the JAMMERS came from 90 degrees to our left and turned at Center to accompany us to the finish. There were lots of overlap situations and the Race Committee (thanks to John Kosmalski and his J80 crew aboard John Heagy’s boat for fine work) were challenged by forty-plus boats all finishing within a relatively few minutes, but the RC got the finish times, got almost all the sail numbers and we were ultimately able to get it all sorted out correctly.

In JAM A Berakaway finished a minute and 45 seconds in front of Tyrannous while owing them a minute and 45 seconds. A flat footed tie for first! Orange Crate corrected just behind in 3rd among a strong group of nine boats in class. Wooly Bully made its first appearance of the season with a good 6th place. The class as a whole sailed so well that perennial contenders Wing Jammin and Erie Grog ended up contending for last. Nice going JAMMERs. In JAM B we almost gave out first place honors to Caprice, even though the boat didn’t leave the dock. Once we straightened out the sail number issue, Aftermath2 took the glory with Full Ride and La Chiva edging out Fiasco and Autumn wind for the remaining podium places.

In PHRF A, ten boats battled it out with Abracadabra taking the measure of the class. Viva Las Vegas http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Knbh7TkX6A&feature=related and Holy Toledo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdMIUCQsmyA (now that one is good!) took 2nd and 3rd with their Hobie 33s just ahead of Legs-a-Shakin. In PHRF B, another ten boats were led around on corrected and almost on the water by Red Cloud in 1st with Team I-Ball slipping into 2nd (once we figured out the wrongly recorded sail number issue, what is it with that T10 and sail numbers anyway?). Send in the Clowns was a strong 3rd narrowly edging out Full Tilt and Wizard. In PHRF C, Flak Bait http://www.flakbait.com won the class (and were 4th overall) narrowly edging out Splash Dance in 2nd and Jeff Gordon’s Presto in 3rd http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2063583/presto/ (how come the sail number on that boat isn’t 24 anyway?).

Overalls in JAM went to Breakaway and Tyrannous in the aforementioned tie and to Red Cloud in PHRF. Congratulations one and all!

Sorry, this week’s report is a little short on humor (well, I think of it as humor regardless of what the rest of you think!) but hopefully a couple of the things I pointed out are of some value to others of you too.

Thanks to all for making our Wednesday night races the recreational highlight of my week.

Kent

Oh and don’t forget to check out the NCYC sailing blog. www.ncycsailing.blogspot.com It is incredibly well written and comes highly recommended (by me at least). J

Results: Wednesday July 1, 2009

2009-07-07T13:54:00.001-04:00

Hi all,

Missed you. Well, okay, let's be real, maybe not. What can I tell you about last Wednesday? Let's see. Ringling Brother's elephants were great. The hotdogs at Nathan's with grilled spicey onions were fantastic, but I stopped after two, didn't quite have it in me to compete with the champions and get sixty-plus down. The Coney Island boardwalk and the beach were fun. The tourist shops were just as spectacularly shlocky and chintzy as you would expect. The sea lion show at the aquarum was lots of fun. The ocean? A little on the coolish side but bearable. Highlights from other days? The view from the Empire State Building on a spectacular weather day, people watching in a Times Square closed to vehicular traffic, a near celebrity sighting (well, at least the people near us thought they saw a celebrity, we didn't look quickly enough in the right direction at the right time), incredible traffic, Ellis Island and the ferry ride to the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, Ground Zero, FAO Swartz, more traffic, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Long Island and a little peace away from the hubbub of the City. Did I mention the traffic? All in all, New York being New York in the summer.

But you probably didn't come here today to hear about my vacation. You're probably just wondering where your weekly update has been since last Thursday. Okay, the results are attached. Hope you all had as good a time as we did. Thanks to all who picked up my slack while I was away.

We'll see you at this week's races: of course we start out with Wednesday; then there is a Full Moon Friday Night on July 10th; and just to make sure you don't lack for opportunities, this Sunday will be the second of our Sunday afternoon Midweek Races (this one counts toward the Summer Midweek Series) which will be followed by a potluck picnic.

Hope to see you out for one, or two, or even all three of this week's opportunities. Same Bat Time, same Bat Channel. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp4OJXrNtXw

Kent

95 big ones! Notes and results from Wednesday June 24, 2009

2009-06-25T09:53:00.000-04:00

Well, Wednesday for me was just another day of safe guarding the appropriate use of the federal taxpayers’ funds. Hmmm, does that sound just a little overblown? Okay, the reality is I’m just another faux government hack keeping tabs on the transportation economic stimulus spending program. But Wednesday afternoon about quarter to four I get out of a meeting in Dundee and am faced with the choice of either driving back to downtown Toledo for the last few minutes of the day or heading straight to the boat. Easy choice. So I climb into the car, roll down all the windows and my Subie tells me the outside air temp is 100. I haven’t seen that number show up on the dash display in a while. Once I get moving and a little air flows under the hood the reading drops all the way to 95. At the boat there is barely a breath of air stirring the leaves and the inside of the boat is doing its best impression of a toaster oven. Oh oh, this has the potential to get ugly today. So, what’s to do on a sultry windless day of a race while waiting to see if there are other mad dogs and Englishmen about? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdEnxNog56E Might as well go jogging. On the return leg of my three mile run Jerry Porter slows his truck and asks “Are you feeling okay?” (Nice to know that I appear to be the perfect vision of health when I’m running.) “Well, perhaps a wee bit touched in the head. Do you have a cold beer you can spare?” “No, but I could give you a ride back to the club.” “Thanks, but I’ll make it.” Once back in the shade sitting at the picnic table it’s obvious that the rest of those who have wandered out to the club early aren’t too eager to induce any sweat-related activities. It’s a slow wind-up to the evening’s race. The wind speed gauge on the boat is trying to decide whether it should read 1.6 or 2.4. Ouch! On the upside it doesn’t look like I will need last week’s light fleece and foul-weather bottoms. Summer has put in an appearance in southeast Michigan.

But about 40 boats eventually all find our way out to the water and what to our wondering eyes should appear but: breeze! Out by the west mark there really is some wind to be found. Eventually we find ourselves in 8 or 9 knots out of about 145 degrees. The boys from Clowns ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5yG1Dy5b4A ) are handling RC duties this evening (thanks guys, it was the most easily readable result sheet of the season so far!), and course #4 is called for, a beat to the South mark, an offwind leg to the North (or Center if you are Jamming it) and then a headsail reach (for most of the right-thinking among the PHRF fleet anyway) back to the West mark finish. Even the Jammers opt to go with headsails on their last leg. (Okay, think about it.)

So once again, in spite of our best laid plans, another nice race ensued. A good weather leg, an offwind leg with the choice of whether to heat up a tad for boat speed or soak down for the best course to the mark (we opted to go as deep as anyone in the fleet and at least got that decision right, using our relatively big chute to catch and/or pass some boats in our class by the North mark) and then there was that reach to the finish. Our decision was not so good there: most of the fleet made the better choice of a headsail soon after the jibe. We opted to hang on to the chute, we were only about 8 or 9 degrees low and with seemingly better boat speed than some of the others early in that leg. The rationale (man I hate rationalizations!) was that we would carry the chute for a while at good speed and then change to the #1 and come up to finish. Eventually the wind lifted just slightly and we were sucked into the (mistaken!) impression that we would be able to carry our chute right up to the committee boat. Sitting on the low side and steering to the breaking luff of the chute, it looked for a while like we might pull it off. However at some point up that leg the break even point was crossed where the headsails started to perform as well as (and even better than) the chutes and our hopes evaporated with that development. Time Machine rolled up from the stern with their big red chute bearing down on us and the two of us entertained ourselves for a while with seeing who could outlast the other on a tight chute reach. We eventually persuaded them that we could hold on as tightly as they could in this particular circumstance and prevented them from rolling us, but I don’t think either one of us did ourselves any large favors in the end.

The first three boats and four of the first five to finish all got guns. Splash Dance led the PHRF C contingent home, followed by Full Tilt in B and Abracadabra in A. Team I Ball snuck in next, sans gun (but with better honors once corrected), and then Rocket Science was the first of the Jammers to lead their pack home. Corrected time results showed that in PHRF, Team I Ball took the overalls with Orange Crate matching suit in JAM. Phrf A went to Fupastank (who?) in 1st with Natural High 2nd and Abra in 3rd. In PHRF B, Team I Ball (the boat is obviously much faster now that there are numbers on the mainsail!) took the win in a fairly handy fashion from Full Tilt in 2nd and the Group on Therapy in 3rd. PHRF C found Splash Dance leading the way with Flak-Bait and Wildcat filling out the podium spots. In JAM A, it was the aforementioned Orange Crate showing their light air prowess with Rocket Science and Breakaway close behind. In JAM B, Aftermath2 showed that school was out for the summer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbNEOJMGFAo&feature=fvst :when I grow up I want to be just like Alice!) with La Chiva and Full Ride in 2nd and 3rd. I wonder if FR had to race with that keg of Blue Moon aboard?

For those of you looking to get away a little this weekend, Saturday is Ford Yacht Club’s and Monroe Boat Club’s annual Port-to-Port Race. This race alternates directions every year and, this being an odd-numbered year, the fleet will gather at MBC to race from our North Mark to FYC. I have attached the Sailing Instructions. If you have never been to Ford, give it some thought. It’s a great and friendly club in a nice remote spot on Grosse Isle. Good restaurant, good bar, and good times! The will provide free overnight dockage for you on Saturday. Give it a try.

So we have had another successful evening rescued from what looked to be less than optimal conditions. Thanks everyone for continuing to participate in our little get togethers that are Wednesday nights at North Cape.

Next week Sandy and I will be away on a family vacation. Hopefully Dar or Michelle or someone will be able to step in to help the scoring program perform its magic and perhaps we can solicit the vocal stylings of Duane (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nd2QK6BIVU ) to announce the results. With luck Foghorn may be out there anyway in the more capable hands of the crew. If they win I probably won’t be allowed back on the boat. Have fun everyone. Sail safe.

Kent

Results from the Race For Hope

2009-06-20T16:04:00.002-04:00

2009 Race For Hope # 1
Race Date: 20 Jun 2009 Wind Speed: 15-20 W PRELIMINARY
Div OvAl Finish Corrected
Rank Rank Boat Name Sail No. Rating Time Time Time Owner / Skipper
Elapsed
Behind
Seconds *
NCYC
PHRF PHRF Time on Distance / Start Time 14:00 / Dist.6.80 nm * Time Behind is Sec / Mile
1 1 Splash Dance 40221 132 15:08:16 01:08:16 00:53:18 Laszlo Goda
2 2 Orange Door 15609 177 15:14:29 01:14:29 00:54:25 10 Jody Kjoller
3 3 Baci 51433 84 15:04:12 01:04:12 00:54:41 12 Jeff & Beth Eischen
4 4 Time Machine 40937 72 15:04:33 01:04:33 00:56:23 27 Robert Gordenker
JAM PHRF Time on Distance / Start Time 14:05 / Dist.6.80 nm * Time Behind is Sec / Mile
1 1 Ms. T 1215 165 15:15:02 01:10:02 00:51:20 Neal Thurber
2 2 Wildcat 41230 147 15:13:15 01:08:15 00:51:35 2 Russ Atkinson
3 3 Breakaway 16544 136 15:12:27 01:07:27 00:52:02 6 Bill Sommers
4 4 Caprice 387 192 15:21:56 01:16:56 00:55:10 34 Ed Moore
5 5 Aftermath2 52503 172 15:19:50 01:14:50 00:55:20 35 Jonathon Vosler
6 6 La Chiva 15610 179 15:22:33 01:17:33 00:57:16 52 Dick Hamilton
7 7 Wing Jammin 310 159 15:21:07 01:16:07 00:58:06 60 Bill Pribe
8 8 Flak-Bait 13919 161 15:22:44 01:17:44 00:59:29 72 Duane & Dar Burgoyne
9 9 Lindy Lee 561 148 15:24:16 01:19:16 01:02:30 99 Bruce Huddleston
10 10 Autumn Wind 3202 193 15:30:15 01:25:15 01:03:23 106 Joe Sweeney
11 11 Two Wild 59 182 15:29:22 01:24:22 01:03:44 109 Bob Thompson
DNF 13 13 Schmoonie 233 204 Tom Rogge
Questions? Contact:
Printed On:
Scoring Program by Quick Score - For Program Information visit www.QuickScoreRace.com or Email dan.hollands@gmail.com
20-Jun-2009 16:13:21
John Greiner
Number of boats Scored 16

What a difference 24 hours makes!

2009-06-19T09:37:00.002-04:00

Thursday night Fred Hibbert had arranged for members of his Rotary Club to come out to North Cape for their annual sail and steak dinner. Baci, Flak-Bait and Foghorn as well as Melan from MBC took out the Rotarians. What a gorgeous evening for a sail! And the food was great too. Thanks, Fred, for inviting us to be a part of this fun evening.

Notes and Results: Wednesday June 17, 2009

2009-06-18T09:37:00.001-04:00

Lots o' stuff this week:

Holy Toledo ! It was a Breakaway kind of night! If anybody found the time to take any pictures, please share them with me.

So Wednesday it was supposed to rain and be fairly light air. Well, zero out of two ain't that bad a batting average, is it? When I grow up I want to be a weatherman. No, not a 60s radical, been there done that. I want to get paid to guesstimate what the weather is not going to do and then when I'm wrong, I get paid again tomorrow for my next wrong forecast. To be fair, it looks like those to the south did get dumped on. Was that rain or just Carty letting the good citizens of Toledo know what he thinks of them? But for those of us living the good and pure life on the waters of Lake Erie, we escaped. Apparently the magnetic personalities of all you sailors must be the polar opposite of the rain clouds. Or as Babs would say: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAVlk4F2qkw

The good news on the water? No Mayflies this week! If you've been missing them, check this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crGQJQHjgaI

So no rain but a pretty steady 15 to 18 knots of wind from the northwest greeted 42 boats full of sailors this evening. Not quite the idyllic conditions we have seen of late but a good change and a chance to look at some of the other sails in the inventory. #3's seemed to be the order of the day for much of the fleet but there were a few boats that opted for larger headsails. Course #5 was deemed appropriate by the gang on Orange Crate, west to east to south to west. Or if you were Jamming it, west to center to south and back to west. An off-wind start to the first mark, a fairly close reach to the south and then a beat to the finish. Made for a good race with a lot of boats on the same water in close proximity to each other, especially on the weather leg. Finishes came fast and furious for the race committee with a number of instances of five or more boats finishing close together. Good, because if the race committee gets to sit around and eat and drink while we are slaving away on the race course, the least we can do is make them work at the finish line.

Abracadabra went blasting by us on the spinnaker leg having made up five minutes seemingly only minutes after the start. With the crew piled on the stern, the jib and A-sail flying, and the bow well out of the water they were definitely trucking. I think I heard tales of 17 knots boatspeed which made our 8 or 9 as they went by seem like we were dragging an anchor.

Baby Clown, the J80 in PHRF B shrimped their A-sail on the hoist at the start but once they got it up and flying showed great boat speed too as did Full Tilt with theirs. Most boats in our class went with symmetrical kites and didn't have problems once they got them flying. We opted for an A-sail we hadn't seen out of the bag yet this year and with which we don't have too much experience. I think we often were over trimming it and didn't allow it to rotate far enough out to weather to escape the blanket from the main. The concepts may be relatively the same as a regular chute but the techniques sure are different on our boat. When we did get it working it was a force and we buried the bow into waves on more than one occasion. Green water rolling over the deck doesn't happen all that often on Foghorn. We also need to work on our takedown techniques for that sail as it can be really powerful when it loads up at the wrong time, although I noticed at least a few other boats who apparently decided to have wash day for their chutes too.

The south mark with Jammers coming in above the spinnaker boats and everyone wanting to go to weather was fun. Fortunately the weather leg was square enough that you could tack out if you found yourself covered after the mark. Good fun and lots of attention required with the faster boats overtaking the slower ones all the way up the leg.

In JAM B, Rich Cherry's Full Ride found the heavier conditions to its liking and took the class. See how much faster that boat is now that you aren't carrying that fender hanging over the side, Rich? Jonathon Vosler's Aftermath2 and Dick Hamilton's La Chiva rounded out the top three.

In JAM A, the Davis 's Orange Crate avoided the fray by being RC and so Bill Sommers' Breakaway, Joanie O'Connell's Tyrannous and Les Lashaway's Mega are listed as the top boats. I just noticed that Rocket Science doesn't have a time recorded and I saw them finish just in front of us. There was one boat that the RC got confused on the sail number on in the landrush to the finishes so I suspect that was probably Rocket Science. I'll refigure the results tonight when I'm at the club and get RS's finish included. Don't know how they will correct out until the scoring program recalculates, but my apologies in advance for not making that connection last night in the hurry to get results announced.

UPDATE (06/19/09): I entered Rocket Science's finish time and also corrected the class assignments for the Etchells and for Mosh Pit. The corrected results are posted on the NCYC webiste and also on the board at the club.

PHRF C saw Rob Fox's Defender out pace the field with Russ Atkinson's Wildcat and the Burgoynes on Flak-Bait hot on their heels. PHRF B was the province of the Greiners' Red Cloud followed by Skip Dieball's Team I-Ball flying under the radar in their stealth boat and Full Tilt coming in third. In PHRF A it was a Hobie kind of night with Tom Andrews' Holy Toledo! and Spencer Norris's Fupastank taking the measure of Abracadabra in spite of Abra's balls-to-the-wall ride on the first leg.

Overalls went to Breakaway in JAM and Holy Toledo! in PHRF.

Hope everybody stayed relatively dry and had fun. It looks like none of the injuries on our boat will prove to be life threatening, but if anyone wants to audition for the role of sacrificial meat, just let me know.

In other happenings in our little world of sail, for those of you who actually plan ahead here are a couple of events to consider. The Sandusky Sailing Club's Sandusky Islands Race/Hospice Cup is coming up on the July 4th weekend. This one always provides a good party and a nice tour of the islands for the racers. A flyer is attached.

And believe it or not, it's not too early to start thinking about I-LYA's Bay Week Regatta. Early registrations have been slow in coming in and so I-LYA trustee Ron Soka (who you will recognize as annually the major force behind the Mills Race effort) is asking that those of you who are planning to come to Bay Week let them know by getting in an entry. If you haven't planned on it yet, Bay Week is one of the summer's institutions on Lake Erie and the site of many a great party and some fun racing. At least that's what my surviving brain cells seem to recall anyway. Attached to this email is the Registration Form and also the Notice of Race for BayWeek. If you have any questions feel free to contact Ron at http://us.mc840.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=rpsoka@coolingtechnologies.com or ask me and I'll try to find some answers for you.

And last but certainly far from least, please keep in mind that this weekend, Saturday June 20th is the Race for Hope, NCYC's annual charity race to benefit cancer research. It a great cause that hits close to home and its a great deal on top of it. Please show your support by coming out and participating.

I can't thank you all enough for your support for the Yachting Activities events this year, thanks to all for everything you are doing to make these programs strong, it makes life at North Cape fun!

Kent

Attack of the Mayflies!

2009-06-16T13:35:00.000-04:00

Hungry? Thought you might enjoy this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crGQJQHjgaI

This blog and other events

2009-06-16T11:12:00.000-04:00

Hi all,

Just when you thought it was safe to read your emails, I'm back with more.

First, I received a suggestion that I post these various musings on a blog so that people could refer back to them when they wanted to. Now, as to why anyone would want to refer back to this drivel, I don't have a clue. But anyway, I have created a blog to gather all this stuff together. You can find it at http://ncycsailing.blogspot.com/ If you find the need to re-read this stuff, I have a therapist I can recommend.

At this point the blog is still pretty basic. I have uploaded the various reports but I haven't done "pretty" and "engaging" yet. And "pretty" is what I'm all about. Pretty, I feel pretty. Oh so pretty and witty and bright! (that's another old guy showtune reference; see: West Side Story. For those of you who aren't old like me, just skip over this crap.) So at some point, assuming I figure out how, it will get some pictures and other stuff to make it look better. In the future I will still email out the weekly updates but will also post that info to the blog. We'll get a link to the blog up on the NCYC website so you don't have to remember it.

Now on to other things of import:

This weekend is the Race For Hope Saturday June 20th at NCYC. Details will be forthcoming, but this is a great cause: Cancer Research and it has hit home in a big way this year for all of us with Mary Lou Osborne's passing. If there is anyway that you can participate by entering, please do so. Even if you cannot, please consider a contribution to the Cancer Society through a race entry anyway. It's only $50 and we all know the money is needed and will be well spent. All proceeds from this event go directly to the charity. The costs have been underwritten. Talk to John or Judy Greiner or Bob Thompson for details.

Also this weekend, NCYC welcomes the Catamaran Racing Association of Michigan to the club for their regatta. There will be plenty of beach cats on the grounds and racing this weekend.

Next weekend, Saturday June 27th is the Monroe Boat Club to Ford Yacht Club Port-to-Port Race. The race is Saturday with dockage available at FYC on Saturday Night for participants. See the attachment for details.

I have also uploaded the series results for the Spring Midweek Series. We had six races scheduled, lost the first one to the weather but got five great races in. 35 boats qualified in the results by participating in at least three races and 49 different boats in total were a part of the series. That's huge! The results were close, including a three-way tie on points for first in PHRF B with tie-breakers coming into play for that one. In three classes we had boats with perfect scores for the series: Laszlo Goda's Splash Dance in PHRF B, Jim and Chris Davis's Orange Crate in JAM A, and Jim and Toni Jacobs' Super Zena in JAM B all came away with three bullets. I know their competition will be gunning for them in the next two series. Better sail with your fenders over the side, SD, OC and SZ! Thanks to all of you for helping to make Midweek Racing at North Cape one of the best series going in the Great Lakes! I'm looking forward to even more participation in the next two series. Remember, each series consists of six races: five Wednesday evenings and one Sunday afternoon. The Junior Sailors have food for us after the Wednesday events and we will again have a potluck after the Sunday races.

I got some good feedback on this past Sunday's race. Many seemed to enjoy the race and the potluck after. One of the suggestions for an alternate approach was to perhaps consider for next year establishing a separate Sunday afternoon series, one race a month, May through September and have that as its own independent series instead of counting the race toward the midweek series results. Certainly that's a thought worth considering. If you have any input on this or any other aspect of the Yachting Activities program, please let me or a member of the bridge or of the board know your thoughts. The Yachting Activities program is here to serve you and if asparagus isn't to your taste, perhaps you'd rather have the lima beans or the beets. Me, I'll settle for ice cream. Oh, and beer.

See ya Wednesday. I'm still looking for that first night when we have 50 boats on the water. Let's make it happen!

Kent

Notes and Results: Sunday Midweek June 14, 2009

2009-06-16T09:50:00.000-04:00

With apologies to Tevye and Fiddler on the Roof:

A midweek race on Sunday afternoon...Sounds crazy, no? But here in our little club of North Cape, you might say every one of us is a sailor on a Sunday afternoon. Trying to scratch out a little bite to windward without breaking his neck. It isn't easy. You may ask, why do we continue to do it if it's so dangerous? Well we do it because North Cape is our home. And how do we keep our balance? That I can tell you in one word! Tradition!

Tradition...Tradition...Tradition...Tradition...Tradition

Because of our traditions, we've kept our balance for many, many years. Here at North Cape, we have traditions for everything. How to sleep. How to eat. How to work. How to wear clothes. For instance, we always keep our heads covered with a beat up sailing cap, and always wear a teeshirt from a long ago race. This shows our constant devotion to sailing.

You may ask, how did this tradition get started? I'll tell you. I don't know. But it's a tradition. And because of our traditions, every one of us knows who he is and what the Commodore expects him to do.

So, yesterday at North Cape we messed with tradition. A Sunday afternoon midweek race? Whoever heard of such a thing? What were you thinking when you let this guy be in charge of yachting activities and what can we do to put an end to such silliness?

Well, in spite of a forecast tending toward light and vairiable, twenty-some boats were willing to give it a try and were rewarded with a beautiful afternoon on the water with flat water and winds of 8 to 10 out of the east. It was a gorgeous day for a race. There is obviously good competition within our fleets with boats and crews sensing the need for good starts and fast sailing. For the second race in a row we had a spate of "On Course Starts" On Wednesday there were five boats over early in the PHRF A fleet. On Sunday once again a boat was over early in PHRF A and the influence had spread to PHRF B with two more boats over. The racers are having to be on their toes to get good starts and the race committees are having to be on top of the situation to identify the boats over and call them back.

On Foghorn we had two new racers out with us, Davey's brother and sister came along for the ride and it looked like they were having fun. Red Cloud seemed to have a bigger crew than normal and if I'm not mistaken I even saw John Greiner riding the rail on the weather leg! The race was great with good close competition The results of Sunday's race are attached. I will have the Spring Series results available soon.

And then Sunday was complemented by a picnic potluck picnic after the race. Dogs, brats, burgers, and steaks all found their way to the grill and the buffet table was loaded with contributions of salads, pasta, beans, fruit and desserts. If you left hungry you only have yourself to blame.

Thanks to all who gave it a chance and we hope to see you and a bunch more boats out on the two remaining Sundays this summer, July 12th and August 30th.

Also atached are the results of Friday Night's Moonlight JAM Fun Race. A dozen boats made it out for a pretty evening under the moon and stars. Thanks everyone for participating!

This Wednesday, June 17th, will be the first of the Summer Series races. Come on out and join the fun!

Kent Gardam

Notes and Results: Wednesday June 10, 2009

2009-06-16T09:46:00.000-04:00

Hi all,

Hope you enjoyed last night's race. We had forty-one boats participating, another great turnout. Thanks all for making North Cape a part of your Wednesday nights. I suspect you noticed that the racing last night was a little more challenging than the last couple of weeks.

Up front, my apologies for lack of announcing timely results last night. We had one of those $#@&%! computer situations last night that you never totally figure out what went wrong. Could well have been some errant keystroke I made or something but the scoring program just was not a happy camper. We entered the results, tried to score the race, got nothing, tried to reenter the results, got garbage, got multiple options for results entry, tried to delete what we had done, still garbage, rebooted the computer, still garbage, and on and on. But you don't want to hear about my problems. Eventually we were able to delete all the crud on the last deletion attempt (but not through using the program the way it was intended) and then got the results to compute. Thanks to Michelle Glanville and Robert Gordenker for helping to sort out the mess. So if you stayed late, you may have heard the scores, but if not, they are attached here and are up on the club Racing page website.

A couple of comments about last night's experience with the starting sequence. In the PHRF A start a number of boats were over early. This resulted in an individual recall for those boats but in the resulting commotion also resulted in the next starting sequence (for JAM B) being delayed by two minutes. PLEASE PAY ATTENTION TO THE STARTING SEQUENCE FLAGS! We all get used to hearing and seeing the next sequence start concurrently with the start gun for the previous sequence and as such the starts are generally (not always!) five minutes apart. That is very convenient, BUT IT IS NOT AUTOMATICALLY GOING TO HAPPEN! The starting procedure used now allows for gaps between starts and sometimes (last night!) it happens. I believe a significant portion of the JAM B fleet was caught unawares by that development but it is your responsibility to observe the flags and get in sync with your starting sequence. If you don't have it memorized, take a couple of minutes to review the race instructions that spells out the STARTING FLAG SEQUENCE so you don't get confused again. The Race Committee did what needed to be done but apparently suffered some abuse from some of the JAM B competitors who weren't paying close enough attention and thought that the RC was screwing up. Midweek races are all about having fun but you still have to pay attention to the rules. Please do so. One of the JAM B competitors even suggested sending the boats that were over early to the back of the sequence. In the first place, that doesn't work with an Individual Recall, it is only potentially possible with a General Recall. In the second place, the our Race Instructions don't call for that possibility anyway.

Also one more point with respect to the starting sequence. THE FLAGS ARE THE RULING INDICATORS, NOT THE GUNS. The visual signals are what determines the sequence. The sounds are just an assist but do not control anything.

We try to provide the most stress free relaxed racing opportunity we can but it is still up to you to play by the appropriate rules.

Oh, and while I am talking about the gun: Just a refresher for those of you who may not have yet had the opportunity to use the club's cannon or haven't done so recently. THERE IS A TWO SECOND DELAY BETWEEN WHEN YOU PUSH THE BUTTON FOR THE CANNON AND WHEN THE CANNON FIRES. This often results in one or the other of two different situations. One, the operator will push the button once, not hear the cannon fire, and so will push the button again thinking they must not have pushed it hard enough. The result? THE CANNON FIRES TWICE IN SUCCESSION. So don't do that. The second situation is that the operator will push the button when the countdown reaches "zero". You should push the button two seconds prior to zero. Countdown: Five, Four, Three, Two (button is pushed), One, Zero (BOOM!).

Now, with respect to the race. Last night's weather leg start was certainly more of a test than we had previously seen this year. The lumpy conditions from an all-day easterly wind and the resulting left-over 6 to 8 or so knots of easterly made for some challenging conditions. I know we sure adapted slowly. Two minutes after our PHRF B start, I think we were already three minutes behind the lead boats in our class. Our mistake? Well, at least the most obvious one, was that we were oversheeted for the conditions. The normal settings just resulted in a lot of banging into waves and gonig up and down and not through the water. It wasn't until we finally sheeted well out that we began moving at the speeds we should have. By then it was a rear-guard action for us. Man, I assumed that after 30 years of racing you shouldn't have to relearn these lessons so often. Well we all know what ass-u-me means.

The fleets were a little more mixed up on the off wind legs last nightand we had the chance to sail in the vicinity of some different boats than usual.

In PHRF A, as mentioned before, we had five boats that were "On Course Start" at the gun. Only one, Abracadabra, came back to restart so the other four didn't get their times counted. But Robert Gordenker's Time Machine sailed a very nice weather leg and won the class by a minute over Abracadabra and Fupastank. IN PHRF B, Lynne and Mark Melchior's Full Tilt had the conditions figured out to take class and overall in PHRF. Wizard was a strong second with Send in the Clowns converting a great weather leg into a third. PHRF C saw Duane and Dar Burgoyne's Flak-Bait win by a minute and a half over always strong competitors Wildcat and Splash Dance. Nice job on the Bait Boat!

In JAM A, Drew Regan's Soverel 33 (boy those are nice looking boats, someday I hope to have one) Rocket Science took the measure of the class and the JAM fleet overall through the lumpy stuff with Breakaway and Orange Crate rounding out the top three. In JAM B Jim and Toni Jacobs' Super Zena continued their early season surge to the top of the fleet with the win, narrowly edging out Scandia and Aftermath2.

Congratulations to all, winners and not-so-winners alike for perservering through the challenging conditions and close mark roundings.

Don't forget that this Sunday June 14th is the final race, #6, of the Midweek Spring Series. Yes, that's right! Just in case you haven't been paying attention, we have added a Sunday afternoon race to each of the three midweek series. The start time will be 1:30 PM and there is no additional cost for the race. Afterwards, gather your crew for a picnic potluck. If you want to cookout, we'll have the grills available behind the club. Bring something to share and have a good time on what promises to be a beautiful Sunday afternoon at the club.

See you there!

Kent

Commodore Perry Race Notes and Results

2009-06-16T09:43:00.000-04:00

Well, the Commodore Perry Race weekend has come and gone for another year. Let me first thank all the hard working volunteers on race committees, food preparation, party arrangements, the help behind the bar and our club manager for each of their efforts. I also want to thank the membership of the club for showing up in support. That is what makes this type of event the success that it can be.

Certainly one of the best highlights of the weekend was the Saturday night Reggae Party. What a great time, a great band, great food and a real crowd at the club that hung around well into the night.

Saturday we had two port-to-port races, one from Port Clinton and the other from Grosse Isle, each with six boats. The concept behind these races was to take advantage of our adjacency on the calendar with the Mills Race and encourage out-of-towners to come a week early, race both the Perry and Mills, and give them the opprtunity to lay their boats over at NCYC in between. For first year events, I think both were successes with a total of twelve visiting boats coming to North Cape via the two races. Eight of those twelve entered and raced our Commodore Perry Race. One of the PCYC boats wasn't even doing the Mills and so sailed back to PCYC on Sunday evening after our race. Thanks to them for coming!

We had 38 boats race the 2009 Commodore Perry Race, up from the 29 of last year, which is certainly an encouraging turn-around in a difficult economic time. The weather for the weekend was great but unfortunately we forgot to order wind for the start of the race Sunday. But after about three hours of near drifting conditions the wind gods finally took pity and provided a nice day of sailing for the racers. Thirty-five of the thirty-eight boats were able to maintain their sanity and finish the race.

I can't give you much of a report from the water since I spent most of my weekend involved with organizational responsibilities but I'm sure that those who were out on the race course have lots of stories of going nowhere, going the wrong direction, human sacrifice, and the need to impose rationing of the beer before the race would be over. Early on while we were in the clubhouse observing the lack of progress from some of the starters I was asked by one of our cruising members if the race had a time limit. My response was that the race needed to be over prior to the warning gun for the Mills Race next friday. Fortunately it didn't quite come to that.

Winners in class were as follows: PHRF A, Bill Bollin's Bad Fish, NCYC; PHRF B, Rich Potcova's Short Bus, TIYC; PHRF C, John Heagy's Baby Clown, NCYC; PHRF D, Chris Frederick's Odyssey, SSC/NCYC; JAM A, Tim Branson's Jagen, TIYC; JAM B, Matt Kern's Discover, JRSC/NCYC; Multihull, Ron White's Cheekee Monkee, CYC. Ron trailered his boat over from Chicago Yacht Club to be a part of the Commodore Perry and the Mills Trophy Race. PHRF Overall was taken by Bad Fish and JAM Overall went to Jagen. Congratulations to these winners and thanks to all who participated.

Sunday morning's complementary breakfast and the meal after the race were both well attended and the food was all consumed in a flash. A keg of free beer for the racers while they were waiting for awards after the event helped them to forget about the fickle winds of the day.

My philosophy as Yachting Activities Chairman is to provide the easiest and most encouraging opportunity for our club members and our guests to participate in racing at NCYC as is possible. I don't want to intentionally throw up any hurdles in people's paths to give them a reason not to be a part. I hope that from the participants' perspective at the Commodore Perry race this weekend those goals were met and hopefully we will be able to continue to do so here at NCYC.

I have attached the results of both the Commodore Perry Race and the results of the PCYC to NCYC Port-to-Port Race. GIYC scored that race themselves and unfortunately I do not have those results.

Kent Gardam

Notes and Results: Wednesday June 3, 2009

2009-06-16T09:41:00.001-04:00

June! It’s June already. Now if somebody would just tell the thermometer we’d be all set. We don’t seem to be getting as many of the typical warm days so far this Spring as I’d like to see. I suspect that is probably resulting in a slower than normal rise in lake temperature. The resulting similar lake and ground temperatures means we are not seeing the typical sea (lake) and shore breezes develop with much intensity. Does that sound like I know what I’m talking about? Well if you think so, friend, then let me tell you about a nearly pristine #1 here that I’ve got that you might be interested in buying for a really good price.

So anyway, whether there’s any truth to the above (not likely!) or not, last night saw us facing lighter winds than on our previous two Wednesdays. Cycling between about 6 and 9 knots with some minor shifts for the first leg to weather and then holding in at around 7 or 8 for the off wind legs and eventually dropping down to about 4 or so by the time the last boats were finishing. After last Sunday’s Commodore Perry Race in similar light conditions, and with the early weather forecasts for Friday night’s Mills Race sounding eerily (or is that Eriely) similar, we are all going to be light air experts before long.

Last night was the Mills Race Dinner for the 2008 trophy winners so we may have lost a couple of crews to that event but we had a great turnout of almost forty boats including a number out for their first Wednesday of the year. Mojito (have you seen that paint job? Nice!), Natural High, Time Machine and Presto made their first appearances as well as Lola, Stardust and an Etchells (can anybody fill me in on who the Etchells is?) were also seen in the vicinity of the starting line. Our thanks go out to Dick Hamilton and the crew of La Chiva who came out, sans mast, to do race committee work. Dick is having a spreader base repaired, hopefully by Friday in time for the Mills.

A weather leg start last night for a change! Yea, I think. With the wind out of the ESE, course #5 called for East, South and finish at the West mark. JAM did Center, South and the West finish. In PHRF B Foghorn started near the committee boat without much speed (helmsman’s fault) so we soon tacked away to port. We were followed fairly shortly by Wizard and a couple of the other boats while half of our fleet went hard left on starboard. A few minutes into the race our position looked fairly good relative to those who had gone left, (Clowns, Grope Therapy, White Star, Consig, and others) and so we tacked back to starboard and in doing so quickly crossed in front of Wizard. Anytime we cross Wizard we’re sure we’re doing well so that sort of convinced us to keep working the right side of the course. Well, let me tell you, twas a big mistake. Turns out the pressure was better on the left and those boats were also on the inside of the port tack lifts so the rich just kept getting richer. We eventually bit the bullet and took the long starboard board back to try to get in touch with the fleet. But the fleet was definitely ahead of us by then! Sometimes you get the prize, other times you are the prize that the rest of the fleet gets to put in their hip pocket. Last night was the latter for us. But we did get a chance to work on light air trim and our boat speed seemed to be pretty good against most of our fleet (from our position behind!) so all was not lost. Plus it was a lovely night with another clear sky and plenty of good friends to help enjoy it. Off wind were a couple of good spinnaker legs punctuated by a quick uhhhoooh wiggle at the South mark to stay clear of B.O.B.’s stern as they came in on starboard while we were still approaching on port for our gybe. That sudden maneuver just as we were starting our gybe resulted in the guy wrapping itself around the pole in a totally inexplicable way and a little bit of foredeck magic/swearing by Davey and Helene before we ultimately managed to emerge on starboard gybe. The last leg was again similar to last week, downwind but favored to starboard, and choosing the tradeoffs between sailing hotter angles with better boat speed or heading for the finish line. In last night’s light breeze it didn’t appear that the choices made a huge difference in the end results. But it is good knowledge to store away for future use.

The results are attached, and it appears that there is some early season form showing up. Bad Fish in PHRF A, Send in the Clowns in PHRF B and Splash Dance in PHRF C are no strangers to the top of the results sheet. In JAM it was Breakaway showing the way in A and Scandia in B. Overalls went to Bad Fish and Breakaway. Congrats to all the winners and even more so to all the participants.

This week Skip Dieball was out of town but Ernie was on the water in a whaler and taking lots of pictures. A couple are attached along with the results. I wouldn't be surprised that if you asked Ernie nicely (and complimented him on his success in marrying above himself ) he just might be willing to share what he has of your boat. http://us.mc840.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=ernie@dieballsailing.com

Marilyn Mackay ably led the kitchen crew and the Juniors in again treating us with dinner. The meatball subs, Caesar salad and brownies were great. Thanks gang! It’s a big part of what makes Wednesday nights at North Cape special.

So have you been a part of this year’s Wednesday night action yet? If not, why not? Get your boat out and check out your skills with the fleet or alternatively get on board with somebody else. There’s hardly a boat in the fleet that doesn’t have room for one or two more on Wednesday nights. Don’t be shy, ask for a ride, you might learn a few things and some of them may even be repeatable in public. Wednesdays are all about having fun, seeing your friends and enjoying a night on the water.

Wednesday Night Racing at NCYC: it’s not just for breakfast anymore.

And thanks to all the members of NCYC as well as the other clubs who supported our Commodore Perry race last weekend. We had a fantastic reggae party Saturday night and an excellent turnout of 38 boats for the race on Sunday. I appreciate your support.

Well , that's all the news that is news this week from the chicken boat. See you at the Bay this weeknd!

Commodore Perry was a Reggaemaster!

2009-06-16T09:40:00.000-04:00

On Sunday this weekend is the Commodore Perry Race at North Cape Yacht Club. But this weekend is not just the Commodore Perry Race. Saturday evening will also be the Commodore Perry Memorial Reggae Party. Were you aware that when Perry’s fleet sailed from Put-in-Bay to meet the British fleet in the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812, the Americans were serenaded from the front porch of the Roundhouse by the rhythms of Jacob Marley and the Wailers? Jacob Marley, later to become better known as the deceased partner of Ebenezer Scrooge, was the great-great-great-great-grandfather of Bob Marley who later adopted his ancestor’s musical style and popularized it throughout the Caribbean . During the preparation of the American fleet for battle, Commodore Ollie and the crews of the Lawrence, the Niagara and the rest of the ships of the line spent many a night bellied up to the Roundhouse bar doing the rocksteady and getting their groove on. It’s a little known fact that when Perry’s flagship the Lawrence had been reduced to a floating hulk by broadsides from the British fleet, Perry echoed to his crew the words of his personal battleflag “No Problem, Mon!” That flag, too badly damaged in the battle, was replaced by the backup flag “Don’t Give Up The Ship” once the action transferred to the Niagara .

Saturday evening from 6:00 PM until the battle is won you will have your chance to celebrate this episode of American naval history and get your reggae on at North Cape with the band Crucial 420, a barbecue chicken dinner and, of course, lots of rum drinks.

Be there, Mon!

Notes and Results: Wednesday Night May 27, 2009

2009-06-16T09:38:00.000-04:00

We’re dancing in the dark on the edge of the weather systems. As Skip Dieball reports in his write-up, we came out a winner for the second week in a row on the weather lottery. It sure didn’t look promising throughout the day but by the time I got to the club a little before 5 there appeared to be a glimmer of hope (or at least light sky) to the southwest. Sure enough, weather radar indicated the end of the rain except for one little cell a few miles away that couldn’t make up its mind which direction to head. Fortunately that one found someone else to affect and we had another beauteous evening. This time the winds were slightly more east of south than last week and also were a little weaker. Starting at around 11 knots it dropped to five or so by the end.

Most of last week’s fleet was out for the race on Course #3 again with only a few no-shows not having the faith to believe that the day’s weather would come around in time. The Wiz kids on board Wizard were even seen working on shore on a minor modification to their rig to reef the mast to be ready for heavier conditions. Personally I think that boat is much better with a four foot shorter mast. As far as the weather, hey have we let you down yet? What? The first week? Oh, we don’t talk about that. It was good to see a few new boats out for the first time this year including Rocket Science. My crew still won’t forgive me for having sold our Soverel 33.

Sophia got things off and running one minute early in the first start of the night, PHRF C, when they apparently mis-timed the sequence and started at the one minute warning. Unfortunately for them, the rest of their fleet started correctly. Oh well, Sophia, I know how it feels. We’ve been there, done that, got the “penalty for premature withdrawal” teeshirt.

As Skip reports, chute choice was questionable for the first leg. On board Foghorn, Davey says “how about the A-sail?” I responded, “nope go with the grey (symmetrical) chute. Damn, I hate when they are right. It’s my boat, shouldn’t I be the one with all the smarts? Heck, the leg was tight enough that in PHRF B White Star went with a headsail up the leg and still was leading some of us by the North Mark. The long port tack beat to the South Mark and flat conditions gave everyone a perfect opportunity to observe their competition, evaluate “point” versus “speed” and play with their trim to try to optimize things. Unlike last week in our class when Send in the Clowns struggled up the weather leg, this time they were blazing fast on their way to a clear victory in PHRF B. At one point in the leg we were able to outpoint them, but never made any headway on catching up. After the flop onto port near the South Mark, we were about to be overtaken by Time Machine. Where did those guys come from anyway? Turns out they were just out for their first sail of the year and sailing/tuning, but not formally racing. Just as they were close to passing us, they reversed course and threw up the chute to lead the parade back to the club.

The off wind leg to the finish gave us another chance to observe how others attacked it and play with our angles for boat speed and VMG. It was interesting in the dieing conditions watching the differences between the masthead and fractional symmetricals, the A-Sails, those who opted for downwind running and the reachers in the fleet We even pulled off our first gybe of the season successfully. It felt good to catch up to the grocery store boats, Red (Cloud) & White (Star) (that’s an old guy reference for those of you too young to know what I’m talking about), and actually get our nose in front before the finish line. Next we need to work on actually beating the Greiners on corrected time!

I’m liking sailing on these clear and warm evenings, hope we have a bunch more. Hope you all had a fun and worthwhile evening.

In addition to Clowns taking PHRF B, in PHRF A it was Bad Fish with a cast of irregulars who pulled one out of their...uhh…bag to win. PHRF C went to Laszlo and friends on Splash Dance. Orange Crate dominated JAM A (by two seconds on corrected time!) and JAM B went to Aftermath2. We’re having good competition. Come be a part.

Don’t forget the Commodore Perry Memorial Reggae Party at the club on Saturday evening. Barbecue chicken dinner from 6:00 to 7:30, band from 7:00 on and rum drinks to be found whenever you ask. And on Sunday it’s the Commodore Perry Race. It’s looking like we will have on the order of a dozen or so boats visiting from the Grosse Isle and Port Clinton areas. Let’s have a great turnout of club boats to give them a challenge.

The results and the second installment of “Skip’n Around the Fleet” are attached.

Oh, I promised to let you know where we would upload these notes on the club website. You can find Skip’s commentary attached as a part of the pdf file of the results for the night. Look here under the Race Results menu for the appropriate week: http://www.ncyc.net/newncyc/racing.cfm

Speaking of “Dancing in the Dark”, and for a chance to win absolutely nothing, who knows the name of the girl that Bruce Springsteen pulled on stage in the video of that song? Man, I’m getting older all the time.

Skip Dieball's stuff follows here:

Wednesday Night Race – May 27, 2009
Race Notes, by Skip Dieball
*************************************************************************************
Weather/Forecast
Throughout our area (NW Ohio/SE Michigan) there were many rain & thunderstorms all day. It looked
like there was going to be a clearing in the evening, but there was a chance of more storms. As these
storms moved through, they were tracking from SW-NE. They caused a lot of changes in the wind
direction and velocity as they passed. It was going to be tough to know exactly what was going to
happen for the Wed Night Race, as there was one small cell that looked like it would influence the
breeze.
Pre-Start
On May 27, I sailed on the Badfish (Melges 32), PHRF A. All the Badfish team regulars had other
commitments, but Bill wanted the boat to sail and asked that I field a team. With Wizard’s mast issues,
having Jeff Mackay and his team join myself, Rick and Andy from the loft made for a fun line-up and we
definitely needed to make sure the cooler was full! Our pre-race list didn’t change from last week, in
fact we needed more time to run through some maneuvers:
• Get Course Number and analyze the angles
• Sail Upwind and get some target average compass numbers
• Check the overall rig tune and set up
• Run through a few maneuvers to get the crew coordinated and comfortable
• Enjoy the starts of PHRF C & B
Again we sailed course was 3, which meant we were going West-North-South-West. The wind was SE,
which made the first leg a tight reach…2nd leg was a lopsided beat…last leg a run.
We knew our overall strategy, but we just couldn’t make up our minds on which spinnaker to use on the
tight reach. A little stubborn and confused from last week’s tight reach, I called for the Code 1 to prove
that the sail could be used effectively with a tight AWA. Somehow I mentally felt that if we went with
the Code 0, it would be too flat and not fast. Rick suggested the Code 0, and I should have listened!!!
Start
Again, we’d start downwind. I think that I’m becoming more comfortable with these starts ;-). We
positioned ourselves toward the leeward (committee boat end on this downwind start) end of the line.
Jeff Mackay reasoned that the AWA would be so far in front that clean air wouldn’t be an issue and he
was right. Both Abracadabra (Melges 30) and the Badfish were making our way down the tight reach
pretty well. Abra had their new Code 1 up and handled it better than we did. We were out of the AWA
for the Code 1, but did our best to keep the boat going. Dale White did a great job of keeping the spin
as loose as possible as we were on the edge most of the leg.
First Leg (West to North)
For a short time we were fetching the first mark. It wasn’t the fastest point of sail for the Badfish, but
we were working hard to make it work. We had great communication between Dale (spin trim), myself
(driving) and Jacq Dieball (calling puffs). Ultimately, with Rick and Jeff’s help, we determined it was time
to douse the spin as we were getting headed on this reach and wouldn’t fetch the mark.
Our takedown was interesting, but we managed for a bunch of newbies to the M32. Andy Nixon on the
bow did a good job of staying focused as things became chaotic. Everyone jumped to it and got the spin
down. Abra and Fupastank (Hobie 33) and Legs-a-Shakin (Beneteau 10) sailed a great 1st leg. Roger
Stark was punched out in front of the PHRF A division. We managed to round 2nd after our takedown.
Looking ahead to the other divisions and sizing up the beat, we saw that in PHRF C Splashdance (S2 9.1)
and Wildcat (J30) had great races going. Full Tilt (J/92), last week’s O/A winner, was looking strong as
was Send in the Clowns (J/29). All were on port tack sailing vastly different upwind angles.
Second Leg (North to South)
The beat was about 95% port and 5% starboard. Getting the Badfish on her target upwind speed wasn’t
hard and we kept a close eye out for veins of breeze and they rolled through the course in narrow
streaks. Again Jacq Dieball did a great job of calling the breeze. Tim and Rick managed our lane and Jeff
and Dale had the sails nicely trimmed. It wasn’t the most exciting leg. The wind was up and down
between 5-7 knots. We made up some ground from my botched spin call on the 1st leg.
Last Leg (South to West)
This leg became a lopsided run with about 80% port and 20% starboard. The wind was dying steadily.
We rounded the last mark behind Spashdance and Send in the Clowns (C & B, respectively) and knew
they had good races going. We were pretty confident that we were on pace to win our division, but
needed to stay focused on the speed-o and work what little pressure was still out there. Tim Arkilander
was trimming the spin and basically steered the boat with his pressure calls. “Light” we went up,
“Medium” did nothing, “Building” we went down. We had these updates as they happened …or if
nothing happened Tim would give feedback every 30 seconds or so.
This was the leg that we made the most time on. The boat amazingly finds its sweet spot. For fun we
heated up to see how the speed would react and it didn’t go up as high or as quick as we thought….so
just like and One Design boat, it comes down to communication between breeze calls,
acknowledgement from the spin trimmer and reaction on the helm.
Observations/Notes
Another great evening off North Cape. A few less boats than last week, but the forecast might have
scared some off (storms all day). Next week there will likely be some additional players out there, so
hopefully we can get up to 50 boats early in the season.
On the Badfish, we still need to work on spin shape calls (my job!), especially on the tight reaches. The
boat is plenty tender when it has a bit on. I am happy we have these Wed evening races to sort through
these details.
From a fleet standpoint, last night’s race was easy from a crew-work standpoint. It was tough on the
trimmers and drivers to make the necessary tweaks to get that .5 of a knot! We goofed around with a
number of settings and tried to watch and gain confirmation on the speed-o. With the wind velocity and
angle so unstable, it was tough to gain knowledge on the settings, but we were patient in some cases
and some of the tweaks worked well for us.

Champagne Series: Sunday May 24, 2009

2009-06-16T09:36:00.000-04:00

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

Notes and Results: Wednesday Night Race May 20th, 2009

2009-06-16T09:31:00.000-04:00

Hi all,

Well, Wednesday Night racing at NCYC is off and running strong. After last week's questionable weather resulted in our decision to cancel the race (sorry about that to those of you who love heavy weather!), we did have a perfect night this week. Absotively posolutely gorgeous wind and weather. If you missed it, be sure to come see what we have in store for next week!

This year we're going to try something new and hope to send out these emails after each of our races so that we can distribute the results to everybody who didn't have a chance to stay to hear them the night of the race and also to share any relevant, irrelevant and/or irreverent thoughts. If you know of anyone else that would like to get these emails (your crew, other boats, people from other clubs, friends at Toledo Beach , anyone) please let me know. Email with their names and email addresses and I'll gladly add them to the list. Let's grow our virtual community to match our on-the-water community. If by some chance, you'd rather not get these emails, just let me know that too. It won't hurt my feelings...too much. Don't mind me, I'll just be the one silently sobbing over in the corner.

I am really pleased to let you know that Skip Dieball has very generously agreed to write up his thoughts from the race course whenever he can. He will also have back up support from brother Ernie and the others at Quantum Toledo. The first of Skip's reflections is attached to this email. He'll be discussing whatever occurs to him: weather, strategy, tuning, rules, mark roundings, things he sees that are good and/or bad, basically any stream of consciousness stuff that we can all benefit from. Hopefully he doesn't choose to use Foghorn every week as the example of how not to do things, even if we are a logical candidate! This should prove to be invaluable to all of us. Thanks tons, Skip!

I have also attached the results of the race to the email. The results are also available now on the club's website, http://www.ncyc.net/newNCYC/index.cfm , under the Racing & Results Homepage. I will also try to load Skip's thoughts too so that they are accessible. I'll check with our webmaster to see if they can also be accessed from that Racing homepage, or if not I can attach them to the calendar listing for the event. Hopefully I'll let you know next week where to look for them.

Aboard Foghorn, we discovered how little it is that old people retain over the course of a long winter and how much one can forget. We laughed, we cried, but amazingly no one fell overboard or was injured! We welcomed new club member Naim Yapragigur aboard for the race. Naim normally races with Vice Commodore Bill and was available because Bill was still putting his boat together. I think we probably helped Naim to realize how good he has it on Wing Jammin.

Thanks to all who came out Wednesday. We had 35 boats, a great start to the season, but there are still lots more of you who need to make your presence felt. Let's see how soon we can get the numbers up to 50 boats! After that, the sky's the limit.

Come out and see all the fun (and food and drinks: Wednesday Night Dinners at North Cape are cheap and fantastic) your friends are having.

This weekend don't forget about Saturday's Commodore's Memorial service, the great brunch that follows, and on Sunday is our Champagne Series of three easy races followed by Champagne for winners and everyone else too! Check the club website for all the details you will need. See you there!

And don’t forget: we’ll see you next Wednesday.

Kent Gardam

Skip Dieball's stuff follows here:

Wednesday Night Race – May 20, 2009
Race Notes, by Skip Dieball
*************************************************************************************
Weather/Forecast
The forecast for May 20’s race was nearly spectacular. With temps in the mid 80s and a dying South wind, going SSW (7-12 knots). Generally the wind in May at NCYC is frontal and this wind was no different, other than it seemed to have some thermal effect, due to the warmth. Most warm frontal winds tend to die off in the early evening hours and fade to the left. We see this more in the summer time. On May 20, the wind supported the forecast with a shift to the right, which meant that Thursday we would see more wind out of the West.
Pre-Start
On May 20, I sailed on Badfish (Melges 32), PHRF A. We wanted to get out to the course a little early to:
· Get Course Number and analyze the angles
· Sail Upwind and get some target average compass numbers
· Check the overall rig tune and set up
· Run through a few maneuvers to get the crew coordinated and comfortable
· Enjoy the starts of PHRF C & B
The course was 3, which meant we were going West-North-South-West. We were hoping (maybe influenced by the forecast) that we’d go West-East-North-West, thinking that the North-West leg would be a more true beat. When dealing with fixed mark courses, this is a tough call for any RC and their decision to go with a 3 was a good one.
Once we got the course number, we pulled our chart out and looked at the bearing from one mark to the next. First leg, RUN. Second leg, Beat. Last leg, Reach. We discussed our start and how we’d set up for the downwind start, then which side we’d douse for the final leg set. I had the team do 5-7 wind checks so that we could monitor what the wind was doing. It was pretty steady, but knowing that the forecast had the wind going right, we knew that our 2nd leg we’d want to play middle-right.
Start
Starboard gybe was the longer gybe. Starting on Starboard is generally a good idea (all things equal). Our plan was, being the lowest rated boat, to start to windward and try to break free. The approach to the start is always a bit nervous, but on downwind starts it is tough to gauge time/distance and position because of the wide angles and speed differentials. We ended up with a good start just to leeward and ahead of Abracadabra, Legs-a-Shakin and Viva Las Vegas. Thankfully the M32 was off and running in clean air. The tips for downwind starts are:
· Clean Air
· Setting & Exiting the Starting Line on Proper Course
· Not battling too much, which leads to sailing off course, but also
· Protecting your position
I’m not a huge fan of downwind starts, because they are unconventional, but I embrace the challenge involved. This particular start was fun because the wind had backed off into the 10 range, which made sail handling on all boats relatively easy.
First Leg (West to North)
For the conventional spin-pole boats, this leg was pretty straight forward. Fetching the North mark wasn’t a big problem. For those of us with Asym’s, it is always tough to balance and recognize VMG (velocity made good) toward the mark. For the M32, it meant sailing hotter and then gybing into the North Mark. Soaking or sailing more downwind on the M32 is tough to do. The speed variations are too great, so sailing hotter works on that boat. The heavier the boat, the more you can soak an Asym. The bottom line on any boat is that you have to have good concentration on the speed and pressure. The spin trimmer and driver need direct communication so that they can “wiggle” the boat down the leg (up in light spots, down in breeze). This helps achieve the best VMG, no matter the spin configuration.
Second Leg (North to South)
On the run we found some subtle breeze variations both in velocity and direction. We knew that due to the geometry and our angle on the first leg that we’d spend a lot of time on starboard tack. To that end, we wanted to check our upwind numbers to what we had prior to the start, while looking upwind for the best pressure.
We stepped out (tacked) at the bottom to get a little right leverage as we didn’t want any of our competitors getting to the right of us. We spent about 2-3 minutes on port and then got a right hand shift of about 10 degrees. We tacked and got about 5 more degrees of right angle. This put us just below the South mark about ¼ into the beat. Generally you don’t want to pin yourself onto a side so early because if we got another 10 degrees, we’d be overstood…if it went hard back to the left, we’d suffer from the leverage we created. The wind went back left, but never left of our mean number…which ultimately put us in good shape. If the beat was more square, we’d likely have played the right middle on the shifts.
Last Leg (South to West)
We recognized on the beat that the wind went right, which meant that the final leg would be an even tighter reach. We needed to switch to a more “reaching” spinnaker. We went with the Code 1 (from the Code 2). In hindsight, we should have gone with an even flatter spin.
When we set and got everything under control, we recognized that we weren’t laying the finish line. The tactic now was to maximize our time with the spin and then switch back to the jib at some point down the leg. The critical thing with this tactic is to just sail the boat and not look at the mark. If the wind dies off, the boat can come up to course. If the wind increases, then you just have to make the switch quicker. We saw flatter water in closer to shore and hoped that we’d be able to come up with the spin. That didn’t happen and we switched out and jib reached into the finish.
Just like the 1st run, we focused on driving down in the puffs and coming up in the light spots. We also had to play the main and vang aggressively to keep the rudder free of helm. This is true on any boat and hopefully your team did the same.
Observations/Notes
What a perfect night! Great winds, great temps, great turn-out! Perfect!
On the Badfish we did well, but made plenty of errors that we’ll learn from. The last leg we could have handled better. Some fundamental maneuvers need to be cleaned up, but that will come with practice.
Our overall focus was to keep the Wednesday night racing in perspective. Sure it is good competition, but we have to have a good time and keep things fun. I think we accomplished this!
As the members of the local sail loft sail with various folks this summer, we’ll share our experiences and what we see on the water. Hopefully this stuff is of interest and gets more people fired up to go sailing on Wednesdays!