Race reports 2019

December 22, 2019

Race report by Allan Freedman and Bill Zobrist

When is a classic southwesterly not a southwesterly?

The day had that summer look, some haze on the far shore, high pressure having slid gently into its seatback. Seemed like we’d roll with about 8-10, some slight oscillations and then it was all about punching through the chop. The great thing about sailboat racing is that assumptions are dangerous, and can see you headed for the back of the pack, and it is important to shift mindset as well as gears. In Act 1, the story line appeared entirely predictable, with the openers pretty much following script. That favored a bit of left, spotting the pressure, and keeping things moving. But Act 2, proved a slightly  different story line. The breeze swung to the right, and brought more isolations, and more diversity in velocity. Throwing it into a lane and driving fast got you only so far, and not understanding that a day of slight moderation had turned into one of more significant variations, meant not taking advantage when advantage was to be had. There were no surprises in A with Paul Beaudin consistent with the win, Greg Takata in follow up and Flip Meyerson in third. Here is a note for the file, just three points separated position 3-4-5, so play every shift, cause every point counts.

No swimmers in B, but, BZ's Peanut, popped a pin and was de-masted while in the start sequence for Race 1. Eric Letelier orange-blood Dyer returned to action and exacted his vengeance on the B Fleet. If all you did was stay close to Eric, you'd be assured a decent finish. Shig Odani and freshman Amy Ludwig showed consistently high placing for their efforts. Before becoming demasted, John Sassone seemed like he was in for a good day, but spent a good bit of the afternoon staying warm on Lucky. (Waiting on official results from B!). RC's Wil Scheck and Tom Speyer kept things moving allowing for maximum races. "Why are they over there..." Always look at the flags on RC! Many in the B Fleet neglected to notice the course had been shifted from Red to Yellow on the first leg making for a ton of boats arriving at the windward mark on port tack. Many of the B-Fleeters were stymied by the shifting winds closer to shore at the leeward mark. Some of us seemingly going back and forth without progress.

If you missed it, you missed a truly spectacular day for sailing, warm, just enough breeze to keep it interesting and great competition.

November 30, 2019

Race report by Allan Freedman

Well, we have hit the cancellation trifecta today (3 Sundays down for the count), but with the bad comes the spectacular. And that would be race conditions Saturday, which could hardly have been more perfect, even transcending a potentially day-ending gear failure on Lucky. RC Dino Ness (with Dan Leinweber), showing that trademark Canadian calm, did not miss a beat, adjusting to the gear failure – a steerage fail – by moving to harbor stadium sailing. The wind piped straight down the channel and the tide was high. So conditions aligned. Remarkably, by my watch, Race 1 kicked off at exactly 1 PM, so not a moment of sailing lost. Given the harbor wind direction, you can probably guess at the conditions, flat and shifty, with probably 12kts at the high, and 5 kts at the low. Sailing as one fleet, close to 20 boats over 7 races,  the line set up off the dock area between MFA marks.  Windward, leeward the whole day, with 2x in the finale.

It was probably a Pete Buttigieg kind of day, so center left up the first beat, with doing a Bernie Sander/Elizabeth Warren (left, left) or a Mitch McConnell (right,right) probably out of favor. The key was adjusting to the crazy (and here I will refrain from any further political reference for fear of violating our non-partisan fleet policy, but feel free to fill in the blank from any party depending on your persuasion). The crazy being multiple shots, from multiple direction at multiple wind speeds. It was all about “climbing the ladder,’ which meant spotting the ripples, heading for them, and then tacking in the right direction. That and constantly shifting gears to keep the boat from stalling in the highs, keeping it moving in the lows and not cursing in between.  Easy right? There were a few bonkers shifts, particular in Race 6 that had Kara Licata and myself dueling it out in the right corner while Greg Takata picked up a lefty that he rode like a wild bronco to a bullet, but mostly it was quick shots calling for quick moves.

I know scores will be up shortly, but it looks like Greg Takata sustained consistency with a 2nd overall for the day with 3 bullets, a win for your race reporter, with 4 bullets, and Scott Guerin in third. I can’t add so don’t quote me. Thanks as well to Tim Baron for hopping in a crash boat, Dino and Dan, and Steve Wade, our Lucky whisperer, who whisked Lucky off to Orienta for repair.

The 5 to 10kts of fickle breeze from the SSW had the effect of wafting the smell of Beach Point’s canapes across the course, as well as creating big pileups at the windward mark.  Because of the unlucky Lucky, out with a bad fuel pump I was told, the RC of Paul  “99 ways to win a race” Beaudin  and Dave “Bananas” Bessey entertained the seagulls with a round of stadium racing. The channel and the wind were not terribly well aligned geometrically but 4 races were recorded, each packed with thrills and some spills. 

Gung ho newcomers included Jonathan (who had a 5th in one race), Pete, Dan, and Ed as well as many sou vide returnees: Jed (protest 666), Rebecca (protest 666), Lexi, Tracy Williams, Shig, The Berk, and Roy Israel plus many other of the usual suspects Bahar, Juan, Tim,  Carla, Tom Speyer, Keith “Have another shot” Bell, and Alex Vogt.

The races were characterized by winning the start and heading up the starboard rhumb line to see if you could put it in the bank well enough to lay the windward mark. Easy to say, but as usual, hard to do. The big fleet separated quickly between the front and back packs but surprises often came in from the left side where the breeze may have been less blocked by the shoreline. Depending on how well  a racer judged the  lay-line, big gains were made or lost. Some excitement occurred in what would have been the 4th race as the leeward mark was set on a rock shoal that hung up many racers; that race was abandoned and everyone updated their metal harbor chart.

The problem this reporter faces in writing this doggerel is that I can mostly only report in any detail what happened from my narrowish perspective. For example, “Putting it in the bank” is a pretty apt anti-metaphor for my racing  as I squandered literal fortunes of advantage on 720 degrees of tactical blunder. The Berk and I were in a leading position (ok, probably behind Alex but close) on starboard near the windward mark in little breeze and a current that had our hulls and that mark on a blind date. I was inside and knew I was not going to make it to third base much less first.  Jed and others were on the starboard layline and I said to Mark, “we’re fucked”  and  he said, “no, you’re fucked” as he sculled hard and rounded clean. Righto. I bailed on the attempt, jibed, and then tagged Jed when I tacked too close leading to my first of two round the world trips. The second is too embarrassing to mention…

It was really great to race as one fleet, we should do it more. The B Fleet podium included Shig in third, then Tim Baron who heads to A fleet along with Marc Berkowitz with his (5, 4, 9, 7) fleet finish.

In A Fleet, Bahar had a bullet, but had bad luck in a couple races; Guerin had great starts and a new sail but was inept around the course; while it was Alex Taylor, in her first day of the season with a (1, 5, 1, 1) who gave us a master’s class in mistake-free racing and out maneuvered everyone with speed, smarts, and skill. Carla Murphy had a great day as did Rebecca Macie, and with Alex, finished  3, 2 , 1  in the third race.

I would be remiss not mentioning the stellar post-race goulash Alex V shared with hungry racers, a beef and mushroom version full of umami satisfaction and warmth.

See you in a couple weeks!