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Race Report for Saturday, April 8, 2023
Report by Bahar Bidwani
19 boats came out—more than usual for a Saturday. They were lured by the promise of a sunny day and steady wind. They got the sun. But the wind? RC set up for a westerly and then had to deal with shifts back and forth (50 degrees?) and wind velocity went from 12 to 3 to 10 to...
All six races were long. Some of them felt endless! The next to last was a classic. The wind suddenly shifted left before the start and died. Half the fleet tried to struggle towards the now hugely-favored pin.
The rest of the fleet was massed into a clump at the committee boat. Suddenly a huge puff came in from the right. The gun went off and the boat-end group surged ahead. The pin folks went straight, tacked, or just sat and waited. The boat group started to scatter as their wind spread out and died. The left group gradually got wind and a huge shift to the left. Suddenly boats from the left were reaching towards the mark while the boat group boats watched.
In other races there were wicked puffs at the windward mark (often combined with a lift or header) that scrambled the order (or dropped folks who were certain to make the mark underneath it!). At one leeward mark a pack of at least six boats were trying to round. Unfortunately, the innermost one didn’t have its board fully down. A shouting clump of boats drifted to leeward and two trailing boats gleefully snuck into the hole they’d left.
It was a perfect frostbite day—a wonderful chance to practice all the things we’d learned and to make again all the mistakes we’d unlearned, earlier in the season. First places were spread across four people and the first place boat (Paul Beaudin) was only one point ahead of second (Kara Licata). The scores (with an adjustment versus past season scores) will be used to allocate the Giver’s Award money. It seems impossible to me to tell who is going to be handing out those checks this year!
Race Report for Sunday, April 9, 2023
Report by Scott Guerin
The weather prediction for Easter Sunday was a mild one, 9 to 10 kts, sunny, 55°-ish, but those arriving around 11AM heard the howling of the halyards on boats left setup since Saturday’s racing. A blustery NE at 15+ was throwing white-tipped chop across the fetch from Hen Island. RC Bahar and Ed Claflin made the small-sail call and the fleet of 17 including guest Dave A (friend of Erica’s) set out to Lucky, ready to race as one big fleet in a rising tide.
For the no-gybe first race, Fred Treffeisen led all the way from a pin-end favored start to the finish line. He went on to take three more bullets in a row with Carla Murphy, Shig Odani, Eva Burbee, and Scott Guerin taking turns trailing in his wake. The wind eased off a bit, and with it the chop. Freddy must’ve been lulled to sleep by the 5th race when Guerin, smelling blood, hit the heavily favored pin at the gun, tacked to port and crossed the fleet. It is rumored the reporter had a big grin on his face. Nonetheless, Shig kept the pressure on when 666 failed to cover him well on the last leg and the finish was closer than it should have been. Bahar’s razz was much appreciated!
The 9-strong B Fleet was led by David Israel, Catherine Joseph, and Eric Frietag who were separated by 8 points. David and Catherine go to A fleet to test their hard-earned skills. A trend this year is terrific participation by our new/newish racers as they come to terms with this tricky tub; remember, it only gets better.
A shout out to Peter Winder’s wife’s chili which only got tastier after a week in the fridge and to Bahar for his talk on how win:
A: get a clear-air start
B: handle the boat well
C: don’t get tangled up in penalty situations
D: prep your boat to work well with good settings marked
E: go fast by testing your speed against competitors
F: have a plan and be decisive
Please sign up for clean out on Sunday and see ya’ll Saturday.
Race Report for February 12, 2023
The Bet
It took guts on the part of the RC to haul us out in near zero wind, wait around for a bit, then tell the fleets “off ya go” on a triangle course in rising current stronger than the southeasterly wind.
Yet so it was for the 6 racers in A and 14 in B. But Bahar’s and David Israel’s bet paid off and the wind built (if it could be said to have built) and shifted east over the afternoon. More than one racer said on the trek back to the dock ”wish this had come in earlier.” A big thanks to Melissa, Bahar, and David for hanging in there!
In the first A Fleet race, just before the two minute horn, Guerin paddled furiously through mirrored water toward the obviously favored pin end. Sailor had the same idea and at the start, they left the pin behind at a ripping .2kts with Kevin leading. However, after the windward rounding, a rare mental error sent Kevin toward the leeward mark on a course 4 not course 1, and Guerin rolled over Kev to lead at the gybe and leeward marks by several boat lengths. Then, seemingly to the Jaws soundtrack, Kevin ground 666 down on the last leg and had he 3 more yards of runway, it would have been 33 by a nose rather than the other way around.
I don’t remember the second race but in the third, RaceQ says we were going a couple of knots boat speed. Tracy and I took the pin-end on starboard and were moving well in a line of breeze. A short hitch to the the layline and that was all she wrote with Guerin winning and Tracy close behind.
Initially RC thought three races were enough but then decided a little more water torture was in order so they ran a windward/leeward. With a square starting line, Sailor and Guerin went left, Berkowitz and Broszkowski went right, in wind that had “built” to a blistering 3 kts. All four met at the orange windward mark with Kevin just getting around in first and Guerin having to duck the two others. Then, it started to get interesting. Peter and Scott went to the left side, Kevin and Marc went to the right. Guerin knew he needed a silver to win the day and fought Peter downwind but couldn’t quite get an inside overlap so was in third at the leeward mark. His attempt at a tacking duel was a quixotic failure leaving him behind Kevin, Peter, and Marc, resulting in a second place for the day, behind Kevin by a point, and ahead of Marc by a bit. This reporter felt dialed-in for the first time this season and was happy for that.
— Scott Guerin/666
February 12, 2023: B Fleet Race Reflections, as seen in the glassy water…
Report by Erica Conway
First off, let’s congratulate the 14 brave B Fleet sailors who got towed out to the race course today. It really didn’t look all that promising. We did, however, know that some of you would impress us with your light air boat handling and tactics.
Coming out on top in the B Fleet was Roy Israel, who got a bullet in race two. It’s always a good idea to follow that yellow foul weather jacket. Roy knows what’s up. Second place for the day goes to Jacqueline Bellvieau, whose consistency got her just 10 points for the day. No wonder she was all smiles coming up the dock after putting away her boat! In third place was Aaron Wheeler, with a rockstar dip start in the first race to earn him a bullet. A shout out to John Tremblay, who climbed out of a rough start and captured a first place finish in the third race!
Here’s what I observed from the back of the pack:
Halfway up the first leg of the first race, I thought to myself, if someone yelled, ‘Everyone freeze so we can take a picture!’, none of us would have to do anything differently… Then I got my head back in the game and watched a point on land to make sure I was still moving forward.
The feeling of butterflies in my stomach that I typically feel when coming down the driveway to the parking lot was a little less fluttery today. Maybe I was half hoping we wouldn’t actually sail. Maybe I hoped that I could handle the boat better if it wasn’t too windy. Either way, it was nice not to start the day with total panic. PROGRESS.
Aaron saw me putting on my drysuit and was like, “Are you sailing today?!” I guess I’m out of excuses, so yes. PROGRESS.
Once in the water, we all had fun getting towed out to the race course by our awesome crash boat operators. Many thanks. We’d still be out there if it weren’t for you all!
Once at the race course, I did a lot of practice at the line. I timed different approaches and stayed super focused on every movement I made, willing my boat to keep going. I put all of Bahar’s pre-race meeting tips in effect, raising my centerboard just a bit, not sailing too high, and keeping the boat heeled. I thought I had a bright idea for the start and tested it out. I’d get some speed going downwind on the finish line side of the RC, and then swoop around the stern of Lucky before my speed ran out. I’m glad I tested my theory. The current was way too strong, so you couldn’t start at the stern of the RC. You had to be literally ON the line the whole sequence. Second, since there was so little wind, what little there was was blocked by Lucky once I came around her stern. I came to a screeching halt. It was a naive idea, but it shows that practicing before the start is always a good idea. PROGRESS.
I challenged myself to stand up in my boat. Scott looked pretty badass finishing a race standing up last week. I just wanted to see if I could stand up without flipping over. Today was the day to try it. Mission accomplished. My next party trick will be sitting up on the gunwale. PROGRESS
It was quiet out there. It’s amazing how much I associate sailing with the sound of the wind in my ears and the feel of it on my face. Today, I heard the slapping of the water on our hulls, the occasional creaking of a boat, birds squawking, people laughing, my water bottle rolling around in the bottom of my boat, and planes overhead. I noticed the eerie sound of the Race Committee horn echoing back at us after bouncing off the land. Mindfulness comes from paying attention to the senses, and I found myself feeling calm and in the moment. JUST BEING:)
Once the racing started, I noticed that I was still feeling more relaxed than normal. Maybe it was because I was pretty certain I could manage to stay upright, so I could give all my energy to just racing. I also let go of the result. I know that’s the first step, and I should have done that a year ago, but I can’t help but want to perform well. My bar went from “not DFL” to “finish in the time limit.” I can’t set the bar any lower, so hopefully I’ll start to get better soon! PROGRESS!
After sailing, we were all excited when Piotr gifted us with an amazing whiteboard, complete with magnetic sailboats to help with our debriefs. We had fun watching Bahar move the boats around and explain The Coffin Rule to us.
I’m so glad I went sailing today. While I do feel like I moved the pin forward a little on becoming a better helmswoman, the beauty of today was being in nature with a lot of amazing people. I hope the birds were listening, too, and enjoyed the sounds of our laughter as well.
Race Report for Sunday January 22, 2023
Race report by Scott Guerin
Steely skies greeted the 26-odd racers waiting to be guided by RC Chair Allan Freedman around the marks. Melissa Bontemps captained Lucky and we give thanks to her skills and great radio voice!
Given a building Southerly wind in the 15kt range, predicted to gust past 20kts and delivering choppy water around race time, pre-race discussion centered on the large or small-sail decision. Tough call but large sails it was with the knowledge we might heave-to if it got too hairy. A new moon put the high tide such that it would have been a great last day to pull the boats out as the angled dock was level with the shore!
As we got off the docks it should be noted that two racers pulled out given the heavy chop and predicted wind. No loss of honor there, racers must weigh the risk with care and MFA fully supports those decisions, rare as they are.
The first few races were non-gybe courses. In A-Fleet, Gregg Takata (196), Fred Trefeissen (1), and Scott Guerin (666) managed to make the podium in all three. Then, in race 4, the wind began to fade and gears had to change. Some managed that well, others, like this reporter, could not get his groove back. Gregg and Fred continued trading gold and silver with only a minor stumble along the way while Kara Licata picked up the slack in the lighter air. In the end, Gregg, with 12 points (1, 1, 1, 5, 1, 1, 2) took gold by a point over Fred (2, 2, 2, 1, 3, 2, 1), and Bahar got in front of Guerin 35 to 38.
We did see Piotr take an uncharacteristic bath at a windward mark when he got tangled up on the wrong side of the boat. He got his boat re-rigged but missed a few races.
In B- Fleet, I sense a fierce battle for the yo-yo trophy given to the sailor who moved between fleets most often. I won’t name names as I’ll surely jinx them in their quest to walk the dog to A-Fleet stability. David Israel had solid third (4, 2, 3, 3, 4, 3), then John Schneider (2, 5, 1 ,4, 1, 2), and on top, Mr. Berkowitz with a stellar (1, 1 ,2 ,1, 3, 1) to win the day. John and Marc go up to A.
Kevin Sailor, on crash boat duty, when asked after the race what he saw said, in so many words “there weren’t enough roll tacks. In this kind of chop you need to accelerate out of the tack or you stop dead when the next wave hits.”
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