11 highly motivated, super dedicated yachts we call Scots plying the tannic water of the upper bay, fantastic!
Ah, yet mother nature, who Paulie thumbed his nose at a few months ago, was not done with us yet!
She teased us out with a 4-5k Southwesterly, gonna build into a nice sea breeze right?
Big thanks to Jay Tyson and Kevin Fouche for their efforts on Race Committee. We had a couple of practice starts in what would be the most breeze of the day, helped the teams work on their light air boat handling.
Sharp eyed Jay saw that the breeze was getting softer and quickly got a race going. Details are a bit sketchy but I believe that Paul and Leslie restarted at the pin and hit the left hard in the dying wind.
There was small shaft of breeze in the left corner that #5026 and #38 rode in on port to the mark.
It was #5026, #38, #4925 at the start of the run. The "brain trust" Ha! on #38 tried to stay in that same left breeze but mother nature wasn't having none of it, it filled form the West. The fleet did all coast into the down wind finish line, but the wind was done. Thanks to Wing it, Another Road, and Penny and Ed (power steering) Ruark for the tow ins!
Results:
#5026 Paul Silvernail and Leslie Fisher
#4925 David Clement and Joe Blouin
#4156 Dave Bell and Susan Cintron
#812 Dave Thinel all by his lonesome!
#38 Andy and Lisa Hayward
#5477 Dean Bell and crew
#2262 Matt Dalton and Dawn Narramore
#4321 Tom and Mark Taylor
#504 Al and Corey Thompson
#4305 Mike and Andrew Douglas and Terry
#2007 Nate and Melissa Velardebo
Our post race meeting was lightly attended, Kevin Fouche will have a synopsis out soon to answer questions, all is well with Fleet 168!
Our next fleet race/practice was scheduled for October 18th. We have 4-5 boats leaving town to attend the
Masters Championships in Ft Walton Beach the same day. Much discussion has revolved around this and it
has been decided that the fleet will sail the following day, Sunday the 19th which is the DIYC Dore Drake Regatta. This is a women's only event so Scot ladies form your teams and Scot men come help with Race Committee. I will need a manly Scot man to accompany me and my cooler full of beer on the pin boat.
We also need boats for the teams to use, contact me if your Scot is available. Info at www.diyc.org / women's sailing.
See you at the club!
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Lake Eustis Flying Scot Fleet Racing
Our club racing this past weekend (September 13 and 14) proved challenging. The winds were light and shifty, and the weather hot, making things hard on the competitors and Race Committee alike. Still, far better to be sailing than not.
On Saturday, six Scots competed. Among them were Chris Erichsen on 5339 – racing with his entire family as crew (Becky, Samantha and Megan) – and Francois Simon, making his season debut as skipper on his Scot 3360, assisted by club member and Wayfarer sailor Peter Hylan as crew. Rounding out the fleet were Randy Boekema with Ronnie on 5697, Chuck Smith and Tony Tussing – Tony recently back from a summer in New England – on 5125, Anne Ireland and Lori Lantze (forgive me if I spelled Lori’s name wrong) on 5366 and Ray Laguna and Dean Grimes on 5770.
Saturday’s first race was a frustrating light air lottery, originally intended to be two laps to an upwind finish but completed with a shortened course at the end of the second downwind leg. Ray and Dean on 5770 did a great job of finding the breeze and finished first after a painful, spinnaker-drooping final leg. The Erichsen clan followed in second place on 5339, in spite of what sounded from the committee boat like a growing mutiny among at least one of its younger crewmembers (undoubtedly wondering why anyone would think it’s fun to sail downwind in light air on a sunny, hot Florida day). In third place were Chuck and Tony on 5125, placing well even though Tony had to be wishing he was still in Vermont.
The second race on Saturday was abandoned, since there seemed to be no prospect of conditions improving significantly.
On Sunday, conditions were a bit better and we were able to complete both races. Five Scots sailed, with most of Saturday’s competitors returning except for Chris Erichsen and Anne Ireland (was Chris’s absence related to that mutiny overheard from the Committee Boat?). In addition, Francois sailed without crew – very fast, I might add, in the light air – and I was finally able to join the fleet on 5810, with Stephen and Annie Britigan as crew to make up for my deficiencies as skipper.
Sunday’s first race looked a lot like a replay of the first race on Saturday, with the course originally intended as two laps to an upwind finish but again being shortened to finish on the final downwind leg. Throughout the race, there seemed to be a huge hole in the middle of the course, with most of the breeze on the right. That led to a nervous final downwind leg as Stephen, Annie and I were leading but watched Ray and Dean – who had taken a hotter angle to the left on the downwind (i.e., to the right side of the course) – catch a breeze which filled in from that side and nearly put them ahead. We barely held on for first (a novel experience, and we learned a thing or two from Ray and Dean about the value of sailing where the wind is). A near second were Ray and Dean, with Chuck and Tony following in third.
The breeze that filled in stayed with us to enable a slightly faster second race. The Race Committee reset the course, but the right side still seemed to be the place to be and the downwind legs gradually became port-tack reaches rather than downwind runs. One boat was a bit anxious at the start and crossed the line early (for the record, it seemed to take us forever to get back around the end and restart). Ray and Dean again found the wind and were ahead for most or all of the race, finishing first. Francois sailed well in spite of being solo, and Stephen, Annie and I had the joy of watching him pass us to windward on the final “downwind” reach to place second. Stephen, Annie and I followed in third.
Our next club racing is in two weeks – September 27 and 28. See you there!
Report by George Golder
On Saturday, six Scots competed. Among them were Chris Erichsen on 5339 – racing with his entire family as crew (Becky, Samantha and Megan) – and Francois Simon, making his season debut as skipper on his Scot 3360, assisted by club member and Wayfarer sailor Peter Hylan as crew. Rounding out the fleet were Randy Boekema with Ronnie on 5697, Chuck Smith and Tony Tussing – Tony recently back from a summer in New England – on 5125, Anne Ireland and Lori Lantze (forgive me if I spelled Lori’s name wrong) on 5366 and Ray Laguna and Dean Grimes on 5770.
Saturday’s first race was a frustrating light air lottery, originally intended to be two laps to an upwind finish but completed with a shortened course at the end of the second downwind leg. Ray and Dean on 5770 did a great job of finding the breeze and finished first after a painful, spinnaker-drooping final leg. The Erichsen clan followed in second place on 5339, in spite of what sounded from the committee boat like a growing mutiny among at least one of its younger crewmembers (undoubtedly wondering why anyone would think it’s fun to sail downwind in light air on a sunny, hot Florida day). In third place were Chuck and Tony on 5125, placing well even though Tony had to be wishing he was still in Vermont.
The second race on Saturday was abandoned, since there seemed to be no prospect of conditions improving significantly.
On Sunday, conditions were a bit better and we were able to complete both races. Five Scots sailed, with most of Saturday’s competitors returning except for Chris Erichsen and Anne Ireland (was Chris’s absence related to that mutiny overheard from the Committee Boat?). In addition, Francois sailed without crew – very fast, I might add, in the light air – and I was finally able to join the fleet on 5810, with Stephen and Annie Britigan as crew to make up for my deficiencies as skipper.
Sunday’s first race looked a lot like a replay of the first race on Saturday, with the course originally intended as two laps to an upwind finish but again being shortened to finish on the final downwind leg. Throughout the race, there seemed to be a huge hole in the middle of the course, with most of the breeze on the right. That led to a nervous final downwind leg as Stephen, Annie and I were leading but watched Ray and Dean – who had taken a hotter angle to the left on the downwind (i.e., to the right side of the course) – catch a breeze which filled in from that side and nearly put them ahead. We barely held on for first (a novel experience, and we learned a thing or two from Ray and Dean about the value of sailing where the wind is). A near second were Ray and Dean, with Chuck and Tony following in third.
The breeze that filled in stayed with us to enable a slightly faster second race. The Race Committee reset the course, but the right side still seemed to be the place to be and the downwind legs gradually became port-tack reaches rather than downwind runs. One boat was a bit anxious at the start and crossed the line early (for the record, it seemed to take us forever to get back around the end and restart). Ray and Dean again found the wind and were ahead for most or all of the race, finishing first. Francois sailed well in spite of being solo, and Stephen, Annie and I had the joy of watching him pass us to windward on the final “downwind” reach to place second. Stephen, Annie and I followed in third.
Our next club racing is in two weeks – September 27 and 28. See you there!
Report by George Golder
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