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
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