Saturday and Sunday, November 8 and 9, brought excellent sailing weather and things both familiar and new to Lake Eustis. The familiar: Ray Laguna and Dean Grimes taking two bullets on Saturday. The new: the first weekend of our Hartge series, and Ron Baerwitz – sailing with daughter Melissa and son Jerry – announcing his first appearance this season by taking the two bullets on Sunday.
Saturday saw nine Scots racing. Along with Ray and Dean on 5770, they included Dave and Jay Asaibene on 5179, Randy and Ronnie Boekema on 5697, Chuck Smith and Tony Tussing on 5125, Jack Bazner (finally back from somewhere cold) and Joe Lobato on 3387, Chris Erichsen on 5339 (I failed to write down the name of Chris’s crew – sorry), Francois Simon sailing solo on 3362, Pete Smith solo on 715, and me sailing with Todd Hunter and his son Jake – Jake’s first time sailing – on 5810.
The first race on Saturday was two laps to a mid-course upwind finish. Ray and Dean took an early lead and held it the whole time. The breeze was patchy but slowly building, and choosing the correct side of the course was critical. None of us by Ray and Dean seemed to get it right on every leg, so the fleet finished fairly spread out. Ray and Dean crossed the line first in 5770, Todd, Jake and I managed to follow in second on 5810, and Jack and Joe came in third on 3387.
The second race was more of the same patchy breeze, with more of the same need to choose the right places on the course. This time, though, more of us seemed to choose correctly (or at least to choose in the same way . . .) and the fleet was closer together. Pete Smith on 715 and Francois Simon on 3362, our solo skippers, were fast upwind in the light air. Francois even braved the spinnaker on the downwind legs and held his own there as well. On the second upwind leg, Todd and I made Jake’s introduction to sailing more exciting than we planned when we fixated on finding the layline as we neared the mark on port and neglected to look below us. Francois came in on starboard and did not see us under his sails until too late. When Todd and I finally did look below us all we could see was Francois’ orange bow, about ten feet away. T-bone! Right in front of God and the committee boat. But, no injuries, no damage, and our fault entirely. We did our penalty turns and kept going, although our learning experience cost us some time. At the finish, it was Ray and Dean first on 5770 (overcoming an OCS start), Chris Erichsen and crew second on 5339, and Jack and Joe third on 3387.
On Sunday we had another good turnout. All the boats from Saturday raced except for Chuck and Tony on 5125, Pete Smith on 715, and Jack Bazner on 3387, though we had a couple of crew changes: Joe Lobato sailed with Randy on 5697, Chris Erichsen on 5339 was ably supported by wife Becky and daughters Samantha and Megan, and Stephen and Annie Britigan sailed with me on 5810. In addition, we were joined by Anne Ireland and Joe McConkey on 5366 and Ron Baerwitz with Melissa and Jerry on 3360.
The breeze on Sunday was stronger but still variable across the course. Again, choosing the right part of the course to sail in was rewarded. In the first race, Ron, Melissa and Jerry clawed their way to a close come-from-behind victory at the upwind finish, crossing about ten seconds in front of Stephen, Annie and me. Great work by Melissa and Jerry, who were in their first race ever! (Although – and I’m just guessing here – their father may have sailed once or twice before.) Ray and Dean on 5770 placed third.
In the second race, the breeze was building and puffy, capsizing several MC scows. All the Scots stayed on their feet and more of us made good choices on the course, so we enjoyed several crowded mark roundings and finished with a parade of boats spaced a few lengths apart. Ron, Melissa and Jerry on 3360 again crossed first, followed by Randy and Joe on 5697 and then Ray and Dean on 5770. All in all, another great day of racing, and an impressive debut performance by Ron, Melissa and Jerry. We hope team Baerwitz will have the time to join us consistently through the rest of the season.
Finally, thanks to all who joined us for food and drink after racing on Sunday, when we awarded trophies to the winners of the Keenan Series. It was nice to take a deep breath and spend a little quiet time together. Thanks especially to everyone who supplied food, including Dave Asaibene for cooking a marvelous brisket, and to Ronnie Boekema and everyone who set up and cleaned up. Finally, many, many thanks to Frank Keenan, one of our club founders, for joining us to present the trophies.
Remember to visit our Fleet 150 website: http://fs.tmcentral.net/. Randy has been doing a great job keeping it up to date with our latest race results and other information.
The next racing weekend is November 22 and 23. We’ll look forward to seeing everyone then.
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