The Heat Is On

The Lake Eustis and Tampa fleets both faced the summer heat, check that, the October heat that seems like July. WTF. Here is the blow by blow;

Light wind this weekend at Lake Eustis, but at least it was miserably hot.

It’s easy to understand intellectually that the heat will break soon, but it’s sure hard to believe it!

Saturday, six Scots raced: Ray Laguna and Glenda Libby in 5770, Dave and Jay Asaibene in 5179, Ann Ireland and Joe McConkey in 5366, Francois Simon, ably assisted by Francois Simon, in 3362 (but confusingly sporting sails with 770 on them), Jack Bazner and Joe Lobato in 3387, and me with Dean Grimes in 5810.

Both races were sailed in light but not minimal air. There was enough breeze to sit on the rail at times, but not so much that anyone was overpowered. Each race was two laps to a downwind finish.

In the first race, Ray and Glenda led the whole way in 5770, although Dean and I did our best to make them nervous, especially downwind. Ray, though, did a terrific job of keeping to the inside on the downwinds and we were unable to get past them. Ray and Glenda crossed the finish line first in 5770, Dean and I followed in 5810, and Jack and Joe were third in 3387.

In the second race, Dean and I were over early and had to round the pin end to restart (my fault entirely). We continued on port and caught a nice breeze on the right side. Thus, we switched roles with Ray and Glenda, and managed to lead the whole race, with nervous moments both upwind and down as Ray and Glenda came on fast. Dean and I held on for first in 5810, with Ray and Glenda second in 5770 and Francois Simon, working both ends of his boat, third in 3362.

All in all, in spite of a depressingly light forecast, Saturday produced some nice sailing.

On Sunday, though, another depressingly light forecast proved depressingly accurate. A number of sailors showed up at the club and launched their boats, but most were intimidated by the shifty one or two knot breeze and did not sail. That and the 90+ degree heat and humidity.

In the first race, there were just two Scots on the water – Chuck Smith and Tony Tussing in 5125 and Dean and me in 5810. The race was a reach-fest, as the wind went left and stayed there the whole time. Dean and I finished first and Chuck and Tony came across second.

The second race on Sunday was much the same, with port tack strongly favored, but at least Francois joined us on the water. Annoyingly so, because he sailed fast and finished first, followed by Dean and me in 5810 and Chuck and Tony in 5125.

David Leather of the MC fleet pinch-hit for Dave Williams on the Committee boat this weekend, and did a great job. Many thanks to David.

Lake Eustis. The next fleet racing at Lake Eustis will be in two weeks – October 24 and 25. We’re supposed to get cooler temperatures later this week. Let’s all hope for some cool weather and steady breezes in two weeks!

Florida Districts. The next Florida District regatta is in Sarasota on Saturday and Sunday, November 7 and 8. I’m seriously thinking about attending, and it would be great to have a good turnout from our fleet (even though that regatta conflicts with a club racing weekend). The Sarasota Sailing Squadron make wonderful hosts, and Sarasota Bay is a shockingly beautiful place to sail. The regatta ought to be a great deal of fun. I’ll e mail everyone a link to the NOR as soon as I can, and if you’re thinking of going let’s coordinate by e mail..

Thanks to all who braved the heat this weekend. I’ll look forward to seeing everyone in two weeks.

George

Here is the scoop from Tampa;

It's October, it's the Fall, a chill is in the air, NOT! Fortunately for the six teams that came out on Saturday the 8-12k Southwesterly did keep us moving.

Big thanks to Dave Bell, Susan Cintron, Keith Lockley and Mark Taylor for running the 5 nice races, well done!

The racing was very tight, the breeze was shifty enough that no lead was safe, and I think that every finish had multiple overlapped boats at the downwind finish. No team dominated but in the end Dave Clement and new crew Andrew prevailed with the most consistent score line. The breeze built as the day progressed
and Al and Cameron got faster, winning the last race and the tiebreaker for second with Paul and Leslie.

Results:

Team R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 Tot

Dave Clement / Andrew # 4925 1 3 2 1 2 9
Al Thompson / Cameron Salmon # 504 4 4 1 2 1 12
Paul Silvernail / Leslie Fisher # 5026 2 1 3 3 3 12
Dean Bell / Lisa Hayward # 5477 3 5 4 4 4 20
Drew and Andy Hayward # 38 5 2 5 5 dns 7 24
Matt Dalton / Dawn Naramore # 2262 6 6 6 6 dns 7 31

Our next practice is Sat November 7th @ 1400. Jay Tyson has volunteered to be Race Committee, BIG thanks Jay! And the next biggie is the DIYC Thanksgiving Regatta Nov 28, 29th that is always a great turnout and a fun time!

Andy

Kim and I attended neither of the above, instead we had committed to running races for handicapped kids in Clearwater. I know,I know, they wanted handicapped people to run the reces, blah blah blah, I get that.

In the morning we had little breeze and big current so I spent a good part of the time towing the sailors upcurrent before they got sucked under the Clearwater Pass bridge and out to the gulf. There were, fortunently, no incidents. The southerly sea breeze kicked in right after lunch so the kids on the afternoon shift had a good time of it. I had lots of practice with the Boston Whaler.

Make plans now for Sarasota Nov 7 and 8!