Gator bowl 2013, Jacksonville

So we left on Friday, around 11:00 (Kim was able to get the day off even though she's new to her job!), interested to see how much longer it would take to get from the new abode in Bradenton to a rest area landmark where we used to reach the highway from the house in Dunedin, where it took an hour. The new place is really close to the highway, but 50 mi to the south. It took 55 min. Crazy! Good!

We stopped on the way to get gas at the Flying J, where it was cheaper, but it took some time (thanks Gas Buddy, a worthwhile free app), so the whole trip took almost 5 hours, a little longer than usual. Lexi and Missy are along for the weekend! Don't know what the other folks think, but we enjoy having them along. We appreciate the Rudder Club for making accommodations for the RVs and the dogs!

The temperature was great for sleeping outside, the forecast close to 80s during the day and 60s at night. Aside from the highway noise, after a longstanding tradition of dinner at Trent's, we had a nice rest. Jeff and Amy Linton camped I their RV, Mark Taylor bunked with them, his crew, Andy Hayward enjoyed some truck camping, and so did Jamie Fisher (new Scot racer and on his way up to Ohio stopped by to see if anyone needed crew). Tom McNally had a tent. So good to see so many travelers!! Harry Carpenter picked up Bill Ross in NC on the way down from MD, Steve Shaw drove down and met up with Henry Picco, and John Kreidler from Greenville, SC joined Joe Break from the Outer Banks of NC to compete in the Gator Challenge. Way to go, out of towners! Overall, 18 boats raced for the prized Wally Gator who ended up staying in FL since Jeff and Amy, Mark and Andy, and Tom and Mike were 1,3, and 5 out scoring the boats with connections to the Carolina District.

It was quite a light air regatta, Saturday was challenging with one pretty fair race in the dying breeze. During the time spent drifting around between races, the Naval Air Station nearby put on quite an airshow. As Dave says, "Those planes are badass!" Just when we thought the show was over and we would go back to the club, the RC decided there was enough wind for one more race. We would beg to differ, but thankfully the torture, I mean drifter, only lasted 2 legs. Back to the club for cleanup, dog walk, and dinner! Excellent Latin influenced BBQ pork, chicken and brisket with all the extras! Yum!

We were all pretty tired, but stayed up to watch the Auburn/Mizzou game, (wow! Defense anyone?) and tried to start watching the OSU/MSU game, but had to read about it this am, since the club closed before 9:00 pm, Saturday night. Go Sparty!! That was really nice.

Woke up to lots of fog Sunday am, John and Joe went out early in the muck, fortunately, they didn't get lost! We waited a bit too long for the fog to clear, also, expecting the RC to return and let us know things were starting, since they said they would...anyway, we missed the first race...oops!!
Watching is always fun, great to see a different perspective. 2nd race, as yesterday, in wind that kept getting lighter...we had a good start, headed for the L corner, stayed L even longer than Ron! Things were going well, but we went to the wrong gate mark, and, even though the L was looking good again, for a while, some wind came out of the R, giving those on the R a little more pressure at the top of the course. John and Joe came back strong from a situational start, and we just looked for whatever pressure was available to finish. Enough racing for the weekend..it was great to see everyone!

Next stop...Port Charlotte

Gator Bowl 2012

Friday, Nov 30...Travel day
Left home a little later than scheduled, due to more work at the hospital for Kim. We did make it on the road by 10:45, though, only to discover the book we had started on the last road trip was still at home. Crap! Tragedy strikes as we will not be able to keep up with Serge's new adventures as he blog his way through Florida in Tim Dorsey's book, Nuclear Jellyfish. Fortuately, have some backups to chose from, we read halfway through Janet Evanovich's Notorious 19.

3:30 At the Rudder Club, and it's sunny with some nice breeze but sadly, we arrived too late to join in on some tuning up. The forecast looks good for tomorrow, 10-12 mph and partly sunny.

Dec. 1, Saturday
Early morning, warm, sun breaking through the clouds, Kim enjoyed a little pre-race run and things were going smoothly as we set up the boat.

As boats were being launched, the wind and chop was increasing and a boat decided not to behave on the dock. It broke free and was headed precariously toward the bridge as the wind and current pushed it in that direction. Todd sped into action, starting a mark boat and rescuing the Scot.

The wind decreased as we approached the racing area, and ultimately died as the starting time approached. This was not at all what we expected from the predictions from all weather websites. Did I mention we were rained on several times, too? Mostly, a thick mist, but enough to make everything wet.

Dinner was fantastic and we watched the SEC Championship Game, so all was not lost.
We'll see if the weather websites are on target for tomorrow. So far, at 10:00 am, the wind is supposed to be E at 8 mph, and by 1:00, 10mph, and party sunny. Hope so!

Sunday, at least it was sunny and warm. We started a race in what might have been two knots of breeze. Not too surprising since we had been skunked on Saturday sop we make the best of it. It was a slow torturous affair and the 90 minute time limit looked to be in play. As the leaders began to close in the weather mark a powerboat raced to the scene and quickly dropped a hook and signaled shorten course, three legs. I think there were three minutes or so remaining when the Lintons crossed the line in first.

The next race, UGH!!! was started in about 5 or 6 knots which appeared quickly and disappeared as quickly. Soon it was back to 2 knots and torture. I guess it was good that the current was helping on the runs downwind. The Lintons prevailed again for a sweep of the 2 race regatta. The cream rises to the top as they say. Ryan Malmgren had 2 seconds for a fine showing as well.

Wally will be staying in Florida again this year.

The next district race will be January 12 and 13 in Port Charlotte. Out.

The Gator Bowl 2011

The unavoidable occurred; we are about packed and ready to leave home and... creepy neighbor (CN) appears seemingly out of nowhere. He is lurking at and around his house under construction right next to ours. Fortunately, we are about to roll so we shoosh him away and head out. The bright side is he wanted to discuss the type of fence that will soon separate his place from ours. My advice; the taller the better to which I get the tilted head puzzled look similar to what you get from the dog. It turns out the cool neighbor on the other side of CN is moving; partly due to CN. Cool neighbor got wind of CN's possible plans of not having a fence at all! Cool neighbor took matters in his own hands and.. OUT!

We are thinking of moving too, but that is a blog topic for another time.

We recently finished a Kay Scarpetta novel by Patricia Cornwell. She has a number of books in the series, the main character is a coroner in and around Richmond VA. The coroner part is pretty interesting but we are both in agreement that her writing style is just too tedious so we are happy to be done with that. For our trip to Jax we are starting a David Baldacci novel, Deliver us from Evil. We shall see. For me, the jury is out on him too, but I am keeping an open mind. I was in the mood for a Thorn book, Robert W. Hall, but our inventory is lacking.

We arrive at the Rudder Club about 2:30 after an uneventful trip. Uneventful is good when considering we are in a new/used RV.

Here we have RV row. We are at right, the Lintons center, and at left we have the John and John/designer/condo/mobile including the much sought-after faux granite countertops.

We intentionally arrived after them for the;

preferred waterfront view...except for the pesky suv's, forest of pines, ratty dock and interstate highway bridge. But hey!

It has become a mini-tradition to gather at Trent's on Friday night for dinner. Trent's is a little dive not far from the club but the beer is cheap and you can eat the food with few ramifications. I think our headcount was 22 which really makes us popular with the hostess/pissed off door cop-ette. Having no real seating choices we settled in on the outdoor patio, outdoor patio in Jax. in Dec. is a lot like the word "brisk". They have one of those gas heaters that went a long way toward keeping us comfortable, until the gas ran out. The staff seemed a little iffy on the refueling process but we had Andy Hayward in the crowd so, no problem.

Come Saturday morning, it was obvious we were going to see a nice turnout of Scot-ticians, 25 to be exact, very cool. There were also a few Snipes and Lasers, this would probably be a good intro to the video that was posted on Youtube so; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZDKiHVl1V8 Pretty cool but my advice is, don't blink.

We did three races in about 12 to 15 that was steady from the NE. Pretty sure this was the most steady I have seen at the RC. Oh yeah, there was a mess of General recalls. A strong ebb current opposing the solid breeze and you get the idea. It was a really great day of sailing with much starting practice so all is good.

Donna and Jon always do a great job with the food and this year they brought in some Cuban chow that was up to their high standard. They got on everyone's good side by handing out free beer, so there you go.

We are expecting a little warmer weather and more sun on Sunday but it seems the breeze may be a little iffy. We wake up to...

Fog...WTF

The warning signal was scheduled for 9:55, so at about 9:50, in about 1.8 knots of breeze the RC decided to bang out the first general recall of the day. Did I mention the current is flowing north against the zephyr of a breeze from the north. Hmmm. The RC strategy worked perfectly and killed enough time for the wind do build to about 4 to 5 so we try again. Blah, blah, blah, racing, racing, racing. It was a good race when it was all said and done, especially for Paul Abdullah (Thistle class champion). He managed a huge comeback to grab a bullet and widen his slight lead from Saturday. Those in hot pursuit were John Aras, Jeff Linton and Jim Egan.

The fifth and final race started out ok, but quickly landed on my personal top ten list of most frustrating races of all time. This also earned the "sailing sucks" tag on this blog post, there are more of those if you care. During the second beat the breeze was fading fast but the current was going strong, an ok combo for a shortened finish at the weather mark but not ok for a leeward finish against the flow. Nuff said.

Hearty congratulations to Paul Abdullah and his crew Alex who bested the previously mentioned group of stars! Results should be up soon on the Rudder Club website.

We FL-ians are always grateful for the company of the Northerners who come to play, the Privateer YC sent three; Rob Fowler, Bill Humphreys and Ed Craig. Ryan Malmgren jetted in from WI, while his able crew, Tom Lawton, drove the boat down from the Carolinas. I like that deal! John and John did the MD and VA rep and of course Charlie and Nancy Fowler dropped in for communion on their way south to the Keys. Despite their best efforts Wally remains a Gator!

Still chasing the Linton's, we are used to it!

Out.

Photos from 2010 Gator Bowl

Lori was volunteering on the mark boat and was kind enough to snap some nice photos on Saturday. I have posted a few of them, they are high resolution so clicking them will show some nice detail. Enjoy!


The Lintons (4925) leading the way to the top mark


Dave Thinel 4901, Hunter Riddle 19, John Kreidler 2677, Donna Mohr 5502


Al Terhune 5761, Chris Morgan 842, John Wake 5341


Hunter Riddle 19, Mark Taylor 4321


Tommy Smith 4909, Thomas Darcy 5828


A good portion of the fleet


Todd Stickley 4171, Charlie Fowler 2496, John Kreidler


The run


Vincent Gubbini 5309, Thomas Mcnally 5179


Rob Smith singlehanding 4145

Check back with the Rudder Club website for some more photos soon.

Gator Bowl In Jacksonville, Day 1

A pretty healthy group of Scot sailors turned out for the 2010 Gator Bowl. I think the final tally was 26 boats which is well above the average of 18 over the last 5 years or so.
The weather on Saturday was actually really nice, a little better than was forecasted on Friday. It was cool early but by 10:00 am it was nice enough to be shedding clothing. The breeze looked a little shaky but it filled in before lunch and was at times more than the lightweights would have preferred.


Not sure what happened to the red gust line but you get the idea

Three W/L (twice around) races were completed by 3-ish and we were heading in. As usual there was an abundance of trickiness (a word?) to be had, as the wind did the lake thing. The current was flowing north at a good pace, as well, so some good stategy would come in handy to deal with that.
We don't have a Wild Man award, but if we did John Kreidler would get it. While we were heading out to dinner in Jax, John Wake traded a text or 2 with JK. JK was sitting in a bar with Dennis the Lightning guy, in South Carolina with a proper frame of mind when they said "want to go?" With the all-important wife's permission they decide it was a go. Sadly, the boat was sitting at the club which added 2 hours to the drive. After catching a little sleep they departed at 2 am to get the boat then head south to FL.
About 10 am they rolled into the club, looking none the worse for wear. Talk about wanting to go racing.
Two locals receive runner up awards for sailing solo today- Kudos to Rob Smith and Warren Keene!! Singlehanding in 5 knots is one thing but when it is shifty and gusting over 15 its another deal.
Oh yeah we should mention the Lintons have a one point edge on Al Terhune who is just ahead of Robbie Brown.
Tomorrow; rain early, high 59, NW wind 15 to 20...
Out.

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Gator Bowl Day 2

Two races Sunday in about 10 to 12 knots, mostly clear and cold.

Six races total w/ a throw out.

Results Summary;

1 Linton
2Brake/Wake
3Carpenter/Ross
4Thinel
5Taylor

Amy and Jeff collecting the first place loot!

Joe Brake and John Wake team up for second place

Wally moves to Tampa!!

Here we have some of the FL gang with Wally

Results go here

PS What happened to the Sarasota Fleet? Except Ron and Barry, the Ironmen of the FL District!

Gator Bowl Day One

The steady rain from Friday continued through the night but began to break up by mid-morning Saturday. It was decidedly chilly but once the rain stopped it felt a whole lot better.

We got started shortly after noon in light breeze that built through the afternoon.



Very gusty and shifty conditions challenged the 19 boat fleet, there were many huge gains and losses with each shift. There were a couple capsizes which reportedly were quickly righted.

Jeff and Amy Linton were pretty untouchable, they had an OCS in the first race knocking them out of first place. Harry Carpenter with Bill Ross crewing lead the scoreboard after four races. We are tied with Mark Taylor for second and third. I don't have thec scores so will stop at that.

Donna and Jon are excellent hosts and the whole group here in Jax put together a great hot meal for us chilled sailors.

There will be a throw out with six races so if we get 2 in tomorrow, the whole situation could change.

Flying Scots at the Gator Bowl Preview

Piggy hitched up and ready to leave the house

It is Friday evening and we are checked in to the hotel and have the heat on! WTF! It was a lousy day to travel;

Near Ocala on I-75 is that a motorcycle?

rain the whole way sometimes a little heavy but we encountered no real tie-ups just a little slow going which wasn't so bad.


And we thought traveling in the rain sucked

I guess it was almost 6 pm when we arrived at the club. We dumped the boat and went to Trents for dinner, their specialty is to fry stuff, mostly seafood and cold beer. In attendance were our hosts and fleet captain; Jon Hamilton/Donna Mohr, along with Harry Carpenter/Bill Ross, John Wake/Joe Brake, Amy/Jeff Linton and Kim and me. Others are en route but not in time for dinner, hope thier trip is good.

Early in the week the weekend forecast was fairly good, each day it got a little worse; colder and wetter. This morning the forecast for Saturday had a high of 56 with 100% chance of rain, that will cost us a few boats for sure. This evening the latest forecast is a high of 58 and 50% rain that should end early afternoon. Thats a little better so we'll go with it, and keep the heat on.

Out.

Flying Scots at the Gator Bowl

Well, this site seems to be having issues. I had added a post earlier which seems to be lost in cyberspace so here is the important stuff;

Results and Fl District Standings are up on the District site http://www.fssa.com/fldist/news.htm

Gator bowl site has detailed results http://gatorbowl.home.comcast.net/~gatorbowl/OneDesign07.htm#scot

Maybe the lost post will become found and re-appear...