Monday, December 19, 2011

December 17 and 18, 2011 gave us the last of the summer on Saturday with warm temperature and the wind that died at noon. On Sunday it was colder and windier like winter with wind building at noon. We had seven sailing on Saturday and six on Sunday for a total of eight sailors. Five races both days. Joan Bryant is RC with Sally Hennessey helping on Saturday and Nancy Petty on Sunday. Special thanks for the well-run races.

Dave Chapin 1-1-1-1-1+ ns-4-1-1-1 =18

Alejandro Illera 5-4-5-5-3+2-1-2-3-3 =33

Rob Krentel 4-2-4-4-ns+1-2-3-2-2 =34

Sam Chapin 2-6-2-2-4+3-3-4-4-4 =34

Randy Rea 3-3-3-3-2+ns =49

Vince Renzoni 6-7-7-7-6+5-6-5-5-5 =59

Caroline Chapin 7-5-6-6-5+ ns =64

Patrick Daniel ns+4-5-6-nf-ns =67

Patrick Daniel returns to us on one of those crazy windy and shifty days. He has a new sail, but hiking strap broke when he was ahead of Sam and Sam saw the spectacular out of the boat head first backwards and then capsize. If we had video, we could charge to see it. The line that holds the hiking strap wears. Check yours and also don’t forget rivet aft. Reverse the sheet (wear at ratchet block). Check traveler at the fairleads. Check the rudder down haul with rudder down at the top gudgeon. Check the outhaul at the fairlead. One of the reasons, if you have a big budget, to buy a new boat every one or two years.

Caroline took a Saturday off from her high school senior activities to sail with us. Come again when you can. We continue to struggle to get the girls and women out for some reason.

Vince is back and getting his boat handling cornered and will be pushing up in the standing soon. He sailed the radial on Sunday and that was a good choice for him. He was not always last.

Randy Rea, our special friend from Crystal River, visited on Saturday. He scored second on Saturday and it is interesting to see that Sam beat him three out of the four races, but it is your bad races that often make the difference in the series scoring.

Sam had one of his best days ever on Saturday, but then was just lucky to stay out of trouble on Sunday.

Rob had to leave early on Saturday so he took a hit in the scoring. Well, you can put a hat over the three scores there for 2-3 and 4. Rob beat out Sam on his first place to no first places for Sam. On the Sunday scoring Rob was one point ahead of Alejandro.

Alejandro is back and although he got beat up on Saturday, he put it together on Sunday in spite of the higher winds.

David was late getting out on Sunday and then got on the wrong side of a big shift in the second race.

The rest of them he had in control, but had to win a couple on the beat to the finish.

Now we have two weeks off before Club Racing again 2012 January 7 and 8.

A note about two of our Laser sailors that didn’t sail with us. Craig Yates took Luke Yates and Cameron Smith to The Florida Yacht Club in Jacksonville to their Equinox Youth Regatta over the weekend to sail in the 420 class. They also took Mathew Smith, Cameron’s little brother, to sail the Opti green fleet. They were first place in both their groups. GOOD WORK, YOUTH FOUNDATION.

Monday, December 5, 2011

 December 3 and 4, 2011 Laser races at LESC, altogether nine sailors over the two days. Five races Saturday and seven on Sunday. Winds were brisk with a lot of crazy gusts. Temperature in the 70’s.

David Chapin 1-1-1-1-1+1-1-1-1-1-1 =11

Rob Krentel 2-2-2-3-2+3-2-2-2-2-2 =24

Jerry Beck 4-6-4-5-3+5-3-3-4-3-5 =44

Coach Chris 3-3-5-2-ns+ns =57

Sam Chapin 5-5-3-7-nf+4-nf-ns-5-5-4 =58

Charlie Jensen ns+2-4-4-3-4-3 =65

Bailey Verkaik 6-7-7-6-ns+ns =70

Luke Yates ns-4-nf-ns-s-ns+ns =72

Craig Yates (420) 7-8-6-5-ns+ns =70

Craig Yates brought out one of the youth students as crew on a 420 and sailed with us. He corrected on time with Bailey, who was sailing a radial rig. He sailed very well and he and Bailey were switching off positions when time was allowed. They came close to the Laser full rigs on corrected time, but not quite beat any.

Luke Yates was late getting out to the course and missed the first race had a great second race right behind Coach Chris, but then too much wind for the full rig.

Bailey Verkaik did a great job with the radial sail in the higher wind. With time corrected he almost picked off some full rigs. He was our first placing youth.

Charlie Jensen showed us he had not forgotten how to sail a laser. He was third place on Sunday and had a second place in the first race. He didn’t sail on Saturday and so is down in 6th for the weekend.

Sam Chapin. Well, the old guy has more trouble when the wind is up. Not enough space here to tell you all about the troubles, but he went in Sunday because he was not comfortable with that much wind and while he was on shore trying to figure out how long it would take him to change to a radial rig—he looked out and it seem that the wind had let up some—so he just went back out. It turned out to be a good day.

Coach Chris had his last day working for the Youth Foundation and they had a party for him at noon. We were glad to have him sailing with us on Saturday. The youth class is over at noon so they had to go in before the last race to have the boats put away before noon. He learned a little about lake sailing and we saw him really heel the boat to weather going down wind. He was third on Saturday and dropped down one for the weekend.

Jerry Beck really had a great time in the bigger wind. On Saturday he sailed extra after the races. Jerry, we love having you come.

Rob Krentel cornered all the seconds except for one on Saturday so Coach Chris won’t feel too bad and one on Sunday to encourage Charlie Jensen. Great work Rob.

David Chapin didn’t let anybody get ahead—well, a couple of times for a short distance. Experience is important and more so when the wind is up. When it is light, some wind shifts and pressure changes scrabble the finishes particularly in short one lap races. Thank you David for showing us how to do it.