Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Lasers December 12 and 13. First let me dispose of Jennifer. The first woman and what a great job she did with the first three races. She was sailing the full rig and the Kelley boat (no fancy rigging help) and it was not a light wind day. Not bad first race, a third and ahead of Patrick, Sam, and Bill. But the second race, while Alejandro and Rob went over to the left looking for wind she went to the strip of dark water way off to the right. She got into it first and rode if up to the mark and downwind couldn’t be caught. The only first place we could get away from Rob and Alejandro.
Then she went back to club and got an MC , just missed the time limit for the first race start. (I think that you have to start within four minutes of the starting "gun" to be counted in the race. That keeps you out of the next start in a 5 minute sequence thing.) But she got in the second race. Was able to have a lot of fun with a turn over and boats pushing each other. Ended up just behind Commodore June Howells – good thing because June was looking for a first place call. So she got it. First Commodore and First Woman.
So as far as I know, that is first time we have had people sail with both fleets. Now you could really do it if you would give up some Laser races, have someone put the Laser away for you and have the MC ready. That would require a Team. Sort of a negative for single handed boats.
Of course we had a few years ago, the Opti advanced folks sailing with us and then at 1 PM they had the Opti class and got a lot of sailing in on Saturday. Now we have the advanced Opti in the AM. .
Back to the ordinary.. Summary of the weekend. 8 sailors and 12 races. Wind up with holes and shifts.
Alejandro Illera 1-1-1-3-1-2+2-3-1-1-1-2 19
Rob Krentel 3-3-2-1-2-1+1-2-2-2-2-1 22
Patrick Daniel 4-2-3-2-5-3+4-5-4-4-5-4 45
Marc Solal 5-4-5-4-4-5+6-6-7-5-nf-ns 64
Bill Jackson 6-6-6-6-6-6+7-7-3-6-4-5 67
Sam Chapin 42+5-4-6-4-3-3 67
Jerry Beck 2-5-4-6-3-4+48 72
Jennifer Jones 42+3-1-5-ns-ns-ns 75
Let me start at the top with Alejandro. Sailing fast most of the time. Flat, hiking hard. Look around at who is flattest going up wind, and then who is rolled over to windward most going downwind. On Sunday in the gusts going up wind, he had the super vang on, eases the sail out a little, stays flat and accelerate. You have to practice that a little. You need to know it may happen, so you have the super vang on. You see the gust coming and are ready for it.
Rob is right there behind or ahead of Alejandro. He has most of the second places cornered. On Sunday they were tied on points, but Rob was already down 3 from Saturday. Maybe better transitions going down wind because that is when Alejandro picks up anyone ahead of him.
Patrick really has his best day Saturday with two second places. That is really good for us because it gives us another that could win any race.
Marc Solal sailed better. Had some good races. Better than the scores look . Sam got past he and Patrick, when they were hooked up going downwind. When you get two boat next to each other going down wind, you can only go as fast as the slowest. One gets a little head and the guy behind takes his wind. That is why you see Alejandro and Rob going back and forth dodging each other or going for the inside.
Jerry Beck had a good day Saturday. And he had won those races the week before. Started off with a second place between Alejandro and Rob. But he got his Xmas decorations up on Sunday and took a hit on the scores for the weekend. In the series we just count 60% so the two firsts will be there with the second.
Bill Jackson was a wonder– a third and fourth on Sunday. Catching on quick, but he will be on his way back to Mississippi. You can see his art on billjackson.net, Bil Jackson, Mississippi Artist.
We did the trophies at noon on Sunday.
We voted to do the "fun sail" on New Years Day with the "big boats". No one knows what the fun sail is — any way it won’t count in the next series.
Jennifer wants to know what we are doing this coming weekend.
More about that stuff and the FULL MOON SAIL on December 31.
Some people will be sailing Tuesday afternoon 3 to 5.

Monday, December 7, 2009

December 5-6, 2009

It was a really great weekend for the Laser group.
First let me dispose of the 420 story.. Craig Yates brought an Opti student out (the only one of his class that came) as crew on the 420. Our solid RC took times and Craig and crew corrected out to 1-4-6-3-1-6 finishes. They won two races and finished one point ahead of Luke Yates. (Luke had turned over and took a big hit in the first race.) Craig is happy to beat the kid, as he doesn’t do that much.
Now with that family affair taken care of and while we are happy to do Portsmouth for anyone that wants to come and sail with us, we don’t need to count them in the Laser group... especially if they are doing a lot of first places.
Next let me put down just the Sunday scores
Alejandro Illera 1-2-1-4-4 = 12
Sam Chapin 3-1-3-3-2 = 12
Jerry Beck 2-4-.5-1-1 =13
Rob Krentel 4-3-3-2-3 = 14
Marc Solal 5-4-5-5-5 = 24
Note that we had four boats with in 2 points after 5 races. And regular racing is paying off for Jerry beck with is two wins.
Now let me put together the Saturday and Sunday races. Note that Marc Solal got a second place after leading until just the finish. So all our regulars are moving up.
Alejandro takes a big hit for missing Saturday.
Rob sailed into some big holes, but was always close. He won Saturday and if I had left Craig in the scoring he and Sam would be tied for the weekend.
Sam Chapin 2-3-1-2-2-1+3-1-3-3-2 = 23
Rob Krentel 1-2-2-1-1-3+4-3-2-2-3 =24
Jerry Beck Ns-5-5-3-5-4+2-4-5-1-1=41
Alejandro Illera 36+1-2-1-4-4=48
Marc Solal Ns-4-4-5-5-2+5-5-4-5-5=49
Luke Yates Ns-1-3-4-3-5+30 =52
Luke yates did a terrific job sailing the full rig in a lot of wind. Won the second race.
Seth Bahr has been sailing with us during the week and we expect the whole High School bunch will be back soon doing 420s and Lasers.
Jim Rotella got an hour in sailing the Laser on Sunday afternoon – he is getting ready to join us.
Tom Doyle is back with his MX ray. Maybe we can get him racing it with us.