Monday, August 23, 2010

Laser racing Saturday and Sunday, August 21 and 22, 2010, had nine sailors all together, but only four of us that sailed both days. We had great wind on Saturday as we welcomed Tom McNally and Bianca Mesa to the fleet. Tom lives in Orlando and is a long time laser sailor, but doing other things for the past five years. Bianca and her family have moved to this region from Miami and she was sailing a radial. Tom McNally dominated the racing on Saturday, but was over the line early at the pin end in the first race and didn’t hear the call back. That let Rob Krentel comes out ahead on Saturday. Then Rob and Tom Mc (We have two Toms now) didn’t come back on Sunday. Bianca is starting school Monday so she missed also. That put Sam up on top for the weekend list. Bianca sailed a radial and I corrected her times. She moved ahead of Sam in the fourth race and was unchanged in the others.

Sam Chapin 3-3-4-4-3+3-2-1-1 24
Rob Krentel 1-2-2-1-5+28 39
Patrick Daniel 4-6-5-5-4+1-3-5-6 39
Tom McNally Ns-1-1-2-1+28 41
Bianca Mesa 2-5-3-3-2+ 28 43
Dean Grimes 40+2-1-3-3 49
Marc Solal 5-7-6-6-ns+6-5-4-4 51
Jerry Beck 40+4-4-2-2 52
Tom Rhodes 6-4-7-7-6+5-6-6-5 52

We missed our regular Alejandro Illera who didn’t make either days. Maybe car racing – but Ok the regular racing starts in two weeks.

Patrick Daniel has been sailing up to the top of the fleet, but dropped back Saturday and then I thought he back up on Sunday with 1-3 but then had a couple of bad starts when the wind came up.

Dean Grimes currently owns ½ a Flying Scot but we are glad to have him come back and sail with us. He was second overall on Sunday without flying the spinnaker.

The wind came up for the last two races on Sunday and look at the two fourth places for Marc Solal. We know the French are the best sailors.

Jerry Beck got lose to come and sail and scored two second places. Keep coming Jerry.

Tom Rhodes is starting to work his way up the ladder. He was last a couple of times but moved up a notch a couple of times. A little more practice and then some work on the starts. Remember the four things to check at the start. !) Go head to wind to see which end of the line is favored. 2) Get a range on the line so you can see better where it is if you are in the middle. 3) Time the line so you have some idea about how long it will take to get to the other end. You will want that if you have a big wind shift and it also helps you judge how long it takes to get a few boat lengths. 4) Check for current if you at another locations. No current to speak of at LESC.

Our Labor Day races will be the usual time 10 to 12 with our regular RC. The Saturday pot luck and Sunday trophy stuff will conform to the general time schedule (after the MCs, FS and Wayfarers get done). Then Monday, if you are not sick of racing by then, is the “Laser invitational” with lunch (bring your own) trophies and stuff after.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Laser report for the weekend– August 7 and 8, 2010 – four races on Saturday and three on Sunday. See if you can figure out the scores from this next paragraph.

Alejandro Illera 1-1-1-3+1-1-1 = 9
Rob Krentel 2-4-3-1+2-4-2 =18
Patrick Daniel 3-2-2-2+3-7-nf =26
Sam Chapin 4-3-4-5+6-6-3 =31
Tom Rhodes 6-5-6-4+4-3-6 =34
Marc Solal 5-7-5-ns+7-2-4 =38
Dean Grimes Ns+5-5-5 =51
Ray Laguna Ns-6-ns-ns+ns = 54

Alejandro showed that he could sail in the big winds of Saturday and the light to no wind of Sunday. He stole the first race on Saturday from Rob, but then in the 2nd and third races he was just way ahead.
A really bad start in the fourth race Saturday got him the third.

Rob had a big lead in the third race on Sunday and then in all the wind changes on the first beat Alejandro managed to get by him. Rob is still our #2 guy by a long shot.

Patrick Daniel has stepped up now. He won second place on just the Saturday scoring, one point ahead of Rob, but on the second Sunday race he had a good position, went left on the final beat to finish. The pressure can in from the right and left him sitting out there trying to get back to the finish while the rest of us sailed up to the line. Then in the last no wind race, he just went to shore. I kept thinking that was a smart move as this was not fun until the big wind came in the finish and everyone was planing into shore.

Tom Rhodes has all the parts to a good boat now, and found a third place in the races on Sunday. His best finishes.

Marc Solal our heavy weather guy — look at that second place on light wind Sunday... Good things happen on strange days.

Dean Grimes came to sail with us on Sunday. He brought Nancy to help with the RC and tied with Sam for fifth place on Sunday. Dean is one of the two that just sailed one day.

Ray Laguna came a little late on Saturday and missed the first race. When we could see the storms coming was smart enough to get back to shore. When the wind is really up and when it is really light, sailing the Laser changes a lot. We had them both conditions over the weekend. Sunday Ray went to his pistol shooting exercises, and this next week it will be the boat buying extravaganza.

Caroline and Dave Chapin went to the Treasure Coast series at Palm Beach Sailing Club. We don’t have a complete report on that yet, except that they got two races in before the storm canceled things, Caroline was the second Radial and they had big time current.

A group went to Halifax River on Saturday. Maybe we will get a more complete report on that.

Next Laser sail Wednesday evening at 6 PM and then the weekend racing in two weeks. The MC scows will be racing in two weeks also.