Sunday June 24, 2012

We really had a great day sailing in the rain and wind on Sunday June 24, 2012.  We had the races for Saturday canceled so we could pitch in with Sailstice.

Rob Krentel       1-1-1-2-1-2         8

Jerry Beck          ns-3-4-1-2-1       18

Sam Chapin        2-2-3-3-3-nf        20

Marc Solal           3-4-2-4-4-3         20

Vince Renzoni     4-5-5-5-5-nf       31

Michael Gapuz   ns-6-6-ns-ns-ns  40

Michael was our only Youth and he came late, but Jerry helped him get his boat in.  He sailed a radial and we took times on his two races.  On correction his times moved up, but not enough to catch Vince so he stays with two 6’s.  He came in to meet with Monte Stamper and Ray Laguna to talk about his Eagle Scout project and the landscaping around the club house.  The youth are moving up on the water and on shore.

Vince Renzoni sailed a full rig and was doing better.   Sailing flatter going up wind and in better control.  He is a light weight so this is more of a challenge for him – I remind him that he and Alejandro weigh about the same.   He was happy with his racing on Sunday.

Marc Solal wasn’t going to come Sunday unless we were racing.  It was a great day with he and Sam tied for third.  Marc had one second and several other close finishes.  Notice that Jerry, Sam and Marc were only 2 points apart at the end of the day.

Sam had his only practice sail on because of the rain and too lazy thinking about drying his good sail before taking it home.  He developed a big rip in the sail in the last race, so he comes in while he could still sail with it.  It was not downwind back to the sailing club.

Jerry took a couple of races to figure out the day, and then was right with Rob in the last three.  Won two races.  Way to go Jerry.

Rob Krentel, thank you for letting Jerry win a couple of races. We need to have him coming back.

Next Laser races in two weeks and then every two weeks all summer.

We may also have some organized sailing during the week.  If you are interested, let me know which days and we will try to get a group together. We have some extra boats so you don’t need your own Laser.

June 9 and 10, 2012

Laser races June 9 and 10, 2012    Variety of winds on Saturday and steadier and hiking wind on Sunday.  Six boats racing on Saturday and three on  Sunday.

Sam Chapin     6-3-2-3-4+1-1-1-1-1-1-1      25

Marc Solal       3-4-6-6-3+2-2-2-2-2-2-2       36

Vince Renzoni 5-5-4-4-6+3-3-3-3-3-3-3       45

Dave Chapin    1-1-1-1-1+ns                            54

Rob Krentel      2-2-3-2-2+ns                            60

Jon Chapin       4-6-5-5-5+ns                             74

Jon Chapin had an afternoon sailing with his Father and now he is in the mix.  The bottom three on Saturday really had a good work out.

Rob had to do some family things on Sunday, so his missed out on the first or second place for the weekend.

Dave Chapin didn’t come back on Sunday.  Probably couldn’t get young America up in time.

Vince is better and better.  Had a good time on Saturday trading places with the others and
Sunday sailed all the races.  When the wind is up boat handling get more critical.  Lots of practice..

Marc Solal had his wind on Sunday and sailed well.  Needs to handle wins shifts just a little better.

Sam was lucky that it didn’t blow any harder than it did or he would have been out of the whole mess.

All and all a good weekend.  We will be looking forward to nine or ten boats at the races this summer.

Thanks to Joan Bryant and Sally Renzoni for RC work and Jim Lingeman for getting the RC boat steering fixed.

May 26 and 27, 2012

 May 26 and 27, 2012  The Laser Memorial Day series.

When the old man finally added up all the points we had different result than he reported on Sunday.

We had a three way tie for first and the nod goes to Randy Rea because he had the most firsts.  He didn’t sail both days, so we will still leave the first place to Patrick Daniel and the second to Marc Solal because they braved all the strange winds of the weekend.  Strange circling winds of Saturday and early bits of Tropical Storm Beryl on Sunday.

Randy Rea        1-1-1-1-1-1+ns                30

Patrick Daniel  5-5-5-4-4-2+1-2-1-1       30

Marc Solal       2-4-4-5-5-3+2-1-2-2         30

Sam Chapin     3-2-2-2-2-4+ns                  39

Vince Renzoni  4-3-3-3-3-5+ns                  45

This weekend is a separate series.  The April and May series finished the week before.  The summer series begins in two weeks.

Vince Renzoni is sailing faster, trading places with Marc and ahead of Patrick most of the time on Saturday.

Sam let Randy beat him too often--- but what is new.  Vince and Sam both went out on Sunday with 4.7 rigs, but got back in before they got in trouble.

Marc Solal is sailing better.  He did well both in the light wind on Saturday and then sailing the full rig on Sunday when the wind was really up and we had some waves.  .  He deserved the weekend win.

Patrick Daniel has been busy sailing his new 640 and we are glad to see him take a weekend off and come to sail with us.  He was a little rusty and usually sails better than his Saturday efforts.  With the wind up on Sunday he sailed a radial and showed that when we have the wind it can keep up with the full rigs.

We had six that were planning to sail Monday, but winds from Beryl cancelled that.

May 19 and 20, 2012

 May 19 and 20, 2012 the Laser fleet overtakes the other fleets at LESC with 11 boats racing on Saturday and 5 on Sunday.   Five races on Saturday and four on Sunday.    Well don’t get carried away,   that is mostly because the MC scows had a big regatta someplace else.    I will send out the Davis Island report for Saturday racing.  They had eight boats out.  By the numbers we are doing very well.

Dave Chapin         1-2-1-1-1+2-2-2-1    13

Rob Krentel           4-5-2-2-2+1-3-1-2    22

Sam Chapin           3-3-4-3-4+3-1-3-3      27

Vince Renzoni       7-8-8-8-8+4-4-4-4      55

Marc Solal             ns-6-6-7-6+5-5-5-5    55

Alejandro Illera     2-1-3-4-3+ns                68

Charles Jensen      5-4-5-5-5+ns                 79

Craig Yates            6-7-7-6-7+ns                 88

Jon Chapin            10-9-9-9-9+ns               101

Baily Verkaik           8-ns+ns                         

Luke Yates              9-ns+ns

Luke Yates is one of our usual youth challengers and capable of winning a race or two.  He came out with radial sail. Some kind of weather report thing.  Better luck next time.

Bailey Verkaik sailed with us… this old guy reported Cameron Smith in the general newsletter.  Well, it is too late to fix that Bailey.  You were ahead of Luke and that usually takes some sort of work.  I will try to do better with reporting you.

Jon Chapin sailed well but finished last in all the races.  He has been pleasure sailing and that really is a different ball game.  If he sails a little more with us that will all change.

Craig Yates is usually up near the top when we are finishing.  Some problem with the boat.  Maybe we can figure that out.

Charles Jensen was back with us. Our founding Laser sailor.  He passed Sam a couple of times and just needs a little more practice.

Alejandro Illera was back with us for one day before going off for his trip to Greece.  He was second to Dave Chapin on Saturday and Just ahead of Rob.   Miss a day racing and it really shoots your score..

Marc Solal in a tie with Vince R.  We hope these two can keep battling it out.  Marc really comes through on the windy days.
Vince Renzoni has climbed up into fourth place.  Sailing better every day.

Sam Chapin.  Did you notice that they let the old man win one race?

Rob Krentel tied and beat Dave Chapin with two bullets on Sunday, but then he had to put up with the Saturday score. Good work on Sunday with all the strange wind shifts.

Dave Chapin come back and help us whenever you can.  It gives Rob and Alejandro some work to do.

We have added Kevin Ratigan’s boat to our group and hope to have another youth h sailor out with us in thatboat.  Summer is almost here but we will continue to race every other weekend.

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Laser finishes for the May 5 and 6, 2012 races.

Sam Chapin      1-3-1+1-1-1-1-1-2-2         14

Marc Solal         5-4-3+2-2-2-2-2-1-1          24

Rob Krentel      3-2-2+ns                               70

Luke Yates        2-1-capsize+ns                     74

Chris Nagy        6-7-4+ns                                80

Bailey Verkaik  4-5-ns+ns                               81

Vince Renzoni   ns-6-5+ns                              83

Michael Gapuz 7-8-6+ns                                 84

The two 420’s racing with us were not recorded.  Will try to do better next time.

Michael Gapuz has an Eagle Scout project to work on and then he will be sailing more with us.  Saturday he sailed a radial without any battens and the roach curled over.  He did fine considering what he was sailing with.

Vince Renzoni is still struggling with the move up to Mt Dora, but the six and five finishes are not at the bottom.

Bailey sailed well with a 4 and 5, but missed the last race so he could get his boat put away by noon.

Chris Nagy was the first of the radials.  We didn’t have times recorded so he might have placed a little higher on corrected time.

Luke Yates was a lot of fun.  Second in the first race and won the second and then in the third was talking a lot to Rob on the run and did a capsize with the mast stuck in the mud pretty good.  It took Rob a couple of passes to get him unhooked.

Rob Krentel let a couple of us by him on Saturday and then took a crack at the Flying Sots on Sunday.  He did better with them on Sunday than with us on Saturday, but that was just one day.

Marc Solal sail both days and sailed himself into second.  His finishes on Saturday were not bad 5-4-3.  Those 3’s are hard to come by.

Sam had a good day on Saturday and here is a little WOW (Words of Wisdom) on that 1-3-1 day. 

WOW…  We had some big right shifts and you had to be sure you were taking that long task first (starboard) and working to the right carefully.  Delay going to the lay line for the windward mark.  You can approach it, but tack before you get there.

Sail fast – that is “bow down” with windward and leeward telltales flowing, boat flat or windward heel.  Sail trimmed into 6 to 8 inches between the boom blocks and if you are sitting out to hold the boat down, then two block.  Check what the boats near you are doing and how they are moving.  If you have a boat to leeward you can see easily, work on sailing faster than they are.  If you can see shore in front of them, then try and be “making trees”...  seeing for shore in front of them as you move faster.   Or just to increase you angle to them … bow down a little more … a little different trim.  Work at going fast – that make your tactics smarter.  If you get in a really light wind spot, heel to leeward and weight forward.  Get the roll tacks working.  It takes the curse out of tacking to much with the short wind shifts.  Try to link the areas of dark water together.   If the roll tacks are a problem and you don’t live close for sailing practice, then get some practice in before, after the races or after lunch.

The fun is not necessarily winning, but sailing better.

 Laser races for April 28 and 29, 2012.  Light wind on Saturday limited racing to one hour.  More wind on Sunday with big shifts on both speed and direction.

Rob Krentel        3-2-1 +1-1-1-3-1       13  

Alejandro Illera 1-1-2+2-3-2-1-3         15

Sam Chapin        4-3-3+3-2-3-2-2         22

Marc Solal                  ns+4-4-4-4           47

Luke Yates         2-4-4+ns                       55

Don                     6-6-5+ns                       62

Michael Gapuz  7-5-6+ns                       63

Bailey Carter      5-ns-ns+ns                    64

Bailey is back sailing with us.  A good fifth place in the first race and not sure why he didn’t stay.  Hope he returns more often to help with the others.

Michael needs to sail with us more.  He is welcome anytime.  A tough day with wind speed changes that just take experience sailing in company.

Don has sailed a lot, but needs a little more time in the Laser and getting used to our system.  We hope he keeps coming.

Luke was in third place on Saturday and had a second in the first race.   He has been sailing Hobie Cats as well as anything he can get a hold of.  Good sailing Luke.

Marc had all fourths on Sunday, but was having good starts and at least one time the first boat around the windward mark.  I would say that is better light wind sailing for Marc.  He already has high wind working well.

Sam was fourth behind Luke on Saturday and in third for the weekend—mostly because Luke didn’t come.  But he enjoyed the big shifts on Sunday and had some second places.

Alejandro was back  --placed ahead of Rob on Saturday and then lost out on Sunday.  Maybe it was that capsize in the last race??   The boats go slow upside down.

Rob finished up a little ahead of Alejandro.   We had a modified rob course again with two gybe marks.  It continues to be interesting.   Come and try it!!

 Laser results for April 14 and 15, 2012

Rob Krentel         2-2-2-2+ 1-2-2-1-3-3-2         22

Vince Renzoni     4-3-4-nf+4-4-1-4-1-2-1          34

Marc Solal           3-nf-ns-ns+2-3-3-2-4-4-3       36

Sam Chapin         nf-ns-3-nf+3-1-4-3-4-1-4         38

Dave Chapin        1-1-1-1+ns                                  39

Wind was up and David beat up on every one.  Glad to have him with us and helped to right Vince in the last race.  See the note at the bottom.

Sam reports on Saturday that it takes 15 minutes on shore to change into a 4.7 rig.   That makes it a lot easier for old guys to sail.  He hung in Sunday with a full rig and was glad he did.

Marc skipped some of the races on Saturday, but sailed a solid group of races on Sunday. I put him a head of Vince in the article for the paper, because we had this chase the rabbit scores on Sunday with Vince starting ahead of everyone and then Sam and Marc starting at 30 seconds to go and Rob chasing us. So that leaves it up to me to do some extra scoring so that is how it was done.  You might have also noticed that there is no third place in the 5^th race on Sunday only two fourth places.  No one can remember== no matter.

Vince really came along over the weekend.  The Friday night thing and then he hung in there with the radial on Saturday and Sunday   Big winner on Sunday with three bullets.  Gaining in leaps and bounds.

Rob still won the weekend without any tweaking of the scores.   On Sunday it looked like maybe just Rob, Sam and Vince would be sailing so Rob proposed that we send Vince out one minute early and Sam at 30 seconds and Rob would chase.  Then Marc came and he was lumped in with Sam.  

The other thing that Rob did was to set two extra marks so after the windward mark, we has a beam reach to a gybe mark followed by a broad reach to a gybe followed by a broad reach to the pin mark of the start ling and a run to the leeward mark.  With the wind up we had planning reaches into the gybes and an exciting day.  We will probably do it again, but like the old reaches, it tends to be a parade.  Worth the trouble.

Then we had a new rescue method….  Vince had turned over with the mast stuck in the mud and the boat to windward so the force of the wind was pushing the mast in deeper.  Vince was not able to right the boat and what we have done in the past was for a second person to turn over his boat nearby and swim over to the first boat and then two people pulling on the centerboard usually could right the boat.  Then the two get in the righted boat and chase the second boat down and right that one.   Sam sailed around trying to think of some other way to help and then settled for waiting for the ‘big boys” (Dave and Rob) to come.   Dave arrived and tried a couple of things (wind is blowing pretty good) then he got Vince up to the bow of Vince’s boat and told him to hold his bow and grab Dave’s traveler line at the stern as he sailed by.   It worked.  Vince hung on with both arms.  The bow of his boat came up to windward and then the wind was blowing on the boat and helping to right it.  Not too much mud on the sail and everyone well and happy.