25 boats registered with 7 days to go to the Downeast / J24 District 1 Championships!

 Don’t forget weigh-in on Friday afternoon. Come down and mingle with the competition “from away”.  Skippers’ meeting on Saturday at 0845.

 It will take all of our efforts to make sure things run smoothly, that the away boats enjoy themselves, that we leave the Club in good shape and that we build on the past success of this regatta.  So, as a reminder, the assignments for each skipper and crew are below. Even if it is not your responsibility, if you see something that needs to get done please pitch in.   

Regatta Mgmt:        Howard /  Carter
Race Mgmt:             Belafonte / Nick Dambrie
Breakfast:                Pit Party / Steve Fernald
Boat Launch / Haul:  Second Chance / Rich DeGranpre
Friday Set up:       Flying Circus / Howard
Friday Clean-up:  Bad Apple / Bruce Morse
Saturday Night Set-up:   AL / Mark Klein,  Barking Spidah / Scott Smithwick
Saturday Clean up:   Flying Chicken / Rich Carlson, Ed Rowe & Mr Hankey / Andrew Carey
Sunday Post-race fare:   Denali / Tony Jessen
Sunday Clean up: Jazzazi / Jim Dodd
Food shopping:    Meg Fenderson / Shelly Paules
Measurement / Keg/Lobstah:    Steph Helms
Registration:        Dan Marston
T-shirts:    Emily Kalkstein / Jess Harris

Transportation:  All (please be wiling to drive away boats to the designated remote parking sites)

Congratulations to Andrew Carey and the Mr Hankey team who registered 7 bullets in the 14 race Series II.  2nd place went to Flying Chicken helmed by Rich Carlson who slipped past Jeff Smith’s Second Chance on the last night of racing.  I’m not sure Rich appreciates it being noted that he is a “rookie” helmsman, but his results this season belied the label.

Checking back on results from recent past summers tells me that we had a really successful summer on Wednesday nights.  We sailed on more nights (12) and got in more races (26) than  any time in the last five seasons (which is all the records I have).  In addition to the statistics, Wednesday nights this season were marked with good competition and especially good comraderie.

The Downeast Regatta in 8 days will mark the end of Fleet 43’s racing for this Summer.  As of this writing, we have 22 boats registered, including 12 away boats.  The winner of the regatta will be the J24 District 1 champion.

Hard to believe we’ve already reached the last two weeks of the season, but in fact, we have.  Don’t forget that first gun is scheduled 1/2 hour early at 1730!!

Fleet 43 had 13 boats out this week for the (delayed) start of Wednesday Series II.  The day’s hot, clear weather generated a fairly steady 6-8 knots seabreeze that held in until after sundown, a marked improvement after last Wednesday’s windless, foggy weather.  Kudos to Matt Blakeman and the Kinda Blue crew for setting up such a nice course (3/4 mile windward leg,  square line just the right length for a tight start), for getting off two races and for good work on the signals.)

An incoming tide favored the Falmouth shore, but the left side had more consistent breeze and a nice left-hand shift in the corner and the fleet split on all three windward legs without either side gaining a major advantage. Flying Chicken won the evening with a 1-2.  They key to victory?  Ed Rowe was at the helm for the first time this year. (No offense to rookie driver, Rich Carlson, who has been getting better every week and wasn’t really rookie-like anyway.) Mr. Hankey (that’s Hankey with an “e”) took second with a 3-1 and Mark Klein finally returned from vacation to log an overall third sailing a 4-3, with Carter White at the helm in at least the second race.

Fleet 43 is expecting 6 boats for the Handy Boat Regatta this Saturday. Some of the boats may need crew, if anyone whose boat is not sailing wants a ride, give me a buzz.

–Howard

The annual Handy Boat Regatta is this Saturday (the 28th).  Registration is at Handy’s.  Skipper’s meeting at 1115 and first gun at 1300.  We’ll have our own start. We’ll run “round the buoys”, rather than drop-mark, courses. As per our scoring rules, a minimum of five Fleet 43 participants are required to score the race in the Tonini and Weekend Series.

 As of Wednesday at 1450, Second Chance, Kinda Blue and Mr Hanky were registered.

 –Howard

For any of you interested in supporting the Woodfords Family Serivices Therapeutic Foster Care Program, Sandra Hayward (who sails on Second Chance), has asked me to let you know that from 4:00-8:00 on Tuesday August 28th 10% of O’Naturals Falmouth sales will go directly to Woodfords.  While you’re there you can purchase a raffle ticket to win an authentic designer COACH bag.

I think Jeffa would look just smashing toting one of those around.  Don’t you?

 –Howard

Fleet 43 finished the first 7-week 2007 Wednesday Night Series on a fabulous night for sailing.  With the wind blowing 12-16 knots and fog pouring in the Hussey, Denali’s RC crew lead 12 boats over to the western end of the anchorage an set up a long WL using C11 (The Brothers’ can) as a windward mark.  Two races were held; the first WL2 and the second WL.  The legs were fairly long and even with the strong, steady breeze, the first race took an hour to complete.  The course was also set up perfectly to split the fleet – square line, more wind on the left, but less tide on the right.  It seemed like crew work and keeping the boats flat and moving forward were the keys to success. 

Al, with Carter White at the helm, dominated the evening with two bullets.  He was consistently flatter and pointing higher than everyone else.  When I asked him after the race how his rig was tuned, he replied, “For about 8 knots”.  So how did he keep the boat so flat and high? (He is willing to share his secrets if you ask.) 

Results:1^st Race: Al, Flying Circus, Second Chance2^nd Race: Al, Mr Hankey, Second ChanceFor the Evening: Al, Flying Circus, Second Chance 

Not long after the fleet got to the anchorage, the fog engulfed everything . . . perfect timing. 

Series Wrap-upWe sailed 6 of the seven weeks of the series with only one week featuring a total lack of wind.  We sailed 12 races and had 12 or 13 boats on the line every week. 

For the 2007 Wednesday Night Series I, the final results were as follows: 

 Wednesday the 18^th starts the second 7-week series. 

Howard

Arriving at the committee boat at 1750 in the warm westerly that had been blowing since Tuesday, we pulled the sails in to go upwind and found ourselves barely laying the pin.  We turned around to a offer friendly suggestion to PRO Dan Holt and he suggested that we be patient.  Sure enough, without moving either the boat or the pin, the boat was a few degrees favored at the 1805 start.  Summary: it was a tricky night.

How does he do it?? Jeff Smith hauled in two bullets and has all but put the first Wednesday Series out of reach for anyone else.  Despite the tricky conditions, he was in just the right place at the right time in both races.  Picking the far right corner, overstanding by a couple hundred yards and then struggling through the dead zone header at the windward mark was the winning strategy in both races.  The middle of the course was a bad place to be, especially in the second race as boats from both the left and right passed those who found themsleves there.

Bruce Morse in Bad Apple finished second for the evening and Pit Party with both Steve Fernald and Rich Ketchum on board turned in an impressive third.  Flying Circus was fourth and there was a five-way points tie for fifith.

Two more weeks left in the first Wednesday Series and the battle continues . . .  for second and third anyway, where Flying Circus, Bad Apple and Mr. Hanky all remain in contention.

–Howard

This is notice that we will be using the Etchells course configuration for next Tuesday’s racing.  The leeward mark will be an orange tetrahedron dropped to windward of the start / finish line.  The pin will not be a turning mark.

As I have been mentioning, because the 4th falls on a Wednesday we will be doing our weeknight series event on Tuesday July 3rd in combination with the Etchells fleet.  Warning gun for the first race is 1630 hours (4:30PM for you landlubbers; 2030 Zulu for you Navy folk)! If the weather cooperates, we’ll try to run 2 or 3 “weekend-length” length races.

 Dual fleet member Andrew Carey will be the evening’s PRO.  Following the sailing, there will be a Fleet 27 / 43 cookout at PYC.  It should be extra fun! See you all there.

–Howard