Race Summaries-First Three Wednesdays

Here are the race summaries as submitted to Casco Bay Sailing for the first three weeks of the season.

Thursday, May 31, 2007- J24 Fleet Kicks Off Season with Great Showing!!

Fleet 43 sailed its first Wednesday night series race of the 2007 season with 12 boats on the line.  This was the most boats on the line for an opening day since 2002 and there were a couple of expected regulars on the sidelines last night.  This bodes well for the rest of the 2007 season.

The weather had deteriorated all afternoon and a seabreeze was shut off and then slowly replaced with a northerly from a back door cold front.  The first race started in very light winds as the wind shifted rapidly from S to E and quickly became a reach to the windward mark and back. Flying Circus managed to luck out and take the bullet. Second Chance and Bouncing Betty were close behind.

The wind hadn’t quite settled at the start of the second race and the half of the fleet that picked the left made out big, as the wind continued to back from E to N.  The left side boats separated from the boats that picked the right.  In the lead group at the finish were Mr Hanky, Second Chance, Bouncing Betty, Bad Apple, Insecurity and Flying Circus.

The third race – a three legger —  was the best of the night as the northerly built to decent strength and settled in. The start was a bit crowded at the pin end but after things sorted out, Mr Hanky and Flying Circus had broken away from the pack and were trading tacks up the course.  Hanky reached the windward mark first and effectively covered for the next two legs.  Second Chance finished third.

Consistency wins regattas and last year’s Tonini Trophy winner Jeff Smith proved it again by taking the night with a 2-2-3.

Thursday, June 07, 2007- 13 Boats, 2 Races and 20 knots!

Fleet 43 had 13 boats out on Wednesday night for 2 races.  The night started in 12-15 knots (northerly) and built to 17-20 knots by the start of the second race, creating challenging conditions for the fleet.Racing was characterized by a number of crowded mark roundings (a little bumping included), flogging mains and wet foredeck crew.  The were oscillations in the breeze, but keeping the boats flat and moving forward, as opposed to sideways, seemed to be the key.Once again, Jeff Smith’s Second Chance took the evening, this time with two bullets.  Tony Jessen’s Denali was second for the evening with a 2-5; Bruce Morse’s Bad Apple third with a 5-3. Gretchen Kinsey’s Draco made its long-awaited debut with a 9-DNF – still some bugs to work out. Rich Ketchum co-owner of Pit Party returned to action with a 12-7.  Matt Blakeman on Kinda Blue was the only boat to change down to a jib in the second race, but it paid off handsomely as they recorded a strong 4.

Thursday, June 14, 2007- For Fleet 43, No Air Apparent . . .. . . on the water last night, but apparently enough aloft to keep a dozen boats moving through the water long enough to complete one race. Second Chance did not win the evening for the first time this year . . . they were the race committee. (Apparently seeking a bit of “schadenfreude”, Jeffa snuck up the “I”-flag to make sure early starters were severely punished for reckless behavior in the 2 knots of wind we had.)  (Definition: schadenfreude  1. German word meaning ‘pleasure taken from someone else’s misfortune’, 2. the name of Andrew Carey’s Etchells)