The Rise of Weene '07 Atlantic Coast Champ

I've felt the goal of the season so far has been to get 608 to the point where she felt like 569 did once tuned up, and it didn't take Eli and I long to figure out that we needed to find that same spar that we used to sail with - the old Ericsson black mast. It seemed to fit our light weight and style perfectly, the top section is quite bendy and depowers well for us.608 came with a Proctor Gamma, which I felt was really fast in light to medium and flat conditions, it's really stiff but heavy as well. In breeze I felt very overpowered with lightweight crews. So we found that Marty had the much coveted Ericsson and Josh was happy to give me his old trailer to get rid of by trading it to Marty. When we first saw the mast we said woah,that looks rough - bent spreader, no gooseneck, etc. - took me some time to source the parts and set it up again. Once I figured it out I thought that with some effort I could rig it for Atlantics, so after few late nights in the backyard with Eli and the mosquitoes we brought it down to the boat and plugged it in, just in time for Friday night. I had done my math well it seemed and the setup was very close to what we had with the Proctor. So we left the dock, all looked good and we felt the boat going fast - and had some good breeze so the rig got the acid test and nothing broke, so we were psyched about that. Once we got our shit together won a race. Day 1 of Atlantics offered us 12-15 knots once the seabreeze came in, perfect for us - the rig and sails looked great and the boat felt better than everbefore. In race 2 we even sailed through the start finish line, of course to see if anyone else was paying attention. Well Herbie was and he doesn't give an inch of slack, so we withdrew from that one. So overall a solid Saturday, three firsts out of four races. Sunday we saw some breeze, 20+ at times. The boat felt great once again, and we led the first race, but inverted the chute on a gybe and that was the end of that, Herbie and Steve passed us, but we held onto 2nd, flying the jib DDW. We held onto some good finishes, no bullets Sunday but decent speed. Jeff and Jon had a great day once they finally left the dock - really fast upwind and finding every wave downwind. We were all psyched to be keeping up with 505s downwind, what a blast! One of the biggest challenges of the weekend was avoiding the Lasers, there were times we were ripping downwind and thought we might make a Laser-Kebab. Thanks to all the out-of-towners for all the new interest,and coming down to make up the most solid 110 at the Newport Regatta inyears, and to Fleet 54 for night after night of competition so tight we've hired an on board therapist to keep the stress levels manageable.

--Ross Weene

Last Friday

So, no content this week because, well, we don't know who won. The easy way is to say that Ross won the night with 10 points to our 11. The problem being that there are people who would say that Ross did not cross the line off of Ida Lewis before turning for the barn on the last race. We were unable to get a hold of Phil Cox, our RC, to clarify the situation.

That said, it was a very fun night of racing. In five races there were four different winners and a lot of roundings with boats overlapped. In the first race we rounded the mark behind Kevin Farrar, driving for Oakley Jones, and there were three lead changes during the run and leeward rounding. Yes, there was a lead change during the rounding. We ended up winning that race. Yes, I am writing the write-up so I get to write about the race we won.

In the end everyone had a great night with six boats on the line and some very competitive racing.

Just in case no one had heard, Congratulations to Ross Weene for winning the Newport Regatta and the Atlantic Coasts. Looks like Ross is gearing up for a serious Nationals bid. Josh and I offered him the big bowl for the rest of the summer so he could find a place to put it in his house after CORK but he declined.

I am off to Camden for the weekend and some serious suck-up time with the fam in order to attend the Nationals myself. Good luck to those racing tomorrow night and this weekend in Hull. (the Mecca)

Mark

Almost Famous

So everyone showed up for a good night of racing. Boats were going in the water, life was good. I first got a call from Bristol saying there were thunderstorms in the area. Phil Cox, our volunteer race comittee from Ida Lewis called Josh to talk about the weather. In then end, the big clouds and radar got the better of us and we pulled the plug. Nice call on Phil's end as it would have been either thunder storm cells or, later on, absolutely no wind.

Josh and I had a great time drinking our Friday night beers and talking with Kevin Farrar in the parking lot. We decided we were all brilliant and came up with multiple plans to make the 110 class the hottest thing going. In then end, we have one more person hooked, again, and welcome him into the local fleet for some good racing to come.

Also, Josh and I win for being the last ones there. Jeff loses for being the first to bail. The rest can duke it out for themselves. Hopefully we will have extra players next week as people can practice of the Atlantics, the Newport Regatta.

Cheers.
Mark

A night for the memory books

Fathers have special moments with their kids. This night was one of them for me. After Jon called to tell me he couldn’t make it and after a futile search for a crew, Chris my seven year old son asked if you could crew. I was not sure he would have the energy after sailing all day in his sailing school. But before I knew it he was pulling his brothers gear out of my jeep and getting dressed. There he was with pants, splash top, sailing boots, my gloves, life jacket and a trapeze harness on walking eagerly and proudly across the parking lot ready to go. “Let’s go dad!”

Chris drove the boat out to the starting area which included the German tall ship. This was going to be his first race – ever. We had a nice start in the first race to leeward of Mark and Josh in the Screaming Pelican. I was able to pinch them off and they were forced to tack the wrong way in a nasty, nasty current. We were able to round the windward mark first. Chris drove as I put up the pole and hoisted the spinnaker. He did a great job of keeping a straight line. We held our lead and won the race. He gave me a huge high-five after crossing the line and reminded me that we needed to thank the race committee. I guess he learned something helping with race committee a few weeks earlier.

The second race saw the Screaming Pelican return to form and walking away with a solid victory.

Race three we jumped out quickly to a huge lead after it looked like everyone was taking penalty turns. There was an incident just prior to the start which I seem to recall resulted in the turns. Anyway we were looking good when I notice guest skipper Kevin Farrar and Oakley Jones in the Wharf Rat tacking again. I was thinking where the hell are they going they are going to overshoot the mark. Well, they were the smart ones as I got swept by that nasty current into the windward mark. After my penalty turns the Wharf Rat had passed us and proceeded to win, but we managed to hold second.

The final race of the night saw Ross once again sailing away to victory. I’m getting the feeling he likes to finish off of Ida Lewis Yacht Club.

Four races and four race winners – it doesn’t get much better than that. This fleet is super competitive to say the least. Every night this season has seen the top of the fleet separated by only two points and tonight was another example of that.

The final results for the evening were:
Sugar Magnolia 1-2-2-4 = 9
Wharf Rat 3-3-1-2 = 9
Oobleck 2-4-4-1 = 11
Screaming Pelican 4-1-3-3=11
741 5-5-5-5=20
US Blues (don’t ask – don’t tell)


Something about the skipper was late so the crew took a nap in the boat that was already in the water and tied to the dock, but the skipper didn’t find the crew…….

In celebration of a great night of racing the Naval War College put on a nice fireworks display over Newport Harbor.

I was so proud of Chris – he did such a great job for a kid his age. Now I need to teach him how to open a beer for his skipper with his sailing gloves on…….