Spookfest

Just wanted to keep everyone updated. I have spoken to no one regarding these plans so lets see how they fly.

With the postponement/cencelation of the New Englands in Portland this weekend it would seem we need a venue for the trophy. Hey, what do you know? We have a regatta coming up! With Marty's permission we can race for the NE's in Bristol this year and will happily give the reins back to Marty for next year.

Now, the rumor mill. I have heard that there is a wedding planned for the same day at Bristol Yacht Club. I do not know what this means in regards to us. NO ONE PANIC! I am going to talk with the fleet guys and some others about Sail Newport being a back-up venue. If we end up going down that path we will discuss and decide VERY EARLY if we should make this a two-day event.

So, to wrap up. Spookfest is on. We can call it the New Englands. We will pursue a back-up location so people should absolutely plan to attend. We will be having one more regatta this year! I'm the decider. HA! HA! HA!

The bigest help we can get right now is from everyone who is planning on attending. I have heard back from a lot of people and this could be a good event so far. There is no reason why we cant have a ton of boats and make it a great event.

THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT! Email me, Oakley, Josh or post a comment here if you plan on attending. Otherwise, back to work. That yard's not going to clean itself up and snow will not cover your laziness for at least a month.

It's all over but the crying

So, Friday was the last night of the fleet series. To be honest, it was a bit of a let down. After everyone got all excited about the prospect of a knock-down, drag-out night of racing, lead changes and all that, two boats made it to the start line, Ross Weene and us. There are various excuses out there as to why people weren't there, some legit and some non-existent. In the end, there we were.

The good news of the night was it was a blast. Tiring, sketchy, but a blast. The wind was up and down, blasts you could see and some you couldn't, huge wind shifts, the whole nine. It made for some interesting racing seeing as we were pretty much match-racing.

The first start was fun. We had Ross locked out to the right of the committee boat. On one dial-up we came in with too much speed, though, and let him off the hook. The gun went off and we were pretty equal of the line, us to leeward of them. With such a short course it was pretty key to be able to tack so we worked it up, sometimes luffing, sometimes getting headed, sometimes getting knocked over. In the end we were able to force them away and tack onto port. Maybe we had a better angle on port with the little amount of separation we had but that gave us the edge to round in first and set our kite. We went for the bear away and they gybe-set, which was the wrong move. By the leeward mark we had a healthy lead and finished ahead.

The next two races were similar except Ross was late for the second start and it was pretty much wire to wire for us. The third start we started to the right of them. It was a bit of a drag-race out to the left but we managed to keep our separation and take them past the layline. We reached into the top mark and were able to bear away to break any overlap outside the two-length circle. It seems that our downwind speed is fine these days as we built on our lead during the run and rounded and finished in front.

The fourth race was interesting as the RC decided to wrap up the night during the sequence. What we got out of the news was finish at the hoist. Apparently we heard wrong as we were supposed to go up, down, THEN finish at the hoist. By the time we were rounding Fort Adams Ross had figured it out and peel back to finish the course. Having secured the night, Josh and I decided that enough was enough and headed in for a breather. With the wind state and the short courses it had been a crazy sprint and we were already half-way there.

So, despite the lack of boats it was a really fun night and summer series. Thank you so much to the volunteers from the Ida Lewis Yacht Club for making it all happen, again. Someone will be posting final results in short order.

Numbers Game

With one week left here are the scores so far.

Thirty-three races sailed / with five throw-outs.
82/56 Sugar Magnolia
84/63 The Good Foot
86/65 Wharf Rat
97/68 Screaming Pelican
158/131 Welsh
167/137 U.S. Blues

Let's all pray that Jeff has to babysit, five boats sail three races, one more throw-out, Oakley finishes three seconds, Ross three thirds, and the Pelican wins the triple tie breaker for first place! This is insane. What an outstanding fleet. The top four boats all drag racing to the end of the last race for the win after three months of competition.

Good luck everybody.

--Josh

Now this might be Josh's dream scenario but anyway the chips land it was a great season. 2 more evenst left: Portland Maine for the New Englands and Spookfest in Bristol.

Oakley

2nd to Last Friday, I think

Friday night looked to be a non-event as we started pushing boats to the hoist. The wind was out of the east. Yes, the east. It was dead or dying quickly. Eventually everyone seemed to pony up and get the boats in the water to find an afternoon northerly filling in. Yes, we were in Newport. I don't get it either. We had a nice light beat to the committee boat and the wind filled in for some on again, off again trap strength wind. Nice night, actually.

The first race went off pretty well. We hugged the starboard end of the line and got off a little down speed. I seem to have developed this habit of approaching the line too early and having to luff till the last moment. It started in Kingston and I have not been able to stop it. Anyway, we liked the right with more pressure and positive current and were happy where we were. Shortly after the start we were pinched off by Ross who had learned how to point again after a week. This was fine, we wanted the right and we managed to tack onto Oakley and Kevin in the process. Approaching the windward mark Ross was coming in on port and did not have the edge we were assuming he would. This ended in us head to wind, or a little past while Ross tacked upon realising he was not going to make it. We protested and he spun circles, situation over. We rounded the mark in first but gave away that lead when Kevin and Oakley gybed first on a nice layline. We realised the situation too late and they were too far away for us to attack before the leeward mark. On the beat to the finish we threw a loose cover on Ross which was a mistake as he pinched us right off again and manged to get between us and Kevin. Annoying little race, really. After us was Tom Welsh. US Blues with Alex and Jared did not start that one.

The second race started a little better except for we were, again, luffing at the line with no speed. We hugged the starboard end well enough to be right in Ross's face after the gun and pinched them off this time. That made me feel better. Eventually, Kevin and Oakley tacked onto port allowing us to cover and head to the favored right side. After rounding in first we waited a little bit and gybed as Kevin and Oakley rounded with a gybe set. This race was a leeward finish and we were able to go straight in on that angle with Ross finishing second, Kevin and Oakley in third, US Blues in fourth and Tom Welsh in fifth. It was good to see the Blues mixing it up in the beat, crossing Kevin on port.

The end result being a three-way tie for the night between us, Ross and Kevin and Oakley, all with four points. We managed to win on the second tie-breaker. After the boats were out there was talk about when the last night was, should we lengthen the series, and all that while the sun was setting in the 7 hour instead of after eight or nine. I think summer is coming to a close and this has been confirmed by waking up this morning to find the baseboard heaters warm. If I am right the last night is next Friday. As Oakley posted earlier it is going to be a nail-biter to the finish and the eventual winner of the fleet championship could be decided next week. It has been a good season with some friendly new faces who should be around for years to come. More apparently are coming.

Okay, that's it. See you all next Friday.