International 110 Fleet 54

Nationals, In Canada, Eh?

2009-08-28T06:49:00.002-05:00

Guess I will try to keep this up to date while we are up here. Unfortunately the turnout is very bad, six boats. Some of the excuses I have heard are legitimate, some of them are just plain not worth repeating. In the end I think every class is having a hard time and the hope is that numbers will return when the economy does. (crossing fingers) I think it shows this year as all the events are scheduled around the Portsmouth Tavern at the entrance of the sailing park instead of in the huge warehouse-like sailing center. Personally, I like it better.

So today begins the big show. Three races scheduled for today and tomorrow and two for Sunday. The first will be the tune-up race and we go from there. Once again the need for a union operator on the crane put a halt to the concept of practice yesterday but we got the boat put together and double checked everything. The new main from Evolution Sails measured in and only needs a couple of tweaks to finishing details to be spot on.

I will wrap this up now. Like I said, will try to update. Will see how it goes.

Mark

2009-07-31T14:20:00.001-05:00

Update on the Atlantics from el Predidente.

Hey All,

Quick update. After a few emails and phone calls... Atlantic's in Newport on August 8th & 9th is happening. Ross worked out a minimal fee for Sail Newport to use the hoist at $15/day. Jeff is working on race committee. The entrance fee for the two day event should be about $45 including hoist, storage, food and beer. This is Jazz Festival weekend at the Fort, so expect town to be busy. We have always been able to get in and out with boats easily despite that event.

Scorpion Bowl

2009-07-14T14:49:00.001-05:00

Long time since an update. Things have been going on but not much in the way of 110's. Here is a report from Ross Weene from the Scorpion Bowl, kind of a warm up for the Districts in Hull. The Districts are in a week or so. Hopefully have some good info from that. And, yes, Ross is playing with an asymmetric kite. I have thought about it in the past. I don't think anyone should get scared but it might be a nice move in the class.

Just back from the Boston Bay Challenge Cup in Hull, an interesting weekend all around! For most folks Saturday was the first day of the season getting back into a 110, and it was a day of trial by fire - 15 building to 20 with gusts to 25, steep chop and endless motorboat wake. I had just spent some long evenings getting the boat back together, new floorboards in, and set up for the new asymmetric chute. Six boats made it out, Ryan Caywood sailed with me in 608. The first race was a mess for almost everyone - the windward mark, which was a government mark, had lost its distinctive red / green colors over the winter and we, and even the local Craig / Clancy boats sailed right by it. The leeward mark was supposed to be a government mark but instead a yellow barrel close to the water, which no one could find - so chaos at that end. In the second race the breeze picked up, and we started getting some big 20-25 blasts on the downwind leg. We were full plane, I was sitting on the aft deck next to the tiller with Ryan almost in my lap to keep the bow up, and we thought we were done for once as we plunged through a wake from a 50 footer crossing the course. Made it through that, but then we had to gybe. Everyone was having trouble with it, wiping out, so I'm not sure why we thought we'd be any different - but tried it and wiped out hard, main in the water. I stood on the keel and reached for the spin halyard, got the boat up and chute in, and started bailing / reaching around with a cockpit at least half full. Thank you bulkheads, we survived this one, got the boat in, pumped out, and started into the beer. Saturday night we somehow got a free room at the Nantasket Beach Inn, funny story, Sunday started out cloudy and cooler, but got sunnier and the breeze died. We saw 3-8 during the day, and was perfect to try out the new asymmetric. Unfortunately we were having too much fun before the start, and when the AP came down we were a bit too far away - so late for the first start. We should have just launched the A-sail downwind to stay in touch, but opted for class-legal. In the second race we picked our way up to the top to final battle downwind with Will Laidlaw and Ben, passed them and finished first. In the third race course was adjusted and we saw half the fleet splitting gybes, down at the leeward mark we rounded 2nd right behind Ann Craig; at the finish we swear we crossed first but think there may have been some local favoritism. On the way in we launched the A-sail again, it works great. Much more power, this is going to be fun - hopefully an evolution of the class. In the end, the RC threw out Day 1 which was fine with us! We ended up 2nd, one point behind Ann Craig and Dave McGrath in 1st. Maggie and Tom Craig finished 3rd, the Clancy Clan in 4th, Will Laidlaw and Ben in 5th, and D Bell / Scott Beeker in 6th. Looking forward to Hull again in a couple weeks!

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner

2009-03-10T19:27:00.005-05:00

Well, I guess we did okay. I did not know when I last posted that Ross Weene would be on the Swan 80 Selene. He was, and they one the Spinnaker 1 class. Good for them. Josh and I sailed on Privateer in Spinnaker 2. We had a fun week. A couple of break-downs, plenty of sailing along at 18 knots. In the end we won our class, the trophy for fastest around the island and, well, we won the regatta overall. It was a good week followed by good celebration. Congrats to Ross and nice job to all sailing on and involved in the Privateer.

Screaming Pelican Goes Down Island

2009-02-24T18:44:00.003-05:00

Not much 110 news to report. Sorry. It has been a pretty good winter so far for the boys, though. Both Josh and Oakley went to Key West Race Week, both on Swan 42's. Oakley, on Phil Lotz's Arethusa came in second, while Josh on Mark Watson's Tiburon came in fourth. Apparently there was some kind of protest which resulted in Tiburon finishing outside the trophies but I cannot remember the details.

I am recently back from the Pineapple Cup, racing from Ft. Lauderdale to Jamaica on Ron O'Hanley's Cookson 50 Privateer. We had a very wet but great ride. The breeze was pretty far forward most of the time with a lot of jib reaching and lots of water on deck. After turning the corner around Cuba we were able to put the kite up in up in up to 30+ knots of wind when at times we were averaging 20 knots with bursts to 25. Still, plenty of water on deck. (to say the least) We squeaked out a Swan 48 which finished 24 hours after us for the overall win. Almost forgot, linky to video of the finish.

Next week Josh and I are off to St. Martin for the Heineken Regatta. We are both sailing with Privateer. We got second last year and are hoping to take the win this time. Time will tell but I need to start packing for warm weather again.

That's about it on the fleet front. Jeff is making a good attempt as scheduling a party/meeting so we can start talking about fleet racing again and the business of racing 110's. Between skiing and sailing we are making it hard for him but I am sure we will all get together soon enough to come up with everything we need for a successful one-design class in Newport and beyond. My thoughts go out to those of you in the mid-west. Brrrrrr. I'll update after Heineken.

Mark

Frostbiting

2008-12-14T13:21:00.002-05:00

Okay, not 110 news but I was invited to go sailing yesterday with the Jones boys. Oakley the 3rd we all know as crew of the Wharf Rat and his dad, Oakley Jr. who owns a 210 and has been a great moral supporter of Fleet 54 as well as stand in race committee volunteer. They have a spot in the Courageous Sailing Center frostbite series which is sailed in Rhodes 19's. This is my and Josh's old stomping grounds as we both taught sailing there for a number of years. Some things have changed. A lot hasn't.

The day was really cold, around freezing, but fun. It is a pretty good crowd up there wuth Joh Murphy, previous 110 National Champ crew, steering a boat. Steve Clancy, John's skipper during those nationals, with a boat. I met David Robinson, Russell's brother, for the first time who is now forever known as "Just Dave" as compared to "F&*ckin Russell". Nice guy who I think would be good to have a beer or two with pouring over rigging systems, boat prep and the like, him being an engineer. There were some other familiar faces to me like Mark Lindsay and a couple others. On the whole, a good group of sailors.

The sailing was interesting. We found pretty quickly that boat speed was not an issue. All the tools were there and we would be able to outrun, outpoint, out anything anyone in a straight line if we needed to. Oakley Jr. was steering well, making her go, and showed great trust in what Oakley III and I were doing on the course, with his input at all times, of course. So, what it came down to was smarts which we had some of but not all the time. Beyond that there is the whole "sailing under a city" deal. The first start showed what must have been a 40 degree shift to the left which was unfortunate as we had decided to start at the boat end. There was also an incident with the start pin which was on the keel, then on the rudder, still on the rudder. The leaders were rounding when we finally got it off so we cruised around for a little bit before the next start. Oh well.

We never really discussed how the decision making would go on the day but it became a day of group decisions which was fine because the communication was quite good and calm. If I was being looked upon as tactician for the day these are the things I learned, or would have changed. We did not realise the extremity of the "current" out there. With the rain earlier in the week the gates to the Charles were open and the draining river was gushing out of the harbor. We could have pushed the starts harder and been on the line better. I also lost the plot downwind as the day went on, letting people inside us into more pressure and letting them have the inside advantage as the mark. We should have been more agressive downwind and just plain more aware. Just winginng the jib and pointing at the mark was not working and we never changed our behavior.

So, another day of sailing in the books. It is always a pleasure sailing with the Jones's and yesterday was no exception. I also came away, I think, a little bit smarter which reminds me that it is important to go sailing, even if it's a community sailing fleet of Rhodes 19's. I just looked at the scored which were respectable, I guess. They show us as not finishing the first race, which is wrong. I would like to see our real tally but don't really care that much. I learned some things and really enjoyed that beer after sailing around in the cold for the day. Thanks Oakleys.

Atlantic Coast Championships

2008-10-13T16:55:00.004-05:00

The Atlantics were held this past Saturday. Because of the low turnout the class pulled out of the Sail Newport Regatta this year leaving the trophy without a regatta. The guys from Fleet 12, Eastern Long Island Sound, had promised to host a weekend so Sail Newport's loss was their gain, a big old trophy to present. The late season regatta was the brain storm of Cal Brouwer and Tom Welsh who normally sail out of the Thames Yacht Club. They worked a deal with the Niantic Bay Yacht Club to use their facilities, namely their hoist, in order to run the event.

Josh and I were on the fence about going to this event. Hard to schedule a weekend regatta when the weather could be anything from great to, well, very cold rain. The numbers were looking a bit grim so Josh made the call to rightly support Fleet 12 as they have for us in the past and attend the event which was changed from a two day to a one day event. In the end there were five boats, including us and the newly married Ross Weene and Holly Kindl from the Newport fleet. Josh decided to use his "newer" boat, US Blues. We had not sailed her in two years so we thought it a good time to check her out and see how she was doing.

The drive from Rhode Island was painless and we found our way to the beach cottage town of Niantic. People were putting their boats together and we got to work putting US Blues together while the Weene's showed up. After a bit of a late start the hosts provided us with sandwiches, chowder and our choice of water, soda or beer. Afterwards we got the boats in and headed out to the course, a short sail into the bay.

Conditions were light but mostly stable. Five windward-leeward races were run. Before the first start we watched the "unknowns" sailing around and noticed that #525, Reprise, with Bobby and Casey Cullen looked good going through the water. Knowing Ross quite well we decided to concentrate on him. Most starts found us tied at the hip where we tried to get the advantage. If he tacked, we tacked. It was kind of fun in that we had a lot of down-speed, boat handling situations where trim and course could mean winning or losing. We held our own and managed to get win four of five races. The good news for the Fleet 12 members is that they are sailing pretty well. The race we lost was to the Cullens on Reprise. We were in touch with them during the beat and next time we looked around they were leading around the windward mark. All the boats were mixing it up pretty well with Jack and John Erhard on Deja Vu and Tom and Bob Welsh on Riff Raff were never far off the pace. (yes, it was a bit of a family affair down there) Ross and Holly had to work hard to get through some of those guys as did we.

It was certainly interesting sailing the "old girl" again. Coming from the Screaming Pelican Josh and I both felt a bit slow on the US Blues. The day after racing we started a work list via email and it is already up to 20 items. Some read like "move traveler cleat", some are a lot more drastic. It is a good boat, though, and moves fast enough apparently. Don't forget, she'd for sale!

In the end I think the Atlantics were a great success. We felt very welcome by Fleet 12 and the Niantic Bay Yacht Club. The commute was easy, the waters and wind were ideal for mid-October. The only way it could have been better is if we had more boats. I really hope this venue carries on in future years and it would be great to see numbers build in years to come. Thanks to Cal Bouwer and Tom Welsh for living up to their promises and making it happen. Thanks to those who did participate. As always thanks to Josh Hill for the existence of the Screaming Pelican/US Blues racing program.

Results:

Mark Van Note/Josh Hill - US Blues - 6 points
Ross Weene/Holly Kindl - The Good Foot - 11 points
Bobby Cullen/Casey Cullen - Reprise - 16 points
Jack Erhard/John Erhard - deja vu - 21 points
Tom Welsh / Bob Welsh - Riff Raff - 21 points

I think I am doing some kind of go-fast ritualistic dance here.

El Presidente

2008-09-27T13:01:00.002-05:00

I just thought this was a funny photo of our fearless leader. Courtesy of Anna Jones.

2008 Atlantic Coast Champs

2008-09-23T15:52:00.003-05:00

Atlantic Coast Champs 2008 is ON!!!

Hey guys. Cal and Tom Welsh have pulled together the ACCs at Niantic Bay YC on Oct 11 & 12. I won't be able to attend because I'll be grippin' and grinnin' at the Naptown Boat Show. I hope that Fleet 54 can represent like we did at nationals.

The NOR is below:

NOTICE OF RACE

Organizing Authority Fleet 12

Host Niantic Bay Yacht Club, 8 Shore Road, Niantic CT

Rules The regatta will be governed by the rules as defined in the Race Rules of Sailing (RRS). Advertising will be restricted to Category A.

Eligibility, Entry & Fees The event is open to all owners or charterers of 110 class boats. Registration will be Saturday, October 11. Entry fee is $75.00 per boat which includes a donation to Niantic Bay YC for use of the hoist and facilities. For planning purposes, potential entrants are requested to notify one of the Points-of-Contact listed below in advance of the regatta of intent to race.

Schedule

Saturday, October 11: 0800-1100 Arrive; Launch; Practice Sail
0900-1100 Registration
1100 Skippers’ Meeting; Lunch
1200 First Warning
1530 No Race Started After
1800 Drinks and Hors d’oeuvres; Dinner at the home
of Pat and Tom Welsh

Sunday, October 12: 0830-0930 Continental Breakfast
1030 First Warning
1430 No Race Started After
Approx. 1530 Awards Presentation; Pizza, Beer and Wine

Venue and Courses The regatta will be sailed on Niantic Bay. Windward/Leeward and Triangular courses are planned.

Scoring The Low Point Scoring System of RRS Appendix A will be used.

Sailing Instructions Will be available at the Skippers’ Meeting

Radio Communications Will be carried out on VHF-FM Channel 72.

Prizes Suitable awards will be presented to skippers and crews of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place boats.

Disclaimer of Liability Competitors participate in this regatta entirely at their own risk. See Rule 4, Decision to Race. The organizing authority and host club will not accept any liability for material damage or personal injury or death sustained in conjunction with or prior to, during, or after the regatta.

Points of Contact Cal Brouwer Tom Welsh
P. O. Box 303 25 Pepperbox Road
Quaker Hill CT 06375-0303 Waterford CT 06385
860-444-7419 860-303-9275 (C)
CalPCTC@aol.com pwelshct@sbcglobal.net

Did Work

2008-08-29T09:10:00.002-05:00

Those were the words out of Josh's mouth after finishing the last race of the nationals, "we did work". And we did. Going into the final race, whoever won that race between us, Annie and Tommy, Ross and Eli and Steve and Murph, won the regatta. We had a horrible start which seemed to be the trend of the week for us, which is all my fault. We cleared our air and let the boatspeed do the talking, really. We rounded the first windward in third, the second windward in second and the last leeward in first, which we held till the finish.

I can't speak for Josh but I was more excited finishing that race, after the comeback, then I was winning nationals in Newport. Especially considering we were sailing against two-time winners Annie and Tom and last year's champs Steve and Murph. You have to give a big golf clap to Ross and Eli, though, for their charge to the top during the regatta.

Of course the Hull Yacht Club took great care of us. The RC did a fantastic job, especially the use of the harbor postponement. The whole event was, mostly, seamless.

One more reminder that the program would not exist without Josh Hill who owns the boat, works endlessly on the boat, and is a fantastic crew who puts up with me and my, sometimes, bi-polar reactions to what's happening on the race course. Thanks buddy and great job! We did work!

Cross Training

2008-08-03T09:08:00.007-05:00

Well, the fleet series has been a bit of a bust. We have also missed a couple of regattas hosted by the Hull Yacht Club which is a shame because we always love going up there. It would seem this is the summer of conflicts including different regattas, weddings and who knows what else. The good news is that Fleet 54 is still out sailing. Here's a glimpse of what has been going on.

Josh and Oakley have found themselves in the Club Swan 42 class. Oakley still sails with Paul Zabetakis who has swapped his Farr 40 for a 42, both named Impetuous. Josh has been sailing with Tiburon. The NYYC Annual Regatta put a damper on early fleet nights where both sailed while my son and I drove the tender for the Cookson 50 Privateer. I hope that Cameron will later appreciate the spectacle of the 100' Speedboat which we tailed around the course for a while, just a couple of boatlengths away.

Bermuda Race was another obstacle. I went in the open division on Privateer and the race turned into a 600+ mile beat. The conditions were to our liking, being one of the small boats in our class and we won our division beating out Speedboat and the new Puma VOR70.

NYYC Race Week was another big event. I did the classic portion on the 12 meter Freedom. It was a fun weekend which celebrated Olin Stephen's 100th birthday. Unfortunately, in between races, the chainplate failed and the mast came tumbling down. There are three very lucky people on that boat, two who had been standing between the mast and shrouds and another who was within a fot of the mast down below when it broke. I am pretty happy I was not in my position in the port trimmer's pit when it happened. Somehow we still finished third in the regatta so I guess there's that.

The second half of Race Week was one-design and handicap racing. Again, Oakley was on Impetuous, which got fifth and Josh was on Tiburon who won their class. We did not fair so well in the mostly light air and a one-number rating system but had some fantastic rides on the first day when the wind was up to 25-30 knots in between lightning storms. The last day we went around the island while the one-design classes sailed windward-leeward's offshore. We hit the dock just as a violent storm came through. The Swans and Melges has a different experience.

Jeff Adam has been honing his skills in team racing for the NYYC. I do not have any info on how he/they have done but this is a discipline which can only be good for Jeff's skills. He will be tough on the start line come Nationals.

So, that's the wrap-up. Mainly it was time to put something new on the site. We are slowly but surely getting ready for Hull in a few weeks. See you all up there.

Baywatch or John Deere Yellow - Depends On Your Coast

2008-06-15T07:06:00.003-05:00

We all know that plain white 110's are few and far between. Seems things get a little brighter the further west you go. We all thought the boys from Inverness had an eye-catcher. At least we thought so until now. Here's the latest intel from Hawaii. You think that's a stock Awlgrip color? Check the surfboards in the rafters. No wonder these guys like 110's.

Bit Of A Slow Start

2008-06-13T17:57:00.002-05:00

The 2008 fleet series is under way, literally, as I write. The season started off kind of slow. Oakley and Ross had their game on, boats in the parking lot, Oakley and Anna doing some practice sailing. That's about it. A couple of days ago I gave Jeff some carbon iso-plate so he could finish repairs to his shroud tracks which tried to part from the boat, including deck, during Nationals last year. He sounds very proud of his craftsmanship so we'll so how it looks. Josh and I are the last of the bunch, really. From Josh getting some kind of flu to my playing Mr. Mom while the wife is away, Bermuda Race starting next Friday, we have all the excuses covered. In the end we have effectively taken two boats out of the running for the month of June and for that we are sorry. July will be off the hook!

Anyway, a few boats were enjoying a beautiful Newport sea breeze this afternoon while I drove over the bridge. I am going to head back over with the boy in a few to have a beer or two in the parking lot when they return. In the end, I suspect, they are having a great time on the bay in some really nice wind so there should be some smiling faces when I get there. Newport sure is a nice place to sail.

Aloha

2008-05-11T06:43:00.002-05:00

So, there has been quite a lot of information coming out of Hawaii. These guys are rebuilding boats, talk about building new boats, actually talk about new ways of building new boats. They seem to be getting some momentum out there and that is very cool.

With such sucess the demand must have been huge for information so they started a blog. You can find it here.

The real question is how are we going to get our boats to Hawaii for Nationals? It might be the first 110 Nationals I would not be in the doghouse for attending.

Good Old New England

2008-05-07T19:56:00.004-05:00

It was winter. Then it was summer. Then it was spring. I think we are still in spring. The end result being that it is almost time to dust off the boats and go sailing in Newport again. I am a little off the pace mainly because I was getting my last runs of skiing in one weekend, in shorts, and sailing in Annapolis the next, in shorts. I am very confused. Now I am just waiting for Oakley to tell me when to start showing up to Sail Newport on Friday nights.

There has not been a lot of talk about boat improvements this winter. The good news there is I think people have gotten their rides in decent shape and it's all a matter of tweaks here and there. I think I might start a pool on if Jeff has the same piece of plywood, through-bolts and deck screws holding his boat together he installed at Nationals in Kingston, though. Beyond that we hear that Anna is back in the driver's seat of Wharf Rat. Kevin Farrar? Does he have a boat ready for racing? With all the news of rebuilds from last year we would hope to have a couple more boats on the start line. Time will tell.

I don't think much has happened with the "little big boat" program. US Blues was in Josh's hands while Screaming Pelican wintered in my back yard. I did pull the cover off a couple of weeks before giving her back to Josh and managed to improve a couple of things but I don't think much has happened to the Blues. Here's a taste of some of my winter boredom. What has everyone else been doing behind closed doors?

District I 2008 Schedule

2008-02-04T15:21:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the wait but here is the District I Schedule for this summer. Start making plans now.

June 21-22 Boston Bay Challenge Cup @ Hull (HT at 2:11pm Sat & 2:50pm Sun)
July 12-13 110 Atlantic Coast Championship @ Newport Regatta

July 26-27 District I Championship @ Hull (Launch Fri 4-8p, HT Sat 6a & Sun 3p)
August 21-24 2008 National Championship hosted by Hull YC (HT @ 3:30pm Wed Aug 20)
Sept 20-21 New England Championship @ Portland ME (launch Sat 11a; haul Sun 4p)

Oct ?? Spookfest Bristol RI

Yup, Mid-Winters

2008-01-02T18:53:00.000-05:00

This in from John Huff.

Happy New Year to all shiverrrrrrrrring 110 sailors!

Please let me know if you plan on racing in the International 110 Midwinter Championship Regatta at Davis Island Yacht Club on beautiful, warm, breezy Tampa Bay. The dates of the regatta have been moved back to mid-March to make it easier for us to get there. Please forward this message to all your fleet members and ask them to respond promptly. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

John

Everyone I have spoken to has said what a good time they had down there. Apparently the Davis Island guys are right up our alley. Let John know if you ar thinking of going.

Looking ahead to 2008

2007-12-19T10:11:00.000-05:00

Here’s what I know so far about the 2008 110 District I season. I promise that the full schedule will be out by the end of January.

June 6th Fleet 54 Friday Night Series start
July 12-13 110 Atlantic Coast Championships @ Newport Regatta
August 21-24 2008 National Championships hosted by Hull YC (approx 3:30pm HT on Aug 20)

Here is what is missing: Boston Bay Challenge Cup, District I Champs, and the New England Champs. The NE’s will be back in Portland, ME hosted by Fleet 57. There is also the Spookfest in Bristol at the end of October.

October Regatta Cancelled

2007-10-26T16:36:00.000-05:00

Well, we tried but we will not be having a regatta this month. Despite interet from far and wide we could not really pull it off. There is a lot of talk about a late regatta for next year but I think it will end up being in September when weather is easier to predict and all of that. I do want to thank everyone from out of town who were showing interest in the event up to the end. Hopefully we can keep that interest of coming to Newport up for next summer.

So, that is the end. US Blues is in Exeter, under Josh's porch, and Screaming Pelican is in the yard next to my house. The leaves are falling and it is getting colder by the day. I guess we will see everyone next season.

Spookfest

2007-09-23T08:18:00.001-05:00

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

2007-09-09T09:08:00.000-05:00

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

2007-09-04T12:06:00.000-05:00

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

2007-09-02T15:38:00.001-05:00

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.

Standings so far...

2007-08-31T10:16:00.000-05:00

Here are the standings for Fleet 54 as of today August 31st. Thanks to Josh for doing the math.

Two weeks left and the competition is tight! 31 races sailed with 5 throw outs...

48 Sugar Magnolia

59 The Good Foot (formally known as Oobleck)

61 Wharf Rat

64 Screaming Pelican

120 Welsh

128 US Blues

Nationals Wrap Up

2007-08-30T18:23:00.000-05:00

I know the reports from Kingston were few and far between. It actually turned into a bit of a hectic week. On Wednesday we were measuring sails until 9:30 at night. Fred finally got a hold of us on Thursday to measure the keel of the Screaming Pelican after a long day on the water. On another nigh there was the class annual meting, so on and so on. I don't think Josh and I ate at a reasonable hour until three days in. That being said, it was a good regatta. I think everyone had some fun. The conditions were great except for the last day. The people who run CORK seemed to like our presence, again, and invited us back.

Steve Clancy and John Murphy sure showed their speed, even in the light stuff. We were able to take a race out of them which was nice. We would have preferred to win more. In the end we put our eye on John Huff on the Glider and spent most of Saturday planted right on top of their air. (which makes the race I gave them at the last gybe that much more painful) We always seem to lock horns with John every year which is actually quite good. John is a great sportsman and friend and we have fun.

Jeff Adam had a spotty week which almost ended faster than expected. We were rolling the boat to the crane when I heard "Mark, could you have a look at this?" in that not-so-good tone of voice. His shroud tracks were pulling the backing plate through the deck and the deck seam was separating from the hull. I am pretty sure my response was something to the affect of "Now that's a show-stopper." Some plywood, machine screws, a battery drill and he and John were three minutes late to the first start of the day. Nice fix and ALMOST in time.

Ross Weene and Eli Slater had an okay week but a rough last day. They were in a great race for either third, fourth or fifth starting the day. They ended up fifth after a shocker of a race on Sunday. I think they are still trying to figure out what they were thinking.

Speaking of wrapping up, I am going to do just that. Find the results at the CORK web site. Back to fleet racing tomorrow night. Photos are coming soon enough.

Thanks for the support everyone.
Mark

Nationals - Day 3

2007-08-25T07:45:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately it does not appear that results are online quite yet. Quick report is that Steve Clancy and John Murphy are fast. Very, very fast. After an average tune-up race they have collected three bullets in some good, hard sailing conditions. Josh and I are in second with a 2,4,2. John Huff and Mark Vanderberg is two points behind us, Ross and Eli are in fourth and I cannot remember what happens from there as I do not have the results in front of me right now.

So far it has been a good event. We got the tune-up race out of the way with a shortened course and some confusion which led to many boats not finishing the race. Most of the confusion coming from the line of thunder storms running down the lake and the committee telling people to head back to the barn. After that passed with some rain they sent us out for a nice first race of the series in some fifteen knots of wind.

Yesterday was a bit windier, or so it seemed. With the wind a little left of the wave set everyone was talking about port tack after racing as most people found it hard to navigate through the short chop.

Not sure what today holds. Definitely some kind of weather as rain is imminent and wind predictions from a drifter to 25+, depending on who you listen to. In the end, we'll find out soon enough.

Time to get to the boat park and get ready. I will try to get some results up later on.

Mark

Where Has The Time Gone

2007-08-15T18:36:00.000-05:00

Nationals are upon us. Next week as a matter of fact. I do receive some strange glances when I tell people we are having our national championships in Canada. I think a lot of people would agree that the people who run CORK did a fine job for us a while back and I am happy to go back.

This year's regatta should be interesting. Ross Weene is coming off his Atlantics victory and has been building up to a fine performance next week. Steve Clancy in his restored hull #4 has been putting up great numbers for the past year but can he provide at the Big Show? Has that boat been measured yet? Ann and Tom Craig, who won the last time we held nationals in Kingston, appear to have two boats registered with Annie showing her crew to be "TBD". Hmmmmm. Then we have the bride's maids who I will not call out by name. You know who you are.

Either way, I think we are all looking forward to a good regatta. Life should be a bit easier now that we know how the drysail lot works, where the course is, not to bother going to the local "dance" club. I look forward to seeing some old friends on and off the race course. Safe driving and see you all in a week.

Mark

August 10th

2007-08-11T06:11:00.000-05:00

So, no racing last night. I guess it was going to rain? Not really sure but the turnout was going to be a bit weak so that sealed the deal.

Amory Ross got back in touch and posted a gallery of the shots he took last Friday night. Apparently he was out working on some back lighting techniques and we happened to be out there. Lucky for us as there are some good photos here.

That's it. Some of us may go out and watch the jazz festival today. See you next week.

Nice Night For A Yacht

2007-08-06T17:58:00.000-05:00

Friday night was a great night of racing. We had plenty of wind and all the boats from the parking lot. That's only six boats but it sounds better when I say the lot was empty. It was blowing around 15 knots at the start and the committee setup pretty far down towards the bridge, setting up a nice sausage between a couple of government marks with them in the middle.

It became obvious quickly that the windward mark was RIGHT THERE and you had to come off the line clean and make your move early or you would be facing transoms at the windward mark. The current was coming in but the beat was so short there was really no advantage on either side. Clean air, go fast, get there first. This is pretty much what we did on the first race which was a twice around. Starting near the boat we found speed early and got to the mark in front of Jeff and Jon. There was barely enough time to think about the other boats as the current was ripping and the wind was up so we rounded, set the boat up for downwind in time to gibe and then start setting the boat up for upwind. There was just enough time to catch a couple of waves. Jeff gave us a scare going to the left out of the leeward mark, the leg being long enough for him to get some current relief but we managed to hold him off until the finish.

The second start was a disaster! We were lined up on starboard and the whole fleet continued onto port, outside the boat layline. I got greedy with main only and tacked back to try and close things up with the fleet who would be coming in from the right. That's when we went completely into irons and stopped. Then we went backwards. Then we stopped. Then we went forwards, a little. Finally we got going enough to start the race while getting heckled by the race committee. (yes, heckled) Josh and I stowed our pride and got to work, rounding the windward mark in fourth. The next windward mark was a lot closer. At the top of the leg we ducked Ross who let us have the right side of the course for some reason. We tacked onto layline to find Kevin Farrar, sailing the Jones's #511, had tacked onto port to get to layline and had botched the tack. The only move was to duck, which we did but I pulled the trigger to head up a little early, and we bumped. This and the current had Josh pushing the boat around the nice green government mark so while Kevin spun 511 around we also did a circle. After all this we were still in touch with Ross who was having spinnaker issues and managed to pass him on the run. Jeff had a run away victory but we managed a second.

The third race was much less hectic so we will go onto the fourth. The last race was windward, leeward, windward to the hoist. This was a tight battle between us and Jeff. The end result being we tacked to cover Jeff, right in front of Jeff, debatable if we tacked too close. He cried protest and we all carried on. Josh and I discussed the whole thing for the remainder of the race and thought the prudent move was to do a circle and accept a second if Jeff passed us in the process. We were about twenty minutes late in doing our circle so we made it a SLOW one. In the end we did beat Jeff to the hoist and won the race. We all chuckled about the incident and decided that, if taken to the room, each side would have a 50/50 chance.

This was a fun and funny night of racing. Josh had one of those crew nights which may have defeated a mortal man. Two tacks that I know of he slipped mid-tack and managed to pull the sheet in while on his butt or back and get out on the wire. Another he remained hooked on the new leeward side and managed to fight his way out before it got too ugly. I cannot remember the others but it was a short course night with plenty to do regardless of stuff like that. Somehow he made it look graceful despite how hard I was laughing at him.

I do not have full results as I post this. I know that Jeff and Jon were in second with a 2,1,2,2 but I lose track from there. Also, Amory Ross was out for the first race, at least. taking photos. I have gotten in touch to see if there are any good shots. Gotta love Newport. Not many 110 fleets have a professional marine photog snapping shots.

Mark

District 1 Championship

2007-08-03T11:01:00.000-05:00

On Saturday morning at 10:30am we had eight boats (5 Hull, 2 Maine, and1 Newport) pretty much rigged and ready for launching. It was shapingup to be a nice day, though there were a few potentially menacing cloudson the distant horizon. Not to worry, the weatherman said it would allpass to the north. The sun was out and there seemed to be a steady windfrom the south/southeast at about 8-10 mph. We were all psyched to gosailing. Whoops, major problem...we discover that the hoist is dead.Tommy climbed the extension ladder to the hoist and confirmed from theburn marks and burnt motor smell that indeed the hoist was deceased.Scramble mode! Tom and I drove around for an hour to locate the yachtclub backup hoist but we couldn't find it (we went to the wrong house).Hmmm...can't have a regatta if we cant launch. Anyway, in the end,former 110er Greg Fleck came to our rescue with his boom truck to launchall the boats right on time. The regatta was showing some excitement atthe outset.I rigged my new main halyard system (tie line to head of sail, pull up,cleat it), which proved to work much better than my aluminum mastheadlock which failed during a breezy Sail Newport weekend (110 Atlantics).Everyone in Newport told me they stopped using masthead locks about 20years ago, now I know why.

Race 1: Sailing out to the starting line with Brother Fitty (Chris Clancy), thewind did a 180 to the northwest and increased 15-20 mph. After awhile,the wind seemed to be settling a bit but continued leaning right, so theline was favored to windward, which curiously, was the pin end. We hada pretty good start but Ross and Josh on Screaming Pelican moved out toleeward, crossed successfully, and were 1st at the windward mark, withus and the rest of the fleet right behind on this short upwind leg.Because the wind was continuing toward the right, the 1st few boatssailed low to where we sensed the leeward mark should be, but quicklyrealized it was a lot further left. Screaming Pelican stayed a littlelow. We reach up to grapple with the Bell Boys and were able to getinside position and rounded the leeward mark first, with the Bell Boys,Screaming Pelican, Annie and Stewart on Pow-Wow and the rest closebehind. The wind at this point was pretty much north/northeast so weimmediately flipped along with Pow-Wow and led a parade to the finish.

Race 2: The RC moved the windward mark a little right (not quite enough giventhe continuous righty). We had a pretty good start, could've beenbetter but we almost ran into Screaming Pelican bearing off down thewindward end of the line as they tried not to be over as the startinghorn went off. We ended up in lousy air so we cleared to the right assoon as we could. The Bell Boys flipped right on top of us so we droveoff to get clean. Wild Thing went right almost immediately off the lineand was doing well. The long tack was back to the left so we came backas soon as we could. One more short hitch up to the starboard laylineabout 3/4 up the windward leg and we were on the starboard tack layline.Wild Thing was first around the WW mark with us right behind. WildThing worked us up as we tried to affect their breeze off the wind. Aswe bore off for the mark we were able to get inside and round theleeward mark first. Again, with the righty now at Northeast, weimmediately flipped and it was a parade to the finish.

Race 3: By this time, the wind had swung right 300 degrees from the day's startand we had a nice northeasterly at about 12 mph. The RC moved and setthe best course of the day using government marks. The starting linewas heavily favored on the windward end. The Bell Boys, ScreamingPelican, and Wild Thing were in good position partly luffing up to theline at about 12 seconds. We were barging some so we ended up dipping 4sterns (Bell Boys, Screaming Pelican, Herb and Grandson on the OtherWoman, and Wild Thing) and stuck our nose up on the line a few secondslate...not our best start. Pow-Wow was to leeward and in front and theyeventually began to slow us down as they pinched us up. With everybodythinking right and the tide ebbing, we cleared to the right as most ofthe boats tacked off that way as well. As we sheeted in, the port tackjib sheet knot pulled through the jib clew and we lost the jib. So, wetacked back to starboard for a minute or two to fix the problem. When we tacked back we were on the port tack layline. The Bell Boys had anice start and sailed fast to a solid lead at the windward mark withScreaming Pelican, Wild Thing, and Pow-Wow grouped behind. We dipped Pow-Wow and very closely (a little too closely) lee-bow tacked on MartyBrown, Rick Maurice and the Other Woman tightly grouped together androuring in on starboard at the mark, rounding 5th. We closed the gapsome and stayed 5th trailing just behind Wild Thing at the leeward mark.We drove off below Wild Thing and Pow-Wow rather than tack. The BellBoys were in firm control on the right; they were going to win the race.It became an interesting race for the next 4 positions. Wild Thingtacked and did well sailing halfway out to the left. Screaming Pelican,Pow-Wow and my Brother and I on Jolly Giant sailed up to Bumpkin Islandon the right and tacked onto starboard; we tacked under and a littleearlier than the other two and benefited from the same progressiveheader that Wild Thing sailed into because they came flying back in onport and crossed just ahead of the whole group. Wild Thing hung it outa little too long on the come back and maybe overshot the finish just atad. Fitty and I were lucky to slip in and finish 3rd just behindScreaming Pelican. We sailed back to the dock just before the squall hit that didn't passto the north...a huge amount of rain in 30 minutes. HYC hosted a great Reggae party Saturday night...place was mobbed. Sunday was a bust...the wind came in just after the RC called it forlack there of. We look forward to the Nationals at CORK; the consensus is that we'llsee 15-20 boats....who knows maybe more. Could be epic. I'm lookingforward to seeing some folks and boats I haven't seen in a long time.Hope you all can make it.

By Steve Clancy 110/4

The Rise of Weene '07 Atlantic Coast Champ

2007-07-27T09:11:00.000-05:00

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

2007-07-26T17:30:00.001-05:00

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

2007-07-06T21:01:00.000-05:00

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

2007-07-03T07:49:00.000-05:00

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…….

It doesn’t pay to start early……

2007-06-20T21:14:00.000-05:00

Mark, Josh and the Screaming Pelican were on the sidelines for this evening. We missed these guys as they are always fast and competitive. A light southerly kicked in just as we rigged our boats and we enjoyed four races with some occasional trapeze conditions. I did better than week two probably because I remembered to bring a full cooler of beer and Oakley was kind enough to supply the ice.

I find it highly unusual for boats to be over the line early in small fleets. Not so with this fleet. Week two saw boats over early and it happened again this week. With one point separating four boats on week two the competition is keen. The entire fleet is aggressively pushing for good position and speed on the line as starts are so critical in short course racing. Critical being the operative word here as in your condition when you start too early. It hurts! So far this season nobody has been able to recover from OCS and win.

In the start for race one I thought I had pushed Will Donaldson and Oakley Jones on the Wharf Rat over the line early, but they managed to dip back as Jon Gustafson and I sailing the Sugar Magnolia crossed the line too soon (it was close) and with lots of momentum. One second I thought I had won the start, and then seconds later I’m staring at sterns and fast ones at that. I still think that the Guinness that the race committee was enjoying had something to do with their vision…..

We were lucky enough to find some good shifts on the first beat to at least put the fleet in striking distance. We managed to salvage a third in the five boat fleet with Wharf Rat sailing on to victory with Ross Weene in second.

After the week two performance on Wharf Rat, then this victory they were looking like the boat to beat. With that in mind we decided to be near them again at the start for race two. After failing to push them over in the first race and getting caught in the act we decided to be aggressive, yet not press the line too hard. This time it worked as we crossed the line we heard the race committee yell out 511 over. Music to my ears. Unfortunately Ross hit the line with all kinds of speed and promptly rolled us. Again we played the shifts well, rounded the windward mark first and carried the lead the remainder of the race with Ross close behind on our tails finishing second yet again.

The start of race three saw more aggressive starting with 511 fouling us off the line. Will and Oakley did their one tack and one jibe and continued up the beat (after a little yelling…). This was a really close race with the entire fleet separated by only a couple of boat lengths. Will and Oakley led the fleet around the entire course, but we managed to catch them and beat them by around 6”. We engaged them in a tacking duel up the final beat and they had a bad tack with the jib sheet getting caught on something. (Most likely a stray empty) It was in this race that I think I psyched out Oakley by sitting to leeward with Jon extended on the wire – “Midwest style”! Oakley looked back laughed and started to yell about our poor form, but we were fast. If nothing else it broke his concentration for a brief moment.

The final race of the night saw Ross finally sailing away to victory. We finished the race off of Ida Lewis Yacht Club and luckily for Ross the water gets deep quickly as he could have reached out and touched the rocks at the club. Had he needed to tack we might have been able to get him on a crossing, but he had nerves of steel and extra bondo in his car so he went for it.

The final results for the evening were:
Sugar Magnolia 3-1-1-2=7
Oobleck 2-2-3-1=8
Wharf Rat 1-3-2-3=9
US Blues 4-5-5-4=18
741 5-4-4-5=18

Alex was driving the US Blues this week and it was nice to see Tom Welsh joining us in 741. Both are welcome additions to our fleet and have shown some great speed and should be winning their share of races this summer.

Pigs Fly and Blind Squirrels find nuts...Week 2 Results

2007-06-14T10:30:00.000-05:00

So week 2 of 110ing out of the Fort was looking a little iffy to say the least. Fog and rain loomed over the bay and the breeze was threatening to shut off. Crews were bailing out for different reasons; mine was caught in a serious Rum Squall at the NYYC and another called in "sick". Four boats made it to the line that night and the players were:

1. Current National Champs Mark Van Note and Josh Hill on the Screaming Pelican (rumored to be named after a bizarre species of Boone Lake bird that makes a haunting squeal when mating)
2. Jeff Adam and MIT sailing coach Matty Cohen on Sugar Magnolia
3. Ross Weene and surprise crew Russell Coutts (Russell was getting bored watching the AC and decided to sail some real boats for a change)
4. Alexandra Laplant and Oakley Jones on the Wharf Rat

Now I can't remember all the details of racing but it was a fun night. If anyone who was out racing has comments please add them in. I do remember that the Pelican tried a port tack start in Race 1 and was shut out by Sugar Mags at the pin end. The lovely and charming Alexandra and I had some starting issues by not being able to get off the line that night but we made up for it by being very lucky and going the right way most of the time. In 2 of the 3 races we, Alex and I on the Wharf Rat, tacked to the Right as soon as possible and headed off in clear air. Josh and Mark showed the speed that won them a nationals and if it wasn't for the fluky breeze they would have walked away with the night...again. The one thing that I brought away from the racing was it's better to take the kite down 5 seconds too early than 5 seconds too late. Heros are for comic books...

Here are the scores for the night showing again why Fleet 54 is the strongest 110 fleet in the country:

1. Wharf Rat 4,1,2 = 7
2. Screaming Pelican 3,1,3 = 7
3. Sugar Magnolia 1,4,3 = 8
4. Oobleck 2,2,4 = 8

The night could have belonged to anyone and we had to go out to the 2nd tie-breaker to decide who the winner was. It says something about a fleet when 3 different boats win races. When Mark told Alex and I that we'd won the night I thought he was joking but after the Bud Lite induced fog lifted it started to sink in. This was the 1st time that Wharf Rat has won the night and hopefully not it's last. Alex and I would like to thank Jesus, Ray Hunt, the volunteer Race Committee from Ida Lewis YC, and all the other people that made Friday night happen.

We will see you all tomorrow night for Week 3 before the Newport sailors head to Block Island Race Week for mudslides at the Oar, Eastern European folk dancing at Yellow Kittens, blind driving escapades, and some big boat racing.

Which string goes where?

2007-05-31T12:16:00.000-05:00

So it begins again. The season kicks off tomorrow night at Sail Newport and the boats are already starting to fill up the 110 corner of the parking lot. Let's get this party started with lots of boats on the line this year. Right now it looks like we will consistently have 5 boats with the possibility of 3 more as the season progresses. Good luck to everyone and we'll try and update this as soon as possible after every Friday's races.

Rumor has it that the 2006 National Champions will not be sailing together the first night of racing. Word on the street is Josh is staying with Gordon as skipper for tomorrow night who's coming off an impressive win at this years Mid Winters. Mark could not be reached for comment at press time but since he's sailing another boat tomorrow I'm sure he's going to let his sailing do all talking. See you all then.

Mid-Winters Results

2007-03-04T17:44:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to Josh and Gordon for taking the 2007 mid winters in #239, Screaming Pelican. In second was Herb Dreher in Other Woman, third was Will Laidlaw in Smart Shoes and fourth was John Huff in Glider. Cal Brouwer did not make it down, apparently so four boats is it.

I spoke to Josh yesterday afternoon but not today. The first day, Friday, was called off because of too much wind. Saturday started off briskly but moderated towards the end of the day. I have no idea what today's conditions were like.

The report back, much like last year, was how nice the Davis Island Yacht Club is and what a pleasure it is to sail there. I am bummed I was not able to make it but Gordon promised he would take care of the Pelican in my absence. There is little reason to not go to this regatta next year. It would be great to get a ten plus boat fleet for this regatta someday.

Results can be found on the Davis Island Yacht Club website, here.

I'll try to round up some photos.

On with the show...

2007-02-22T18:46:00.000-05:00

Okay, enough of that. Time to start talking about yacht racing. The Mid-Winters are almost upon us, next weekend as a matter of fact.

Josh and the Screaming Pelican made it safe and sound down the east coast. He was to race with us on the Melges 32 on Sunday but there was too much wind for them to send us out. We had a beer and he drove me to the airport instead. That's okay, it was freezing in St. Pete last weekend.

Other attendees would appear to be Will Laidlaw, John Huff, Herb Dreher and any others which I do not know about. Hopefully it will be a good enough turnout to keep the invitations coming.

That's it for me. Good luck to all attending. I will make it one of these years.

Rest In Peace Steve Womsley

2007-02-11T17:17:00.000-05:00

As many of you know, friend of Fleet 54 and one of my best friends, Steve Womsley, passed away this past week during recovery from a fairly routine hip operation. This has been a tragic shock to the entire city of Newport. A service was held at St. Columas Chapel in Middletown followed by a party at local establishments Zeldas and the IYAC. Steve touched many people around the world and, as I mentioned, was one of my best friends. He will be sorely missed by all.

It has been almost a week since Steve passed away. I am still very sad. I have had a quote from Shawshank Redemption in my head for a couple of days now which I finally looked up and think sums up the situation here while I write,

"Still, the place you live in is that much more drab and empty that they're gone. I guess I just miss my friend."

2007 Mid-Winters

2007-01-21T08:11:00.000-05:00

The Davis Island Yacht Club has sent out information for the Mid-Winters to be held March 2-4. You can find all the information you need at their website, here.

I know everyone who has attended this regatta has had a good time. Maybe we can get a better turnout this year.

2007 Schedule

2007-01-02T11:59:00.000-05:00

Well it's back to work for me today so I thought I would post the 2007 District I Schedule so everyone can see it. Here is what we have planned for this summer:

June 16-17 110 Boston Bay Challenge Cup, Hull YC HT Sat 1300 Sun 1354
July 14-15 Newport Regatta 110 Atlantic Coast Champs
July 28-29 District I Champs Hull YC High tide Sat 1100 Sun 1145
Aug 18 or 19 Nationals Tune up? Site TBD
Aug 23-26 Nationals CORK
Sept 22-23 New England Champs Portland Maine High tide Sat 1430 Sun 1500
Oct 27 SpookFest Bristol YC

As you can see we have one regatta a month with July being the exception. The reason for this is to try and get as many boats to attend the events while still allowing local racing to continue.

Who would be up for a Nationals Tune up event? Maybe we could do a 1 day practice/tune up event and maybe have some coaching go along with it. We could consider Falmouth YC or Newport as potential venues unless someone has another idea.

The other issue is our friends in Ocean City, NJ. are coming out of their slumber and are starting to make some noise about hosting an event. Anyone care to comment about an OC event?

Had To Post Something

2006-11-01T08:27:00.000-05:00

We almost had some news to report. We were invited to Bristol Yacht Club's annual Spookfest Regatta this past weekend. This has been going on for a while and the classes involved range from Lasers to A-Class catamarans. The folks up in Bristol are good folks and the 110 class in Bristol would be a match mad in heaven. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and I spent most of Saturday in sweatpants, playing with my son, watching the 45 or so knots blow the remaining leaves off the trees in my back yard. So be it. We have already been invited for next year so let's put it on the calendar.

That said, here are some shots from Nationals this year. They were taken by Matt Coheh who's web site is here. Might as well have some flashy shots up on the fleet website, yes?

The End

2006-10-28T09:47:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago the people who organize the Spookfest regatta invited the 110's to participate. It is a one day event put on by the Bristol Yacht Club with some good, hard racing followed by food, beer and a band playing at the Guck boat shop down the road. Lasers, A-Class catamarans, 110's and more. Sounds like a bit of fun. Unfortunately the people in charge of weather came up short and I am typing this while my son and I are still in our pajamas at 11:00 watching a lot of rain and forecasted gusts to 45 knots instead of sailing out to the start line. Next year will be a different story, though, and we have already been invited to participate then. We had interest from at least five boats with two week's notice this year so next year's fleet should be quite good.

Until then, I guess we can call the 2006 racing season over. I need to go find my skis.

Dist. I Championships Hull YC Aug 26 & 27

2006-08-30T08:37:00.000-05:00

These three boats from Fleet 54 made the trip up to Hull YC last weekend for the District I Championships. The regatta was planned around Hull’s crazy 12 foot tide that allows for only a 4 hour window for hauling and launching. This weekend’s tides worked out perfectly and we were able to launch around noon on Saturday and pull out around 4 on Sunday. Hull YC really knows how to do things right. A whopping $10 entry fee got us lunch and plenty of drinks, plus HYC had a pig roast on Saturday night that was fun for everyone. Mark, Josh, Anna and I rented 2 rooms at the Nantasket Beach Inn for Saturday night. When we asked one of the locals at HYC how the inn was she said “it’s a place like you’d see on COPS.” Nice. The rooms were ok and it looked like they cleaned up all the blood and used needles right before we got there. The lock on the back door was a loop of wire bolted to the sash and hung over the doorknob. This sure wasn’t the Ritz.

Some of the highlights from the weekend included seeing #4 out racing for the 1st time in a long time. The Clancy brothers showed what a little $$$, the right speed shop, and going the right way can do for a vintage 1939/2006 boat by winning the event. A big dead pig (apple included) was expertly carved up and the $2 beers made for an fun night. One of the more interesting events happened after leaving the warm fuzzy nest of Hull and driving to Water Works in neighboring Quincy. Now I haven’t been to a bar with a mechanical bull in a long time and the line of drunken bachelorettes trying to ride the bull was great.

The racing was very competitive and our own Ross Weane seemed to be on fire with 2 bullets on the 1st day. The Clancy bros came out on Sunday and secured their win by getting 2 bullets in the last 2 races. Six races were held and Fleet 54 was 2,3 and 6 out of 11 boats that raced. We were back on the road by 5pm on Sunday (in the rain) and made it home safe and sound.

Race results can be found on the class website. Direct link here.

Friday, July 18 - Ross Weene

2006-08-24T11:40:00.000-05:00

Here's a writeup, sorry took so long -

Friday night conditions were beautiful but a bit light, about 6-8 from the south with a fear that it might shut down while out there. I pulled Will Donaldson out of hiatus and we got out there and checked it out. Looked like some strong current coming in against us, with good pressure on the left up in the harbor and to the far right. The breeze was fluky though, especially up near the fort. We decided to play the left for some current relief and see what happened. In the first race we started at the pin, went left until we felt headed enough to tack, and rode good pressure up to the center of the course. When it started feeling like we were sailing into less pressure we hitched back left to meet the next band of lefty coming out of the harbor, tacked on it - up to the mark - then there was a puff up there coming down over the top of the fort that worked for us on the starboard tack layline. This was a fluky puff though, and a bit scary if you were there and it died. Oakley and Anna went to the top right and looked great for a while in good breeze, but then had to sail quite a ways in that weird air on starboard under the fort - we saw this was not the best thing for the future. On the downwind we played the shoreside again, opting for the breeze rather than the possible advantage of more favorable current, rode the headers down and jibed a couple times to get back into the new breeze coming down. We played the race well it seemed and held a good lead through the race.

Race 2 saw a good mixup prestart, with all boat jockeying for the pin side. Oakley and Anna got there early and luffed, and we set up above them, but too early we would find. Jeff & Jon came in under the Joneses and Mark & Josh set up above us, and at the gun we and the Joneses were left luffing and going backwards, not good. We tacked onto port and got out to some clear air on the right, then got back left at earliest opportunity to meet the next band of pressure. Josh and Mark worked the left nicely this race, coming into the mark pointing high and fast on port tack layline and rounded 1st. We had worked back up, our focus was really concentrating on keeping powered up and going fast, footing to get Will out on the trap and carrying speed for height as long as we could, helped out of course by flat water. Downwind it seemed playing the shore worked best again. Jeff and Jon jibed out to the right looking for better current and it looked like pressure just wasn't there for them. Oakley and Anna kept us on our toes playing the shore too and bearing down on us with great downwind speed, the rasta chute looking great and drawing well. We held them off, but there was no way to catch Mark and Josh who finished first.

In Race 3 with the wind dropping off, and big holes in pressure, focus for us was looking for the next puff and making sure we were in it solidly and going in the right direction. We played left again, and it worked out. Coming up into the upper third we weren't as far left as we would have liked, and had some tense moments deciding whether to hitch left for pressure which would point the bow well away for the mark and possibly be a very slow tack, or stay in the dying leftie and hope to catch the righty under the fort on starboard. We stayed on port, kept speed up until headed a bit, tacked over, and felt good as the righty started filling in. Mark and Josh continued further out to the right. At one point that fluky puff seemed to fall out and we were worried we wouldn't make it but kept her sailing smooth and fast, and the breeze came back just enough to make it around. Downwind same thing, play the shore and work down when we could, then cover upwind.

Race 4 was a race to the dock. We and Oakley & Anna went to the left shore, the other boats went right. Once up in the harbor we started working to the right on port, and Josh and Mark were looking good coming out from the point on starboard. This one would be close! As we started converging I took a look and, yes, it was very close but we decided to go for it, crossing by inches. OK next time we said go for the leebow and play it safe! Now for the battle up the harbor, we focused on smooth tacks and looking for the best breeze. US Blues threw a lot of tacks at us in a great duel to the finish, they crept up but on one convergence we threw a leebow at them and that helped close the deal.

We've had a really great Friday night series so far, the closest and most competitive it's ever been, which no doubt helped launch us all at Nationals. It was great having Will back out there and we look forward to him coming back full time. With a few weeks to go the standings are very close!

Some Content

2006-08-22T05:18:00.000-05:00

Here are some phoots from Nationals in which Flet 54 filled four of the top five spots. I would grab a write-up off of the class website but there is none. Results can be found on the 110 website here.

It has been a long time. Coming up we should have Ros Weene's report after winning this past Friday night of racing. Good to see Will Donaldson out there crewing for him.

Friday, July 14

2006-07-17T17:34:00.000-05:00

Friday was a great night for sailing. The wind was solid enough to have the crews trapping all night long but not so much that you could not enjoy a beer on the downwind leg. The Ida Lewis committee set us off on four short races. It was a pretty athletic night for the most part.

Josh and I decided pretty early on that the right was the way to go. Current was not much of an issue and there seemed to be more pressure out there. We set up above the boat layline for the start to find Will Wells, steering for Ross, lined up to leeward of us with not much of an escape for us. We luffed our sails, waited for the gun to go off and started behind them with a very quick tack to clear our air and get to the right. After a bit of separation we tacked back and found ourselves ahead of the fleet to round the windward mark first with Will and Ross in second. This is how the race ended with Jeff Adam in third and the Joneses in fourth. This would be the first race Oakley's boat has completed since he bought it. It is nice to have him out.

The second race looked to start just like the first, with Will and Ross to leeward and us above the boat layline. Jeff came in on port, though, and planted a tack right below the boys which slowed them, allowed us to roll them to windward and create a lane below the committee. Thanks Jeff. With such short courses, this is how the race finished up; us, Jeff, Will and Ross and the Joneses.

The third race was a bit tighter. We decided to try something other than barging and started somewhere around the middle of the line. It did not look like anyone was near the line at the gun when we looked back and saw Anna and Oakley hit the start on time, with speed and charging upwind. Not bad for the first night in the boat. The fleet was definitely getting closer together and it shook out to finish us, will and Ross, Anna and Oakley with Jeff in fourth.

We were over early in the fourth start. I think we need to bring the committee more beers. This race was a bit longer, windward, leeward, windward and a dog-leg to Ida Lewis. We spent the first two legs watching the other three racing closely. Things got closer at the leeward mark where people started to slow down playing with each other. We almost had room to get inside Jeff at the mark but decided to play it safe and go around. Everyone went right, for the most part and we went left to try and stay out of the beginning of an incoming tide and for more wind, which paid off. We rounded the windward mark in second, behind Will and Ross with Jeff behind us and the Joneses in fourth. The leg to the club is a reach so this is how we stayed.

This was one of the more competitive nights of sailing we have had this summer. It was good to see Will Wells, our local Quantum Sails rep, taking an interest and sailing with the fleet. It was very nice to have Josh back who had obviously come to sail as his tacks were fantastic and the general crew-work felt great. The best part of the night was sailing upwind, watching Anna and Oakley on starboard with Anna yelling "We're in first!" Hopefully we have more nights like this.

Here's another try at posting results. We are working on posting them on the Ida site with a link every week.

Mark Van Note
#631 - US Blues

#631 - Josh Hill: 1, 1, 1, 2 = 5pts
#608 - Ross Weene: 2, 3, 2, 1 = 8pts
#687 - Jeff Adam: 3, 2, 4, 3 = 12 pts
#511 - Anna & Oakley Jones: 4, 4, 3, 4 = 15pts

Last Friday

2006-07-14T04:59:00.000-05:00

Here is a write-up from last week's winner. I do not have results yet. The Atlantics took the steam out of posting the weeknight results.

July 7 Friday night proved a beautiful night of racing, with four boats out racing four races in 10-14 knots and sunny skies. Oakley and Anna Jones christened and launched #511, a sight we've been waiting four years to see, and there's even pictures to prove it! They sailed until their rudder head slipped on the rudder shaft, good thing the rudder stayed in as they've been known to drop out and go to the bottom. Greg and Rick Maurice came down from Maine to join us and stayed for the Atlantics.

My crew Ryan Cahill is new to the 110, so our first goals were to smooth out the boathandling, our previous week saw lots of tanglings. We were a bit late for the first start but hung in there behind Mark Van Note & Ryan Scott and Jeff & Joanne Adam, got comfortable in the boat, and saw that in clear air we had good speed and point. In Race 2 we looked to get off the line clean, then get right as it looked like there was more pressure there as well as predicted persistent right shift and the tide turning to go out. The plan seemed to work but Mark and Ryan obviously were thinking the same and rounded the windward mark in first. I remember Jeff digging in too far left in the first beat and it didnt work out. At the leeward mark we came in hot with speed and were able to secure inside overlap on Mark, but I looked up from dousing chute and we totally missed it - so we gybed and tacked and re rounded, behind Jeff, now in first as Mark and Ryan had problems getting their chute in the boat for a while so were slow getting around the mark.

By Race 3 we felt solid in the boat, and felt the new Quantum sails were working well. What a bonus to have a nice groove to sail in upwind! Been a while since I've had that. So the goal was to get off the line with speed and get right again, which worked - we got bow out at the start and kept her smooth and flat and soon were able to tack above the fleet and get to the right. We dug into pressure there, tacked back, and rounded in first followed by Mark. We both gybe set to get back out into pressure, and they were on our heels the whole run. We managed to stay ahead, rounded the leeward mark on the first attempt this time, continued on starboard out to the layline then tacked to finish close to the pin.

In Race 4 we used the same strategy and it worked out; sail smooth and fast off the start, get right, gybe set on the run, and favor the right side up the long beat to R2. We may have been able to carry chute on the final reach to Ida Lewis, but opted to play conservative. Overall it was an excellent night of racing with all four boats mixing it up around the course. Looking forward to this Friday!

Ross Weene

2006 Atlantic Coast Championships

2006-07-10T18:50:00.000-05:00

The 110 class held its Atlantic Coast Championships during the Newport Regatta, held by Sail Newport. It was a successful regatta for Sail Newport with 254 boats in 18 classes. Boats headed out to circles all over the bay and offshore. The 110’s shared a circle with the beach-cats, 210’s and J-22’s. Everyone played nicely together for the most part although there is always bound to be confusion when you are sailing a keelboat and catamarans are zipping around in the teens, sailing the same angles upwind and downwind.

Day one started with a light, light northerly. Josh Hill, owner of US Blues, was attending a wedding over the weekend and was generous enough to let me race his boat. My crew, Ryan Scott, and I left the dock early in the hopes of getting to the start in time and to continue familiarizing Ryan, a newcomer to the class, with the boat and its quirks. We arrived against an outgoing tide just before the wind shut down completely, threw out the anchor and waited. The committee tried to get a couple of classes off, which did not work. Eventually the southerly arrived and we were able to start racing.

Once racing began, the committee did what they could in the space provided along with wind versus an impressively strong tide. The combination resulted in the inability for anyone to cross the start line on starboard all day. The impressive part was that, except for one race, everyone started remarkably clean. I think it is because everyone had to start on port. Beyond trying to be first off the line the play for the entire day was to go right, nail the layline, if you could with the tide, and go off on starboard gybe down the run as every time you gybed onto port you were headed twenty degrees higher than you thought you would and the boat felt horrible. Once in a while someone would take an early dive to the left on the beat and look like rock stars for a bit while you tried to fight the temptation to go and cover in case it would pan out. Strength in your convictions was the big battle of the day.

Ryan and I started the day off pretty well winning the first race and a second in the second. Jeff Adam, sailing with his wife Joanne, is proving to have this pesky downwind speed edge and he took the second race off us. The third race was, well, annoying. We decided to start being conservative which does not work when you have to have the best of a port tack start, apparently. We found ourselves second row, having to tack at the worst times and far enough behind that we started to get mixed up with J-22’s and the like for the rest of the race. After battling back to third in the second beat we made some bad decisions, had to duck a catamaran and who knows what else and gave back two boats to finish fifth. The last two races provided us with another second and another first. At the end of day one we were tied with Jeff and Joanne with us winning on the second tie-breaker and Stewart Craig with dad Tom crewing three points behind on Pow Wow.

Day two started off much better wind-wise. The southerly was in and forecasted to stay in with pressure. Ryan and I left the dock early again. In fact, a little too early as we spent a lot of time trying to scrub speed towards the race committee so we would not have to reach around for an hour. We went over to see the Lasers milling around, beat up to the windward mark and got back in good time for the first race. Every race was proving to be a tight one. Ross Weene seemed to like the heavier air and got second between us and Jeff in the first race of the day. The second race was a great battle between us and Jeff with the lead changing a couple of times before we (okay, I) called a bad layline to the finish and Jeff surfed by below us while we sailed VMG to the line.

The third race was looking to be a great one with Ross, Jeff, Stewart and ourselves battling hard. Somewhere in the mix, though, we lost track off Jeff and Joanne who had mysteriously left the race and were on their way in. Most of us found out when we got back in that day that they had wrapped some lines around the forestay from a recreational fishing boat on the coarse and after evading one Joanne caught the second right in the hand. She was quickly transferred to a committee boat and brought in to the paramedics while Jeff sailed the boat in. By the time we caught up with Jeff at the regatta tent Joanne was back at home after a trip to the hospital. I have caught a fishing line around the headstay once but never saw the hook at the end. I don’t think I am going to ask for the details. The biggest disappointment was that the regatta was shaping up to be a great battle between the two boats. I would have much rather raced against them until the end.

The fourth and fifth races were tight with Stewart and Ross. The breeze was getting good by then and… did I mention that Ryan weighs over 200 lbs? If it were a lighter day we would have had some issues but with that kind of crew on the trapeze you can traveler up, sheet harder and go faster. The gains we had upwind were enough to fight them off downwind and we were able to win the last two races taking the regatta with Ross getting two seconds and Stewart with two thirds. With Jeff and Joanne missing the last three races, this put Stewart and Tom in second overall and Ross in third.

There were definitely some other points of interest through the weekend. On day one, Tom Rizzo and crew showed some flashes of great speed and point, showing potential to be a force come Nationals. Day two had a great start with us, Jeff and Stewart headed to the Navy base exclusion zone with Stewart holding the cards and us to leeward. We took a crack at tacking ahead of the other two and had to slam one back to avoid Jeff. So, three boats, an exclusion zone, add an exclusion zone buoy somewhere in the middle and next thing you know we are all on port tack with Jeff passing Stewart to windward, us passing them to leeward with a bow out on Jeff and no one really knowing how we all ended up there. No flags were thrown though I think we could have been in a room for a week figuring the whole thing out. We will have to revisit that one over a beer at the Hull Yacht Club because I honestly don’t know how it worked out so well for us. Ross showed some speed through the weekend, coming off a Friday night win with his new sails. Lastly is the grin I get on my face every time I hear Herb Dreher yelling starboard at someone over my shoulder because everyone knows Herb never messes around when it comes to having rights.

In the end, I think everyone would call the weekend a good one and one not too miss next year. We had eight boats in all but would really like to see over ten or fifteen. The Newport Regatta might be a bit more expensive than most 110 fare but it is not everyday you can race a good fleet of 110’s in Narragansett Bay for two days. Thanks to Sail Newport and the volunteers, thanks to the out of town boats who made the trip to our neck of the woods, and thanks to Josh for the boat and Ryan for the hard work.

Every time I try to post results on this page I fail so you can find them on the Sail Newport site here.

Mark Van Note
#631 – US Blues

Friday Night Results

2006-07-03T09:27:00.000-05:00

That was a good night of sailing. I am sure Josh's legs are sore, though, as there was a lot of in and out on the trap all night.

I am still working on a good way to format the results here but I do this in what little spare time I have so it is what it is. Also, the Words of Wisdom from Jeff Adam who won the night on the second tie-break can be found below. They were long enough to get their own post.

Another Friday night and the Sail Newport Regatta coming up next weekend. Hopefully the out of towners coming for the regatta will join us on Friday night.

Boat - Skipper - Race 1 - Race 2 - Race 3 - Race 4 - Total - Series

687 - Jeff Adam - 2 - 1 - 2 - 1 - 6 - 10
631 - Josh Hill - 1 - 2 - 1 - 2 - 6 - 22
608 - Ross Weene - 3 - 3 - 3 - 3 - 12 - 21
566 - Rick Maurice - 5 - 4 - 4 - 4 - 17 - 28
11 - Marty Brown - 5 - 5 - 5 - 5 - 20 - 36
741 - Tom Rizzo - 5 - 6 - 6 - 5 - 22 - 38
511 - Oakley Jones - 5 - 6 - 6 - 5 - 22 - 38
10 - Will Donaldson - 5 - 6 - 6 - 5 - 22 - 38

Boats starting - 4 - 5 - 5 - 4
DNS - 5 - 6 - 6 - 5

Friday Night Words of Wisdom

2006-07-03T09:25:00.000-05:00

Week 5 on the schedule – second night of actual racing. After bad weather canceled three nights of sailing week 5 finally produced a beautiful evening with 4 nice races in trapeze conditions.

I was playing in a charity golf tournament and was late arriving at Sail Newport. Luckily, we have some great guys in our fleet that uncovered my boat and had it right at the hoist. Thanks Josh and Oakley!

I don’t think I have ever seen a night/day of racing with so many lead changes in each race. It was an extremely competitive night of sailing. Ross had his new Quantum sails up. Main needs work, jib looked good. Marty and Rick joined us from Maine. Oakley raced around the parking lot…

Race One: We started at the heavily favored pin end with the fleet fighting for position at the boat. We made a huge mistake near the windward mark as we were in a crossing position with Mark and Josh. We were on port and didn’t think they were on layline so we elected to duck them and tack. Unfortunately they pinched up and made the mark and we followed them for the balance of the race.

Race Two: This race we started again at the pin, but the leg was too short to leg out under Mark or Ross. We tacked right on the layline and took both of their sterns. Both Mark and Ross went too far to the left and allowed us to round the windward mark with a comfortable lead. Our downwind speed was excellent, but our tacking was sloppy. We barely managed to successfully cover upwind to hold off a surging Mark and Josh and win by a slim 5 second margin.

Race Three: “Mast abeam!” – haven’t heard that one in a while… This was a hotly contested race that saw tempers flying. Mark and Josh rounded the weather mark first about a boat length ahead, but we quickly got even with them and slowly slipped ahead. However we jibed too soon, combined with excellent team work by Mark and Josh and they now began to overtake us. This is when it got hot. They were calling for proper coarse even though they overlapped from astern and I had full luffing rights. Then in the confusion as I start to head them up, Mark gets the tiller caught in his shorts and cannot maneuver quick enough. I didn’t press them hard enough and while this is going on we both end up with horrible mark roundings with me trailing Mark and Josh. Ross managed to sneak in right behind me and inside me. Unfortunately I’m now sucking bad air and cannot tack. Apparently Ross had a mess on this boat and wasn’t paying attention. The left had been paying all night and I was desperate to tack. Finally I bore off and tacked to the left off Ross’s stern. While I wasn’t able to catch the leaders I did manage to get Ross back. Yes the left paid again.

Race Four: This turned out to be the longest and closest race of the night with all boats finishing within a minute although we had a pretty good lead over the rest of the fleet by the finish. Current played a big factor in this race and being able to lead out of current was huge.

After racing the fleet enjoyed pizza and beer back at my house. Overall a really fun night.

Next Friday is the night before the Newport Regatta so we expect a nice fleet. If you plan to join us racing starts at 6:00.

Jeff

Fleet Racing Results

2006-06-28T17:26:00.000-05:00

Did we mention that the fleet's summer series was off to a slow start? Here are the results from the only night of racing so far, June 3rd. Jeff reports that those of us who were not there missed a great night. Clearly Jeff felt things were just fine that night.

We look forward to a good night of racing this Friday where we should have good attendance. We should have the results up a bit quicker than this.

Boat # Skipper Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Race 4 Total

687 Jeff Adam 1 1 1 1 4
608 Ross Weene 2 3 2 2 9
566 Rick Maurice 3 2 3 3 11
10 Will Donaldson 4 4 4 4 16
741 Tom Rizzo 4 4 4 4 16
511 Oakley Jones 4 4 4 4 16
631 Josh Hill 4 4 4 4 16

Sails Meeting - Part 2

2006-06-25T19:58:00.000-05:00

Although the beginning of Fleet 54's season has been slow to warm up, there is a fair amount of action behind the scenes...

The first outing for US Blues was brought to a screaming halt by a mysterious lack of mainsail battens. This past Friday I dropped in to see our new friends at Quantum Newport to replace the missing battens and arrived to find a loft devoted entirely to building 110 sails for a couple of the boats in our fleet. It would have made for a good picture. So, with half the fleet back from Block Island Race Week, Oakley's boat finally making it out of it's refit and sails full of battens, we look forward to a good night this week. We also get to see what the boys at Quantum came up with for go-fast sails.

I did have to laugh that Ross and Oakley's sails were being build on a Friday afternoon. I almost dropped back in with a case of beer to help with quality control.

Friday Night Fleet Racing

2006-06-15T18:24:00.000-05:00

So, after a couple weeks of trying we might just get a night of racing in tomorrow. There seemed to be a lack of boats ready on the first week. Last week the weather gave us two options, no wind or too much wind with lightning. (it chose no wind) This week is lining up to be great weather and rumor has it we will be joined by some of our friends from Maine. Looking forward to it.

Crew’s Lounge

2006-04-19T12:04:00.000-05:00

One of the best parts about the 110 class is being able to let your imagination run wild with rigging ideas. I’ve always been interested in different control systems and I like to check out other classes for ideas. One of the biggest improvements in the 210 class in years was the introduction of the lever vang system. This opened up the front of the cockpit allowing the forward crew access to tons of valuable real estate. Before the lever vang the forward crew had to tack through the vang triangle and if you weren’t quick enough on a crash jibe you’d get pinned against the leeward coaming. The attached picture is a 210 lever vang while on the trailer. The lever vang would take some engineering, and a welder, but it would be the best option. Anyone care to take a crack at making this piece up?

Sails Meeting

2006-04-10T10:13:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately, as a class, the 110s don’t have the same numbers as say the E22s, J24s, or Lightning’s, but we are still looking for some personal attention and quality sails. Having our choice of local lofts including North, UK, Hood, Quantum, and Jasper & Bailey we approached Quantum Newport this past winter to see what they could come up with for a suit of 110 sails. So far we’ve had 4 meetings on design, longevity, materials, and finish. Quantum designed us a main and a jib using UK and Doyle/Curtis sails as a starting point. Then they put the sails together using some old cloth they had lying around so we all could make comments on the shape. The sails were stuck together and the battens were taped on. Jeff Adam pulled his boat out of his new garage-ma-hal and onto his lawn for the afternoon and the whole design team came down for a look. I know it looks like a State Highway job with 5 guys standing around and no one working but let me tell you a lot got accomplished. This is the M1 version of the new mainsail rule. It’s going back in for some tweaking here and there after checking the sail in some more breeze this past Sunday. You heard me right, Bill took more time out of his weekend to get another look at the main. What’s your sailmaker done for you lately? If you are interested in getting on board with Quantum and the majority of Fleet 54 call Will Welles at the loft at 401.849.7700.

2006 Midwinters

2006-03-11T20:40:00.000-05:00

The second annual 110 Midwinters were held March 3-5, hosted by the Davis Island Yacht Club in Tampa Florida. Sadly, no one from Fleet 54 was present. A group of boats from the mid-west made the treck, though. Hopefully there will be more boats next year. I have not been able to find any photos yet but maybe we can get a couple from those who attended.

Results:
Alter Ego #300 - Botimer - 12 pts
Shenanigans #709 - Huff - 14 pts
Grupmy #752 - Eddy - 24 pts
Double Trouble #213 - VanderBerg - 25 pts

And now for something completely different

2006-03-03T09:55:00.000-05:00

Yeah I know it's not a 110 but the 210 is a close second in the looks department. Here is a picture of the newest 210 on the planet #462. The 210 Class announced the selection of Shaw Yacht, Inc. of Thomaston, Maine to build the new boats back in the fall. 462 is currently under construction and will be race ready by May 1, 2006. Bernie Shaw is a renowned builder of one design yachts, including Maine's 2005 Boat of the Year, the Dark Harbor 20, the classic Wianno Senior, and the InterClub Dinghy. The deck and grid are installed, the seat cleats are in and the interior has been coated with grey gel coat. This new boat carries a base price of $28,000 making it one of the most affordable one design racing keel boat on the market.

Is anyone up for a midnight raid on Westease to liberate the 110 molds? If Bernie can make a 210 for $28K I wonder how much a new 110 would go for?

2006 Friday Night Series

2006-03-03T09:38:00.000-05:00

The Fleet 54 2006 Friday night series will start on June 2nd and run through September 8th. That's 15 nights of quality racing and unparalleled socializing we have to look forward to. Everyone in the fleet should make an effort to head to Ida Lewis after racing this summer to show our support for Ida providing a race committee every week. This will also get us in front of the dinner crowd and you never know if there is a future 110er lurking in that bunch. Finishing our last race off the porch of the club has been good for our image.

Finally I would like to thank Josh for volunteering to be fleet secretary again this year. Please direct all scoring questions his way.

Fleet 10 has a report! News from Brian atop the range.

2006-01-30T21:40:00.000-05:00

Will the 110 Forum be back on-line at any time?? It is truly missed and I feel a very valuable tool for the class, I miss Josh's bitchin'. I will be in Naples Fla. from Feb. 15 to the 3rd. of March so once again my vacation does not work for the mid's. I hope there is a great turn out because Charlie Tuna very much wants to sail in "hot water".
Regards, Brian

Mark Your Calendars! (updated again)

2006-01-10T16:05:00.000-05:00

Fellow hibernating 110ers, it’s time to mark your calendars for the fast approaching summer. Now’s the time to tell all of your friends and family that you can’t go to what’s-his-names wedding because you made plans back in January to go race your 110 on that weekend. We are planning to hold the schedule to one regatta a month (except August) so people will still have time to mow their lawns, race on other boats, fly kites, skip stones, or do whatever normal people do in the summer. Here are the confirmed dates we know so far.

2006 110 Racing Schedule
March 3-5 Mid-Winters at Davis Island YC, Tampa, FL
July 8-9 Newport Regatta, Sail Newport
August 7-11 Nationals at Ida Lewis YC, Newport, RI
August 26-27 Hull YC, Hull, MA
September 23-24 New England’s at Portland, Maine

Mainsail Rule part 2

2006-01-08T19:01:00.000-05:00

Many people (too many for me to list and not forget somebody) put a lot of effort in and did a great job to get the new mainsail rule together and passed. Over 100 emails later we have a rule that makes sense. Check below under the first mainsail rule post and read the rule as it's written in the comment section. Many boats in Fleet 54 are having sails made here in town and been working closely with the sailmakers. Expect to see some new rule main's in the coming months (maybe by the Mid-Winter's). Stay tuned.

Florida Mid-Winter Regatta 2006

2006-01-08T10:43:00.000-05:00

The 110 Midwinter Regatta is March 3-5, 2006. DIYC Regatta Chairman Paul Leonard informed me that the March 4-5 dates posted on the DIYC website apply to other classes that want only a two day regatta, and that the 110s are scheduled for the full three days (three races Friday, four races Saturday, two races Sunday). So, plan to arrive in Tampa by Thursday morning, March 2 and enjoy beautiful Florida. Davis Island Yacht Club is a fabulous place to sail and party. Six intrepid 110s came down last year, and we had a blast. We hope to have at least ten entries this year, so make your plans now.

More details, housing information, etc. are in the next edition of the Barney Post which will be in the mail next week. You should make your housing reseverations asap. NOR and other documentation will be available in a few weeks. Please visit DIYC's website for more details on the Club and facilities, www.diyc.org.

Classic Yachts at 110 Nationals?

2006-01-04T09:58:00.000-05:00

Ok people I would like to hear everyone's opinion on an idea that has been kicking around for a little while. How about we offer a "classic" division at the Nationals this year? This could be a great way to get more boats on the line. This will be a division that will give the wooden spar, non-updated, non-spinnaker boats a place to compete. My inital thoughts would be to have everyone start at the same time but have shorter weather legs for the classic boats. Please leave your thoughts and comments below.

Cheers,

Oakley

Nationals only 9 months away!

2006-01-03T09:48:00.000-05:00

So it’s freezing cold and these huge snowflakes the size of cocktail napkins just started to fall outside my window. Most people are thinking skiing but as I sit here looking at the snow a smile creeps to my face knowing that the 2006 110 Nationals are only a short 9 months away. Fleet 54 is hosting this years Nationals and it’s already shaping up to be a great event. The Newport fleet members have been working non-stop since last year to put on a world class event with outstanding race management and unparalleled socializing. In the coming months I will be contacting most known 110ers in the surrounding area to hound them into coming to Nationals. If you know of a 110 Alumni who hasn’t been in a 110 in a while give them a call or pass their email on to me. We can get 30+ boats on the line, I know we can. Can we get some of the New Jersey guys to come up? How about the Lake Alexander Tribe? Let’s make it happen.

Cheers,

Oakley

Sail For Hope

2005-12-28T21:52:00.000-05:00

The Sail For Hope is a race around Conanicut Island which benefitted the Hurricaine Katrina Relief Fund. This race began as the Sail For Pride which was conceived shortly after the tragic events of 9/11. Information about the race and it's causes can be found at the Sail Newport website.

A few of us have been sailing on Paul Zabetakis' Farr 40 Impetuous for some time now and we grabbed a few more for this event. Josh Hill, Oakley Jones, Anna Longstaff-Jones, Will Donaldson and myself joined Impetuous regulars Steve Ivers, Sean Cahill, Robin Merrill and Eric Zeller along with Lat Spinney to take class and fleet (87 boats) in the 18 mile race. Ross Weene sailed aboard the modified Kiwi 35 In Theory to tale second in fleet.

Josh and I have tried numerous times to take top honors in Newport's multiple "round the island" races each year and have come quite close a few times. It was nice to take the trophy this year but there is some unfinished 110 business. You are sure to see us out there again and I hope we will not be alone. Maybe a distance race for the 2006 Nationals?

2005 Fleet Racing

2005-12-27T13:21:00.000-05:00

Fleet racing ended some time ago. Our PRO, Phil Cox, had taken some photos early in the season, though, and this is a good time of year to remember Friday night racing out of Newport.

505 Mainsheet

2005-12-27T11:07:00.000-05:00

I would never hear the end of it from Oakley Jones if I did not mention the 505 class here. Yes, the 110 is a keel boat and the 505 is a dinghy but there are a lot of similarities since both classes have very relaxed rules regarding rigging. Oakley's latest 505'ism is the "headknocker" mainsheet system which you will see on a lot of skiffs and, recently, some hot 505's. The idea was posted via Layline and can be found here.

Unfortunately for Oakley this system is currently all about Ronstan/Fredericksen. Let's see how hard Juice pushes the engineers in Pewaukee to create hardware designed around the needs of the 110.

The US 505 website seems to be gathering a database of rigging photos as I write. This is great as there is some trickle-down to be had and some of their rigging info can be hard to find.

Mainsail Rule

2005-12-27T10:48:00.000-05:00

Once again the subject of the mainsail rule is being debated. As of last week there is a lively debate over the current wording, if it should be changed and how changes would affect the fleet. Josh Hill has been working with a couple of lofts to see if a change should be considered. He has gotten a couple of responses and I hope to see them posted here in the near future.

I think the most important point here is that we are working with the sailmakers to make a refinement, not change the world. The biggest change occured when the class allowed the fourth, full-length batten. This issue is all about tweaking and is not an arms race. These are the changes which keep the class fresh, people interested and promotes growth.

More to come...

The Beginning

2005-12-27T10:12:00.000-05:00

The internet being what it is, creating a small blog about the Newport, RI 110 fleet is pretty easy. There are a few of us who will be posting things as we think of them.

Hopefully we will keep this filled with recent content. I would like to see posts on potential mainsal rule changes, rigging ideas, tricky new ideas, etc.

New to the whole website / blogging thing, this may take a while to get right. Should be fun.