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J 24 Results |
North
Sails
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J24 Labor Day Challenge
Commentary for 4th of July Weekend Challenge
Once again, it was proved that
you don’t need many to have a lot, a lot of FUN.
Sunday at MYC was a day of
sailing (what else should it be, BBQs and fireworks). The small
boats had their regularly scheduled racing and J24 Fleet 87 had its’
make up day for the 4th of July
Sunday 4:30pm I learn JMouse
would not make the start and More Cowbell could not find crew, it
looked a little grim, but with confirmation, JPeas was on the way
and Fine Finish was certain all their crew were going to make it,
The Other Half was a body short but certain someone from the crew
pool gathered for the Skipper’s Meeting would hop onboard. The race
was on. (We left several anxious crew ashore, what a shame)
The RC left a little early to
set the course, the Skippers Meeting was held w/o them. Basically,
it was said. W/L course, RC will tell you how many laps and lets
hurry out so we can get in as many races as possible. Also, it was
agreed to sail SOG (Save Our Gennys) - It was 5 up crew with Jibs
and Spinnakers,
First Race – SeaBreeze was
around 10 knots, sometimes less and sometimes more, but not much
more, so there were quite a few lulls that challenged us with the
small jibs.
The start went well we were at
the RC – favored end maybe a half boat length back so we could have
this advantage, we sailed off on stbd pinning the tight fleet. I
eventually tacked away because I did not handle a lull as well as
the boat, bow out to leeward.. I felt separating was a good thing,
but the fleet to the left got a nice port lift and I was forced to
cross behind, but now I played the far left and got a better port
lift, enabling The Other Half to round the windward mark 3
boatlengths in front of FF. Since this was a one lap race I held my
own and sailed to the victory.
Second Race – “Z” flag, what
the hell? Four boats and we need a “Z” flag, it did make the RC boat
look pretty, an orange flag, a blue and white flag, a flag with an
anchor and now a multicolor flag, it looked as if they were in a
parade. No need for the “Z” this race, but wait till what happens in
the third race. With the left side playing so well last race we will
go that way again. Off the line we had good speed but there seemed
to be quite a few good shifts (every 60 seconds apart) so we ended
up doing quite a few tacks upwind. This was pretty cool being that
we were without a compass, we played the shifts well enough and
accelerated out of the tacks well enough that we were able to round
just in front of JPeas. This time the race was two laps so we did
our best to stay between JPeas and the leeward mark, yet remain in a
clear breeze. The leeward mark was quite the test of boat and sail
handling , we had worked ourselves to the left of the mark (looking
downwind) so we needed to raise the Jib, Jibe the spinnaker, do a
leeward takedown, Jibe around the mark and trim up for a port tack
exit, all staying up above JPeas. Being blanketed by JPeas at the
mark made all this look more ugly than it was, but when we got
around, the Jib halyard had slipped quite a bit. Drastic means and
Drastic measures means lots of yelling by Dave, before we lost too
much leeward to JPeas Rick shot forward and in unison with Terry on
Jib trim the halyard was hoisted to the proper position and as soon
as that was set the crew pulled off a flawless tack to starboard
where we could gain an advantage on JPeas. We rounded the windward
mark in first but just in front of JPeas. The wind did a major right
switch on the previous leg and we were able to reach on home without
any threat from JPeas.
Third Race – The right shift
of the second race stayed with us, the wind also increased to
12-13knt, the RC needed to reset the Start line, but the Windward
mark remained off to the left, straight from the get go I decided
the right was the only way to go, first one over would certainly win
the 1 lap race. Not only is the “Z” flag flying but RC hoisted the
“I” flag too. Now they are just too pretty. We had a nice start
going we caused a barger to do a circle, FlashBack was to leeward
and bow out. The horn sounds early, Postponement is flying, Now the
RC is really, really pretty, and FlashBack is really, really pissed,
why the red and white pennant? Yea there is a rain cloud coming our
way, but this is what Pat does when he runs races, he throws all
that he can at you, so that you are not surprised when “on the road”
you come across these things, it also means another start, boy is
FlashBack pissed.
Alright here comes the good
stuff, The red and white comes down with a horn, to most that would
be 1 minute to the 5 minute gun, we sail back and forth watching the
rain cloud. The wind is still south, so right is the way I want to
go. At
After clean up we all gathered
shoreside and questioned the RC what the hell that was all about?
I’m sure, we all have now looked up the definition of the Z flag,
and now we question what the results are.
Results
Noble - The Other Half (5points)
1,1,3
Tworkowski - Fine Finish (6.8
points) 2,3,1 (20%)
Anstey - JPeas (8 points) 4,2,2
Gates - FlashBack (11 points) 3,4,4
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Last modified on 04/15/2012 |
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