Fleet 61 News

Great wind E 12-15 knots, and the rain held off for three fun races. I took an extra minute to set up for committee because our most used "C" mark seems to have been removed.

Nine boats showed up for the final official day of racing in Fleet 61's 2008 season. Earlier in the day, a 10 kt easterly had sprung up, but had mostly blown itself out by the time racing started. The RC set up a course with 1/2 mile legs.

Race 1 (4 legs) was sailed in about 6 kts, with lots of shifts. At the start, Don't Panic lined up for a pin-end start and found themselves all alone as the rest of the fleet fought over the boat end. It turned out that going right was the smart thing to do on the first leg, with more pressure on that side, out of the lee of City Island. Big gains and losses happend on the downwind legs, as those boats that went right downwind found themselves stuck in a hole.

Race 2 (6 legs) started in the same 6 kts easterly, which held for 5 legs. Once again, the downwind legs made the difference. After the last windward mark, the leaders all dug hard left, looking for the afternoon seabreeze to fill in out of the southwest. The seabreeze did eventually fill in, but not until the fleet was back at the clubhouse enjoying a beverage. Meanwhile, back on the race course, the leaders got hung out to dry, with just enough of the easterly left on the right side to let Trouble and Don't Panic ghost over the line neck-and-neck for a one-two finish.

Eben Hansmire on the RC boat made a wise move and sent the racers home after two races.

Once again, this was Heat Wave's day, taking first with 5 points. Jeepers edged out Don't Panic for second with a tie-breaker at 6 points, with Trouble winning the tie-breaker with Powerplay for fourth with 7 points.

Another great day of racing for fleet 61, with 9 boats showing up for 3 fun races. After one general recall in the first start, the RC got off three clean starts, thanks to fine work by Eben Hansmire.

A shifty and puffy 4-10 kt westerly kept everybody working hard to stay in phase and stay in the puffs. Heat Wave took the day, with two bullets.

The start of the fall series saw a good turnout (8 boats) in very challenging conditions. A shifty northeasterly gave the fleet a workout as they fought their way through 30 degree shifts on every puff. The 4-8 kt breeze kept everybody looking for boatspeed as they tried to figure out which way to go.

Results of the Fleet 61 summer series

J/24 Fleet 61 Wednesday night racing starts May 21st. We need boats to sign up to do RC duty. Already signed up are:

Race committee: Wow!!
Course: B2
Wind 4-6 kts, SE

With the fleet wandering about in the light wind, the RC shepherded the racers back towards the starting area with repeated radio calls announcing that they were going to start a sequence at 7:00 sharp. Which they did. During the staring sequence, a big left shift made the pin end heavily favored. Those who figured that out, got a good start and headed into the left corner for big gains.

South wind, 6-10knots. Course R4 Distance 2.8 miles. RC Power Play
10-20 degree shifts with puffs made for a technical race. LA Express nosed out Surcease at the first mark to extend and not look back.

Nots: Updated August 18 to correct a clerical error: Watercolour did not race, and Heatwave did. Updated August 21 to correct Hanalulu/Trust Me confusion.

1. LA Express
2. Surcease II
3. Don't Panic
4. Blondie
5. Wow
6. Force G4
7. Trouble
8. Hanalulu
9. Ska
10. Heat Wave
11. J Puddleduck
12. Jeepers
13. Alias

Week three brought a nice 8-12 kt sea breeze that filled in right on schedule around 6:00, under overcast skies and a forecast for thunderstorms later in the evening. Fortunately, the rain held off long enough to get in two good races (as I write this, it's 10:30 PM and just staring to rain). The RC put a drop mark about 1/4 east of R and set up near C, giving them a choice of using W or R, depending on what the wind did. RC was Don't Panic.

Race Committee: Jeepers

Race 1

1. Power Play
2. LA Expess
3. Trouble
4. Blondie
5. Wow
6. J. Puddleduck
7. Watercolour
8. Alias
10. Surcease (OCS)

Race 2

1. Surcease
2. Trouble
3. Wow
4. Power Play
5. Blondie
6. LA Express
7. Alias
8. J. Puddleduck
9. Watercolour

After a watching a dismal forecast for calm winds all afternoon on the weather web sites, mother nature surprised us with a steady 6-8 kt sea breeze that came in around 6:00 at lasted long enough to complete two races. Race Committee: J. Puddleduck

Note to all skippers: if you're just out for a sail, or withdraw from a race, please keep well clear of the racecourse. It is unsportsmanlike, and unfair to the competitors, to jump into the middle of a race and sail along with the boats that are racing.

Final results for Fleet 61 spring series.

Notes:

RRS A9 specifies that DNC is scored as ''one more than the number of boats entered in the series''. There were 16 boats registered.

Boats performing Race Committee duty are scored 1, per the NOR.

The SI specify that "The best finishes of 75% (rounded down) of RC races completed in each series shall
be scored". Races completed: 14. Races scored: 10. Throwouts are indicated by (parenthesis).

Race committee: Alias.

First race, course W4. Wind 225 at 12-17

1. Jeepers
2. Power Play
3. Don't Panic
4. Heatwave
5. Trouble
6. Surcease
7. Blondie
8. Wow
9. Ska
10. Puddle Duck
11. Watercolor
12. Trust Me

Second race, course W2, Wind 225 at 12-17

1. Jeepers
2. Power Play
3. Ska
4. Trouble
5. Don't Panic
6. Puddle Duck
7. Surcease
8. Wow
9. Heat Wave
10. Trust Me
11. Blondie
12. Watercolor

Another picture-perfect evening for sailing, with a 12 kt southerly breeze and great weather. Watch this space for the official commentary from the race committee.

Wow and Don't Panic both had poor finishes, letting Trouble and Jeepers creep up closer in the standings. Don't Panic inched into first, but only three points separate the top four places, and it's anybody's regatta going into the last week.

1. Jeepers
2. Surcease
3. Trouble
4. Force G4
5. Watercolour
6. Don't Panic
7. LA Express
8. Heat Wave
9. Wow
10. Ska
11. Alias
12. Trust Me

Week 6 brought a nice change from the previous week; clear skies, warm temperatures, and a mostly steady 6-8 kt southerly breeze, bringing 13 boats to the starting line. CIYC Commodore Francine Alheid on Watercolour made it out for her first race of the season. This was also the debut for new fleet 61 boat, Tequila, with HYC PC Erwin Eibert and Rear Commodore Bob Fleno. RC was Surcease.

This was not another perfect evening for racing. It was, however, a typical Heat Wave evening to do RC honors. For the 5th time in the past 4 seasons (including 2 attempts last season) the weather did not cooperate, but this year we finally got a race started.

Race 5&6 Result with commentary by RC Robin Ricca from Power Play. Thanks Robin for a good job on committee.

Good Morning Friends and Sailors,

13 boats out for our 4th week. Surcease and Power Play have strong night.
Awesome turnout for this early series, we expect over 15 boats within a few
weeks. Beautiful weather with a decent NW wind. Jeff Goldfarb and Force G4
did a nice job of setting a square course and line. The line was pretty
roomy for a change. Power Play got off to a great start to never looked back
with Surcease coming back from deep in the pack to second. In Race 2 the
wind was left at the gun and LA Express, Surcease and Power Play took
advantage at the pin end to finish in that order.

Week two saw some excellent RC work by Jeep Califano and Andy Gilles aboard Andy's J/105, Jato. At 6:30, the wind was light, spotty, and variable, but the RC correctly guessed that the sea-breeze would fill in. They set up in the right place, hedged their bets on a good windward mark, and waited for things to stabilize. We knew we weren't in EBYRA any more when we saw how short the line was! Extra credit goes to Andy for having the gumption to risk his shiny new gelcoat on a short line, shifty winds, and the boat end favored.

The season opened with J-Puddleduck, Trouble, and Don't Panic sailing the first night. Wow did RC. The wind was light and shifty, out of anywhere from northwest to southwest, at 6-8 kts. Rain was threatening all evening, but the wet stuff held off long enough to get two races in.