Western Hemisphere Championship Race Day 4

Well it wasn’t pretty but we got the job done. It would have been nice to have just kept getting 1’s and 2’s but that wasn’t to be. John MacCausland and Phil Trinter sailed well today with a 4, 1, 4 to tie us. Luckily because we had won the first two races, the tie break went in our favor.

George Szabo and Rick Peters won the first race of the day in 8 knots from 320… offshore. Alberto Zanetti of Argentina was second and we managed a 3rd in that one.

The wind dropped and bit and was quite unstable but generally was going left.

MacCausland and Trinter won the second race on a nice shift on the first run. John Gimson and Ed Greig of England were second with Eric Doyle third.

At this point the discard came into play and we had a three point lead over MacCausland/Trinter and neither of us could lose to Szabo/ Peters who were in third.

So we were match racing MacCausland/Trinter. The current was running pretty hard pushing the fleet over the line. We had MacCausland and Trinter in a world of trouble in two recalled starts. In the final start they got off clean and at first cross were ahead of us. We tried to keep it close rather than race our own race. This is tough in a tight fleet on a relatively short course. In the end they beat us by three places making a tie.

Doyle won that last race which is nice for him as he grew up here in “The Pass”.

All is well that ends well. It was a great month of Star sailing with my buddy Austin. 5th at Bacardi and 1st here. With the court decision this week I now join the ranks of the unemployed. Time to look for a new adventure. You never know what’s around the corner.

For complete scores go to: www.pcyc-gya.org

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Western Hemisphere Championship Day 3

All racing was cancelled today due to high winds, thunderstorms, lightening and large hail. The competitors moved their boats behind and under the club to protect them from the strong southerly winds which gusted up to 35 knots at one point.

I have a few picture enclosed to give you a better idea. Also a picture of Hoss “Michael” Sperry with his medals won so far.

Three races are scheduled for tomorrow with the first start at 1000.

Four races are required to complete the series, if five races or more are completed, each yacht will discard their worst score.

For complete scores go to: www.pcyc-gya.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Western Hemisphere Championship Race Day 2

Races 2 and 3 were completed today under overcast skies with a 10 knot northeasterly breeze that dropped to 6 knots by the end of race 3.

There was a 0.6 knot current running to the west all day and this was a big factor with regard to lay lines. There was no perceivable relief anywhere on the course.

We had an average start in the first race and we 5th coming to with windward mark. We got a bit lucky and positioned ourselves well to round just ahead of John MacCausland/Phil Trinter. Eric Doyle/Brian Sharpe were third. Both of these teams realized that the current would make the run a fetch on port tack so the gybed immediately. We extended a bit on starboard, then gybed. The wind clocked a bit also so they layed the leeward mark and we were in third place. Things stayed pretty much the same on the second windward leg.

At the final windward mark, the Race Committee signaled a course change to the finish which was to the right of the previous run. All three of us gybed to port and sailed for 5-6 minutes. We checked our compass and saw that we were 50 degrees off the posted course of 280. Then we saw a new mark being set. To cut to the point, we cut the corner and won the race. Doyle second MacCausland third and our house mates Hagebols/Brown finished 4th.

In the second race we really liked the right. We started at the right end of the line and tacked immediately to port. We got a nice shift and more pressure out to the right and were first to the first windward mark. The wind speed was about 7 knots at this point. The wind dropped a bit more down the run but we managed to stay in first. Jock Kohlhas with Brad Balmart crewing were right behind us and Larry Whipple with Mike Wolfs were in third. Up the second windward leg, we let Jock and Brad get a bit to the right of us and they passed us. They were going fast as well. Jock and won the race, we finished second and Whipple/Wolfs finished third.

We are leading the regatta for now but there are four more races left. Tomorrow we will likely see a completely different condition, windy with big waves. A large low pressure area is approaching the area from the North West.

For complete scores go to: www.pcyc-gya.org

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