2014 District III Championships

Severn Sailing Association, Annapolis MD

May 17-18

The Severn Sailing Association Spring Series and District III Championship was sailed the weekend of May 17-18th in beautiful late spring weather, with bright sunshine and northwesterly winds from 5-12 kts.  Principal Race Officer Stuart Walker, who literally wrote the book on wind (Walker, S. H., Wind and Strategy, W. W. Norton and Company, 1973) anticipated that the developing sea breeze would “invade” the northwesterly gradient wind in the usual racing area off Bembe Beach.  Accordingly, the race committee set the course a little further up the Severn than usual, but stable breeze was nonetheless elusive.

The first race was started in a northwesterly breeze that was reasonably steady in direction, but had a few holes scattered across the course.  Gary and Cathy Mentesana (1144) dodged more holes than their competitors to lead the fleet around the first mark.  Bob Putnam and Mary Grealy (1141), racing their Jet for the first time in over a year, found a line of steady breeze on the right side of the course that propelled them into second place at the mark.  Eric Johnson and Cathy Cotell (1146) rounded third and found a puff of their own, overtaking 1141 on the run.  The RC wisely finished the race at the leeward mark, just as the wind died in what would prove to be the first of several pauses in the breeze as the gradient wind and sea breeze fought it out in the racing area.  The Mentesanas opened the regatta with the win, showing a combination of speed and smarts in the unsettled conditions.  The NW gradient wind reappeared, and race 2 got underway in similar conditions to the first race.  The Mentesanas continued to dominate, racking up another bullet in the second race.

The sea breeze reasserted itself after race 2, which led the RC to move the race course further east, then back west, then north, then a little further east, where they found an area of steady wind off Greenbury Point.  Race 3 was started just before a major left shift made the first beat a drag race, with the fleet well bunched up.  Chris Hennon and Connie Berchem (483) and Lenny Wells and Terri Fosmire (1130) started to get the hang of the shifty local conditions, and had several close mark roundings.  Race 4 offered the best wind of the day, with steadier pressure and fewer big shifts.  The Mentesanas finished the day with four bullets, giving them a comfortable lead in the series.  Rather than deny the competitors what seemed to be the best wind of the day, the RC attempted to start a fifth race, but with less than a minute to go before the start, the wind went hard left and then died.  The RC wisely called it a day, and the fleet had just enough wind for a relaxing sail home.

The Jetters gathered at Cantler’s Riverside Inn for dinner on Saturday night, which gave the out-of-towners a chance to sample some local delicacies such as soft-shell crabs and crab soup.  Everyone enjoyed the chance to get to know each other and trade stories of the day, but the long day of racing made it an early evening for all.

Weather-wise, Sunday morning looked to be a repeat of the day before.   The RC set the course in the inner harbor, with the windward mark close to the Naval Academy.  The northwesterly breeze was a little stronger on Sunday, but while the wind speed was more consistent, it was just as shifty as the day before, and there was considerably more current.

The Mentesanas decided to spend their anniversary elsewhere, and the Putnam/Grealy team had other responsibilities that day, so four boats competed.  In the first race of the day, Johnson/Cotell managed to get to the first mark just as the wind died, leaving the rest of the fleet struggling to make it around the mark in adverse current and a rapidly dying breeze.  After gaining what appeared to be an insurmountable lead on the run, they were threatened at the second windward mark by a hard charging Hennon/Berchem, who found a lane of breeze while Johnson/Cotell were slowed by traffic and current at the mark.  They held on for the win, with Hennon/Berchem a closer than expected second.  In the second race, a short downwind leg that turned into a beam reach led to a tough decision whether to fly the spinnaker or not.  Those who did were faster down the run, but it put a real premium on crew work, since as soon as the spinnaker was up and drawing it seemed to be time to start thinking about taking it down.  The short courses proved to be a challenge for crew all day and Chris Wood, crewing for Ed Lutz in his first ever Jet race, picked up valuable tips from his skipper that he looks forward to using when he gets out on his own Jet 1081 later this season.

Hennon/Berchem hit their stride in the last race, leading at every mark rounding to take the win in the final race, finishing second overall for the series, behind Johnson/Cotell.  The Mentesanas had accumulated enough of a lead on Saturday to narrowly edge out Wells/Fosmire for third place.

District III Championship

Race

Place

Sail

Skipper

Crew

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Total

1

1146

E. Johnson

 C. Cotell

2

2

2

2

1

1

2

12

2

483

C. Hennon

C. Berchem

4

3

3

3

2

3

1

19

3

1144

G. Mentesana

C. Mentesana

1

1

1

1

DNC

DNC

DNC

25

4

1130

L. Wells

T. Fosmire

5

5

4

4

3

2

3

26

5

604

E. Lutz

C. Wood

DNS

6

5

5

4

4

4

35

6

1141

B. Putnam

M. Gearly

3

4

DNS

DNC

DNC

DNC

DNC

42


Results Posted 5/22/2014

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