May 20
The West River Sailing Club hosted the annual Crystal Bowl Regatta on May 20, 2006. A total of 12 Jets participated and were treated to a broad range of exciting conditions. Four windward-leeward races were held in a westerly ranging from 5 to 20+ under a sky that was filled with more sun than clouds.
There was a brief postponement to let almost everyone (we won’t mention who locked one’s keys, along with all their sailing gear, in one’s car) get out to the racecourse in a rather light westerly. However, once the first gun went off someone decided to turn on the fan. By the time we reached the first windward mark, outhauls were maxed and vangs were on! These conditions, which included oscillating shifts of 10-20 degrees, persisted throughout the day and we even saw some gusts that felt to be in excess of 20.
We saw a number of new faces that challenged the difficult conditions. Charles Aler was out soloing in 1084 … we promise to never let you leave the dock again in conditions like that without another set of hands. Jack Saunders sailing with Bert were out in Old Blue (737). Paul Mettus, a WRSC member, and his daughter Kailyn borrowed the recently restored (thanks to Randy Bruns!) WRSC fleet boat (1075), saw their first Jet action and were interested enough to consider getting a Jet of their own sometime soon. Lastly, RJ Bay, an Opti sailor, did quite well sailing Best Jet Yet with Todd Lochner as his rock star crew (thanks again Todd for volunteering!). RJ and Todd were not only able to keep the round side down, but were also quite competitive all the way around the course.
As for the grizzled veterans, we saw a few capsizes and experienced (first hand) moments where a capsize appeared to be imminent. Dirk & Stef Schwenk were as fast as they ever have been and placed. James and Peter McKenna recovered from a capsize, or at least a swamping, in race 2 to almost win race 3 and took show honors and won the battle of the frostbiters.
As for the racing, if you had the boat handling aspect of the game down, the focus near the front of the pack was all about staying in phase and, secondarily, staying in pressure, especially downwind. While going fast was important, it was probably more important to be on the favored tack or jibe. And if that didn’t work, it was always good to be lucky, as we were in two downwind finishes when we rode significant velocity down to the leader.
Once onshore, we enjoyed some lawn time over looking the West River and taking in some sandwiches and refreshments. In addition, we were able to take in some video that was shot during the day. Why is it that windy conditions never translate to video?
We had a great time and thank WRSC for allowing us to enjoy their wonderful facilities.
Gary Mentesana
1144
Pictures (None Yet)
|
|
Race |
|||||||
|
Place |
Sail |
Skipper |
Crew |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
Total |
|
1 |
1144 |
G. Mentesana |
C. Mentesana |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
|
2 |
1137 |
D. Schwenk |
S. Schwenk |
2 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
9 |
|
3 |
1140 |
J. McKenna |
P. McKenna |
4 |
6 |
2 |
3 |
15 |
|
4 |
1130 |
K. Erklauer |
M. Scharrenbroich |
3 |
3 |
6 |
5 |
17 |
|
5 |
1149 |
T. Reshetiloff |
C. Reshetiloff |
7 |
4 |
5 |
4 |
20 |
|
6 |
1126 |
RJ Ray |
T. Lochner |
5 |
5 |
4 |
7 |
21 |
|
7 |
196 |
C. Hale |
D. Hale / C. Aler |
9 |
DNS |
DNS |
6 |
41 |
|
8 |
983 |
R. Kennedy |
Send Name |
8 |
7 |
DNS |
DNS |
41 |
|
9 |
1048 |
C. Kennedy |
Send Name |
6 |
DNS |
DNS |
DNS |
45 |
|
10 |
1075 |
P. Mettus |
K. Mettus |
10 |
DNS |
DNS |
DNS |
49 |
|
11 |
737 |
J. Saunders |
Bert |
DNS |
DNS |
DNS |
DNS |
52 |
|
11 |
1084 |
C. Aler |
Send Name |
DNS |
DNS |
DNS |
DNS |
52 |
Results Posted 5/22/06
Send corrections to the webmaster