2009 Crystal Bowl / SSA Spring Series I

Severn Sailing Association, Annapolis MD

May 10

Where to begin?    Thanks to all the Mom’s who gave up their day to sailboat racing! You rock!

Sunday , March 10^th – ( Mother’s Day Regatta? ) – Crystal Bowl Regatta

The day turned out as forecast – 70 degrees, Sunny, and PLENTY of wind.  The morning might have started off with 12-15ktsNW and provided for a really fun ride out to the racing course – which happened to be off of Sandy Point for the day – but the wind quickly found its way up to 15-18kts with some gusts much stronger.  Thanks to all the brave and powerful Jet 14 teams that made it out to race.  We had 8 boats registered, and 7 boats made it to the start line.  Elaine had come down for the day with every intention of racing, but the very high winds combined with logic led her to not risk hurting herself again, she was damaged capsizing that Beneteau in the Caribbean a couple months ago – thanks for coming down and I hope we see you on the start line soon Elaine!

   As the scores show, the puffs and shifts combined with the exhausting heavy winds gave every boat a fighting chance at the 1^st place spot, with each racing having a different boat take the gun.  It’s great to see the scores so close, and to have such an opportunity to learn from each competitor.  We all went from ahead to behind during each weather leg it seems. Great Fun.   The second race I felt was the most intense, with one puff coming through the second windward leg that must have been over 25kts.  Mike Parrimore and crew Hayes were just on our weather quarter, and Kate Erklauer with her crew just off our leeward beam, and all three of us got knocked right over.  Our 1143 and Kate’s 1145 went over far enough to come up FULL of water.  As we on 1143 tried to sail again the bow just plowed right under.  I gave Kim the controls and went to bail bail bail and get back on track – I am sure every competitor went away from the day with plenty of dramatic moments to recall upon, and learn from.   Randy Bruns and crew Carl made it out for the first and second races, and sailed in shortly after the finish of the second – probably a smart move - I think all of us who continued sailing are so sore we can hardly walk!

  James and Pete showed some excellent decision making and ability to work the shifts, and led us around many of the weather mark rounding’s.  Erik and Cathy seemed to be in their element as well – but a capsize the third race pulled their score down hard.  Erik mentioned adding transom flaps to try and evacuate the water faster – anybody done that?    Ted and Claudia kept in the mix and helped Kim and I  a lot with spinnaker handling tips, which I think paid off.  Thanks so much to Ted and C for letting us crash at your place after driving back from the Chippewa Regatta the day before!

 The days three races were finished off by an epic sail back in to the club with huge gusts that just would not let up.  We ended up sailing in under just main, we couldn’t hike anymore!    Thanks again to all the competitors who came out for this event – it was great to have there be more jets than any other double handed class –  I can’t wait to see every one of those race ready jets sitting at the club - out on the starting line!

SSA Spring Series II

May 23

    Well – Saturday was probably the nicest day of sailing I have ever had out of SSA.  Sunny, Warm, and almost steady breeze at 170* about 10kts with some higher cells.  What great fun!  The beat out made for an excellent opportunity to tune the boat up to speed, get settings right and practice tacking – the new sails I am spinning from Quantum Sails took some fitting in too  I found the mast wanted a little less bend and the forestay a little less tension than with my old sails… but once they were settled in they worked just great (right?).  having never sailed with a brand new set before, I was amazed – new sails really are like new shoes, new tires, or whatever – the boat was WAY faster, and accelerated faster too!  The course was set up in area A with windward-leeward that had the leeward mark just above the start line, and a split finish to leeward.  The Vanguard 15’s were sharing course and committee with us this day.  Sailing 4 leg races that lasted about 25 min each which we found was perfect for our level of fitness!     We got 5 races off.

  Having so many boats on the start line was a blast – the first start my plan had been to start well toward the leeward end away from the boat cluster, but somehow I ended up in between Parramore to my lee and Mentesana just to weather, but he fouled us at the start – had a little trouble getting the rust off early on I guess, eh Gary?  The next races turned around and the Mentesana’s showed us all that practicing all winter and spending ton’s on the boat don’t mean squat when they come out to race, I sure hope we see them on the race course again soon.   Darren was out on ‘Banana Betty’ with Mulcahy as crew and Randy showed up with ( as Kim put it ) some hot young guy as crew!  That guy was crazy about the roll tacks and spin work was smooth too! Parramore sailed the day with Todd Croteau who most clearly expressed his delight with steady whoops and hollers’ on all legs of the course, the ones toward the end of the last race were off-the-wall excited as they held first place for the last 4 legs.  Glad to see others share our entusiasim and we hope to see Todd out on his own boat soon!

Thanks to all the other Jetters that came out to race and I can’t wait for another shot this coming weekend – I hope we can rustle up a great turnout to compete against the ‘Ohio folk’ headed this way.  James is organizing a dinner at SSA for Saturday evening so please plan to attend, even if you do not sail!

AND PLEAE PLEASE PLEASE JUST COME OUT SAILING!

Spring Series Total

Results Posted 5/28/2009

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