2013 Governor's Cup / Dist. III Championship

Carolina Sailing Club, Kerr Lake NC

June 15-16

Seven Jets rolled into Kerr Lake for the 2013 District III Championship, this year held in conjunction with the North Carolina Governor's Cup.  Many legendary Jetters have their names engraved on the GC trophy, given to the skipper who beats the most boats over the weekend.  

The evening before the first day of racing was long and filled with various amounts of alchohol, bratwursts, and unhealthy snacks at the Jet camping compound.  Discussion earlier in the evening centered around some kind of proposed "mating call" for the Jet fleet.  You see, the Buccaneer fleet unleashes a fiery "AAAARRRRGGGGG" anytime anyone mentions the name "Buccaneer" AAAARRRRGGGGG".  So Hunter Trombetta, crewing for new class member Lenny Wells, proposed we yell out some kind of Jet sound, like "WWWOOOOOSSSSHHHH" anytime someone utters "Jet-14".  Blank stares.  Then Tom Grace proposed that we yell out something to the effect of "Please fasten your seat belts by placing the buckle into the thingee, and your cushion underneath you may be used as a flotation device".  After the group decided this was the most ridiculous proposal ever put forward more beer was consumed, and soon a "MAS vs. West System" epoxy debate broke out between Hennon and Saunders.  You can imagine the arguments put forth in this one (e.g. "Yeah, but MAS won't spontaneously combust your transom!").  This went on for about 20 minutes until both determined that neither person has ever used the other brand.  

Fortunately the sailing on Saturday far surpassed the quality of debate the previous evening.  Conditions were on the light side with big shifts coming into play all afternoon.  On the line for the first race were Hennon and former Thistle crew Meg Russell, Tim Porter (last seen taking a 2nd one race at Nationals in 2003) and son Jonathan, Tom "Yeah but its fast" Grace and longtime crew Paula "buy me the new boat or its over" Pacheco, Bruce Sampson from Asheville and Hunter's mom Teri, Lenny "I hope I don't finish last" Wells and Hunter, and the two Saunders boats (#737 and #962), which look identical on the water.  The first was piloted by Barry with daughter Eleanor, the second by CSC member (and now future Jet-14 Nationals participant!) Tony Corkell with daughter Megan.  After an extensive delay in setting a course, the race committee finally got the first race off after a nice 5-7 kt. breeze built in.  The Jets started with the Tanzer 16s and other open monohaul boats (about 22 boats in all) over a starting line about the size of your computer monitor, leading to some jostling and over earlys each race.  Hennon got off poorly in the first race and had to duck about 14 boats in order to find a lane.  The Corkells had a nice a start and Lenny played the right side, as he would for the entire regatta.  The Porter boat had some difficulties, mainly Jonathan didn't know the difference between a jib, gybe, and a sandwich, but they eventually would figure it out.  Eventually Hennon and Grace popped out of the pack and would lead around the top mark.  Grace and Pacheco made a nice pass downhill as Hennon looked down for a brief second and got run over.  Their light air speed was unmatched and Hennon could not catch them the rest of the way.

I'm going to say it, Grace/Pacheco just got damn lucky in Race 2.  Sure, there was some skill in getting to the top mark first and all of that, but the fleet was hot on their tail and only meters back.  Sampson was up there near the layline along with Hennon, Wells, and Saunders.  Just seconds after Grace rounded, a 50 degree left shift moved the layline about 100 yards up the lake and everyone did their "Great Circle Dance" to get there.  This increased Grace's lead from 10 seconds to 3 minutes.  Afterwards Grace was confused and wondered if the entire fleet decided to stop racing .  Russell pulled out some spinnaker magic on the downwind leg to pass about 3 boats and put Team Hennon in position for second place.  Grace made things interesting by banging the right corner so hard in the last beat that the Coast Guard patrol thought they were smuggling substances off the race course - but fortunately for them their lead was so large that they made it across the line first again.

Big changes for Day 2, as a big Zephyr blew in overnight, waking up several campers.  New crew for Day 2 included Sampson's daughter Stephanie in #977, potential Jet sailor Matt Welsh with Saunders, and a different daughter (Kelsey) with Corkell (it is not known how many daughters he has, but we'll try to find out).  Big air ruled the day, as we consistently had 12-15 kt. all morning with a bit of gustiness.  Lenny Wells, who kept #1130 going the right direction on Saturday but with not enough speed, found that speed with the higher winds Sunday.  Hennon and Porter got great starts for Race 3 and played the left side of the course.  After T-boning a port tacking Tanzer, Hennon continued to sail flat and fast and commented to Meg "this is great, we're on the right side or the course and in the lead".  Suddenly,  Wells came in from the Virginia state line on the right and rounded first.  Sampson tried to keep pace but it appeared his boat needs a super tune up before Nationals.  After a rather uneventful run, Wells went back to the right side well for lap 2 but the wind Gods said "NO MAS!" (see, the Gods like West System better too!) and Hennon passed working his way in from the left.  The race concluded with a serious tacking dual up to the line but Wells and Trombetta could not quite get back out in front.

The District III Championship would come down to the final race.  Hennon and Grace were tied for the lead with 5 points, while Wells was 3 points back.  Hennon and Wells were clearly going the best in the heavier breeze and both built a substantial lead on the rest of the fleet rounding the last mark, with Grace/Pacheco in 3rd.  Remembering his epic collapse to Grace in the final leg of last year's Nationals, Hennon had Meg monitor #717 closely and they matched tacks all the way up to the finish line to take the regatta.  Saunders and Welsh saved their best race for last and nearly clipped Grace at the finish, which would have given Wells/Trombetta second place; but it was not to be.  

In summary, I think everyone who came would agree that the sailing was EPIC.  A big thank you to all of those who made time to come out for the weekend - and also of course to Barry Saunders for organizing the whole thing, cooking dinner Friday, obtaining awards, and being an awesome source for Jet sailing in central NC.  Our participation in this event has grown every year, and we are aiming for double digits next year.  This is realistic given the new contacts we made at the event this year.  

If you enjoyed this write up, register for Nationals.

Chris

Pictures (None yet)
 

Results Posted 6/20/2013

Send corrections to the webmaster