[Public-list] NOOD Race Day 2

[Gordon Laco]

Quite fitting, I'd say...

Gord #426 Surprise (guess what colour)






> So - the dark blue boats prevail.
> 
> 
> 
> Mike Lehman
> ~~~_/)_/)~~_/)~~~
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ----Original Message Follows----
> From: "J Bergquist" <jbergqui at gmail.com>
> Reply-To: Alberg 30 Public List -- open to all
> <public-list at lists.alberg30.org>
> To: "Alberg 30 Public List -- open to all"
> <public-list at lists.alberg30.org>,"Alberg 30 Racing"
> <racing-list at alberg30.org>
> Subject: [Public-list] NOOD Race Day 2
> Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2007 08:05:08 -0400
> 
> For those who are interested, the 2nd day of racing in the NOOD
> regatta (should have been day 3, but there was no breeze Friday...)
> finally delivered the excellent breeze-on conditions that had been
> advertised. It was a solid 15-20 kts out of the north west with
> relatively steady pressure. I personally would like to thank Bob Kirk
> for the old jib he gave me which I re-cut and used for race 1 on
> sunday. It worked great. Thanks, Bob! During the first downwind leg of
> race 1, TC Williams and CB Currier showed the rest of us how its done
> as I believe they were the only 2 boats able to carry their kites all
> the way down. Because of a big right shift toward the end of the beat,
> it was a one-gybe (port) reach to the leeward mark. Those who gybed
> early were rewarded, and several boats broached in the puffy
> conditions. We took the spinnaker down about halfway to the bottom and
> jib-reached the rest of the way. A couple of people had spinnaker
> problems at the leeward mark and one boat retired, unable to get the
> kite down. The 2nd run was equally exciting, and as we came around the
> mark behind Andante and Windswept who were both sailing wing on wing
> with their jibs, we decided to go for it with the spinnaker and see if
> we could catch them. I think our principal error was in gybing too
> early this time (after having learned a lesson from the last downwind
> leg), and we wound up having to sail a pretty low angle on port to be
> able to lay the line. This wasn't as fast as it could have been and
> though we did close the gap, we ran out of race track before we could
> catch them. Kudos to TC and CB though on showing us all how to handle
> the boat downwind in breeze. They and their crews clearly did a great
> job.
> 
> In the pre-start for race 2 the breeze appeared to be consistent and
> looked to be slightly moderating, but not much. However, once the race
> began it was clear that there were some much more significant lulls.
> We had not switched back to the #1 jib yet and paid the price. Despite
> going to the correct side of the course and being in phase with the
> shifts, we had no speed and went around the windward mark deep. We
> proceeded to attempt a headsail change during the run and this was
> pretty much a disaster as we had a lot of problems with that and wound
> up DEEP in last place. We were able to battle back to 8th and nearly
> gained 7th by going right and staying in phase, but alas it wasn't
> quite enough. At any rate, I was not in a good position to really talk
> about the 2nd race on Sunday so hopefully somebody who was closer to
> the front can talk about that.
> 
> One side story from sunday was that we were narrowly missed by a
> broaching Cal 25 (they were going downwind, us upwind...) That fleet
> is a real liability...
> 
> Overall, this year's NOOD was an excellent regatta and a success for
> our association, I think. We had 3 first time NOOD skippers (Adams,
> Bergquist, Cole), a fleet of 9 boats racing, a range of conditions
> from 0 kts to 20 kts of breeze, and a whole heck of a lot of fun!
> 
> We should all be congratulating TC, CB, and Towney for capturing 1st,
> 2nd, and 3rd places. TC definitely had unmatched boatspeed out there
> and consistently made good decisions. I was impressed also with CB's
> boat handling and the few times when I was actually in front of him or
> Towney, I spent a good bit of time looking over my shoulder nervously
> as I was eerily aware of them methodically grinding me down, waiting
> for me to make a mistake. Good stuff. I'll get you guys one of these
> days... ;-)
> 
> The Miles River race will be Memorial Day weekend. That should be
> another really fun race, and there is a cruise as well, so you can
> have it both ways! Mark your calendars!
> 
> If you are interested in getting into racing, there are plenty of
> people who would be happy to help you. Just drop one of the racers an
> e-mail. If you want to just ease into it, one way to do that which is
> pretty low-key is to go out for wednesday night sailing as crew
> sometime. I am always happy to take extra people, so feel free to
> e-mail me or call if you're in Annapolis and want to race with me on
> any given wednesday.
> 
> Later,
> 
> J Bergquist
> Calliope #287


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