[Public-List] WNR 8/6/08: The view from the front, then from the back

[Brian Palmer]

I wanted to throw in a quick additional bit of coverage.  We started a bit
late to the line, having more ground to cover than was possible as the winds
got a little light just before the start.  But the amazing part was seeing
Tim Williams, who wasn't too far from SSA when the gun went off, having just
picked up a crew member.  They popped their chute way back there and flew it
right by the committee boat long after the gun.  Take note that although
they had a very late start, they did move up a few slots, finishing 5th, not
far behind 3rd and 4th in time.  Here's the final results:

1 - 197 Laughing Gull
2 - 247 Argo
3 - 484 Second-2-Nun
4 - 152 Andante
5 - 244 LinGin
6 - 288 L'Esprit
7 - 287 Calliope

It was great to see 7 Albergs out there!

-Brian
L'Esprit #288

On Wed, Aug 6, 2008 at 11:15 PM, J Bergquist <jbergqui at gmail.com> wrote:

> After a couple of weeks of bad weather and postponements, we had an
> excellent Wednesday Night Race on the Severn River in Annapolis
> tonight. The Alberg fleet was out in force with 7 boats rep-resenting
> glory days of yore. It was a beautiful sight.
>
> The breeze was a norhtwesterly which meant a downwind start. We
> started in the middle of the line with Cole and Adams to windward,
> Gamber and TC Williams to leeward. I don't know where Tim Williams was
> because I did not see him until much further into the race but I am
> sure he was in the mix somewhere. Palmer was behind and to leeward but
> made gains on the first leg bringing fresh breeze down to the fleet.
> It was a crowded downwind leg to the first mark. We had Gamber and
> Williams coming up underneath us and were just able to nose out in
> front of Gamber and maintain speed as he tried to blanket us.
> Eventually, he decided to go high and wound up on the right even of
> Cole and Adams, to which we said, sounds good. As we rounded the mark,
> the fleet bore off and sailed a deep starboard run to the next mark.
> Gybes were not required, but some of the boats on the outside elected
> to go for it anyhow. When we got to the mark, it was still a close
> horse race with us, Williams, Adams, Cole, and Gamber all rounding
> close aboard each other together with a number of J-22's, cal 25's and
> J-24's, which made it exciting. On Calliope, we went for the
> conservative rounding with a headless spinnaker douse, followed by our
> gybe to port and set the jib on port gybe. This tactic worked as at
> the first cross we came out ahead of both Williams and Gamber.
> Incredulous, we determined that we were in first place!
>
> And that's when the wheels came off the bus. We proceeded to sail the
> headed tack for the next 4 oscillations. Not fast. By the time we got
> to the nun, everybody, and I mean everybody not just in the Alberg
> fleet, but in EVERY fleet had passed us. What a bummer! But that's
> life on the race course, and we just have to get over it and move on.
> We did think there was a chance of coming out ahead as we were still
> quite close to Gamber, Tim Williams, and Palmer. However, it was just
> not to be as the shifts continued to break in opposition to our needs.
> Such is life...
>
> In the end, Adams took the bullet with TC williams in 2nd, Andrew Cole
> in 3rd, and after that it gets a little fuzzy but I can tell you for
> sure we were in last....
>
> It appears that a new order is developing in Annapolis with Jonathan
> Adams being the boat to beat! Outstanding work, guys!
>
> We'll do it all again next week at 1835 don't be late! See you then!
>
> ciao,
>
> JB
>
> --
> J Bergquist
>
>

 1218102978.0