TNT Reports

Steve Schnelker - September 6, 2001

This was, after all, the last TNT of the season, and it would be different than all the other TNTs, from the starting order (reverse), to the course (custom-made windward leeward, with downwind start and finish), to the abundant breeze. Well, 2 out of 3 ain't bad.

We all launched promptly so we could sail around and watch *every* other fleet start ahead of us. This was maddeningly difficult aboard TGIF and we commented more than once that we didn't understand how some of these guys can endure the long wait to start every single week. I guess that's why rabbit starts are becoming popular for the slower classes.

Prior to the start, John and John hailed us asking for a bailer. We prayed that they would survive the nightmarish conditions with breezes peaking above 5 knots. We believed the ticket on the downwind start was to start on port and sail the more direct course to the mark. Fever and Kitty Floss didn't seem to concur, and we split with the fleet. It was apparent Kitty Floss had issues, because they just weren't keeping pace with Fever, but from across the bay with a few hundred yards separating us, it was hard to tell whether we were ahead of Fever or vice versa. When we converged at mark 5, we had a lead by a few boatlengths. In the spirit of fair play, we decided to round the mark and then sail into a hole and camp out there for a while.

Our plan worked perfectly and we trailed most of the rest of the race. I patiently explained to Mike that TGIF sails much faster when behind, in dirty air, and on the headed tack. He didn't believe me. We watched John and John round, the first mark, but didn't see much of them after that, and we later learned they retired due to various issues.

Another windward leeward lap, and we hadn't made up any ground. In fact, Fever hit a nice puff going up the course and began to stretch out on us. We struggled to stay close, and as we were headed up towards the club, it looked tough, as they were keeping a close eye on us and covering us tack for tack.

Our opportunity came when, despite the failing light, we spotted a nice line of wind about 3-4 boatlengths wide, that would take us all the way up to the point where we would round by the tower. We short-tacked up this line, and gleefully watched Fever break off thier cover and sail out of it. When we had rounded the point, it was clear that the race was now ours to lose. So we got to work on that right away.

With virtually no light (a problem made worse when wearing prescription sunglasses) we didn't know where the mark was and couldn't see the wind. We sailed towards the clump of boats to the west, and watched with horror as Fever, on the right side of the course, was sailing at least twice as fast as we were. When we finally located and subsequently rounded A, they were right on our heels.

The big gamble of the race involved a Santana 20 that we decided to sail underneath, since luffing up above them would have put us too close to Fever. This paid off as in the light air, Fever couldn't get close enough to steal our wind. We sailed deep on port gybe for the inside end of the line, hoping Fever wouldn't catch up and jibe at us on starboard. The race was up for grabs until just a few boatlengths from the line when Fever's kite inexplicably collapsed while we continued to have enough breeze to keep ours drawing.

Despite the light air, it was a fun race, and definitely a battle right to the end. Thanks to Mike for the excellent crew work - hope you enjoy your new hat!

The finishing sequence:
1 - Schnelker/Jue
2 - Shand/McKinney
3 - Billings/Billings

Bill McKinney - August 30, 2001

Team Bus starts on the club end of the line. Chris was right, it is favored and they take the lead (my bad L). First around the windward mark, Bus sets the chute but the Classic Gods aren't pleased and it comes down almost immediately. TGIF slides underneath the floundering Bus with Fever in close pursuit. Halfway to 7 Fever sails past TGIF. John knew he was in trouble when he didn't hear any cursing coming from the Pitch. Little voice, little voice! Fever rounds wide at 7 and TGIF tries to slip in through the open door. Too much bad air forces "smack talk" left and Chris "don't let me take too big a gamble" Shand drives Fever to the right. First around 2, Team Fever is nervous. We've never been here before. Good thing we finally figured out to check the course before the start because there is no one in front of us to show the way J. "Where's Steve, where's Steve" all the way to T, but Team TGIF is still trying to catch up. Despite an erratic tack on the beat to finish, Team Fever holds on to pick up their first bullet of the year.

Smack Supplement - Flaming Short Busses

Geoff Nelson - August 23, 2001

Throughout the second leeward leg, Kitty/Bob continued to hold second (we heard a rumour someone was in first but I never saw them) and without much work, 8024 rollocked around the Floss while the Bus appeared to stop a few times to pick up more children. Nearing the pin, 8024 employs a never-before seen tactic of luffing-up no one and Floss rounds in third! Through the next two tough up-wind sailing legs, Kitty/Bob, 8024 and Floss exchange a number of brutal blows, and due to the creative tactics of 8024, and Kitty/Bob deciding Spinnakers are for kids, Floss sends a message to the fleet that they are only going to be happy with SECOND PLACE for a short time. Fortunately for 8024 and Kitty, they are also happy with 4th at the end of the race, so aside from a mast incident, egos were left largely intact for the race.

Things learned this week (this is first in what I am sure will be a number of installments eventually leading to a book and radio show). boats go faster downwind with:

* board up
* pole horizontal (as opposed to pointing up at a 45deg angle
* twings are there for a reason (we still never used them though)

Bill Jenkins - August 23, 2001

From the Weasel eye view, the race was pretty straightforward. After mixing it up a bit on the first two legs with the Billings sailing Bob, we got an inside overlap at mark #1. Looking back after the rounding, Bob was already several lengths behind. After that, the program called for staying out of the way of the keelboats and extending our lead. The exception was when Steve Schnelker gave up the crew position to Chris Shand and made an impressive last minute sprint, closing the gap significantly.

With Steve looking fast and the Weasels somewhat weighted down, the championship regatta this weekend should be a good one with close competition, and will have plenty of boats duking it out. The bad news is that Chris Stomberg is now looking for a loaner boat after a significant mishap during the post-race haul out.

Quite possibly the correct finishing sequence:
1 - Jenkins/Merino
2 - Schnelker/Shand
3 - Billings/Billings
4 - Nelson/John ?
5 - Kuzava/Karl

Steve Schnelker - August 16, 2001

Prior to the start, we decided to set up the stopper knots on the new spin sheets on TGIF and then wandered over to the start line with seconds to spare. The entire fleet was a bit late for the start, but TGIF got across the line first, barely in front of Fever Pitch. However, Fever's solid speed and excellent point allowed them to reach the weather mark first.

The reach across to 1 saw Fever stretching out their lead, and while they doused at 1, TGIF decided to gamble and try to carry a chute past Bahia Point. This was a marginal decision as we ended up flogging the kite enough to probably negate any gains we made by having it up and drawing part of the time. However, once around the point, we slowly began to reel in Fever Pitch.

Just before mark 7, a converging Catalina 30 made for some interesting tactics. We decided to take their transom in an effort to gain the inside line to the mark, and ended up sailing straight down to the mark and rounding behind them. Fever, however, had problems of their own, and after fouling the mark, we managed to take a comfortable lead that wouldn't be threatened the rest of the day.

The remainder of the race involved trying to stay in clear air and finish ahead of all the Thistles. Clearing amazingly large pieces of kelp off of the foils was a part-time job as well.

The real race appeared to be between School Bus and Fever, with School Bus making a good showing and (I believe) taking the second place spot.

Thanks to Dan Merino for sailing on TGIF and dispensing advice on some re-rigging projects.

Finish order:
1 - TGIF (Schnelker/Merino)
2 - School Bus (Karl/Kurzava)
3 - Fever Pitch (Shand/McKinney)
4 - Mental Floss (Nelson/friend)

Bill Jenkins - August 2, 2001

When the start came around we actually knew the course since I had uncharacteristically remembered to sign up and grab a course chart. But without a watch the strategy was to follow Steve and Alane to the line, since they did have one, and wait for the gun. The Schnelkers seemed like the favorites in the mixed couple division since they used to sail together regularly once upon a time before they got married. And half way up the first beat they had a clear lead.

Most of the other boats in the fleet were on the line on time and the first beat was pretty tactical. At the first weather mark, Schoolbus (Mark Kursava and Karl) squeaked around first and we rounded at the same time as the Schnelkers. Somehow we managed to pass both boats right away, but I warned Maria that triumph would be short lived with out a chute. It turned out, though, that the Schnelkers had decided not to use their spinnaker either, and, in the light air, the rest of the fleet couldn't find a passing lane. So we rounded mark "1" still in first.

Next was a long broad reach to "6". This, I felt sure, was where experience and sail area would assert them selves and we would drop off into obscurity. Instead, we actually extended slightly as Schoolbus, Fever Pitch (Bill McKinney and Chris Shand) and the Kitty, all with spinnakers, jockeyed for position behind us. The Schnelkers managed to hang on as well and rounded near the rest of the fleet. The beat ahead looked tough with all these boats on our heels.

Fortunately, Schoolbus immediately took themselves out of the picture by sailing off into a headed lull and sticking with it far too long. In Bob, we just tried to stay in the wind and, once we got to the layline, not sail in the disturbed air of the fleets ahead. Apparently it worked because we were still in first at "E" mark. But the next leg was a dead run back to "6". I prepared Maria for the experience of being passed by a cloud of spinnakers.

We set the jib wing and wing and headed dead downwind in a nice column of wind. Amazingly, Fever and Kitty decided to reach up north of the rumb line and sailed right out of the breeze. Maria was really getting into the competition at this point, reminding me that this was a race and I could kiss her later. We even discussed setting the chute to protect our lead but decided that the ensuing flailing around as we did so would not be worth the possible gains. Also, win or lose, I wanted to maintain the moral purity of sailing the whole race spinnakerless. As we rounded "6" and headed back to "E", the Schnelkers, who had missed the breeze we had for most of the run, were still within a hundred yards or so and the rest of the boats were scattered in-between

Fever Pitch was the closest and seemed to have better speed than we did. We covered them to the weather mark, again avoided the disturbed air at the layline, and rounded in the position that we were becoming accustomed to.

However, the next leg was another reach, to "T" this time, and it looked like there was some wind blowing in front of the YC. But with the help of some Capri 14's that decided to have a luffing match up into Fever Pitch and Kitty just as they were about to run over us, we were still ahead at "T" and only had to stay ahead to the finish.

By this time, Maria was really excited and was working to improve her jib handling and boat crossing technique in the tacks. Apparently she had been taking "tips" from Dan because at this point she also started berating me for looking around too much and not watching the telltails. So with that sort of encouragement, I managed to hold it together up the last beat and we sailed to a not necessarily well deserved victory, but victory nonetheless.

Finish order (to the best of my very imperfect recollection):
1 - Bob (Jenkins/Gonzalez)
2 - Fever Pitch (Shand/McKinney)
3 - the Kitty (Billings/Billlings)
4 - Top Guys (Schnelker/Schnelker)
5 - Schoolbus (Kurzava/Karl)
6 - Mental Floss (Nelson/friend)

Dan Merino - July 26, 2001

The divided Weasel got off to a rocky starts as Team Shakey started and sailed into a huge header while Team lbs. unwillingly hove to at the start line. The TNT regulars of Fever, Mental Floss and Bus got off to good starts and took full advantage of the split Weasel misfortunes. Around the first mark it was Fever, Floss, Shakey, Buss and lbs. Bus went high allowing lbs. to slip underneath and take the number 4 spot heading to mark 2.

Rounding mark 2 Shakey took Floss up to clear a lane and then set their spinnaker gunning for Fever. Floss was once again forced to head up as Team lbs. tried to drive over allowing Fever and Shakey to sail further away. Team lbs. cleared a lane and headed down to the leeward mark. Around mark 3 it was Fever, Shakey, lbs., Floss and Bus. From here on end it became a three way race between Fever, Shakey and lbs. Both Fever and Shakey grossly overstood the layline allowing lbs. to slip into first place. Around mark 4 it was lbs. Shakey, Fever, Floss and Bus. Team lbs. rounded tight to keep Shakey from getting inside (it helps to know the other helmsmans tactics). The downwind became a battle between the split Weasel team. It was about this time that we learned that Shakey was spewing hardware through the mutterings of helmsman Bill Jenkins. Shakey made its move leaving Team lbs. looking like an undercooked side of beef as they drove over and gaining the inside lane.

Meanwhile, Fever watching all the action sailed straight for the mark passed both Shakey and lbs. Around mark 5 it was Fever, Shakey and lbs. Team lbs threw in a quick clearing tack and headed to the right side of the course while Fever and Shakey split left. The right paid as lbs. was able to cross Fever. Meanwhile Shakey playing the left side got caught under the Bahia Belle while lbs. and Fever forced the huge paddleboat to stop in it's tracks (we would have made it despite what Chris says). Around mark 6 it was lbs. Fever and Shakey. Fever put on a great charge on the final downwind and beat to the finish falling short only by a few boatlengths.

Final results
Team lbs. Chris Stomberg/Dan Merino
Team Fever Bill McKinney/Chris Shand
Team Shakey Mike Jue/ Bill Jenkins
Team Floss John Jr./John Billings
Team Bus Karl Liebat/Mark Kurzava

John Billings - July 19, 2001

Fever Pitch has an automatic halyard release which trips when one pull the dousing line on the spinnaker. It didn't work, and Team Kitty "knew all about it" as we have been trying to arrange one in the Kitty for awhile. So, with our enthusiastic advise, and some re-reeving, and dry-land testing, Fever Pitch was ready.

The start was even, and Kitty pulled ahead to take the first mark. Then problems occurred. The pole down haul snagged on centerboard nut (shock cord, blocks and all that stuff down in the boat), = the Kitty's pole would not deploy. Fever, blew right UNDER Kitty to take Mark 1. What a crazy feeling to watch another boat drive through your lee while carrying a chute!

It was arranged prior to the race, that if the new dousing arrangement failed on Fever Pitch, that the Kitty would have to do a 720 to make up for the dastardly sneakiness* of messing with Fever's dousing system, just prior to a race. As Fever was pulling out to a commanding lead over Kitty, Team Kitty was hoping against hope that something might just go wrong with that "automatic release", or anything else at Mark 7. Things did not look good, as Fever had doused at Mark 1.

Driver Chris was pulling away and expertly following the shifts, Snipe style. Very unnerving. Bill was ready to do a very aggressive Mark 7 round, as Team Kitty watched going DDW and not breathing at all...

Fever's spinnaker douse was a disaster! They shot past the mark, and at least 20 boat lengths to leeward of the Mark 7. No foul as hailed on the course, so Team Kitty rounded and sailed on. The racing continued to be very close, as the distances between the boats varied a great deal, but Kitty had enough of a lead that, without some other disaster, which did not occur, the finishing order was in place.

Later, Chris and Bill calmed that the new dousing system caused all their problems. But, as no foul was hailed on the course, we felt absolved...

Finishing order:

US 7773 Kitty - with the reluctant pole launcher
US 6931 Fever - with a useless spinnaker halyard release system

*What could possibly be lost on a 505 owner who has named her boat "Sneaky Pete" (Chris Shand)

Dan Merino - July 5, 2001

By the time we reached the "weather" mark we had finished with our first beer and began popping the top on our second. A slight spin pole rigging problem delayed our set (we later found out we started a trend) but finally we got the chute up and drawing. It was all about the two Lindsays on the downwind leg as both Fever and Weasel showed nearly identical speed... That is until the "Catalina Incident". Team Weasel managed to pass a lumbering Catalina 30 to weather, however Fever did not field so well getting sucked up into the vast wind wasteland below the keelboat. We celebrated our good fortune with beer #3 and rounded the leeward mark never to be challenged again.

The totals for the race...

tacks 2
Jibes 0

Only in Mission Bay can you get racing like that...

Results
USA 6991 Team Weasel
USA 6931 Team Fever featuring Chris Shand
USA 7773 Team Kitty featuring Steve Schnelker
USA 6934 Team Bob featuring a frozen sheave and muddy tiller

John Billings - June 21, 2001

Chris Shad needed her mast stepped, and John & I were able to demonstrate our "new and improved" method with an appreciative audience. -- Three or four large 505'ers hold the mast and you just roll the 505 (on its trailer) under the mast, lower and there you go! ( - just kidding . .)

Kitty was 10 seconds late to the start, as FD Doug almost . . got in the way . . and we were messing with a broken RAM control.

But . . we won the start! Kitty led the 505 fleet around the course, as new drivers and front people got used to the cool go fast stuff in a 505. "So many adjustments to play with . . and so little time"

Fifteen year old John took the helm for one and a half of the three weather legs --- and did a fine job. On the final weather leg he took the helm and he was on the trap!.. . but fell off! I did not see, but apparently he got his helming job mixed up with boat balance (front guy stuff).

At this point in his "trap" driving training . . he does NOT recommend you adjust your trap height, trim the jib and drive at the same time! His old man was mightily impressed. I have been threatening to trap drive. . . and he stepped up first! Dang!, an opportunity for a good sea story just snatched away....

After the racing, we all got together and shared a pitcher of beer and talked about sailing the 5 to 7 mph breezes that evening. A great way to finish up the first day of summer.

Final Results:

Team Kitty - John Billings & John Billings III (yea, it is actually III & yea, I am a II . . we are outed)
Team Sneaky Pete - Chris Shad and her sister Terisa (down from San Francisco).
Team School Bus - Karl Leibat and Mark Kurzava (direct from Linberg FLindbergan incoming flight in from Dallas . . "just local travel" to make the start!)
Team TGIF - Geoff Nelson & Mrs. Nelson ( got married last weekend? - the only non-lame excuse not to attending B2B? Is it true?, , I need help here, Geoff. . ;^)
ed. note: Geoff attended a friend's wedding last weekend, not his own, so he is still firmly in the "lame excuse" category.

John Billings - June 14, 2001

Next was TGIF, then the Kitty.

We (the Kitty) held off setting the chute, and waited for TGIF to set (Steve and Carl), and as they were working out those details, we rolled them and then set up the spinnaker.

Meantime, Team Bob was pulling away back down towards the start-finish line.

It looked like the race was done, as Team Bob pulled away (nearly 30 boat lengths) . . but then the douse at Mark 5 was fouled and Bob was dead in the water. Kitty and TGIF made up the distance.

Team Bob got underway with a 3 boat length lead over Kitty, but still had serious boat speed issues. Turns out that Bob had a spin sheet under the boat.

The boats are so close in performance and this (the spin sheet) was enough to hose Bob's boat speed, and the ability to point. TGIF and Kitty were way ahead by the next mark (Mark 2). It looked like Team Bob had this race, but its just one of those things..

The final run had some strange stuff happen. Team Kitty's Driver had his shorts rip out in the back and cause all sorts of boat handling issues. As I checked out this issue, the Kitty wandered all over the race course . . and TGIF caught up and on the last weather leg - it was a new race.. again! TGIF split at the "T" mark. Kitty was slow to cover. Once the Kitty did cover, it was a tacking duel to the finish. We had to overstand the weather end of the pin to ensure not being rolled to weather by TGIF at the line.

A wide variety of conditions, sail trimming issues combined with close quarter sail handing decisions made for excellent sailing. Three boats with this type of close quarters sailing is quite sufficient!

These TNT's are turning out to be very tatical. If you can make them, it is excellent practice. The boats are very close in performance, classics and superboats. With little wind, the edge of a stiffer boat makes no difference. The key factors this evening were:

Where to sail on the course.
What to set . . and when!
Boat handling (sets and douses).
Waiting for the other guy to foul up. . .
Classic tactics. Like splitting onto a flyer if you are behind.

Final finishing order:

US 7773 Team Kitty
US 8024 Team TGIF
US 6934 Team Bob

John Billings (with help from Steve Schnelker) - June 7, 2001

We reached way past Mark One to round inside of a keelboat. This worked out, and soon we were facing a pack of Snipes one the starting line. A puff hit the Kitty, and with the centerboard control still messed up from the weekend, Team Kitty t-boned one of the Snipes, with all sails almost drawing. The "staked" Snipe thanked us for helping their tacking maneuver and we, chagrined, moved on to just clear the leeward pin of the starting line.

As we moved out from the fleet, a real race of "where is the wind" on the course was creating some drama in the middle of the fleet. John & I were so focused on trying to find the wind and sail past the keel boats, we hardly looked back to see who was where. John II did a great job of keeping the chute flying most of the time, and we never did really go DDW much, due to the light conditions. Team Kitty sailed almost all reaches to keep the sails "fuller".

During the beat to next weather mark "D"?, Team Kitty vindicated herself by doing a 720. This cost the overall lead, and Doug in his FD and one Thistle made up enough boat lengths to finish just ahead of us.

Meanwhile, the "rest" of the fleet actually had some competitive racing amongst themselves. Notable highlights included the first run to "7" with several 505s, and an FD on port gybe, while a soling (with a lot of speed) came flying down hailing "starboard!" - this made for some quick gybes by all boats in her path. Team TGIF ended up in a "soling sandwich" and enjoyed the ensuing aggressive luffing that went on - we got the hell out of there ASAP.

The rest of the race turned in to a search for wind, and the difference for second place boiled down to who could find the micropuffs first and ride them to the finish. After rounding T, TGIF found a nice hole to the right, Team Fever then found one left and Team Mental Floss sailed way left to find the breeze that would carry them to an easy second.

Final results*
USA 7773 Team Kitty
USA 6571 Team Mental Floss (with guest skipper Charlie Jenkins)
kinda lost track after that - comments welcome!

John Billings - May 24, 2001

TGIF gave the start to Kitty, as TGIF and Kitty were about 20 seconds early. TGIF ducked below the Kitty, and was in a perfect position to nudge her over. As it turned out, that did not happen this time. Two FD's and a 470 started and we had a race.

Kitty rounded first at the weather mark, followed closely by Doug, an FD. It is now clear to Team Kitty who rounded next, but is was close. Kitty and two FD's pulled away in a downwind spinnaker battle on the reaches from Mark 1 to Mark 5.

TGIF noticed a "burst" of speed as the Kitty overtook both FD's by sheer speed. No kinetics . . but rather I moved up into the forward part of the boat coaxed on by John II. We stopped wiggling around, stopped dragging the transom and John II really got the hang of flying the chute. San Diego 505 sailors will be proud to know that Team Kitty trounced both FD's on this run, with some good tactics and superior boat speed.

The next goal was Mark 8, way up in the south part of the bay, down by the bridge. This is the leg where the legendary Dan and Denise Merino smoked every one in the first TNT of the 2001 season. Kitty and the FD's both got hosed by two Thistles, creeping up where the wind does blow.

At this point TGIF was way back, with Steve giving his new front guy ("John, never flew a chute" . . b.t.w . great name) a preparatory lesson for the second run. Which was to be monumental.

As Kitty rounded, we noticed two Thistle's running over to the east side of the bay, into what looked like a little more wind.

TGIF followed those Thistle's, and as the Kitty approached the red-white & blue of Mark T, TGIF had caught up about 250 yards! Later Steve told the story of how he enjoyed watching Kitty's crew heads keep looking over, as they drifted DDW toward the mark, whereas TGIF was closing the final leeward mark at nearly 3 knots!

Kitty did round first, and finished up following both FD's into the finish. TGIF would have been there but a second lesson - getting the chute down - was being practiced by TGIF, so they tanked the rounding. Light air is not too forgiving. It cost TGIF at lease 20 boat lengths, which was about the margin at the finish line.

John

Final results*
USA 7773 Team Kitty
USA 8024 Team TGIF
USA 6934 Team Bob (DNS) - Chris was seen on the water in a Kayak of all things - How did he get entered?

John Billings - May 17, 2001

Tom and Bill McKinney (Team Fever) elected to switch positions for this race, which, as Bill noted was very brave act, considering how gusty it was. Bill had never put on Toms trap belt, and had not, that I recall ever trapped on a 505! Further, Tom had to drive in nasty traffic and gusty winds! Team Fever has to be congratulated in their effort to mix it up for the race and have a great time doing it.

Mark and Carl also switched places (Team Mental Floss), with Carl driving. The weight distribution may have not been to their advantage, as they did not seem as fast on the beats or runs as last week.

Sheryl and Dave Eberhardt were out in force. Team Kitty was apprehensive as it looked like Team Carte Blanche was going to run the Kitty off the course, America's Cup style, just before the start! With no anchored boats or spectators near by to peel them off, I had visions of team racing awhile back, all ready for the start, but 1/4 mile away!

A little later, Fever and Kitty reached back and forth on the line, clearing out other over eager classes. Kitty had a good start and lead all other competitors, including an FD (which was started with the us) to Mark 1, the first windward mark. All boats then reached down to Mark 5. As Kitty rounded the next weather mark, the course chart dissolved into more pieces than normal. Thus ensued some discussion of the final leeward pin. Doug, sailing his FD, reached over to the final mark ( and as it turns out correct mark! ) and Team Kitty elected to follow and then finish.

As it turns out . . the keel boats had to sail a similar course but twice around. This did cause some confusion with a number of class starts and possibly the 505 class as well.

John

Final results*
USA 7773 Team Kitty
USA 8024 Team Mental Floss
USA 6571 Team Fever
USA 6931 Team Carte Blanche

* finishing order of boats... not sail numbers...

Dan Merino - May 3, 2001

Six 505's lined up for MBYC first TNT of 2001. Team Merino squared sailing USA 6570 won the start by being the only boat on the line when the gun went off. The lead was short lived though as Team Kitty passed Team Merino 5 boatlengths before the weather mark due to a little uncertainty about the course. Both Team Bob and TGIF easily passed Team Merino after rounding the weather mark and setting their chutes. It was at about this time I decided to try to explain everything you ever wanted to know about spinnakers to Denise, and after a little instruction we set the chute. During my little presentation, Team Fever managed to pass as well.

We managed to pass Fever and close the gap on the boats in front by the time we rounded the leeward mark. Interesting to note that Team Mental floss (Mark Kurzava) managed to hang tough with the rest of the fleet even though they didn't set the chute.

The next beat came down to playing the shifts and avoiding the holes which for some reason we did really well. The massive headers, a penalty turn and big holes slowed the leaders while Team Merino silently slipped back into first place. This could be the result of the Team Tues. sessions or the constant encouragement I was getting from Denise... "We're going slow... DO SOMETHING...!!!"

The final downwind leg saw TGIF carry wind all the way down to Team Merino reducing their 20 boatlength lead down to one. After a short luffing match, Team Merino was able to catch the puff and regain half or their original lead. It was although TGIF handed the wind off to us. No other positions changed on the final weather leg.

Final results*
USA 6570 Team Merino
USA 8024 Team TGIF
USA 6931 Team Fever
USA 7773 Team Kitty
USA 6571 Team Mental Floss
USA 6934 Team Bob

* finishing order of boats... not sail numbers... don't ask...