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MBYC February Series
Team TGIF (8024)
Sunday, February 9, 2003
It was one of those days – after Dan and Bill Weaseled their way out of participating in the February series, we all felt like we had a legitimate chance to win the regatta today. The conditions looked pretty grim though, with hardly a breath of breeze by 10:30 or so. Turns out we would be treated to some nice trapezing conditions as the day wore on (and not just during the lunch break!).In true fleet 3 fashion, nearly everyone signed up, and only 2 boats used the same sail numbers (the boats used the same sails in fact…so at least they were not on the water at the same time).
In race 1, TGIF and Kitty were in an all-out battle to see who would claim the early advantage. Kitty led at the first three marks, but ended up touching the weather mark after the second beat and TGIF slipped ahead while they were doing their circle. They chose to do it in a position where we could have caused them some difficulty, but we decided to leave them alone. In hindsight, we should have gone for the jugular! :). Some close-in downwind tactics were evident as both boats sailed very deep on starboard towards mark 7 with TGIF just able to keep clear ahead of Kitty at the 2 length circle. Unfortunately, a blown douse on TGIF allowed Kitty to round well ahead. As we battled our way back into contention, I got a little over-eager on the helm and tacked the boat on top of a still clipped-in Karl. We managed to right the boat fairly quickly, but Fever and FreeBee caught us during the carnage. We passed them again but never got close to Kitty.
During lunch there were reports of a tiller-less CB limping back to the dock (so that’s where they went!).
In race 2 the wind continued to build and we were seeing 8-10 knots on the racecourse. TGIF got a good start with clear air and took an early lead on the fleet. We led at every mark by staying in phase and not making any boathandling mistakes. The carnage continued, and Fever retired (due to a broken tiller) and White Trash also DNF’d this race. We didn’t see what happened, but there was an awful smell coming from the area they were last seen, and lots of mud was dripped around the parking lot when we returned from racing.
Unbelievably, The Billingses decided to put their comfort ahead of their competitive spirit and were late to the start of race 3. Turns out they tied up at the dock so the elder John could remove his fancy new wetsuit and didn’t get to the start. Funny, he was hot wearing a wetsuit and my crew was quite cold... Anyway, due to this poor prioritization on Team Kitty’s part TGIF was able to take the race and the regatta by staying ahead of FreeBee and Rick (who was sporting sails that looked remarkably similar to the sails Fever Pitch was using in races 1 and 2). In this race the breeze came up even more to 10- 12 knots. Unfortunately, the northerly wind direction caused us to miss out on any wire- reaching due to the fat angle of the reaching leg. Maybe next time.
Although not a fleet championship points regatta, points will likely be awarded toward the maintenance trophy, with CB and Fever both scoring points with their respective breakdowns in the tiller-breaking conditions.
I’m happy to report that the Lido fleet had 8 people (at least) doing RC duty. Thanks to Stan Betts for running an excellent regatta as always.
Unofficial Results
Boat R1 R2 R3 Tot TGIF 2 1 1 4 FreeBee 4 3 2 9 Kitty 1 2 D 10 Rick Fever 3 D 3 13 WT 5 D D 19 CB D D D 21