For the second Sunday in the new year, temperatures were above 50 degrees, making for pleasant frostbite sailing. 18 sailors raced in highly variable wind, which was generally coming from the N to NW at 7-12 knots. The pin end of the starting line was favored for most races, making for tight and competitive starts. Following are a couple examples of the variability:
- In the third race, the wind died on a downwind leg and when it picked up, the middle pack was able to ride a gust into the lead pack. (I assume that this was stressful for sailors in the lead.)
- In the last race, most of the field tacked to port on a lift directly after the start. I had a bad start and remained on starboard in search of clean air. Half-way into the first leg, there was a sustained shift from N to NW which allowed me to pickup ~10 positions and to get to the windward mark first.
I am not sure what the take-aways from today’s sailing are, but the basics of getting a good start, finding clean air, and focusing on boat speed can combine with some luck in the shifts and gusts.
One take-away for me is that the racing is very competitive: we had five different race winners and 10 different sailors with at least one top three finish.
Thanks to Scott Snyder and Jennifer Parrow for serving as race committee!
| Pl | Sail # | Skipper | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | Avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 719 | Nabeel Alsalam | 5 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3.4 |
| 2 | 301 | Mike Renda | 2 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 3.8 |
| 3 | ERICP | Eric Petersen | 7 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 1 | 5.4 |
| 4 | 272 | Justin Pollack | 8 | 1 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 5.6 |
| 5 | 555 | Dan Miller | 6 | 10 | 2 | 9 | 4 | 6.2 |
| 6 | 057 | Farley Will | 9 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7.6 |
| 7 | 421 | Jim Graham | 1 | 6 | 15 | 5 | 12 | 7.8 |
| 8 | 215 | Ken Davis | 3 | 11 | 11 | 8 | 6 | 7.8 |
| 9 | 151 | Chris Bolton | 10 | 2 | 7 | 11 | 13 | 8.6 |
| 10 | 817X | Frank Gallagher | 14DNF | 12 | 5 | 6 | 9 | 9.2 |
| 11 | 0708 | Len Guenther | 4 | 4 | 3 | 19DNS | 18DNS | 9.6 |
| 12 | WILLS | Will Summers | 15DNS | 18DNS | 9 | 2 | 11 | 11 |
| 13 | 171 | Kevin Cowley | 12 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 8 | 11.8 |
| 14 | 829 | Jim Klein | 11 | 14 | 14 | 12 | 10 | 12.2 |
| 15 | 658 | Istvan Pely | 15DNS | 9 | 10 | 15 | 18DNS | 13.4 |
| 16 | 544 | Brian Burk | 13 | 16 | 17 | 16 | 15 | 15.4 |
| 17 | WILLK | William Kruse | 15DNS | 15 | 19DNS | 14 | 14 | 15.4 |
| 18 | 990 | Jeff Ward | 15DNS | 18DNS | 16 | 17 | 16 | 16.4 |
ILCA-NA District 11 