Eastport Regatta News?

[Peter J]

What happened at the Eastport Regatta? Can someone post a summary?

[Doug Kirby]

WF & Hodges 1st
Chris & Jean Brown 2nd
Kirby, LoSapio, Cunningham 3rd

Perfect Sunshine with breeze here and there.
Puffy and gutless 10 - 15Knots NW on Sat.
Puffy and gutless 3 - 5Knots NE - E on Sun with lots of tide.

Chris and Jean made a great showing almost knocking off WF & Hodges.


Doug

[Peter J]

Nice job Bob and WF!

I think it would be much healthier for the class if WF would sail with various helms to bring them all up to speed. Once we're all up to speed, then he can go back to his guest rock-star helmsman routine.

[moxieracing]

A damn good idea if WF is up for it.

[Doug]

Interesting idea. What about an event were the crews and skippers were changed for each race. (The mixer)

For the Record: Neither Jeff or Dave sustained any major injury while sailing with me despite the dooms day scenarios painted by many in the class.

"Dead man walking", Jeff LoSapio prior to boarding my boat on Sat. AM.

Doug

[Kevin Roberts]

I have noticed that W.F. seems to win regardless of whom he sails with Matt Struble, Randy Smyth, Bob Hodges, Chris Brown, Ken Marshack, or Tracy Oliver. Maybe he should sit out and let others win? He also has won most of the local races that he enters on an A-Cat, so maybe he should attend more difficult races solo on his A-Act? Whatssss-up???

Who else should he sail with? Any volunteers? OK, I will but I need a HT! Will he bring his own?

[W.F. Oliver III]

Pretty funny thread guys.

I agree that sailing with new partners is a great way to get better. They all have something to teach and share.

I enjoy racing with lots of different teammates, both as skipper and as crew. This year, I am planning to do the LAC in Louisianna with Bob Hodges. To prepare for the event, Bob and myself are sailing together as much as possible.

As far as sailing with others being best for the class, I think that greater turnouts are more important than who wins. We really need to get more HTs on the water at these regattas. I was disappointed that the "showdown" with Peter J and Mark M did not materialize. Chris and Jean provided a real challenge. The competition with Chris and Jean will prove helpful in honing our team for the LAC. Doug showed streaches of good speed and is really starting to push the leaders.

I hope to see Peter J, Hunt, Mark, Peter C, and all the others , get to the next outing. Bob and myself need all the help we can in prepping for the LAC and competition to included Johnny Lovell/Charlie Olgeltree, Mitch Booth/Herbie D, and Kiki Figuroa, not to mention the Italians.

See you on the water!

W.F.

[Peter J]

Hey Kirby (aka Crewkiller),

Congrats keeping your crew in one piece, limbs in correct position, etc.

WF: Wasn't meant to be funny at all. Somehow, the knowledge in your head needs to get conveyed to the fleet. I've put down everything I've learned in that tuning article. How about going over it, and adding to it, and refining it? Written words really help, but there is nothing like sailing with someone good to learn their tricks. I know I've benefitted from sailing with Peter Katcha and Pete Melvin. I've promised Kris Stookey to sail with her and try to share whatever I've learned...anything helps. You've got a wealth of knowledge to share. Somehow you need to find a way to share it, and bring the whole fleet up to speed. If everyone is going faster, you'll be pushed that much harder, and should do that much better at the ICCT.

[Dave]

If jeff was dead man walking then I should be the "survivor."

Anyway, I would tend to agree with this thread, when we first started sailing this boat, Chris and I asked Dub(W.F.) if he would give us some training on the boat. He spent a long weekend going over some mechanics of the boat etc. Despite his Evil Knievel tendancies and his meniacal juants down the streets of Annapolis(ask him about it!) he does have some useful information. Do not discount the quality of drivers he sails with as well!!! maybe a Bob Hodges W.F. "go fast" clinic is in order?

While we're really disappointed that we(Moxieracing) didn't get to race, (we at least didn't sink when the transom ripped off!) at least we were there and have tried to make a showing at most of the events despite being the only Chicago boat. I would propose that we work on getting everyone to these events when we hold them and helping out with crew issues, rigging issues, etc. verses changing rules all of the time! I'm all for tech advancement, but we're in danger of teching anyone right out of the class who may be interested! Think about it before we go into all of this techo mumbo jumbo! Having 10-15 boats on the line, all of the time, should be a top priority of this class. We need to break out of the 4-6 boat norm.

I'm sorry if I offended anyone, but I was expecting to see 10-12 boats in Annapolis and was disappointed to see 5(well 5 and a half with us!) The venue was great, the club seemed happy to have us there, and all of the neighbors came out to talk to us about the boats, racing, and the flower beds. Thanks Doug for organizing a great event and for putting up with us.

[Hunt]

I couldn't agree with you more that a. the most important thing is getting boats out, and b. we need a stable rule.

To the first, I was personnally disappointed not to be able to do Annapolis both because it would be fun and because it is important for the class, but I had a conflict that it was not in my power to reschedule. Unfortunately our real problem is that we are still a small class. We get an incredible proportional turnout at our events, but we need to get more people to drink the kool-aide and start sailing 18HTs. We all need to be working on that. These are incredible boats so we should be able to get new people into them.

As to a stable rule etc. This is a new class with a development rule. We are trying to make the rule work for the long term so there has been a lot of discussions about everything from major changes to minor tweaks. But we have always had a plan for doing things which would keep the existing fleet from becoming obsolete. As to people modifying their boats within the rule, that is the nature of the beast. I think we need to be upfront with people joining the class (it is still a bargain), but a lot of us play with out boats because we like to -- I don't think Peter J's Paint Job made him any faster. Like he said elsewhere - its all about time on the boat and that 1/4" of rotator.

Cheers

[Dave]

Hunt,
We missed you, man, but I know things come up that are beyond our control sometimes. I wasn't singleling anyone out, I just think we all need to show when we can. You're right to want to give potential calss members a heads up on potential upgrades. I agree with Doug, time on the boat, tapping into the experience of these guys that have been sailing cats a really long time, and good competition will bring some of us up with the leaders.

BTW, can you email me Peter Johnstone's email or phone number? I want to talk to him about his rudder system. We found ourselves in need of some new parts back there! Thanks Hunt.

Dave

[Hunt]

Dave-

I can't fingd your email. ping me [e-mail]

thanks

[cbrown]

I thought the race in Annapolis was a big success. Doug did a terrific job pulling all the right strings to get us into the race. The launching area, while tight, was well planned with cooperative neighbors and reserved trailer parking. The camaraderie among the competing sailors was fantastic as everyone helped each other with various boat problems (thanks again Dave and Chris for the wire, Andy for the help), accommodations, and a short trip into downtown Annapolis.
As far as the racing was concerned, I thought that in the wind conditions that we sailed in Bob and I had very comparable boat speeds. Bob won two races and we won two races; the difference being the race that we missed with a broken shroud. Doug also showed good speed by being right with us or ahead at the first mark. The racing was very difficult with big wind shifts, inconsistent wind speeds, and lumpy wave conditions, so it was difficult to really measure comparable speeds.
Thus far I like the Ulman main. I have only sailed with it a couple of times but it seems fast when sheeted properly. In retrospect, I don’t think that I was sheeting it hard enough, but I also found that when over sheeted, the boat really slowed down. After sailing with the Ulman spin. another time, I really like it. Visibility is greatly improved and it does seem to lift the bows slightly. We are also finding that when the luff tension is set properly it does seem easier to fly then our old chute. I am looking forward to see what it does in higher wind speeds. Jean was complaining that it was harder to sheet then the Smyth spin. Any opinions on that from other crews?
Finally, I agree with some of the other participants that it was very disappointing to have so many no-shows. As a relatively new and small class, I think that it is imparitive that we support our few class races. I am sure that it must have been very awkward for Doug to promise a certain number of boats and then have only half of them show up. While it did not diminish my enjoyment of the regatta, I think that we must do a better job of supporting our members that spend their time to plan and run events.
Chris

[Doug Kirby]

Both Brown and WF had Ullman mains and Chutes and we could not keep up. We sailed the Bimare main and Ullman Chute - Was it the Ullman main or the sailor skill.

I think both. The Ullman main seems more powered up in the holes and much better down wind. So if they can hold you upwind, your toast downwind.

Hopefully we will get some more wind in Newport to test the Ullman against the Bimare. Right now it sure seems like you need the Ullman main to keep up with the Jones.

Doug

[Bill Vining]

Doug,

Thanks again for the great weekend, Cor and I really enjoyed Annapolis.

With all this talk about regatta turn out we should be lazer focused on Newport.

Who is driving attendance for Newport.

We need 12+ boats on the line.

Bill