PHRF Racing Fleet

Rappahannock River Yacht Club Defends Rappahannock Cup

The Rappahannock Cup is the annual sailing championship of Rappahannock River, contested each year between Rappahannock River Yacht Club (RRYC) and Yankee Point Racing and Cruising Club  (YPRCC.)   Saturday, September 19, RRYC defended the Cup taking three of the first four finish places and winning the Cup 35-79! 

As the defending club, RRYC supplied the Race Committee headed by PRO Brian McCauley.   Eight boats, five from RRYC and three from YPRCC showed up for the three races held between the Norris Bridge and Towles Point on the Rappahannock River.  With sustained NNE winds of 15-17 knots and gusts over 23 knots the conditions were exciting.  The strong winds, with a long fetch coming out of the Corrotoman produced waves of over 2 feet allowing the boats to do a little surfing downwind. Smaller jibs were the order of the day to reduce heel and keep leeway to a minimum.  Winds were also shifty with 30 degree oscillations.

Signal Boat operator George Kuper remarked that, “Boat handling was excellent by all sailors, especially Ian Ormesher and Judy Fay sailing their 35 foot Sloop Geleniea by themselves.”  

In the first race, a once around windward-leeward(2.54 NM) race a few boats got bad starts due to sailing around before the start with their jibs down to save effort and getting them up late.  PHRF Fleet Commander, Glenn Solt’s Freedom, an Alerion 28, (crew John Congdon and Buddy Spencer) had no such problem and got an excellent start.  At the windward mark Hot Air, a J-24(crew Bill Decoste Jr, Ed Johnson, Lew Thatcher, Tom Chapman) tacked just ahead and inside Freedom and with both boats surfing waves on the downwind leg it was an exciting battle that Freedom won, rounding the leeward mark just ahead.  Going upwind to the finish, Hot Air with a crew of four was able to hold the boat flatter, pointing higher and overtaking Freedom to finish first.  The battle for second was close with Freedom edging out Warren Ryan’s Whistler(crew George Bott and Will Linne) by just 10 seconds on corrected time.

In the second race, a twice around windward-leeward race (5.08 NM)  Arabella Denvir’s J-24 Trouble (with crew Dave Tabor and Carol Vaughan) got a good start and finished second to Hot Air, besting Freedom by one minute.  Unfortunately, YPRCC’s opportunity to win the cup was hampered when Warren Ryan’s J-24 Whistler, while preparing to jibe was caught by a large wind shift that caused the boom to swing across the deck unexpectedly and hit one of the crew in the head during the second race.  Exercising an abundance of caution Ryan headed for shore in case of a concussion but luckily the crew just had an annoying bump on his head.

The third race, an Olympic course of 5.72 NM, was a little tamer with the wind dropping a few knots but still gusting around 20 KTS and exhibiting the 30 degree shifts.  YPRCC’s Silver Fox (Win Schwab and Ed Richardson) had their best showing with a third place finish.  Win commented that, “it was a little too much wind for their Santana 20 to perform at their best but it was a great day of racing in any event.”

First overall was Hot Air, with Freedom second.  Trouble beat out Silver Fox for third on a tie breaker.  See Chart below for complete individual results. 

At the awards ceremony on the porch of RRYC special thanks was given to the Race Committee that ran a flawless event.   They were; on the Signal Boat, Wildfire, firs time PRO Brian McCauley, Tami McCauley(scoring), George Kuper, Lee Capps and Jim Harding. Bouncing around on the mark boat all day long were Greg and Susan Kirkbride, in good spirits when they arrived back at the club.  Tami in her first time as a PHRF scorer had the results calculated when Wildfire reached the dock. Our volunteer race committee capability continues to grow!

Another great RRYC regatta was held June 20.  PHRF Fleet Commander Glenn Solt, cognizant of COVID required precautions, modified the usual Sailing Instructions to have non-spin only with a maximum crew of three.  

PRO George Kuper planned for three windward leeward races in the expected 6-8KT SE winds assisted by scorer, Commodore Danielle Kuper with Greg and Sue Kirkbride manning the mark boat.  The course was set up perfectly in the ten degree oscillating SE wind.

With concern about predicted thunderstorms moving through the area, PRO Kuper set the racecourse toward the Norris Bridge which proved prescient as the storms went by us to the west and obscured Towles Point for over an hour.  

Clouds gather to the West as boats prepare to for Start.

The first race was a 1.3 NM, once around windward-leeward race with a good starting line.  The downwind leg was perfectly square allowing trailing boats to blanket the leading boats, making for excellent tactical racing. 

In the Typhoon fleet, John Congdon in Mad Cow, sailing singlehanded sailed a great race and crossed the finish line first but was disqualified for an incident near the finish line (the protest by Orion was handled somewhat casually by the protest committee, but graciously accepted by John, our apologies.)  Lisa and Greg Shivers in Ca’ Va had good speed and crossed the finished line second for a first place.  Shawn Thaxter and Coleman Brydon in Orion finished third after losing way after the incident. 

In the PHRF fleet, starting was very aggressive with three or four boats all on the line at the gun. Team Hot Air (Bill Decoste Jr, Lew Thatcher and Tom Chapman) got to the weather mark with a slight lead and kept the lead to the finish thanks to good crew trimming on the whisker poled genoa, fighting off Irrational Exuberance and Goshawk blanketing from behind.  Jesse Swartz in his J30, co-skippered by Steve Donofrio crossed the line second but finished in third place on corrected time to Tom Richardson’s Flying Scot, Goshawk.  

A good starting line with Freedom, Irrational Exuberance and Hot Air.

The second race was a 2.6NM twice around windward-leeward race with a 5-8KT wind which had backed 10 degrees making the downwind leg a little more interesting as a combination of wing on wing and broad reaching. 

The Typhoons battled around the course, close all the way, with Mad Cow finishing first, closely followed by Ca’ Va second and Orion third. 

In the PHRF fleet Hot Air had a slight lead at the windward mark and had to fight off Irrational Exuberance on the first downwind leg.  On the second windward leg things got more interesting with Irrational Exuberance and Arabella Denvir in her J-24 Trouble gaining making for tight racing at the windward mark and all the way down the third leg. Team Trouble, consistent with their name, had too many crew on board and were DSQd from all finishes but had a lot of fun. They were also very considerate and started late so as not to interfere with the other racers. 

With the time limit pressing the competition PRO Kuper cancelled the third race and everyone headed in for an awards ceremony on the porch.  The competitors thanked the race committee for their excellent work and giving us all a chance to get out on the water for some friendly competition.  For complete results see the table below.   PHRF Fleet Commander Solt also announced the idea of Friday night fun races in the creek, coming this summer, details to be announced.

RRYC Racing Season Kicks Off With Singlehanded Regatta

Racers have been anxious to get back on the water and eight PHRF boats and four Typhoons showed up to race on Saturday June 6. Our largest Singlehanded regatta ever! With our social distancing issue Singlehanded racing was a great way to start. 
 

 

To keep race committee requirements to a minimum PHRF Fleet Commander Glenn Solt and Vice Commodore Ian Ormesher decided to use only a starting pin and government marks for the racecourse.

 

Saturday morning as the RC gathered at the Club porch the weather forecast did not look good… five knots from the West going to 2-3 about the time of the planned 1pm start, sunny and over 90 degrees.   PRO Hal Starke made the decision to give it a go and hope for the best.  Using R6 off Towles Point and R2 at the mouth of the Corrotoman as the course marks, Commodore Kuper suggested rounding marks to starboard to have the opportunity for a windward first leg.  The first leg was set as 1.9 NM with the second leg 2.25 NM and the third 1.9NM for a total of 6.05NM.

 

Hal Starke and Lisa Watlington headed out to the racecourse in Doug Power with Marshal Orr and Paul Neumann supplying the pin, safety and photography boat.  Gary Hooper also manned another safety boat while Commodore Daniel Kuper manned another safety boat and TyToo tender.

 

PRO Hal Starke Jr and Scorer Lisa Watlington Heading Out

At the start the wind was holding up nicely with 5-7 kts from the WNW.  George Kuper in Ty Too got the best start in the Typhoon fleet and everyone headed out on the favored starboard tack which almost fetched the mark. Lew Thatcher in his Catalina 320, Catitude won a close start in the PHRF fleet over Tom Richardson in his Flying Scot, Goshawk with Tom Chapman in his J-24 Hot Air close behind. 

John Congdon in Mad Cow when there was still breeze,  on right Burke Johnson in Starry Vere and  Mad Cow

 

As the boats headed up the first leg the wind held up pretty well for the first half but then started to lighten and get patchy.  As the wind got patchy it started to back and die on the left side of the river, so a lot of the fleet tacked to port to keep in the wind.  More than halfway up the leg George Kuper in TyToo still had the lead with John Congdon in his new Ty, Mad Cow about to overtake followed by Gregg Shivers in Ca’ Va and Shawn Thaxter in Orion having shifted to a port tack. John Congdon tacked to join others searching more wind on the north side of the river. In post-race discussion, George said he stayed on his starboard tack seeking the new (never occurring) SW wind return and drifted into a wind hole a thousand feet short of the windward mark which he never achieved.  George did mention that at least on Starboard tack he stayed in the shade.

In the PHRF fleet halfway up the leg, Hot Air had taken over the lead, but Glenn Solt in his Alerion 28 Freedom was within 20 seconds.  Unfortunately, Freedom tacked to port in the hopes of more wind while Hot Air continued on starboard as it was still favored tack and with some wind.

 

At the windward mark rounding the wind was very patch, with almost no wind on the South side of the mark meaning you had to come abeam of the mark and tack back to starboard in the hopes of keeping your boat speed up as you rounded. Although current was supposed to be slack as Hot Air approached the, there was already a better than 0.5 kts ebbing current that would attempt to take you into the mark as you rounded.  Hot Air rounded first with a nice lead. As the wind kept getting patchier and the ebbing current kept growing rounding the weather mark become the Waterloo for many of the competing Napoleons.  Freedom was second to round the mark with Mad Cow the first Typhoon. 

Hot Air Rounding the Weather Mark  Ian Ormesher and Shawn Thaxter Rounding

 

Seeing the writing on the wall, PRO Hal Starke decided to shorten the course and headed up to R2 for the finish. Even after the course shortening, a frustrating time in the hot, sunny weather and languishing at the weather mark, calls to the RC for withdraw of some boats started coming in.

Tom Richardson in Goshawk and Lew Thatcher in Catitude heading for the finish line.  

 

First across the line was Hot Air followed by Freedom a number of minutes later and the very well sailed Mad Cow next.  Goshawk battled Catitude for the next boat across the line finishing only 3 seconds behind Catitude but correcting for a significant advantage. Complete results are below.

 

Congratulations to the most intrepid racer, Jesse Swartz who raced his J-30 singlehanded for the first time and finished.

 

Awards were presented on the Club porch after the race and all participants thanked PRO Hal Starke and his RC of Lisa Watlington, Marshall Orr, Paul Neumann, Gary Hooper and Commodore Kuper for giving them the opportunity to kick off the racing season. 

 

 

 

Boat	Skipper		Place
PHRF Fleet
Hot Air	Chapman, Tom	J-24	1
Freedom	Solt, Glenn	Alerion 28	2
Goshawk	Richardson, Tom	Flying Scott	3
Catitude	Thatcher, Lew	Catalina 320	4
Starry Vere	Johnson, Burke	Flying Scott	5
Pocahontas	Ormesher, Ian	Gloucester 22	6
Irrational Exuberance	Swartz, Jesse	J-30	7
Ariel	Hottle	Catalina 30	DNF
Typhoon Fleet
Mad Cow	Congdon, John		1
Orion	Thaxter, Shawn		2
Ty Too	Kuper, George		DNF
Ca' Va	Shivers, Greg		DNF