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