Santa Cruz Spring Open Regatta 1998, April 25-26

Team McLube wins Santa Cruz Spring Open Regatta.

This past weekend fifteen 505s had the pleasure of sailing in Santa Cruz. Although we did not get the big breeze that Santa Cruz is famous for, we did get a good variety of wind which resulted in some very tight racing. The races were run by Guerrilla race management. If you have never sailed in Santa Cruz you would be amazed at the race committee work of Dave Wahle. When you sail out in the morning the marks are all perfectly set, but not lined up with the wind direction. As you sail around before the start the wind shifts around and at the start the wind has perfectly lined up with Dave's course. At the end of the day the wind starts to die and become fluky, but just before the racing becomes bogus there is Dave with a shortened course flag and a finish line set up. Oh yea, and he does this all with only two boats and four people. The best part is that if something did happen to go wrong, nobody complains since Snivelling is expressly banned in the Sailing Instructions.

The Racing

We had three races on Saturday with light to medium air in the first and last races and good steady breeze in the middle race. There was very tight racing with a different leader at the first weather mark of every race. However Mike and Howard of Team McLube managed to be in the lead at the finish of each race. The California State Champions Dave Shelton and Bruce Edwards were often the early race leaders, and finished the day with a 2,2,3. Also in the hunt with a 3,3,2 was the new team of old veterans, Jim Maloney taking the place of the recently retired Bruce Heckman and sailing with Jeff Miller. Keep an eye on this team they could be dangerous in upcoming events.

Sunday we had two races in light to medium wind. The days first race was lead at every mark by Team McLube. With Jim and Jeff 2nd and Steve Bartz and newcomer-collage rock star Andy Beckman in 3rd. The day's second race was a gruelling battle. Jim and Jeff lead most of the race followed tightly by Canadians Rich Mondel & 1995 North American Champion Robin Brown. Team McLube made big moves on the run to take the lead at the leeward mark with Dave and Bruce close behind. Up the final beat Team McLube managed to stay just ahead of Ben Benjamin and 1992 Laser Olympian Nick Adamson who hit the shifts perfectly up the last beat to take 2nd. Sundays race 3 was started, lead by Ben and Nick, then Mike and Howard, then Jim and Jeff, and then abandoned when the wind died to literally zero. It is amazing how poorly sailboats work in absolutely no wind.

Extra Curricular Activities

After Racing on Sunday, we all got together one hour after hitting the dock for a race debriefing, where we talked about what we thought was and was not working with speed and tactics. It seemed very helpful to everyone and we hope to make it a regular event on the Saturday of every event.

After the debriefing, most of the gang went out to dinner across the harbor. Later the young bucks went out on the town to celebrate Ben Benjamin's 24th Birthday and feed him shots of Tequila, Wild Turkey, Kamikazes, and Jagermister, all chased with Rum and Cokes. (Ouch!) The awards ceremony on Sunday was a bit different than most. The trophies that were generously donated by Bruce Edwards and West Marine Products, were handed out by lottery. Each Competitor had their name in a hat and the names were picked by random drawings for the prizes. Lots of small prizes were given away, but the big winners were Rich Mondel and Bruce Tilley, who scored big heavy-duty duffel bags.

It is not too late to get in the ranking system for FREE SHIPPING to the Worlds in Hyannis from California. The Richmond High Performance Regatta in two weeks is the next Ranking Regatta, see you all there.

Scores (in Santa Cruz fashion of first names only) 

|-------+---------------+-----------------+--------------------+-------|
|       |               |                 |                    |       |
| Place | Boat Name     | Crew / Driver   | finishes           | Total |
|       |               |                 |                    |       |
|-------+---------------+-----------------+--------------------+-------|
|       |               |                 |                    |       |
| 1     | Team McLube   | Mike / Howard   | 1,1,1,1,1          | 5     |
|       |               |                 |                    |       |
|-------+---------------+-----------------+--------------------+-------|
|       |               |                 |                    |       |
| 2     | Viva          | Dave / Bruce    | 2,2,3,4,3          | 14    |
|       | Goadtitas     |                 |                    |       |
|       |               |                 |                    |       |
|-------+---------------+-----------------+--------------------+-------|
|       |               |                 |                    |       |
| 3     |               | Jim / Jeff      | 3,3,2,2,5          | 15    |
|       |               |                 |                    |       |
|-------+---------------+-----------------+--------------------+-------|
|       |               |                 |                    |       |
| 4     |               | Steve / Andy    | 4,7,8,3,4          | 26    |
|       |               |                 |                    |       |
|-------+---------------+-----------------+--------------------+-------|
|       |               |                 |                    |       |
| 5     | Road Rash     | Ben / Nick      | 7,6,7,6,2          | 28    |
|       |               |                 |                    |       |
|-------+---------------+-----------------+--------------------+-------|
|       |               |                 |                    |       |
| 6     |               | Alan / Larry    | 6,4,4,8,8          | 30    |
|       |               |                 |                    |       |
|-------+---------------+-----------------+--------------------+-------|
|       |               |                 |                    |       |
| 7     | Dog Lips II   | Rich / Robin    | 5,9,6,5,6          | 31    |
|       |               |                 |                    |       |
|-------+---------------+-----------------+--------------------+-------|
|       |               |                 |                    |       |
| 8     |               | Bruce / Paul    | 8,5,5,9,7          | 34    |
|       |               |                 |                    |       |
|-------+---------------+-----------------+--------------------+-------|
|       |               |                 |                    |       |
| 9     |               | Bruce / Steve   | 9,13,9,10,9        | 50    |
|       |               |                 |                    |       |
|-------+---------------+-----------------+--------------------+-------|
|       |               |                 |                    |       |
| 10    | Make My Day   | Erich / Craig   | 10,8,11,14,13      | 56    |
|       |               |                 |                    |       |
|-------+---------------+-----------------+--------------------+-------|
|       |               |                 |                    |       |
| 11    |               | Kirk / Doug     | 11,13,DNC,13,10    | 63    |
|       |               |                 |                    |       |
|-------+---------------+-----------------+--------------------+-------|
|       |               |                 |                    |       |
| 12    | Punishment    | Matt / Brian    | DNC, DNC,          | 71    |
|       | Pony          |                 | DNC,7,DNC          |       |
|       |               |                 |                    |       |
|-------+---------------+-----------------+--------------------+-------|
|       |               |                 |                    |       |
| 13    |               | Wendy / Eric    | DNC,DNC,DNC,12,11  | 71    |
|       |               |                 |                    |       |
|-------+---------------+-----------------+--------------------+-------|
|       |               |                 |                    |       |
| 14    |               | Jim / Ashley    | DNC, DNC,          | 71    |
|       |               |                 | DNC,11,12          |       |
|       |               |                 |                    |       |
|-------+---------------+-----------------+--------------------+-------|
|       |               |                 |                    |       |
| 15    |               | Ted / Craig     | 13,13, DNC,15,14   | 71    |
|       |               |                 |                    |       |
|-------+---------------+-----------------+--------------------+-------|

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