This regatta marked the return of the prodigal sailor! Bill Beardslee came down off the mountain, out of the temple, down the jetway or whatever, after five months of traveling the world with Michelle, but before actually making San Francisco his home. It was great to see the ol' fella, long hair and goatee, a relaxed attitude.
Racing took place on a 1.5 mile olympic circle just west of the crib. At one point, even the crib became a mark of the course. All but one race were Gold Cup triangles; the one exception was a simple trinagle, down-wind finish, in a dying breeze. The 505s led off the racing with three other fleets following in the starting sequence: Merit 25s, Rhodes 19s, and Lightnings. The sailing conditions were dominated by two circumstances: the weather was a continuation of the heat that the midwest has been experiencing since early July, and the Air/Water Show was going on about two miles away. It's tough to concentrate on light, shifty winds when C-141 Hercules, B-52s, the Thunderbirds and Blue Angles are flying over at about 600 ft.
Seven boats showed up to race, but for one boat, racing was an unsuccessful diversion. Mark Derry was on edge because Richard Gray was here from England; Richard Gray was here from England because Mark was getting married the following Saturday, and they were both distracted by the thought of the bachelor party scheduled for the evening of 5 August...something about a Brazilian stripper and 25 bottles of scotch. They raced the first race, but swimming and a relaxing afternoon must have seemed more appropriate than bashing one's head against light, fluky breezes. Of course, Sunday morning's racing was right out!
In general, all of the races were quite similar. The winds were out of the northeastern quadrant. Until the last race, a thermal breeze never quite developed. Those did best who went east of the rhumb line to the northern mark and slightly south of the rhumbline to the eastern mark. There were holes in the wind everywhere, and there were subtle shifts of 15-20 degrees that clearly made a difference for those who followed them. Ki Kaiser was the most astute in using the wind, and he had admirable speed. Graham Alexander kept plugging away, but he did not seem to have the speed of Kaiser. Dohan/Beardslee had the typical Waterat speed most of the time, but they were not quite as error-free as Kaiser and Alexander. After all, they hadn't had much practice lately.
The back half of the fleet kept mixing it up. All four of the boats spent some time up with the leaders. Jim Colgrove had one great race, making his old Parker perform quite well. At no time was any of the boats out of touch with the rest. There was some real racing here. It was *crucial* to pay attention to maximizing boat speed in displacement mode (the only mode we used for three of four races), to following the wind, and to staying clear of bad air. Finally, for the last race Sunday, a serious thermal developed and the crews were able to stretch their legs. This was one pleasant race.
CCYC hosted us well. The race committee did a respectable job, given the tough conditions. Food was good and cheap for each meal, and beers were $0.75. Can't beat that! It is a rather interesting place to have a yacht club, right in the middle of the city, across the street from soccer fields, softball fields... the walk in front of the club where the hoist and dinghy access are located, is the main bike/rollerblade way into the park. Traffic was quite heavy. After my boat was packed up, I bolted out of the city. I had to make my way south along Lake Shore Drive at 4:10 PM with the Air/Water Show ending at 4:10 PM on the lake shore. As I drove past the beach, the first spectators were just getting to their cars.
Ki Kaiser/John Badtke 1 2 2 1 5.5 Graham Alexander/Mark Koenig 2 3 1 2 7.75 John Dohan/Bill Beardslee 3 1 4 3 10.75 Dave Stetson/Allan Brown 4 5 5 4 18 Jim Colgrove/Chris ??? 6 6 3 5 20 Jim Tuten/Geoff Cashman 7 4 6 6 23 Mark Derry/Richard Gray 5 - - - 29
respectfully submitted, for your approval,
Dave Stetson