Mid Atlantics 2002

505 Mid Atlantics at WRSC
November 9-10

Updated November 13, 2002

by Alexander Meller

Nine teams contested the 2002 Mid Atlantic Championship at West River Sailing Club, in Galesville, Maryland USA, the weekend of November 9-10. While not a particularly good turnout, it was a great event. The teams that could have been there but were not, missed a very good event on two of the warmest days we've had in weeks!

Teams included:

6495 Greg Schuster/Joe Perez, HYC. The Hampton fleet was represented by Greg Schuster with regular crew Joe Perez of Washington DC, in Greg's gorgeous teal-colored Parker-hulled Lindsay.
7080 Alexander Meller/Sol Marini, SSA. Ali and Sol teamed up for this event. With three 505s to choose from, Ali turned up his nose at his Waterat, spurned the nearly new Rondar that won the New England Championship, and picked Rondar 7080, Cardiac Arrest the boat he recently rebuilt and re rigged to be a fleet loaner boat. He wanted to see if the boat was competitive against the local fleet of Waterats and Lindsays. Sol Marini was the sole New England competitor at the event.
7092 Jahn Tihansky/Dustin Romey, SSA. Jahn and Dustin are a relatively new team. Dustin goes back to the front of the boat, while Jahn -- new to 505s -- seems to be figuring out the back of the boat quite easily.
7148 Peter Mignerey/Gene Spillane, WRSC. It was great to see Peter out again, this time teamed up with Albacore sailor Gene Spillane. Gene is VERY interested in racing 505s.
7150 Chris Legg/Kin Yellet, SSA. Chris and Kin are a new team, this was their first event together, though Chris already had some experience in the back of the boat before teaming up with Kin.
7346 Mike Coe/Kevin Mehaffey, SSA. John Hauser could not make this event (something about seeing a niece playing soccer), but kudos to John for lending his recently refinished and repainted oak-and-mahogany-interior Waterat to two of his crews, Mike and Kevin. I'll be Mike likes the 505 better than the Club Flying Juniors he races on the University of Maryland sailing team.
7879 Barney Harris/Clayton James, WRSC. Barney's Waterat 8643 is on the way to Perth, so Barney/Clayton raced Clayton's Waterat 7879, the boat they raced at the 2001 worlds in Cascais, Portugal. Barney has just completed a major "rehab" on the boat.
8351 Doug Watson/Bob Patterson, WRSC. New-to-505s Doug Watson has teamed up with Bob Patterson. They are still getting sorted out. After driving Dina Temple-Raston's 505 with Dina on the wire and winning the lightest-team-racing-505s-in-the-area award, Bob is now crewing for Doug and a very strong contender for next year's lightest-team-racing-505s-in-the-area award. Doug recently bought the epoxy Rondar that was briefly owned by Tom Price, returning it to fleet 19.
8660 Macy Nelson/Jesse Falsone, WRSC/SSA. With Macy's Waterat in the container going to Perth, Macy and Jesse raced Terry Neff's forward tack all-plastic Lindsay, Gear Buster. The rumour is that Macy has purchased Gear Buster for son Nick. I'll bet Macy is hoping Nick will let him race it from time to time :-). Does Ann know about this arrangement?

All the boats were rigged for the long luff spinnaker; almost all of the 505s racing in fleet 19 have been converted to the long luff spinnaker. The O'Briens with 7776 may be the last holdouts.

Despite being early November, conditions were very nice: 8-12 knots (estimate) on Saturday, and 17-21 knots with gusts to 23 (as per Thomas Point Light) Sunday. The two days were the warmest we've had in weeks, though it was still a cool 55-58 degrees out on the water, only a couple of degrees warmer than the water itself.

Courses were the downwind-finish version of the two current 505 world championship courses; beat, run, beat, reach, 90 degree gybe, reach, beat, run-to-finish. The RC was on its toes with mark changes.

Saturday

Race 1

After a scramble to get off the beach and make the start, the fleet was fortunate to find AP flying from the RC boat when they finally made it out of the river and out to the starting area. Jahn and Dustin poked a hole in their mainsail on the way out, and returned to fix it, but they made it out in time.

Barney/Clayton led Macy/Jesse around the course to take the win with Macy and Jesse were second. These two were never really threatened by the chasing pack of Jahn/Dustin, Ali/Sol and Peter/Gene, who were quite close for much of the race, and finished in that order; Jahn/Dustin third, Ali/Sol fourth and Peter/Gene fifth.

Race 2

A very close first beat with places changing all the way up, ended with Ali/Sol rounding first. Just leading a race at the windward mark nearly met all of Ali's objectives for the 7080 rebuild, but Sol/Ali held off Macy/Jesse, Jahn/Dustin and Barney/Clayton to take the win, taking leading at each mark as a minor miracle. In their efforts to get by Ali/Sol on the run to the finish, Macy/Jesse reached high to the right (looking upwind), and lost Jahn/Dustin who were sailing low into the finish. Jahn/Dustin were second, Macy/Jesse third, Barney/Clayton fourth and Mike Coe/Kevin Mehaffey fifth.

Race 3

Macy/Jesse missed this race as they sailed in early due to a dinner engagement.
The fleet stayed tightly bunched until rounding the first leeward mark. Jahn/Dustin led narrowly at the leeward mark. Barney/Clayton shut the door on Mike/Kevin -- who were not overlapped at two boatlengths -- and the latter were squeezed out at the mark. Jahn/Dustin and Barney/Clayton were leading after rounding, but Ali/Sol went left and found something to get them into the lead by the weather mark. With Ali yelling "Rondars Rule!" at the windward marks and offering to sell the boat to Barney for ever increasing amounts every time Ali/Sol crossed Barney/Clayton, Ali/Sol hung on for their second win. Barney/Clayton were second, Jahn/Dustin third, Peter/Gene fourth and Mike/Kevin fifth.

That was it for racing for the day, and activities resumed around the beer keg back on shore. Dinner from the West River market was included in the event entry fee.

Sunday

Sunday was rather breezier. It started out sunny and gradually became more overcast. The forecasted rain held off during the day and only a few drops were noticed before dark, well after boats were packed up and everyone on the road. With a nice breeze from astern shifting to a close reach sailing out of the river, no one had trouble getting out to the starting area on time.

Race 4

Barney/Clayton won race four. Macy/Jesse were hampered by a spinnaker halyard (reverse purchase 1:5) that would not stay cleated under load, and were unable to fly the kite on the reaches, or wire run. They were able to go low on the runs with one of them holding the halyard up by hand. Ali/Sol finished second after a near capsize jibing, as they were able to get by Macy/Jesse by wire running. Macy/Jesse hung in for third while Mike/Kevin were fourth and Jahn/Dustin fifth.

Race 5

Jahn/Dustin won this race going away. Macy/Jesse could not hold them downwind with their spinnaker problems. Ali/Sol had another near capsize (this time Sol had to get on the board) at the jibe mark which dropped them back, but right behind them Barney/Clayton splashed in hard and had some trouble getting back upright and around the jibe mark. Macy/Jesse were second, Ali/Sol third, Mike/Kevin fourth, and a wet Barney/Clayton fifth.

Race 6

Barney/Clayton rebounded from Race 5 by winning Race 6, after passing Macy/Jesse on the run to the finish as the latter could not wire run. Ali/Sol also planed by Macy/Jesse for second. Macy/Jesse were third, Jahn/Dustin fourth. On Cardiac Arrest, we did not have all the scores, but knew it was close between the top three teams. The RC announced that they would run another race.

Race 7

Several teams did not stay out for this race; Macy/Jesse were on their way in; Mike/Kevin bailed and sailed back to SSA (apparently wire running the entire way), Doug/Bob had been towed in after ripping the upper transom fitting off the transom. Only Barney/Clayton, Jahn/Dustin, Ali/Sol, and Chris/Kin contested the race.

Ali/Sol thought the boat end was very slightly favored, but after a port approach and tack, they found Barney/Clayton tacking to leeward of them, so they backed up, ducked below, and overlapped Barney/James to leeward. Barney/Clayton chose to tack to port to escape. Starting left of the other teams Ali/Sol went left looking for the additional pressure and knock they had been seeing in some of the earlier races. On their hip, Jahn/Dustin and Barney/Clayton were able to sail higher. Approaching the port tack layline, Ali/Sol did not think they would be able to cross either of the other two teams, and opted to tack short of the layline so they had room to go back out if necessary. There may have been a bit of a shift or a puff, as all three teams were close as they converged. First Jahn/Dustin chose to tack to leeward of Ali/Sol, and then Barney/Clayton neck-in-neck with Ali/Sol but on starboard, chose to tack to leeward rather than cross, and unfortunately flipped on the tack. With Barney/Clayton temporarily busy, Ali/Sol were able to foot down and get ahead of Jahn/Dustin, driving them back slightly as the two teams approached the weather mark. Jahn/Dustin were quickly on Ali/Sol's air on the run, and closed to within three boatlengths. Ali/Sol went higher to try and keep their air clear. Jahn/Dustin waited briefly until they had a good angle to the leeward mark and jibed. Ali/Sol chose to go a little farther so they would not be in Jahn/Dustin's wind shadow, and then jibed also. Even though the two teams were only about five to seven boatlengths apart, Sol/Ali were able to find a little more pressure and perhaps some bigger waves or powerboat chop, and sailing a slightly hotter angle, were able to sail from abeam and to leeward to straight in front of Jahn/Dustin. The breeze went a little lighter and headed as the two teams came into the leeward mark. Feeling very knocked, Ali/Sol tacked almost immediately to starboard and headed left, while Jahn/Dustin went right for some leverage and more knock. Jahn/Dustin gained, but part way up the beat when the boats converged, Ali/Sol were still ahead and able to cover Jahn/Dustin. The two teams were not far apart down the first reach, and Jahn/Dustin were closing on the second reach coming into the leeward mark. Ali/Sol went left immediately again, while Jahn/Dustin followed suit soon after rounding. Several tacks later, Barney/Clayton had closed the distance on the leaders and were back in the picture. There seemed to be more pressure on the left, and Ali/Sol were able to cover Jahn/Dustin to the apparent layline. The breeze lightened and knocked as the boats approached the windward mark, so both teams tacked left again. When they came back it continued to knock and lighten, but with Jahn/Dustin astern, each knock was a gain for Sol/Ali. It was too light to wire run, so Sol/Ali bore off and hoisted on starboard. Jahn/Dustin rounded and followed suit. Harris/James rounded third, but in stronger pressure as a puff was filling in from the right (landward) side (perhaps the only time all day this happened). They jibe-set and were immediately wire running in the puff. Jahn/Dustin then immediately jibed and were soon wire running in the puff. Ali/Sol jibed as soon as they realized what was happening, and spent most of their lead to get back in between Jahn/Dustin and the finish. They were able to do this, but at the price of having Jahn/Dustin back within six boatlengths. All three teams went hard right (looking upwind) of the rhumbline in the puff, until Jahn/Dustin jibed back to starboard, and Ali/Sol immediately did the same. Sol/Ali struggled with the jibe, putting the spinnaker sheet over the boom. This took a few additional seconds to sort out, and by the time they had the kite full, Jahn/Dustin were even closer and almost on Ali/Sol's air. Sailing hotter angles (but no longer wire running) to keep the boats surfing down a few waves the two teams were now sailing above the rhumb line for the pin. Ali/Sol went for one last jibe, and sailed across the line to take the win by just a few seconds from Jahn/Dustin. Barney/Clayton were close behind.

This finish -- after checking the results -- gave the event win to Ali/Sol. Ali/Sol and Barney/Clayton had been tied going into the last race, with Jahn/Dustin only four points behind. The last races finishes put Barney/Clayton second and Jahn/Dustin third overall.

Results

Place	Number	Tactician	Driver	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	Points after drop
1	7080	Marini, Sol	Meller, Alexander	[4]	1	1	2	3	2	1	10.00
2	7879	James, Clayton	Harris, Barney	1	4	2	1	[5]	1	3	12.00
3	7092	Romey, Dustin	Tihansky, Jahn	3	2	3	[5]	1	4	2	15.00
4	8660	Falsone, Jesse	Nelson, Macy	2	3	[10/DNS]	3	2	3	10/DNS	23.00
5	7346	Mehaffey, Kevin	Coe, Mike	6	5	5	4	4	[10/DNS]	10/DNS	34.00
6	7150	Yellet, Kin	Legg, Chris	8	8	7	[10/DNS]	6	5	4	38.00
7	7148	Spillane, Gene	Mignerey, Peter	5	6	4	[10/DNS]	10/DNS	10/DNS	10/DNS	45.00
8	8351	Patterson, Bob	Watson, Doug	7	7	6	6	[10/DNF]	10/DNF	10/DNS	46.00
9	6495	Perez, Joe	Schuster, Greg	9	[10/DNF]	8	7	10/DNF	6	10/DNS	50.00

Results are also on the WRSC web site. The official WRSC results show sail numbers used as opposed to actual sail/hull numbers.

To Ali's surprise, he and Sol won this event in the rebuilt Rondar 7080. The boat had a very good North 3DL main, a very good jib, and a Waterat high aspect ratio centerboard (all borrowed from 8776), which helped a lot. Ali/Sol/Cardiac Arrest won over the two most practiced teams on the Chesapeake Bay. However though Barney/Clayton and Macy/Jesse were sailing a Waterat and a plastic Lindsay respectively, they were not racing their normal boats, and they were using backup sails. Ali/Sol were not faster than Barney/Clayton or Macy/Jesse, but were able to pass and/or stay ahead of both teams at times. Ali's comment after the regatta was, "I could not have written a script with this outcome, no matter how hard I tried."

Macy/Jesse were faster upwind than Ali/Sol in the breeze on Sunday, but were hampered by the spinnaker halyard problem on Sunday, and missing a race on Saturday, and then not sailing the last race on Sunday.

Ali/Sol did have a slight speed edge upwind at times on Jahn/Dustin. But Jahn and Dustin are getting better at each event. They have good speed all round, had better boathandling than some other top teams, and are sailing smart most of the time They lost out big time in one race on Sunday when they were caught in a hole on the right and dropped from first to fourth.

Barney/Clayton were hot and cold; when they were "on" they were very fast around the course. But they were slow at times, and two capsizes on Sunday probably cost them the regatta.

Three teams that did not place near the top in the results, but were never-the-less in the hunt in several races were Mike/Kevin, Peter/Gene and Chris/Kin.

Despite not understanding the rake repeater ("Hey, I'm a crew, I'm doing strategic thinking here, I don't look at the rig"), and sailing around too raked on Saturday, Mike/Kevin guys rounded first weather marks second at least twice, but couldn't quite hold it together around the race course, though they beat Harris/James and Tihansky/Romey once each.

Peter and Gene had some close races on Saturday. Unfortunately Gene hurt his back lifting an Albacore Sunday morning -- those tubs are dangerous -- and they could not race Sunday.

Chris and Kin had great speed uwpind in the breeze on Sunday, frequently right with Ali/Sol and other leaders at the weather marks. This being their first regatta together, they were struggling a little with downwind technique and boathandling.

Doug Watson/Bob Patterson were hanging both Saturday and Sunday. Unfortunately the screwed-on-rather-than-bolted upper transom fitting pulled out ending racing on Sunday early for this team, and leaving them with 6, DNS, DNS, DNS for Sunday.

Greg and Joe were struggling in the breeze with their light weight and the big kite, but managed to finish most of the races before taking a DNS in the last race so they could get an earlier start on packing up for the trip home.

Thanks to New England for their support (Sol Marini).

Thanks to Dustin for bringing the keg of draft beer. The Saturday evening dinner -- stew from the WRSC market -- was very good, too.

Jasper Craig and the rest of the WRSC race committee did a great job on the racing; race committee work was very good. Apparently Jasper put in a huge effort to ensure that all the equipment was ready to go. There was no waiting between races; the five minute warning signal would go up very soon after the last boat finished, so there was no waiting around. Starting lines were square. We had two full days of racing.

In retrospect, I believe the low turnout was probably due in part to how late in the year the event was held, and to several teams having shipped their boats to the world championship in Perth. However not everyone agrees with me that November is too late in the year to schedule major events.

505 Mid Atlantics at WRSCNovember 9-10