Start of Sunday's
first race.
Immediately after previous
picture.
With the recent growth in 505 Fleet 19, there are several people new to the 505. Fleet captain Allan Johnson reorganized Pumpkin to make it more valuable for them. He set up a scoring system based on low point but that scored each person in the boat separately. People were strongly encouraged to rotate between races, as you could not count more than two races with the same person (we bent this rule when appropriate). This resulted in lots of boat and person swapping between races, and gave the newcomers some great sailing time with some of the more experienced people in the fleet.
Saturday started in an incredible downpour, which cleared up and left enough breeze for trapezing, provided you could cope with the shifts!
Three time North American Champion Macy Nelson arrived with ten year old son Nick as crew. New 505 sailor, George Saunders, was there with his boat. New crew and recent transfer from England, Chris Harvey raced Saturday, Rene de la Rie arrived with Mervin Richard, who had never been sailing before in his life, Bob O'Brien arrived sans crew (one look at the rain was enough for Betsy), but hooked up with Claudia Davis, a friend of Chris's (her first time really sailing!) Barney Harris in recently acquired 7772 was there, with another Albacore sailor, Doug Foord, crewing. Stu Kelly, winner of the Classic Division at the East Coasts was there on Sunday.
The fun of the new scoring format became apparent in the first race. With several teams still rigging on shore, three 505s raced around the course, with Allan Johnson/Chris Harvey in 8263 holding off Ali Meller/George Saunders in 7678, and Rene de la Rie/Mervin Richard in the hunt, but finishing 3rd. Three first places, three second places and three third places were awarded to the crew, skipper, and boat.
After the first rotation, and with the rest of the fleet on the race course, the second race saw Meller/Harvey in 8263 holding off Macy Nelson/Nick Nelson in 8191. The building breeze posed a challenge for the Nelsons (Macy, at least get Nick a smaller trapeze harness! but playing the shifts proved key, as they lost and then re-passed de la Rie/Richard for second. Third went to a hard charging Barney Harris/Doug Foord, with fourth going to de la Rie/Richard. Johnson/Saunders were 5th in 7678, and Bob O'Brien/Davis were 6th.
The third race saw Barney Harris team up with Allan Johnson in 7772, and lead at every mark from Meller/Saunders in 8263 in one of the closer races.
Sailing short races in the river means you finish early; the fleet was in with plenty of time to relax and enjoy the fall dinner organized by regatta chairs Rick Newell and Sue Hauser.
The rotation format continued on Sunday, though in a strong Nor'easter
with STRONG puffs and BIG shifts. Allan Johnson sat out the first race,
while Saunders teamed up with Nelson for a win over Meller/Stu Kelly,
with de la Rie/Richard 3rd.
Start of Sunday's
first race.
Immediately after previous
picture.
Meller/Johnson teamed up for the second race, and held of Nelson/Saunders for the win. The RC had its hands full with capsized and awash Jet 14s, and the 505s and International Canoes were running aground all over the race course, so the RC decided not to run any more races. Several of the 505s stayed out to play, as it was just starting to be fun. Harris grabbed Kelly off the RC boat, and was last seen heading out into the Bay at warp 9, with the kite up. Meller/Johnson took off in pursuit of a keelboat race, and despite starting way behind, caught all the boats except the two Melges that were leading.
Check out the scores! Notice that 8263 beat all people!
People 1 2 3 4 5 Points Position Stu Kelly DNS DNS DNS 2 DNS 23 10T George Saunders 2 5 2 1 2 6.75 2 Chris Harvey 1 1 5 DNS DNS 13.5 7 Mervin Richard 3 4 3 DNF 3 13 5T Rene de la Rie 3 4 3 DNF 3 13 5T Ali Meller 2 1 2 2 1 5.5 1 Macy Nelson DNS 2 DNS 1 2 11.75 4 Nick Nelson DNS 2 DNS DNS DNS 23 10 Barney Harris DNS 3 1 DNS DNF 14.75 8 Doug Foord DNS 3 5 DNS DNF 21 9 Bob O'Brien DNS 6 4 DNS DNS 24 12T Claudia Davis DNS 6 4 DNS DNS 24 12T Allan Johnson 1 5 1 DNS 1 7.25 3 Boats 1 2 3 4 5 Points Position 8191 DNS 2 DNS 1 2 11.75 2 8263 1 1 2 2 1 4.25 1 8085 3 4 3 DNF 3 13 3 7776 DNS 6 4 DNS DNS 24 6 7678 2 5 5 DNS DNS 21 5 7772 DNS 3 1 DNS DNF 14.75 4