JULY 27TH RACE REPORT "JOINT EFFORT"

The storms were punctual in their departure from the area prior to the race. The wind and a few sailors were fashionably late and not as strong as expected. And the Race Chairman, unlike The Weather Channel and Windmapper.com, was clairvoyant and calm (and also fashionably late).   A Joint Effort was unveiled at the protest meeting, and a sailor was informed he had no rights.

Our thanks to volunteer Committee Boat veterans Beth Auld, Donna Mount and Mimi Riffle for a superbly conducted pair of races that had been skillfully set up (and later dismantled ) by Jim and Peggy Voelz to whom we are also very grateful.

We were supposed to have 13 mph winds gusting to 23mph all morning and afternoon (those kinds of gusts are Laser-flippers), so our sailors were surprised to get out on the lake and find little if any wind.  Many had a hard time even getting out to the starting line in time.   As the rest of us sat there drifting as the heat increased, the crowd started getting a little surly (just a little).  There was talk of cancelling the race for lack of wind.  The Commodore deftly deferred to the Race Chairman when asked by the Committee Boat for a decision.  Dr. Preuss, recognizing this as a non-life/death decision,  calmly answered “patience”.   And lo! About a minute later,  ripples on the water from the west side of the lake swept toward us, and a fairly race-worthy wind showed up.  We had ourselves a race!  Unfortunately the wind never did live up to its forecasted strength, which would have been quite exciting.

Ever since Jim Voelz's “tips and tactics” seminars, our racers have been getting better and better at hitting the starting line in unison as the 5 minute countdown strikes 0.00 (many races are won based on the start).   Our rookie sailors even seem to have figured the starting line timing out earlier in their racing careers than their predecessors.  Congratulations by the way, to rookie Sherri Agnew who won a race for the first time!  The boats were not strung out as much as usual, so it seems all were sailing very well without much in the way of mistakes.   Tom Schroeder fessed up to one though.  At the second mark he made sure not to let any of the boats close behind him get inside of him at the mark, but after making the turn he should have followed through by not letting those same boats turn sharper than him and get upwind.   They did though and he suffered “dirty air” (see prior posts for the definition… not gross in any way) from Peggy Voelz and Riley Leonard.  Riley, by the way, got the best of Peggy in the same way Peggy got the best of Tom.  Some other successful race tactics were also revealed later at the protest meeting.     

We’ve heard comments that the races are getting more interesting to watch with more participants and as skills improve.   So, come on out and watch the action.  The best place of course is on the Committee Boat where you’ll be practically on top of, but not in the way of the sailors, and where you’ll learn about sailboat racing and get into the spirit and camaraderie of things.

The protest meeting was well attended and lively, with more hypothetical rules questions hotly debated.  The highlight was the unveiling of a modern art woodwork/sculpture entitled “Joint Effort”. “Joint” because the raw material consisted of numerous practice woodworking joints of various types, the effort of Mike Mullinix as part of a class he had taken.   Wayne and Arlene’s granddaughter (and GYC race fan) Mayra, contributed the brilliant creative design of a sculpture that joined the joints.  And Wayne and the Truex’s grandson (and water skiing instructor) Tanner provided the skill and effort of actually joining the joints to Mayra’s design and specifications.   After oohs and aahs, the sailors were informed of the name of the sculpture and got into the "joint effort" spirit of things.  They added a few temporary adornments to the sculpture to make it more “nautical”, such as sweaty sailor’s hats and, yeah, beverage containers (empty). 

"Joint Effort":  With Mayra and Wayne in the background. The sculpture cannot be fully appreciated in this photo because it has been obscured by the sailor's adornments.

That's more like it

A question was raised and Jim Riffle was surprised to learn that an according to an unintuitive rule, a sailor who finds him/herself between a start/finish line marker and another sailboat, has no right-of-way rights whatsoever at the start of the race, and that sailor is considered to be “barging” (Jim and crew Arlene were in that position and were being given the squeeze by John Auld and Paul Haas).  So try not to put yourself into such a position at the start of a race.  One other race rule question was kicked around, but when asked if the rule book should be retrieved and consulted,  those involved knew that the equivalent  of consulting the IRS code would be a party-killer and said…”naaah”.  Also, John Auld and Jim Voelz were asked why they deviated from what seemed the obvious shortest distance to turn markers under wind conditions at the time.  They both had correctly read changes in the wind pattern on the lake far ahead, better than the rest of us, and while their chosen courses didn’t seem to make sense, they proved very advantageous to both.  In that regard, race results were as follows:

First Race:

Laser Class:  Jim Voelz 1^st, Tom Jennings 2^nd, Kevin Preuss 3^rd, Riley Leonard 4^th.

International Class (on a handicapped basis):  John Auld/Paul Hass 1^st, Peggy Voelz 2^nd, Jim Riffle/Arlene Truex 3^rd, Sherri Agnew 4^th, Tom Schroeder/Ross Kunkler 5^th, Bianca & Lance Snider 6^th.

All boats on handicapped basis (not for scoring): Jim Voelz 1^st, Tom Jennings 2^nd, Auld/Hass 3^rd, Peggy Voelz 4^th, Kevin Preuss 5^th, Riffle/Truex 6^th, Riley Leonard 7^th, Sherri Agnew 8^th, Schroeder/Kunkler 9^th, Sniders 10th

Second Race:

Laser Class:  Jim Voelz 1st, Tom Jennings 2nd, Kevin Preuss 3rd, Riley Leonard 4th.

International Class (on a handicapped basis):  Sherri Agnew 1^st, Peggy Voelz 2^nd, Auld/Hass 3^rd, Riffle/Truex 4^th  Ross Kunkler/Tom Schroeder 5^th,  Bianca & Lance Snider 6^th

All boats on handicapped basis (not for scoring):  Jim Voelz 1^st, Tom Jennings 2^nd, Sherri Agnew 3^rd, Peggy Voelz 4^th, Kevin Preuss 5^th, Auld/Hass 6^th Riffle/Truex 7^th, Riley Leonard 8^th, Kunkler/Schroeder 9^th, Sniders 10^th.

Our next race is August 10^th.   There are five race dates left of the total of eleven scheduled this season, so if you are interested in joining us this season, now is the time to hop aboard.