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7/30/2017

Sailboard Racing Returns After Two Decade Absence, and a New Sailor - July 30th Race Report

 
We enjoyed high participation, good winds, and close races on a perfect summer day. Welcome to Terry Rains who participated in his first race, crewing for Captain John Auld.  And we had our first sailboard racer since the last millenium.
  
Thanks to our committee boat volunteers Beth Auld, Cindy Bartlett, Bernice Rains and Jim and Mimi Riffle.  Thanks also to Jim and Peggy Voelz for setting up a good course for the Northeast wind, and to them and/or Kevin Preuss who changed the starting direction of the course after the wind shifted to the East.  Thanks also to Arlene Truex for hosting us for another fun protest meeting.


SAILBOARDS Racing on Grandview Lake in the last millennium.  There are a few token sailboats also.  Can you identify a sailboarder associated with a particular sail in either of the above photos?  Yours perhaps?  If so, leave a message on the number in the "contact us" section at the top. Be specific about which picture and which sail.
We think champion sailor Peggy Voelz was the last to race a sailboard back in 1999.   Twenty-something years ago more sailboarders competed in races at Grandview than sailboats as you can see in the photo above. With recent emphasis on core strength and the associated popularity of paddle boarding,  it is not as much a surprise as it would have been five years ago that a sailor showed up to race a sailboard again.   Our sailboarder was Matt Bartlett who began sailing with us last year after he and committee boat volunteer Cindy Bartlett moved to Grandview and immediately jumped into sailboat racing. 

OK, this is not Matt Bartlett (we didn't get a photo of him). But it is one of our sailors from a couple of decades ago.  Know who?  It is the first person mentioned in the paragraph below.


Other than a few aggravating “dead spots”, the winds were fairly consistent which made for close races.  In the first race in the Laser Class, Jim Voelz came in first, beating Tom Jennings by about 40 seconds. Dianne Fisher was only 10 seconds behind Tom for 3rd in the Laser Class.

But wait, its closer!

Things get more interesting if we apply the handicap that equalizes all the boats for their designed-in speed characteristics. In the first race for instance, Jim Voelz was first overall, but Peggy Voelz in her Butterfly came in second only one second ahead of Catey and Elizabeth Hale in their Y-Flyer (third overall), and only three seconds ahead of Tom Jennings in his Laser (fourth overall).  That is really close!

In the second race Jim Voelz and Tom Jennings were only 20 seconds apart and Kevin Preuss and Dianne Fisher just 15 seconds apart, finishing 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th respectively in the Laser Class.

In the International Class Peggy Voelz (1st) and Catey & Elizabeth Hale (2nd) were 35 seconds apart and Tom Schroeder and Arlene Truex (3rd) were behind Catey & Elizabeth by 32 seconds.

On an overall handicapped basis, Jim Voelz and Tom Jennings were 1st and 2nd, and Peggy Voelz was 3rd. 

Complete race results are listed later in this post. 

CHANGE IN CLASS CATEGORIES OF SAILBOATS:
We have moved the Butterfly sailboats into the “International Class” which is scored on a handicapped basis.  This will bring even greater competition to that class, with fine Butterfly sailors like Sherri Agnew and Peggy Voelz.  The change will be retroactive for scoring purposes to the first race of 2017.   We will now have three classes:
Lasers (a fleet of about ten) scored based on finish order compared to other Lasers only.
International (a fleet of about twelve including Butterflies, Catamarans, JY-15s, M-Scows, Thistles, Y-Flyers and any other boat) scored based on handicapped times (see below).
Sailboards! (If we count sailboards that are up in the rafters of garages and boat houses around the lake,  this might be a sizeable fleet.   In the meantime we'll call it a fleet of one).  And until Matt gets some competition or we gather enough data to calculate a handicap, he always wins first in his class for scoring purposes.

Because sailors tend to (eye roll alert) be a bit competitive, we calculate handicapped times for the Lasers as well as the International class, and publish the resulting overall finish order.  

ABOUT HANDICAPPING:
Unlike golf, we only handicap for boat design, not for skill level. 
The handicapping factors and mathematics we use are based on lots of race data submitted by large sailing clubs around the world and comes to us, along with the rules we follow, via the organization U.S. Sailing.  
Come trophy time, handicapping helps us score based on the skill of the sailor instead of the inherent speed of the design of their boat.   As an example, the Butterfly model of sailboat is slower than many other sailboats and receives an appropriate handicap.  Applying the handicap can make a big difference.  For instance Peggy Voelz won both of the two races in the International class on a handicapped basis in her Butterfly and was second overall in the first race.  This despite the fact that hers was the last sailboat to cross the finish line in the first race and second-to-last to cross the finish line in the second race. 

RACE RESULTS FIRST RACE

Laser Class:  Jim Voelz 1st, Tom Jennings 2nd, Dianne Fisher 3rd, Kevin Preuss 4th, Laura Garrett5th.

International Class:  Peggy Voelz 1st, Catey Hale/Elizabeth Hale 2nd, Tom Schroeder/Arlene Truex 3rd, John Auld/Terry Rains 4th.

Sailboard Class:  Matt Bartlett 1st

Overall results on handicapped basis (not for scoring purposes):  Jim Voelz 1st, Peggy Voelz 2nd, Catey Hale/Elizabeth Hale 3rd, Tom Jennings 4th, Dianne Fisher 5th, Kevin Preuss 6th, Tom Schroeder/Arlene Truex 7th, Laura Garrett 8th, John Auld/Terry Rains 9th.

RACE RESULTS SECOND RACE

Laser Class:  Jim Voelz 1st, Tom Jennings 2nd, Kevin Preuss 3rd, Dianne Fisher 4th, Laura Garrett5th.

International Class:  Peggy Voelz 1st, Catey Hale/Elizabeth Hale 2nd, Tom Schroeder/Arlene Truex 3rd, John Auld/Terry Rains 4th.

Sailboard Class:  Matt Bartlett 1st

Overall results on handicapped basis (not for scoring purposes):  Jim Voelz 1st, Tom Jennings 2nd, Peggy Voelz 3rd, Catey Hale/Elizabeth Hale 4th, Tom Jennings 4th, Tom Schroeder/Arlene Truex 5th, Kevin Preuss 6th, Dianne Fisher 7th, John Auld/Terry Rains 8th, Laura Garrett 9th.


NEXT SCHEDULED RACE:   Sunday, August 6th.

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