SEPTEMBER 7TH TROPHY RACE REPORT

Three new sailors joined us, as did visitors from the Caribbean.  “Good Samaritans” were kept busy rescuing wayward sailors from their mishaps on a sunny day with a cool, but devilish breeze.  Before filling you in on the details of the race, at the protest meeting we realized we are in dire straits for the September 21^st race in terms of committee boat volunteers due to some simultaneous absences.  Highly experienced committee boat veteran and “Skipper Emeritus” “Bob Orben will be on board to direct things, but he needs some help. If you can help us out on that day from about 1:30pm to about 3:30pm, please contact Tom Schroeder at 317-873-1637.  We will be very grateful.

Sailing with the GYC for the first time were Chris Braun, John Cord and Steve Willment. All are relatively new, or in John’s case returning, to Grandview. We had been long anticipating Chris’ first race in his now complete Laser.  John crewed for Dick Pitman in his Y-Flyer. Steve crewed for Steve Tadd in the vintage Thistle. All  had "interesting" first race experiences, as you'll see. That makes seven new sailors this year.  Welcome Chris, John and Steve!   If anyone else would like to “come aboard”, there are still two races left this season. You’ll get hooked, be left looking forward to racing in the spring, and studying up on race tactics during the colder months.  

We were also pleased to have Sasha Bouis sail with us again.  He and his bride Tara reside somewhere in the Caribbean aboard larger sailing vessels, and were at Grandview visiting family.   Sasha crewed for John Auld in the first race, and skippered in the second race winning their class.  John recruits “ringers”, and we welcome them!  We were delighted that Sasha and Tara joined us later at the protest meeting as well.

Our race was expertly officiated by the veteran team of Beth Auld, Bob Orben, and Mimi Riffle and was conducted flawlessly.  John Gall singlehandedly set up (and took down, with a little help from Wayne Truex) a course that was really great for the wind conditions.  All of that is in addition to Race Chairman, Kevin Preuss’ organization of the event.  Thanks everyone! 

The winds were great during the five-minute countdown to the start of the first race.  The sailors had all been experimenting with start angles. As we all approached the starting line in unison with just a few seconds left to the starting horn, guess what happened?  What always happens, or so it seems; the wind threw us a surprise.  This time by just stopping. So there we all were, bunched up, well thought out strategies thrown overboard and everyone trying to make the best of it.    Tom Schroeder found himself forced too close to the Committee Boat and made contact with it. His 360 degree penalty turn seemed to take forever.  Shortly though the wind picked up and racing conditions were good. 

  

Early on, near the first mark, Steve Tadd and Steve Willment in the Thistle experienced a malfunction of the rudder, which left them drifting at the whim of the wind and approaching shore.  Good Samaritan, Robb Bonebrake, watching the race from a pontoon boat came to their rescue.  He gave Steve Willment a ride to his lot to get his Wave Runner for towing the Thistle back to its lift for eventual repair (not to worry, racing gets better Steve).  Robb resumed watching the race which turned out to be quite fortunate for another distressed sailor.

Meanwhile (sailing vocabulary lesson alert), Chris Braun with his finally complete Laser, had the “block” (a pulley) on his “traveler” (a rail or line running from one side of the boat to the other near the stern, allowing movement of the mainsheet attachment point from one side of the cockpit to the other to optimize sail trim) snap during the first race and the boom whacked him upside the head.  He got control of his senses and the sail again, and jury-rigged things well enough to keep sailing, albeit not optimally.  Not to worry, racing gets better Chris!

Also meanwhile, having done his penalty turn, and in last place on the way to the first mark, Tom Schroeder found himself suddenly blessed by a strong wind, not yet enjoyed by the others.  It allowed him to rocket ahead, heeled over, making up an amazing amount of time and catching up or passing many of the other sailors, allowing him to ultimately finish the first race in the middle of the pack, instead of dead last.  The wind is never that benevolent without getting the last laugh though, as Tom would later find out in the same place, doing the same thing in the second race.   This time, having the boat heeled over to its absolute limit, the wind gave a nice blast, sending the mast horizontal, past the point of no return and he and capsized.  Standing on the centerboard, high and dry, he was unable to right the boat by pulling on the mainsheet (his mistaken righting technique was later diagnosed at the protest meeting – pull on something other than the mainsheet – a taught mainsheet keeps the boom and main sail parallel to the water surface, keeping it from shedding water that has covered it).  Fortunately, good Samaritan Robb was nearby and for his 2^nd good deed of the day came to Tom’s aid.  And Wayne Truex, watching from his dock, fired up the ski boat and also came out to help.  With Robb’s pontoon pulling on a line and Wayne simultaneously lifting the top of the mast off the water, the boat popped back up.  But much time had passed and Tom was doomed to a “DNF” (did not finish) in the race statistics.  The Grandview wind got the last laugh, as usual.

Thanks again to Robb and Wayne for being good Samaritans during the mishaps of this race!

Sailors from the "7th addition" have had better days.  In addition to Tom's capsizing, Dick Pitman and John Cord had their share of mishaps. It seems they hit two marks and another sailboat all during one race.  New sailor John may need some anti-vertigo medication after all those 360 degree penalty turns (not to worry, racing gets better, John).

Having great races based on overall handicapped results were, in alphabetical order: John Auld/Sasha Bouis (John captained the 1^st race, and Sasha captained the 2^nd for 3rd overall in both races), Laura Garret (finishing just barely behind fellow Butterfly sailor, and her mom, Peggy Voelz in both races for 2^nd place overall in the first race), Kevin Preuss (2^nd overall in the 2^nd race), Jim Voelz (1^st overall in the 2^nd race) and Peggy Voelz, as mentioned above (1^st overall in the 1^st race). 

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Sailors & Volunteers:  You can make the race reports more fun. Lots of interesting things happen in the various groupings of our spread-out fleet of boats. They cannot all be observed by one person especially if that person is capsized. So, if you would like to add or read someone else's report of an interesting race occurrence that was not described here in the original report, please feel free to click on the shaded “# comments” link at the bottom of the posting (to the right of the envelope icon) . Once your comment has been “moderated” by the GYC blogger, your comment, or a reasonable facsimile thereof, will appear for others to read.  Guidelines for acceptable comments will appear when you go to add a comment.
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The protest meeting was protest free, and was lively and well attended with a number of delicious, specially-prepared delicacies enjoyed by all.  Thanks very much to Wayne and Arlene for hosting us again!

Race Results are as follows:

1^st Race (Trophy Race)

Lasers:   Jim Voelz 1^st, Kevin Preuss 2^nd, Chris Braun 3^rd

International Class (on handicapped basis):  Peggy Voelz 1^st, Laura Garrett 2^nd, John Auld/Sasha Bouis 3^rd, Tom Schroeder 4^th, John Gall/Ross Kunkler 5^th, Sherri Agnew 6^th, Jim Riffle/Arlene Truex 6^th, Dick Pitman/John Cord 7th

Overall, both classes handicapped (not for scoring):
Peggy Voelz 1^st, Laura Garrett 2^nd, Auld/Bouis 3^rd, Jim Voelz 4^th Kevin Preuss 5^th Tom Schroeder 6^th, Gall/Kunkler 7^th, Sherri Agnew 8^th, Riffle/Truex 9^th, Pittman/Cord 10^th, Chris Braun 11^th.

2^nd Race

Lasers: Jim Voelz 1st, Kevin Preuss 2nd, Chris Braun 3^rd

International Class (on handicapped basis):  Bouis/Auld 1^st, Peggy Voelz 2^nd, Laura Garrett 3^rd, Gall/Kunkler 4^th, Sherri Agnew 5^th, Pitman/Cord 6^th, Riffle/Truex 7^th.

Overall, both classes handicapped (not for scoring): 
Jim Voelz 1^st, Kevin Preuss 2^nd, Bouis/Auld 3^rd, Peggy Voelz 4^th, Laura Garrett 5^th, Gall/Kunkler 6^th, Sherri Agnew 7^th, Pitman/Cord 8^th, Riffle/Truex 9^th.

Our next race is September 21^st.