JUNE 28TH RACE REPORT: Back From "Down Under" and a Moratorium Foiled

Matt Schroeder captained his first race.  Our mischievous Grandview wind is back from “down under” and has copped an attitude.  The gourmet Committee Boat team from the last race performed an encore of the feast enjoyed at the last race, and picked up some new volunteers in the process – Harry and Sandy Meshberger (welcome!).  They also may have aided sailors who were taking advantage of loopholes in a hastily issued GYC moratorium.  And our regular sailors continue to very slowly come out of winter hibernation.

Our thanks to our eight floating foodie Committee Boat volunteers Steve & Gretchen Fisher, Harry & Sandy Meshberger, Jack & Sandy Miller, Donna Mount, and Mimi Riffle.  While officiating the race from the Committee Boat, they enjoyed another gourmet picnic complete with table cloth and floral centerpiece. 

Jack, Steve, Gretchen and Harry enjoying a 1st class lunch.  We hear there was also a sailing race occurring somewhere on the lake.

Wondering what was on the menu this time?  The appetizer was ham and pepperoni prosciuttos wrapped around mozzarella cheese sticks (Sandy Meshberger), and a main course of hot ham & cheese sandwiches with a slaw with sesame, and sliced tomatoes with basil & oregano (Gretchen Fisher).  

Dessert was apple slices with caramel, and chocolate chip and oatmeal scotchies cookies (Mimi Riffle).  The centerpiece consisted of lilies and various other flowers (Sandy Miller).   GYC officials are concerned about the bar having been raised too high for the Committee  Boat experience, but are pleased that objective #1 of our race guidelines (see 6/14 race report) is  being achieved. 

Because of a similar feast at the last race, GYC officials were also concerned about sailors “jumping ship” from their sailboats to the Committee Boat, and in a preemptive move to keep sailors actually sailing,  issued a temporary moratorium on sailors serving on the committee boat.  Loopholes were found and taken full advantage of though, with food from the feast being shared with those who might otherwise have been sailing.   Jim Riffle for instance, who was allegedly unable to sail in this race, was prohibited from joining wife Mimi on the Committee Boat.  Instead he served as a backup “safety boat” from his pontoon boat, and accepted a plate of food that was passed to him from the Committee Boat. 

We are thankful to Kevin Preuss for coordinating the race and to  Lance Snider for setting up and taking down the race course.  It was a good course despite Lance's apologies for the wind shifting after he set up the course. Lance, observing the race from his powerboat, even shortened the course after determining the wind had died down considerably since he set it up.  Lance’s stated reason for not sailing was “the sailboat is not quite ready”, but they “hope to sail at the next race”.  We are a bit suspicious though and have not yet been able to determine if Lance also used the loophole, and accepted a plate of food from the Committee Boat, and whether that is the real reason he was idling close to the Committee Boat instead of sailing. 

Committee Boat chairperson, Beth Auld and her sister Kathleen,  served as official GYC paparazzi photographers moving about the race course taking photos of sailors  We look forward to seeing the photos at some future date. 

As you can see, Beth and Kathleen were also offered a plate of food from the Committee Boat.

Steve asks Beth if she is sure she does not want any dessert with that

 Sailor emeritus Bob Orben was also observing the race from his wooden boat “At Last”.  And Tom Jennings and Wayne and Arlene Truex along with their many guests watched the race from the GYC’s “home port” at the Truex dock.

With so many observing the race from so many vantage points, and with this blogger only observing from one boat, we encourage additional comments on race occurrences to be shared by clicking on the “# comments”  phrase way down at the bottom right of this post (then follow the prompts).   Click on that phrase to read the comments of others also.

As eerily warned about in the last race report (… “Prepare ye”), it was clear from the start of the first race that our Grandview wind was back as expected, and had an attitude.   It was on again, off again and hard to guess what direction the next breeze would come from.  Although the wind was promising when Lance set up the race course, it stalled as we were waiting to begin.  Some of our sailors, four coming from the western side of the lake and one from the east, were within hearing distance of the 5 minute warning horn. Normally they would easily make it to the starting line in time for the start.  But the wind having died, those from the west barely made it, while Sherri Agnew did not, and had to wait for the second race.  We had a clean start nonetheless.  At the first mark heading to the south end of the main lake, Tom and Matt Schroeder stayed to the starboard side having tested this strategy prior to the start of the race and seeing that the port side was not favored by the wind pattern.  Only Laura Garret and Jim Voelz did the same thing.  Achieving their objective, none of these three boats had to tack to get around the 1st mark as all the other boats did, but in the end this was of little comfort to two of the three.  The other sailors approached the mark from the port side and were a fair distance behind.

At start of 1st race Tom and Matt (far right) head to starboard, most of others to port.

Jim made it around the first mark, and Tom/Matt and Laura were just a bit short of the mark when suddenly their wind died.  But there was still wind on the port side of the mark that pushed all the other boats around it.  Laura, Tom and Matt meanwhile sat there, not having made it around the mark, with absolutely no wind while all the other sailors made it all the way around not only the first mark, but the the second mark as well!  Tom and Matt were drifting closer to the mark and were about to hit it, which would have required a penalty turn, impossible with no wind.  But just in time some large waves came from behind them, pushing them enough that they could steer away from the mark.  Finally the wind picked up and the three sailors continued on their way, muttering salty thoughts about the temperamental Grandview wind whose absence they had enjoyed in the previous three races when fairer winds took its place.  

Approaching the finish line, Andy Jennings and Jim Voelz were far ahead of the rest of the field. Andy was ahead and windward of Jim, blocking Jim’s wind. But with a bit of a wind shift, Jim started pulling ahead.  Andy admitted to a misstep in deciding to cut in behind Jim, thinking the wind shift was not temporary and he wouldn’t suffer much effect of Jim blocking his wind.  But he was wrong and Jim was able to finish just ahead of Andy.   

Due to the on-again, off-again wind,  the first race took nearly twice as long as the June 14^th races.  This gave the Committee Boat volunteers about half an hour to enjoy their gourmet lunch before recording finishing times.  So no one had to gulp down their last bites and complain of indigestion like the last race.  By the way, GYC officials did seriously consider, but decided against buying a special signal flag to indicate “We have now finished lunch; you may now cross the finish line”.

Committee Boat view of John Auld and Paul Hass crossing the finish line after the Committee Boat volunteers finished their lunch.

The wind was somewhat better for the second race having toyed with everyone quite enough for one day frankly.

In the foreground, Kevin Preuss #181287 gets a jump on Andy Jennings #181248 at the start of the 2nd race. 

Riley Leonard and Sherri Agnew, the two who suffered the most from the difficult start of the first race, did particularly well, with Sherri finishing first in the Butterfly class and Riley finishing second in the Laser Class.   Sherri finished just seven seconds ahead of the 2^nd-to-finish Butterfly, Peggy Voelz after catching a more favorable wind and passing just prior to the finish.  Sherri and Peggy finished 2^nd and 3^rd overall on a handicapped basis,  behind only Jim Voelz.

Rookie Matt Schroeder took the helm of the JY-15, his very first time at the tiller for a race.  He did a fine job, and his race results seemed better relative to those that finished ahead of him than his Uncle Tom, for whom the returning Grandview wind seemed to have a particular score to settle.   Detailed race results are down below.

A small, but mighty group gathered at the Schroeder's dock for a protest meeting, the topics of which will remain there.  However on official GYC matters discussed, you may remember from the June 14th race that there was an outstanding question about whether Schroeder/Schroeder  could have demanded "room at the mark" when overlapped well ahead of, and approaching at a ninety degree angle from Auld/Hass.  John Auld reported on the extensive research that he and Paul Hass had done on application of the sailing rules in this instance. It indicated that they indeed would have had to yield to Tom had he asked for room at the mark.  And further, since Auld/Hass were approaching the mark from a ninety degree angle from the rest of the field as well, an imaginary line drawn across the back of their transom would have classified as "overlapped" and therefore also entitled to room at the mark, any other boat close enough to demand it.  Thanks for the detailed research John and Paul!

Our next race is July 12th, and is a "Trophy Race".  All comers are welcome.  For those regular sailors off to a slow start in getting their boat ready to sail this season, please note that it is now, well,  July!

FIRST RACE RESULTS:

Lasers: Jim Voelz 1^st Place, Andy Jennings 2^nd, Kevin Preuss 3^rd, Riley Leonard 4^th

Butterflies: Peggy Voelz 1^st Place, Laura Garrett 2^nd

International: John Auld/Paul Hass 1^st Place, Tom/Matt Schroeder 2^nd

Overall on Handicapped Basis (not for scoring, just for fun) Jim Voelz 1^st, Andy Jennings 2^nd, Auld/Hass 3^rd, Kevin Preuss 4^th, Peggy Voelz 5^th, Riley Leonard 6^th, Schroeder/Schroeder 7^th, Laura Garrett 8^th

SECOND RACE RESULTS:

Lasers: Jim Voelz 1^st Place, Riley Leonard 2^nd, Kevin Preuss 3^rd, Andy Jennings 4^th

Butterflies: Sherri Agnew 1^st Place, Peggy Voelz 2^nd, Laura Garrett 3^rd

International: John Auld/Paul Hass 1^st Place, Tom/Matt Schroeder 2^nd

Overall on Handicapped Basis (not for scoring, just for fun) Jim Voelz 1^st, Sherri Agnew 2^nd, Peggy Voelz 3^rd, Riley Leonard 4^th, Kevin Preuss 5^th, Laura Garrett 6^th, Andy Jennings 7^th, Auld/Hass 8^th, Schroeder/Schroeder 9^th.