SEPT 20TH RACE: Banking Off of the Northeast Winds, Sailing on the (Last) Summer Breeze

Photos and videos courtesy of Lisa Duret

For some very appropriate background music, Cue Harry Nilsson HERE (recommended):

As in Harry's lyrics, we enjoyed fabulous "northeast winds, sailing on a summer breeze" just about a month before many Grandview snow birds begin "going where the sun keeps shining through the pouring rain,....going where the weather suits their clo..o..o..o..thes".

The winds were so good,  the weather so nice, and the lake so calm that we couldn’t help but sail three races (kindly offered by our Committee Boat volunteers) instead of just two.  Eleven sailors and four volunteers soaked in the sunshine and the fun of really fine races just a few days prior to the autumnal equinox.  It was the last race day of the season.

Thanks to Jim Riffle for setting up the race…solo!  And also to Jim as well as Beth Auld, Lisa Duret and Mimi Riffle for serving on the Committee Boat- with more great photos and videos courtesy of Lisa.  And to Race Chairman Kevin Preuss for organizing the race.
Kevin and Mimi helped Jim take down the race.  Thanks everyone for providing us with a great day of racing! 

What happens on the Committee Boat?
Lisa's photos and videos of the start of this race combine to help someone who has never volunteered to understand what occurs on the Committee Boat and what tasks are performed - they also bring this race to life.

Here is what happens at the start of the race as shown in the video that follows:   A five-minute horn is blown by the Committee Boat, and sailors and Committee Boat timer start their stop watches.  Sailors try to hit the starting line just as the five minutes are up, but not before starting horn is blown.   If no sailor crosses the starting line prior to the five minutes being up, a Committee Boat volunteer yells "all clear" and the race is on.  Here is the start of the first race;

Here is the start of the 2nd race:

And for the finish:

Here is what happens on the Committee Boat as racers (Riley left, Sherri center) cross the finish line:  Mimi (right) blows the horn as each sailor crosses the line.  Then...

The timer (Jim) reads the elapsed time to the scribe (Beth) who records the time for each sailor.  Later, another volunteer fires up a spreadsheet, enters the elapsed times and converts them to handicapped times using the "Portsmouth Yardstick Handicapping System" which adjusts for differences in the design of the various boats we sail. We only use the handicapped times for the "International" (a highfalutin word for "all other") class of sailboats.  We use the raw elapsed time for the Laser and Butterfly classes.  How about the scoring you ask?  Well, if there are five boats sailing in a class on that race day, and you finished first, you get 50 points.  The second place finisher gets 40 points, and so on.

This happens again (as Kevin crosses the line),

and again, as Peggy crosses the line, and so on until all have finished.

And at the end of the race, before heading back to their docks, one by one the sailors file by the Committee Boat expressing their thanks as Jim demonstrates here.  We think our Committee Boat volunteers are the greatest!

Now back to the race itself:

We were very pleased to have Bob Orben out crewing for John Auld in the trusty yellow Y-Flyer after volunteering numerous times on the Committee Boat this season.

  

Bob serves as a "ringer" on the legendary Y-Flyer

 

He crewed for John Auld

It really was a northeast wind.  The wind pattern changed a bit between races, especially on the way to the first mark.  Getting to the first mark was tricky. In the first race, heading straight north toward, and then hugging the Truexs' shore,  was the winning strategy since the hills to the northeast created a bit of a wind shadow.  

6 Boats make right choice in 1st race and hug Truex shoreline

But in the final two races, the wind shifted to the north a bit and you had to get back away from the shore once near the Truexs'. 

Then, getting to the second mark by the dam had some gusts in store – Schroeder nearly capsized twice in that stretch. Without a crew he was outnumbered by a main sheet, two jib sheets and the tiller (a “sheet” is line that controls a sail – you know what a tiller is).

All is well....La de da...

Until it's not! Oh man, yikes! (and other sailing expressions)

The only time the wind died was in a portion of the stretch from the 2^nd mark to the 3^rd mark heading away from the dam.  As they sat there motionless in the dead quiet, a sailor began mocking the wind by singing “Call me unreliable, call me undependable, call me irresponsible too…” but sang not nearly as well as Frank Sinatra.  The youngest among us looked perplexed.  They had clearly never heard this tune.  Now they have.  We have several generations of sailors in every race.

An unusual period of no wind.  Someone began taunting the wind as unreliable, undependable and irresponsible too. 

Our easily provoked Grandview wind responded to the taunt by waiting until all had their guard down.  Then from directly behind them a massive gust came bearing down on the unsuspecting sailors. In this situation if the sail and rudder are not positioned appropriately, a capsize can easily occur.  Kevin Preuss was the casualty, capsizing without even knowing what hit him, and not finding out until later at the protest meeting.  The rest struggled at first, but maintained control and enjoyed the now very fast pace to the third mark. Kevin did a fine job of righting his boat as shown below and was back in the race very quickly. 

Kevin quickly stands on the centerboard and pulls the boat back up.

 Before we get to race results, how about some more photos?

Jim and Kevin approach finish line in 1st race

Sherri in 2nd race

Kevin, in the middle, on port tack (and therefore no right of way), dodges the other boats at the start of the 3rd race.

Shortly after start of 3rd race Tom (left) and Jim (right) head for the Truex's shore.

We see you Riley.

Laura had a good day, beating her Mom and Dad in 1st race and her Dad again in the 3rd race (on a handicapped basis).

Race results are below, but come back to the blog again in a few weeks to find out about final standings for the year, trophy winners of all sorts, and other comments about our season.

First Race Results: 

Laser Class:  Jim Voelz 1^st, Kevin Preuss 2^nd, Riley Leonard 3^rd

Butterfly Class: Laura Garrett 1^st, Peggy Voelz 2^nd, Sherri Agnew 3^rd

International Class (on handicapped basis): Tom Schroeder 1^st, John Auld/Bob Orben 2^nd

Overall on Handicapped Basis (not for scoring): Laura Garrett 1^st, Peggy Voelz 2^nd, Jim Voelz 3^rd (yes the dynasty continues), Kevin Preuss 4^th, Tom Schroeder 5^th, Sherri Agnew 6^th,  John Auld/Bob Orben 7^th, Riley Leonard 8^th.

Second Race Results: 

Laser Class:  Jim Voelz 1^st, Riley Leonard 2^nd, Kevin Preuss 3^rd

Butterfly Class: Peggy Voelz 1^st, Laura Garrett 2^nd, Sherri Agnew 3^rd

International Class (on handicapped basis): John Auld/Bob Orben1st, Tom Schroeder 2nd

Overall on Handicapped Basis (not for scoring): Jim Voelz 1^st, Riley Leonard 2^nd, Peggy Voelz 3^rd,, Laura Garrett 4^th, John Auld/Bob Orben 5^th, Kevin Preuss 6^th,  Sherri Agnew 7^th, Tom Schroeder 8^th

Third Race Results:  (fewer sailors)

Laser Class:  Jim Voelz 1^st, Riley Leonard 2^nd, Kevin Preuss 3^rd

Butterfly Class: Laura Garrett 1^st, Sherri Agnew 2^nd

International Class (on handicapped basis): Tom Schroeder 1^st

Overall on Handicapped Basis (not for scoring): Laura Garrett 1^st, Sherri Agnew 2^nd, Jim Voelz 3^rd Riley Leonard 4^th, Tom Schroeder 5^th, Kevin Preuss 6^th.