JULY 28TH RACE REPORT

This was Ben Hicks first full race.  He crewed for Tom Schroeder.  Welcome Ben!  

We had to cancel our July 21st race due to lack of wind and rescheduled to July 28^th and we are glad we did!  We had a sunny day with a high in the mid-70s with wind!  What kind of wind?  Well, it was mostly moderate to strong with lots of gusts, plenty of direction changes and a fair number of dead-spots. 

And for any particular sailor, most of these changes occurred at the worst possible moment.  So each captain/crew had to deal with their own challenges,  unfairness, etc., but we all had our share.  Sort of like life only not as serious (depending on who you're talking to).

Thanks very much to our Committee Boat volunteers Norm and Susan Egbert, assisted by Beth Auld.  And also ready to help were Mimi Riffle, Donna Mount and Bob Orben. We are grateful to you all.

And for race set-up, Catey Hale and John Gall set up the course on July 21, only to have it cancelled, and Kevin Preuss and Tom Schroeder set up on the 28^th.  Thanks!

We had a very well attended protest of the lack of wind on July 21^st at the Truex’s with all sorts of great snacks to munch on.  Thanks Wayne and Arlene!

July 21 Protest Meeting:  How many separate conversations?

Laser Class:  In the first race Jim Voelz came in well ahead of the entire fleet.  Kevin Preuss edged out Tom Jennings by just a handful of seconds to take 2^nd place in the Laser class.  In the second race, Tom Jennings took first place. Jim Voelz capsized right after the start after taking an ill-timed gust of wind, and also took a penalty turn after fouling Kevin Preuss on the way to the second mark.  Nonetheless he finished 2^nd to Tom Jennings by a very close margin, with Kevin finishing third.

International Class:  The International Class is timed, then handicap factors specific to a particular make/model of boat are applied, since some boat designs are faster than others.   Peggy Voelz won the first race followed by John Auld/Bob Orben, Tom Schroeder/Ben Hicks, Laura Garrett, and Bianca/Lance Snider.  In the second race, John Auld/Bob Orben finished first followed by Peggy Voelz, Bianca/Lance Snider, Laura Garret, and Tom Schroeder/Ben Hicks.

Not how we score the races, but if we handicapped the Lasers as well, the finishing order would have been as follows:  1^st race: Jim Voelz, Peggy Voelz, Kevin Preuss, Tom Jennings, John Auld/Bob Orben, Tom Schroeder/Ben Hicks, Laura Garrett,  Bianca/Lance Snider.   2^nd Race: Tom Jennings, Jim Voelz, John Auld/Bob Orben, Peggy Voelz, Bianca/Lance Snider, Laura Garret, Kevin Preuss, Tom Schroeder/ Ben Hicks

The next race is  this Sunday, August 4^th at 2pm.

July 7th RACE REPORT

You can't always get what (wind) you waaaaant.....

Wind was scarce so we had just one race on July 7^th, the “Independence Day Trophy Race” (we are not daring enough to put all those sailboats out there on the holiday itself).  Josh Gray volunteered for the first time on the Committee Boat and was joined by Beth Auld, Bob Orben, Mimi Riffle and Trish Zachidny.  Tom Jennings and Lance Snider set up the race course, and Tom Jennings acted as Race Chairman.  Thanks everyone!

In the Laser class Jim Voelz finished ahead of Tom Jennings.  

In the International Class, Peggy Voelz finished first, followed by Jim Riffle/Arlene Truex second, John Auld/Bob Zachidny third, and Jack Gall/John Gall fourth.  Laura Garrett and Bianca and Lance Snider decided not to wait out the wind and bowed out on the hot afternoon. 

On an overall handicapped basis Jim Voelz and Tom Jennings finished first and second respectively, then the rest of field (the International Class) finished in the order mentioned in the previous paragraph.

INDEPENDENCE DAY BREAKFAST AND KAYAK RACE

Breakfast:

Good weather favored the very large gathering of Grandview neighbors and friends at the very patriotically decked-out lakefront of Dan and Judy Hoyt.  They even had a checkered flagged banner to mark the start/finish line for the kayak race.   A golf-car shuttle service operated by Hoyt grandchildren  took participants from the road down to the  

lake and back, leaving us with a little more energy to entertain guests at our own lots upon our return from the breakfast!

As usual we did not forget the reason for the holiday and took a moment to acknowledge the world-changing Declaration made on July 4, 1776, and the reason for it. And we cheered the freedom the red white and blue stars and stripes of the American Flag are intended to represent.

Thanks to Dan and Judy Hoyt and their family for their enthusiastic hospitality!   Participants also thanked them and the Sanders family for staying up late the night of July 2 to make all at that delicious home-made ice cream the two families served at the Sanders lot to all comers on July 3^rd.  

 Some  photos will have to be removed before
Labor Day for obvious reasons!

Red (sort of), white and blue - well done!

(Well... if you can)

Kayak Race:

Max Henry coordinated and sponsored the annual kayak race and provided prizes for the winners.  Thanks Max! And thanks to Jim Riffle and Tom Schroeder for helping out with some course logistics. 

The exciting two-lap race had the brothers Gall, John and Jackson, in a close battle in the first lap in the men’s division.  

Jack and John battle for lead early in race

But John pulled ahead and stayed well ahead for the remainder of the race leaving Jack to fight for second place with Sam Hoyt.  Jack kept the lead until shortly before the finish when Sam pulled ahead and finished just ahead of Jack. 

John sits at finish and watches as Sam pulls ahead of Jack, followed by Malachi

Kyle

Malachi Henry, just back from a fine 3rd place finish in an "Iron Man" competition out west,  came in a close fourth followed by his brother-in-law Kyle Turner.  

Tracey

Tracey Day, borrowed a kayak at the last-minute and, paddled hard to a first place finish in the women’s division. 

Jack Gall was racing the historic forerunner of the modern plastic variety of kayak used by most of us.  This, in fact was the maiden voyage for the hand-built frame-and-fabric kayak he just completed building.  

Jackson Gall in his just-completed kayak and paddle

He also used a “Greenland paddle” which is much different than the paddles most of us use.

A little background on that paddle:  “The ancestors of today's Greenlanders, known as the Thule culture, moved east from Alaska and northern Canada only about a thousand years ago, about the same time that Eric the Red was settling southwest Greenland. Since a different style of paddle with a longer loom and much shorter, leaf-shaped blades was used until recently by many Inuit west of Greenland, the Greenland paddle may have evolved after the Thule Inuit reached Greenland” -by Chuck Holst:  Making a West Greenland Paddle 

 

June 23rd RACE REPORT

Photos courtesy of  Jack and Sandi Miller.

You can do it too you know.  We welcomed another new sailor, and three more Committee Boat volunteers at the July 23^rd race.  Come on over to the nautical side and sail or serve on the Committee Boat.  Donna Mount   and Steve and Gretchen Fisher volunteered for the first time.

Donna gets ready to wave start flag

And Nick Gall joined us for his first GYC race, doing a fine job as crew for brother John winning first place in the International class in the first race.  

Tom checks in with Gretchen and Steve just before Gretchen waves the 5-minutes-to-start flag

Along with their brother Jackson we are living the early years of the Brothers Gall racing dynasty.

Racing conditions were nearly ideal, with a good wind, but shifty enough to make things quite interesting.   At the last race John Auld and Paul Hass made a noble, but unsuccessful attempt to jack hammer us out of our multi-year, “marks-to port” rut.  Yes, we’ve had a leftward, counterclockwise racing habit.    Lance Snider and Jim Voelz set up the course for this race, and also made a clockwise (marks-to-starboard) attempt by posting the green (rather than red) flag. This time we stopped fighting it, and raced marks-to-starboard (clockwise).   And you know, it was a surprisingly good experience – we should do it again sometime! Chuckle you may, but we are more flexible than the Indy Racing League.    Thanks Lance and Jim for setting up the course - it was a good one!

Our Committee Boat heroes, Jack and Sandi Miller, Steve and Gretchen Fisher and Donna Mount did a fine job and made an enjoyable afternoon of racing possible. They even took down the race course!  We are very grateful to them.    At least one sailor reported that the volunteers on the Committee Boat appeared to be having way too much fun.

John and Paul receive encouragement from Committe Boat

Jack counts down the minutes-to-start

In the Laser class in the first race Tom Jennings and Jim Voelz were in a tight race, way out in front of the rest of the ten boat fleet, most of which succumbed to the trick played on them by the Grandview wind gremlin at the first mark (described later). 

Voelz (left) and Jennings neck-and-neck

Jim was just a little bit ahead for most of the race, but as they approached the third mark, Tom started covering Jim’s wind, slowing him down.  

Jennings edges out Voelz

Then a big roller (wave) hit Jim.  The combination of the wave and Jim’s angle to the wind slowed him down, but not Tom who had a different angle to the wind.  So Tom was able to get and stay ahead winning the first race. 

Jim prepares to go under the "limbo stick", winning the second race.

But alas, Tom had particularly bad luck in the second race, getting caught up in the first mark melee, resulting in an uncharacteristic finish in the second half of the fleet.   Kevin Preuss on the other hand gave Jim Voelz some excellent competition in the second race and finished just half a minute behind Jim.

The first mark (in sailing, a “mark” refers not to the target of surveillance, but to the buoy “marking” a turn) was troublesome in both races.  In the first race, our Grandview wind gremlin decided that it would blow consistently and predictably for the first four racers rounding the mark.   The others, following very closely behind would have the rug suddenly pulled out from under them as the wind died and shifted.  This required multiple tacks to alter the now-inappropriate courses those competitors were sailing, and generated lots of “nautical talk”.   Like it or lump it, this is all a part of sailboat racing, and had the last six sailors been just a little bit faster getting to the mark, they too would have enjoyed a better wind.

So that is exactly what we did in the second race.  After an excellent start, hitting the starting line just as the starting horn was blown, we all got to the first mark at the same time, but approaching from different angles. 

All boats converge on the first mark from different angles

And then...pandemonium ensued.  Some made it through the congestion unscathed, but the wind then died again, and the rest were stuck uncomfortably close to each other, and when the wind picked up there was plenty of “contact” and a protest-rich environment.  But alas, no protests, probably because everyone knew there was nothing anyone could have done to avoid the situation and one protest would have triggered many more, and who would want to untangle that mess? And although John Sohn was ready to officiate at the protest meeting, we had to give him the afternoon off.

Bianca and Lance sneak up on Jennings

And in a separate incident, Bianca and Lance Snider had been far behind Tom Jennings.  But unbeknownst to Tom, they caught a favorable wind, took a risk sailing a dead-straight course, and snuck up on him.  As they rounded the mark they stealthily got between Tom and the mark. When Tom turned he made contact with the Sniders.  Well HELLO there!  Not knowing who was at fault, they performed a square-dance maneuver known as a “dosido”; they BOTH did 720 degree penalty turns, and resumed racing. 

Before we get to the “International Class” a quick pitch: We need Committee Boat volunteers for Sunday, July 7th– see schedule in the “port” column.  Otherwise, the aforementioned Tom Jennings will have to serve on theCommittee boat instead of sailing.   A few weeks later, we also need help for July 21^st.  Let us know which date you can help out. Volunteering for just one race per season is a big help to us.  We’ll train you, and you’ll have a very enjoyable time, just like Jack Miller and Steve Fisher shown here.

Just another relaxing afternoon on the Committee Boat

We are especially in need of those who can maneuver a pontoon boat and hoist an anchor.  By and large, the time commitment for most races is a little over two hours.

In the International Class John and Nick Gall in the Truex Y-Flyer, and Jim Riffle and Arlene Truex in the Hobie catamaran (that’s the one with the multicolored sails) were among the first four boats  the wind gremlin allowed through the first mark in a timely manner. 

It was very, very close, but John and Nick beat Jim and Arlene by eighteen seconds on a handicapped basis. 

The Brothers Gall (left) gain on Riffle/Truex

Without the handicap, Jim and Arlene actually finished ahead of John and Nick (just rubbing it in). The rest of the International fleet was way behind with Peggy Voelz finishing third, followed by Tom Schroeder, Bianca & Lance Snider, John Auld and Paul Haas (John and Paul having been distracted by remarks flung from the Committee boat), and Laura Garrett.    

In the second race a different set of racers were favored at the first mark, explaining at least part of the International class results, with Jim Riffle and Arlene Truex finishing first, John Auld and Paul Haas second, and Tom Schroeder third.  They were followed by John and Nick Gall, Peggy Voelz, Bianca and Lance Snider, and Laura Garrett.

The protest meeting was very well attended, and the wide variety of snacks pitched in resulted in no need for dinner.  Right?    Thanks very much to Wayne and Arlene for hosting us again at “Race Central”.

The next race is scheduled for Sunday July 7^th.  Please help Tom Jennings Mimi Riffle and Beth Auld out by reserving your seat on the Committee Boat by contacting Committee Boat chair, Beth Auld.  Tom Jennings will be Race Chairman for that race, and racers will receive a reminder the week prior to the race.

For those interested in the overall race results if we handicapped all of the boats, they were as follows: First Race: 1^st Tom Jennings, 2^nd Jim Voelz, 3^rd John & Nick Gall, 4^th Jim Riffle/Arlene Truex, 5^th Kevin Preuss, 6^th Peggy Voelz, 7^th Tom Schroeder/Mike Molar, 8^th Bianca & Lance Snider, 9^th John Auld/Paul Hass, 10^th Laura Garrett.

Second Race:  1^st Jim Voelz, 2^nd Kevin Preuss, 3^rd, Jim Riffle/Arlene Truex, 4^th John Auld/Paul Hass, 5^th Tom Schroeder/Brad Bicuspid, 6^th, John & Nick Gall, 7^th Peggy Voelz, 8^th Tom Jennings, 9^th Bianca & Lance Snider, 10^th Laura Garrett.

June 9th RACE REPORT: A fine race by and large

Another race and two more first-timers to welcome to the nautical side of the Yacht Club!  Tracey Day volunteered for the first time on the Committee Boat, and Laura Garrett joined us for her first GYC race as captain of her Butterfly sailboat.  In her first race she  finished in the top three along with her Dad, Jim Voelz and her Mom, Peggy Voelz.  The dynasty continues!  Welcome Tracey and Laura!   And in other sailor-related headline news, Jackson Gall’s next race with us will be as a married man.  Congratulations Jackson!

Steely-nerved Race Chairman Jim Riffle was faced with making a race-or-cancel decision with nary a wisp of wind evident on the lake.  Figuring the approaching storms would have some wind ahead of them,  Jim confidently decided to "go for it".  Although the first race was, by and large, a bit of a yawner, the wind showed up as Jim expected, making for a good second race.   Thanks to Jim for his fine work!

We are very grateful to our Committee Boat heroes, Beth Auld, Tracey Day, and Mimi Riffle for making this race possible – we couldn’t have raced without them!    Tracey got into the spirit immediately by contributing the following bit of trivia:  Like many commonly used phrases, the familiar “by-and-large” was actually a nautical expression for being able sail into (‘”by”) the wind, and with the wind (“large” as in large sails).   For more see http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/by-and-large.html  .   How it morphed into its present meaning is anyone’s guess.

John Auld, assisted by Paul Hass and Beth Auld set up and took down the race markers.  Thanks!   And thanks to Wayne and Arlene Truex for hosting the Protest Meeting after the race.

We continue to need and welcome volunteers for all future races – see schedule in the “port” column.  Let us know which date you can help out. Volunteering for just one race per season is a big help to us.  We’ll train you, and you’ll have a very enjoyable time.  We are especially in need of those who can maneuver a pontoon boat and hoist an anchor.  By and large, the time commitment for most races is a little over two hours. 

In the first race the Voelz dynasty swept the first three finishing spots with Jim finishing first, Peggy finishing second, and Laura finishing third (as a sign of respect to Mom and Dad no doubt) on an overall, handicapped basis.  Jim was sailing the only Laser, winning his class.  The International class consists of many types of boats and is handicapped accordingly.   Peggy and Laura finished first and second in that class, followed by John Gall/Jackson Gall, Jim Riffle/Arlene Truex, John Auld/Paul Hass (they stayed upright fulfilling their resolution) and Riley Leonard. 

A better wind showed up for the second race making for faster times and a far different result.  Peggy Voelz finished well ahead of all other racers on a handicapped basis.  The next, fastest sailor was Riley Leonard then Jim Voelz.  Peggy and Riley were first and second in the International class, followed in order on a handicapped basis by  Jim Riffle/Arlene Truex, John Auld/Paul Hass, Jackson Gall/John Gall, and Laura Garrett.  Quite a difference in finishing order from the first race,  by and large. Again, Jim Voelz won the Laser class.

The next race is scheduled for Sunday June 23^rd.  Reserve your seat on the Committee Boat by contacting Committee Boat chairperson, Beth Auld.  And if you need a crew or a captain to crew for, let Race Chair Tom Schroeder know ASAP.

Grandview families and friends were treated to glorious weather, a beautiful and spacious lakeside venue, and delicious breakfast treats at the home of Mike and Leah Essex.  The weather was a happy surprise given the radar picture the prior evening and early morning, and couldn’t have been any better. 

It is hard to adequately express our gratitude to those who served or were killed or injured in the armed forces, and their loved ones.  But we did our best, with comments and recognition of them with a round of applause.   

Again, Our thanks to the Mike and Leah Essex and their family for their hospitality!

May 26th RACE REPORT

Our first race of the 2013 season included two first-time Grandview sailors, Ben Hicks and Josh Gray, and returning sailor, but first-time captain, Graham Hale.  They,  along with returning captain Riley Leonard are sinking the average age of a Grandview sailor faster than Bob Orben’s Y-Flyer (now John Auld’s).  And with Tracey Wilson & Eileen Carroll assisting Beth Auld, Bonnie Hicks and Mimi Riffle on the Committee Boat, the race was downright youthful in terms of calendar age in addition to our ever –young spirit!   Soon we will have to send out “tweets” of the race, and this blog will be old news. Bring it on!

The first race of the season is always a bit of a shake-down cruise, and sure enough we lost Riley Leonard and the above-mentioned Ben Hicks to rigging problems.  Riley’s were discovered at the dock, so he did not make it out on the water, and Ben’s were discovered at the first mark so he had to abandon the race and head for shore.   The popular “Sunfish” and similar sailboats have always been welcome in our races (we have a handicapping system for all makes of boats), and we were encouraged to see Ben arrive with his Sunfish.  Hear that all you “Sunfish”, “Snark”, “Snipe”, etc.  owners – come on out and race with us!

It was also a shake-down cruise for the Committee Boat.  Our volunteers skillfully navigated out to our brand new yellow marker buoy, the result of someone’s excellent suggestion last year.  Much easier!   And Beth Auld had purchased a nice, loud megaphone with the proceeds of the T-shirt sale she organized last year.  Broadcasting a "do-over" to the racers so that they could re-set their stopwatches made a non-event of some initial five-minute-warning confusion (the result of first-race-of-the-season excitement).   Anchoring instructions from the previous week’s Committee Boat training/refresher session  were implemented well (use all 250’ of anchor line!).  But the instructor had not emphasized the need to slowly and artfully drag the anchor until it has a chance to dig into the lake bottom (sort of like setting the hook on a fish) so a second try was needed.  But they were very well-anchored after that!  We are very grateful to our above-mentioned Committee Boat heroes for making this race possible – well done!  We need and welcome volunteers for all future races – see schedule in the “port” column.  Let us know which date you can help us out. Volunteering for just one race per season is a big help to us.  We’ll give you a task to perform, and you’ll have a very enjoyable time.  We are especially in need of those who can maneuver a pontoon boat and hoist an anchor.  Total time commitment for most races is a little over two hours.

We were fortunate to get a window of good weather for “the race” although we sure could have used more wind – a LOT more wind.  And as usual the wind’s variable nature made for some strange occurrences.  For example in the second race, prior to the boats reaching the last mark, they were spread all over the race course.  But then the wind favored those who were behind and penalized those were ahead.  As a result there was near traffic jam at the last mark.  Almost as odd, there were no protests after a lot of intense jockeying for position to get around that last mark.  Speaking of odd, when was the last time you saw Bob Orben being the crew instead of the captain (he crewed for John Auld in both races)  It was great to have Bob back racing with us after his year off last year, and we hope to see more of him this year!  And one final wind-trick to mention; Tom Schroeder innocently started yacking with Tom Jennings, distracting Jennings from his very wind-sensitive “Laser” sailboat.  And sure-enough a quick blast of wind turned Jennings over.  Schroeder fessed up, taking responsibility for the capsize.  Speaking of Lasers, everyone and his brother tried to snag the Laser that Larry Olson put up for sale.  Young Josh Gray benefited from the "first-mover advantage" of his agile “intermediary”, Donna Mount.   We hope to see Josh out there in that Laser soon now that he has his first race behind him.

We had a very impressive start for the second race.  About one month ago, Jim Voelz conducted a "tips and techniques" session for the sailors.  He urged us to be aggressive at the start since most races are effectively won at the starting line.  We even prepped the Committee Boat with new instructions on what to do if an overly aggressive sailor crosses the starting line before the starting horn.  Well Jim (absent for this race) would have been quite proud of us.  By the time the starting horn was blown, we were all lined up like Olympic sailors right at the starting line (and a narrow starting line at that).    Although we don’t have a photo (we need some paparazzi to start feeding us photos of our races) the photo below is a good representation of our starting line, with the moving boats all hitting the line just as the five minute timer ran down to 0.00.

 

And the Graham and Catey Hale boat was over the line and had to start over. But again, due to the weird wind, the Hales suffered nearly no time penalty, somehow making it around the Committee Boat and back to the starting line before the rest of us had made any progress at all.   OK sailors, now we have to duplicate that start in a heavier wind.

After the race,  Wayne Truex commented that we were actually beginning to look like sailboat racers out there!   Whoa!  By the way, Wayne was able to accurately describe the good and not-so-good maneuvers made by various captains as observed from his vantage point on shore.  Maybe Wayne is the guy to send out “tweets” of the race.  At any rate, you might consider asking him for a critique of your race strategy at the protest meetings.   Although slow at times due to the wind, this race was far better than the four-wheeled one held by landlubbers about an hour north.

In the first race, the “Memorial Day Trophy Race”,  Tom Jennings and Kevin Preuss finished way ahead of everyone else on a handicapped basis, with Tom beating Kevin in the Laser class.  Despite their new,  less advantageous handicap (due to a great season in 2012), Jim Riffle and crew Arlene Truex finished first in the International class followed closely by John Auld and crew(!) Bob Orben.

In the second race Kevin Preuss was able to eke out a razor-thin victory over Tom Jennings in the Laser class.  But on a handicapped basis Lance Snider’s brother Kent, with Lance as crew, whipped the entire fleet including the Lasers with a handicapped time of 38.76 minutes vs.  the Lasers at about 43.5 minutes.  Kent and Lance had Kent’s young son on board blowing at the sail for extra speed (its allowed).   Tom Schroeder and rookie crew Josh Gray were not too far behind the Lasers on a handicapped basis at 44.4 minutes.

Thanks to Wayne and Arlene Truex for hosting the Protest Meeting after the race –indoor this time due to rain.  Thanks also to Kevin Preuss for setting up and taking down the race course, and for assistance by Tom Schroeder for set-up and by Wayne Truex and Jim and Mimi Riffle for take-down. 

The overall handicapped finish order of the first (trophy) race was as follows,

from first to 7^th:  Tom Jennings, Kevin Preuss, Jim Riffle/ Arlene Truex, John Auld/Bob Orben, Catey Hale/Graham Hale, Tom Schroeder/Josh Gray, Lance Snider/Kent Snider & Son.

The overall handicapped finish order of the second race was as follows, from first to7th:  Kent Snider & Son/Lance Snider, Kevin Preuss, Tom Jennings, Tom Schroeder/Josh Gray, Graham Hale/Catey Hale, John Auld/Bob Orben, Jim Riffle/ Arlene Truex. 

The next race is scheduled for June 9th.  Jim Riffle has kindly agreed to act as race chairman. We need some help for this race.  Sailors, please consider volunteering to help John Auld set-up or take down the race.  Readers, please consider spending a few hours experiencing the race from the Committee Boat and helping Mimi by performing a task or two.  Thanks!