Howdy from Bob Duff (EYC-RC) July 4, 2008-------
STOP THE PRESSES! STOP THE PRESSES!
I had planned a Jim Ayer(EYC-RC) photo of NUMBERS for this evening but replaced it now with Gordon Hall's (EYC) KATABATIC #9393 who won PHRF Class A today over Hugh Candler's (EYC) SCHERHERAZADE #39512 by 41.2 seconds on corrected time. SCHERHERAZADE finished first for the gun(horn) at the leeward mark 23 seconds ahead of KATABATIC on the shortened "J" course. This PHRF stuff drives ole one-design sailors like me nuts!
Course pattern "J" is triangle/ windward/ leeward/ windward starting and finishing at the middle. Course "G" for PHRF Class C and down is the same thing starting and ending at their leeward mark just above the committee/signal boat.
Wind was 7.5 knots at 010 degrees and eventually dropped to less than 2 at a clockwise 100 or so degrees. At some point velocity was nil. It was interesting to see Jud Smith (EYC) fourth in Class A with six yachts after he took third out of 80 or so odd Etchells in their Worlds earlier this week in Chicago. Now do not accuse me of saying that Etchells are odd. "80 or so odd" is the Texas way of saying a number greater than 80 where you cannot remember the low order digit. Today, a total of 50 or so odd PHRF yachts (52)participated in this 2008 EYC Annual Regatta.
Complete finishing result are ( they were not yet posted at 2116 hours when I published this) available from easternyc.org by clicking:
AND REMEMBER to click the return arrow in the upper left hand corner to return here!
Looking back to the LAMBERT OCEAN RACE run by EYC on June 1, 2008 click:
Those scores show Ward Blogett(EYC) on SIROCCO #29 winning first in Class "B". Carl Doane with INCENTIVE #30493 got the gun in Class "C". Not recognizing Carl's name, I tried to find him in the EYC annual but gave up in the "Do" 's when surrounded by all those D'Orios who fill up those pages and our tennis courts. Frank and Elaine D'Orio (EYC) once told me of a plan to fill in our harbor with dirt to create a convenient golf course for before and after tennis. Watch out sailors!
KATABATIC's neat calm appearance dropping her chute in Jim's picture above suggests that master seaman Marcel Neffenegger(Nyffeneger?) was aboard doing his super crew work. We sailed together on 114' schooner ASHANTI OF SABA during hurricane Hugo in 1989. ASHANTI was off to the Caribbean via Fort Lauderdale, FL. I got off just as soon as possible when we landed at Lauderdale! It had been a "gentle" blow! Ha! I still cannot spell Marcel's Swiss last name. I hope I got Marcel right! My excuse is that I cannot spell! I never remember whether Duff has one "F" or two! I confess that I misspell names intentionally to get people to respond with corrections, insults, criticisms, compliments and praises. Beyond that, the spell check in blogger leaves something to be desired!
Marcel went on for a couple of years as a crew chief on ASCHANTI. My son Rob Duff III sailed down into the Caribbean with Marcel in 1990. Charter guests aboard that winter included Pat and Thornton Clark (former EYC) plus Carole and John Benning (EYC) who raced their IOD #22 here a few years ago. Of couse, Thornton was my leader on IOD #16 TANGO now raced by Michael Best (EYC) and Rachel and Ian Morrison.
Dan Meyer's (EYC) NUMBERS was at Bermuda and not here today, but please remember that she is a big fast beautiful class A competitor with a nice rating and a very large crew of 12 or 14 . A joke floating around EYC involves a small billing hitch where Rick Myers (EYC-RC) got Dan Meyers' bar bill one day for that big bunch of crew. Rick took a few very deep breaths as the bill was corrected. I am not sure that this is true, but many of us can sympathize with such a predicament.
For last year's results for the 2007 EYC ANNUAL REGATTA click:
You can do all of this the normal way by signing on as easternyc.org or clicking:
Sailors need no password anymore. I rather enjoy just clicking! Isn't that fun doing yachty things on a yacht club web site by just clicking? This way you avoid digging through page after page of passwords, sign on sheets and stuff about tennis, swimming, dancing, dining etc. Here we get to the "real" stuff about yachting on a yacht club site!
Get MRA one design race results by clicking:
Today John Koopman(EYC-RC-PRO) ran the regatta without a hitch except a drifting jibe mark (110 feet of water) and a dieing wind. The breeze began about 010 degrees and fairly steady at about 7.5 knots. We used course pattern "J" at 1.3 nautical miles to the weather mark. Starting with Class "C" and continuing was course "G" for 1.5 miles at 040 degrees.
Rona and Dana Woodward (EYC-RC) worked the pin boat with Tamison Johnson(?) doing wind shots. (Help me, I am awful with names!). Gaele and Jim McCully (EYC-RC) worked hard on the pin boat. Before the race it was rumored that the ladies were going to take one RC boate and leave the men on the other. They did not! If they had done that it would have created a rare "all girl" crew. As journalists said when Sheila Widnall (EYC) took off in an Air Force jet fighter flown by a USAF female pilot, " it was an unmanned journey". Sheila was Secretary of the Air Force at that time. Her official Air Force Secretary flag once hung in The Barker Clubroom/Bar. Rumor has it that the "tennis crowd" or "swimming crowd" took it down and put it in the attic. Who are those guys other than the D'Orios?
EMERSON T. OLIVER (ETO) signal boat today hosted Susie Schneider(EYC-RC-Chair.), Jennifer Tegfeldt (EYC-RC), Brad Marvin (EYC-RC), Joel Kinney (EYC-RC) and me as a supernumerary. I really enjoyed myself just sitting there and yelling at Joel as Brad, Susie and I coached him on how to do all the flags. He was super, but he says Jack Cochrane (EYC-RC) will not release him from crew duty on FALL LINE where they race in PHRF Class "D"and twilight series. We would enjoy having him again on ETO.
Colter Beote operated ETO and handled the signal cannons and a few frantic anchor things as the wind shifted and died. We shortened course at some mark or other! I am afraid to ask Susie any questions. Sometimes I feel she does not like me. Remember the little bird? I lost track after the reaching mark drifted in 110 feet of water. We think that everybody rounded that drifting mark except Justin, Cheryl, Duffy and Perry Rose Byrne (EYC-RC) who withdrew MITHRIL #495 PHRF "G" Cruising. My day felt more normal when Susie let it be know that I should have gottten off my "Duff" so she could take pictures instead of lowering class flags for the shortened course. That really "made my day" as a normal one!
I must mention my special friends we saw racing today. Peter Frisch (EYC-RC) was with Ward Blodgett (EYC) on SIROCCO #29. I could not see Peter, but I could hear his wonderful laugh. My blog mentor Arthur Saulsberry (EYC-RC) was on William Straus' (BYC) J105 HEART THROB #145. Todd Sparling (EYC-RC) was on Bruce Dyson's (EYC) 8 meter PLEIONE #38 who took second behind behind Peter Engel's (DYC) GOLDENEYE #40180 in PHRF Class B. David McCue (CYC) in REDWING #25060 is a previous tenor singing buddy in St. Micheal's Episcopel Church Choir with Jim Ayer and me. His wife is a Duff (no relation) so that makes them very special. Fritz Koopman (EYC-RC-son of PRO John) raced on Vern Polidoro's (EYC) J105 VIGILANTE #51563. My former neighbor and former commodore Jim Flannagan (BYC) took the J105 honors in ACHIEVER V #442 ahead of the third place former commodore Jon Wales and the whole Wales family (EYC) on BANTRY #189. Squeezed between those "flag" folks was Samel/Royer/Mann (JYC) in BLOWN AWAY #398 at second place. Our Mike Piper (EYC-RC) took first in CEBU #182 in PHRF D ahead of third place Jennifer and Greg Mancusi-Ungaro (EYC)in their beautiful Class D IOD ELECTRA #2. I saw three Slatterlys (Jack, Dru & Gram) on Steve Cucchiaro's WINDWARD SPIRIT #41730 which took second in PHRF F Cruising behind first place Vice Commodore Robert E. Doyle (EYC) in ECLIPSE #2. Robbie did that without any crew help from our Race Committee! Rob Gorman (EYC-RC) finished 3rd in F Cruising with ONLY TIME #12001. Jay Connolly (EYC) finished with TAYGETTA #1210 in an unaccustomed place for the "ALL AMERICAN SAILORS" aboard from BC and the 420 class. Susie Schneider's son Andrew was among the embarressed "grinners" as they struggled last across the finish line. Also near the last here was Rear Commodore Phillip J. Smith (EYC) with no race committee crew in STREGA #39 sailing in PHRF F Cruising with eleven boats. As exoffficio member of the Race Committee, he could probably "order" some of us to sail with him the way Susie bosses us around. Just kidding! Just kidding! One big boat came by with a half dozen or so happy yelling youngsters who spotted their favorite teacher at the Tower School, Susie Schneider.
Tomorrow we head back to the MIDDLE line for IODs and Etchells. Just as an experiment, I invite you to click below for a look at the Series #1 standings as posted by MRA:
That hyperlink looks scary, but it worked in tests for IOD and Etchells. While there you can bounce around for other fleets. As noted before, you can get there for lots of information. For starting a little higher - click:
Susie Schneider will be PRO tomorrow (Saturday) with Brad Marvin (EYC-RC), Bob Vessot (EYC-RC) and me. Past commodore David Soule (EYC-RC) will be on the pin boat with Bob Cushman (EYC-RC). Todd Sparling (EYC-RC) volunteered this morning for the mark boat. I regret that he and David Curtis (EYC) will not be racing IOD #107, but maybe Todd will bring that beautidul blonde he was with this afternoon!
The long promised assignment schedule for race committee was posted on easternyc.org July 2nd. It needs a lot of grooming. Blessedly, it does not require a password for guest access.
Next Saturday July 12th we go back to the TINKERS line for VIPER 640, SONAR, J24 and RHODES 19 fleets. Crew call is 10:00 for the 12:00 warning gun. My primative schedule suggests Nick Burke(EYC-RC) on the mark boat. Jim McCully, David Soule and Bob Cushman all of EYC-RC are checked off for duty. Brad Marvin and I of EYC-RC show for the signal boat with no indication yet of PRO. My best guess would be Susie Schneider (EYC-RC-Chair.). She always does a great job.
The Woodwards and Phyllis and Gordon Vinyard will be race committee for the ANNUAL EYC CRUISE going south as far as Newport, RI. The Vinyard's motor yacht HAWKE will serve as signal boat. The rendevous is at Pocasset Harbor July 12th. Disband is at Marion July 18th.
See you again tomorrow. E-mail your friends about my blog! It is:
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