MRA Series #3 Day #2 TINKERS Line & Comments - SATURDAY July 12, 2008

Howdy from Bob Duff July 12, 2008, 1930 hours,

Today yielded only one race each for 11 SONARs, 5 J-24s and 12 RHODES 19s on the TINKERS line. This is 28 boats out of 84 on my sign-in sheet.

Wind shifted from 150 degrees at the first starts to a course change at 135 and then on to 80 degrees for the attempt at a second race. It was course pattern "C" "double sausage" at some 0.6 nautical miles. RHODES were finished on a shortened course at the last weather mark. Many R-19s were away in Winthrop for a district competition. All VIPER 640s were away for a keel replacement exercise. This completed DAY #2 of MRA SERIES #3.

Three lead SONARs for the summer so far are Sam and Martha Altrueter on top with RESONANCE #787. Peter Frisch and Dru Slattery in PENN PACKET #547 are second followed by Peter DeWolfe and Bill Kaull in PD2 (really "PD" squared) #374.

In the first (and only completed) race both SONAR #425 BACK SEAT DRIVER Eric Goethert/Andrew Crocker and #775(really 773) JUMBLY Jeremy Bloxham were OCS and restarted under code flag "X". #773 won the race despite that error at start time. On Course Side is the relatively new OCS penalty abbreviation which previously was PMS for PreMature Start. Wonder why that abbreviation was changed? Peter DeWolfe/Bill Kaull were second in PDsquared #374. Third was Larry Ehrhardt with RALLIE #690. The only other notation was EYC Vice Commodre Robbie Doyle crewing for son Tyler Doyle in nameless #564. Unlike pictured below on June 21st, no spinnaker laundering was observed!

J-24s series leader as of this morning was Jeffery S. Earl in USUAL SUSPECT #4119 followed by Bob Kraemer and Mike Tabor in XINGU #1587. Their point scores place these two well ahead of the other 7 boats.

J-24 Jeffery S. Earl won again today with #4119 USUAL SUSPECT. #1587 XINGU did not check in. LONDON CALLING # 3916 for Caroline Ross/Paul Smith was second. #4202 ZOT scored third for Frank McNamara. At the atttempt for a second race at 1451 hours, Rick Smyers/Jeffrey Sachs in nameless #1939 were OCS and restarted before everything went down the tubes.

RHODES 19s found Douglas Trees and Chris Small leading for the season in #1680 SWING ROOM over number two Kim G. and Christina Pandapas in #722 MO HOTTA MO BETTA. The Pandapas' confuse competition with one half the boat's name on port side and the other different half on starboard. Neither boat checked in with us today.







The RHODES 19 winner at the weather mark shortened finish was David L. Ruben with #2495 DAVID ROSE. Second was #3038 WAY Mike Lane followed third by #3299 CLEWLESS Jan-Paul Zonnenberg.





The second race cycle began with QUACKS at 1430.00 hours which turned into a totally frustrating drifter. #787 champion SONAR RESONANCE Sam & Martha Altreuter were what we always called "stuffed" near last. The 1st race winner JUMBLY #773 Jeremy Bloxham was what we always called "pickle" (among other expressions such as DFL) when he drifted into a leeward gate mark and attempted doing 720 degree penalty circles. Mercifully, PROs Rick Myers and Susie Schneider called for "N" over "A" code flags and three guns to end the bleeding with an abandonement.








Click on the image above to see my starting log and some notes about the races before we started towing people home at 1530 hours.






Complete MRA results from TINKERS for this Series #3 are available by clicking:






http://www.mheadrace.org/Scoring_2008/TinkersScoringSeries32008.htm






You'll see that Sam & Martha Altrueter's RESONANCE took two firsts on July 5th. Are they having fun yet with the new "supersonic" SONAR? The two "Bills" in TOUCH of GREY ex SOGGY DOLLAR are fading a little as you may see with posted results from today. Neither fared terribly well today.






Commodore John Fisher #624 JAZZED was squeaking along ahead of Dru & Peter #547 PENN PACKET for second in this MRA series before seeing today's postings. Come back to click the above hyperlink early and often. Neither yacht checked in today!





Speaking of clicking, try this for a handy Marblehead weather update:





http://www.intellicast.com/Local/Weather.aspx?location=USMA0233





Going back in time, here is my personal starter work sheet from EYC's last races on the TINKERS Line June 21st. It introduces Jim Ayer's great SONAR photos. Click on any image for enlarged details. As at the beginning of this blog, you will see more than you really need for our purposes. I will try to scribble entries more neatly next time. How did I do July 12th?



Notice that I forgot to post the number of starters in each race! Details! Details! Details! as my old friend John V. Farwell often said in days gone by. These sheets tell you almost everything you ever wanted to know about the five minute start sequences - Racing Rules of Sailing #26. I have another sheet for the 3 minute dinghy machine start under Appendix "Q". Many three minute starts are done manually without our fancy electric machine with horns.

The same thought about details applies when clicking yacht picture images. Tyler Doyle Sonar nameless #564 may not enjoy the film details Jim caught of him washing his spinnaker at the last leeward mark! I believe he lost one boat between there and the finish.

The first picture shows SONAR #547 PENN PACKET- Peter Frisch and Dru Slattery - under the red spinnaker with a wide white stripe charging toward that final leeward mark. They are just ahead of the Altrueter's full red chuted #787 RESONANCE.

Following closely are Brent Larlee #480 GOAT and Bill Mann & Bill Rothwell #585 TOUCH OF GRAY. This gray lady was the Altrueter's SOGGY DOLLAR all last year and before.


Sam described his concern with that day's race developments watching their "old boat" hugging new RESONANCE's transom for a third at the finish line.




Brent Larlee is not talking about what happened next. He went from maybe 3rd at the mark to 9th at the finish in GOAT #480. As we used to say down home in Texas; "somebody really got his GOAT"!



Tyler Doyle is closing in on the right with nameless #564 under red,white & blue chute. He finished fourth. One of the white kites is 5th place finisher EYC Commodore John Fisher #624 JAZZED.





Close in you see Peter DeWolfe and Bill Kaul who finished 6th in PD squared #374.





Next we see the two leaders beating for a finish 0.8 nautical miles to the south of east (160 degrees magnetic). Jim gave me a beginning and an intermediate shot for right here, but I could not insert them. Blogs do get unfriendly at times. This is my first success with more than one picture. Bloggers please advise! I am just learning the tricks.





Shots of the finish are hiding somewhere on my old DELL computer. I start up the new APPLE MacBook Pro next week. Things should get a bit better if you believe all the ads!

All MRA results for this Series #1 races are yours for the clicking at:

http://www.mheadrace.org/Scoring_2008/Tinkers_scoring_Series1_2008.htm

Jim advised Friday that he is "working" on five SONAR pictures which probably include these three. Expect the fruits of his labors in the future.

Other late minute news includes another blogger most of us knew from the '96 Olympics in Georgia and at Eastern Yacht Club - Charley Cook. You can click his new China Olympics blog at :

http://blog.cooksailing.com/

You can "subscribe" there for daily reports on Olympic yachting. I have not found a way to get your subsciption here. Charley jokes about our old friend "LUIGI" without giving his real name which is Peter Reggio.

His referral to http://www.cooksailing.com/ fails on my old DELL. Maybe it will function with my new MacBook Pro next week!







We had a good group running today's races. A special treat was our club manager Jeff Wargo on ETO to see what his "non-swimming pool" and "non-tennis player" membership does on the water. We put Jeff on the auxillary signal flags and gave him a good work out. His performance was great!

PRO Rick Meyers was coached by Susie Schneider. Timer Brad Marvin, "X" flagger Ashley Boyl, recorder Cheryl Byrne and operator Rebecca Bennett let me do class flags with occasional assists from Jeff Wargo. I was a little distracted keeping "neat" notes on my timer sheet. Ashley is new with us. She is a SONAR sailor who will be back on RC during Race Week.

I propose to use timer sheet logs again for documenting each day during junior and senior NOOD race weeks. EYC gets the "big boy" visiting STARS and J105s, Etchells and International One Designs (IOD). It would be nice to see more visitors bring yachts just like we did in years gone by.

Notable news, Greg and Jennifer Mancusi-Ungaro have visitors flying in to race their beautiful varnished IOD #46 EDEN against them in their other IOD #2 ELECTRA. Anyone like to bet on this duo?

Roger Drumm had Justin Byrne and our new friend "Chuck" Angle working the mark boat. "Chuck" is a SONOR sailor from DYC and former EYC member. He had our John Koopman as crew "for a thousand miles" per "Koop". "Chuck" says that "Koop" is "always right". "Koop" just smiled when I asked him about that quote.

David Soule and Bob Cushman ran the pin boat again today. Always comforting with these "pros".

Next week (Saturday July 19th) we head to MIDWAY for more Etchells and IODs and the 3rd day of MRA Series #3. Crew call is at 1030 hours.

The newly release assignment schedule shows Bob Vessot with Brad and me on the committee boat. Jim McCully has Tom and Pam Rogers on the mark boat. Nobody else is posted as of this writing. Assignments?