WNR 061610 - Greg's Report

Mudheads WNR 2010

date: Thu, Jun 17, 2010 at 1:13 AM
Skippers,

Another fine night to go racing!   6-11 knots of breeze from the South, no rain and about 7 miles of a Gold Cup type course.  Just like the 12 meters used to do.  The Fasts were very fast in Looney Tunes,  taking the first gun for Class Two and Fleet honors.   Kudos to Tom Longo and Banshee with their first Class Three win of the year.   What!?  3 Grins was Second?  As an aside, I must tell you that Dave Nickerson had the best start of the night with his bow at the pin at the gun.   Dave, I had the best seat in the house and there is no more room to OCS.  Great timing!

Looking good was Salud out front in Class One with the gun, but the venerable Watercolors with Bill and Mimi Drinkuth corrected out for the Class One win and just :15 seconds behind Tunes for 2nd in Fleet.      Shearwater stayed close on the heels of Balance to correct out with the win in Class Four and One More Time did the same, as the two Farr 30s corrected enough to push Bill Canning's hot new Melges 32 Wild Horses to third.

Attached are the preliminary results.

Til next week.
Greg

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date: Thu, Jun 17, 2010 at 10:01 AM
Skippers,

Let's give credit where credit is due.  My comments last night about the start of Dave Nickerson's 3 Grins, Viper #18, proved I may not have had the best seat in the house afterall.  That would go to OJ O'Connell, who was actually driving.  Ben Wilkinson also on board as OJ and Ben tune up for the second stage of the Sears Cup ladder eliminations later this summer in Stamford.   It will be sailed in Vipers.  Dave says he's just a passenger these days!

Stay tuned.

Greg

WNR - 06/16/10

Mudheads WNR 2010

Crew: Brian, Bob & RW
Winds: S 6-12 kts, gusts 17, lulls 3
Weather: overcast
Current: ebb - North Hill 1428
Start time: 1800, 03:32 into ebb
Start/Finish: between Horseshoe & GLP
Course: s/f–N–I–s/f–N–s/f; Distance: 6.9nm
Shrouds: +3,+5,+2

In addition to being shorthanded last night, three or four mistakes set us back to a fifth place finish; one in sail handling, the others in strategy & tactics. At North Hill on the first set, the sheet & guy crossed1 on the hoist, where we lost a good minute if not more. That’s the second time this season that the chute has gone up with the clews together.  I’ll devise a better method of preventing crossed sheets.

We had a great midline start & quickly tacked to favored port, crossing Cosmic and a handful of boats. On both beats, we worked the middle2 & 3 to cover Cosmic. On the second beat, we mistakingly overstood4 North Dumpling, not as badly as Cosmic ahead though.

WNR - 06/09/10

Mudheads WNR 2010

Crew: Seth, Bob & RW
Winds: SE 5, SW 10 -18 kts
Weather: overcast light rain
Current: flood - North Hill 1529
Start time: 1800, 02:31 into flood
Start/Finish: between Horseshoe & GLP
Course: s/f –IR–LM–N–s/f; Distance: 4.2 nm
Heavy #1
Shrouds: Base

It was just three of us as Brian was on a business trip to Kentucky. The breeze was averaging five knots in the accompaniment of light rain at start.  I mistakenly set up on Salud’s weather hip near the committee boat as we approached the line in very light air.  A wiser decision would have favored the pin-end farther up current, a move I shied away from worried about being rolled. As it was, we had a clear lane, yet a longer distance to sail. Cosmic got off to a great start at the pin end and led around the GLP buoys in clear air.  

WNR - 06/02/10

Mudheads WNR 2010

Crew: Brian, Seth, Bob & RW
Winds: SE to E avg 8.5, gust 12
Temp: 63 F, Baro: 29.82; 60 & 29.83 at race end
Weather: high thin ovc; fog developing east end of FI Sound
Current: ebb - North Hill 1522
Start time: 1800, 02:38 into ebb
Start/Finish: just between Horseshoe & GLP
Course: s/f –W-s/f; 177 @ 2.1 nm Distance: 4.2 nm
Shrouds: +2,+0,+1

A minute before the gun Sans Souci crept windward of us, effectively pinning us below the line in the light air.  We slowly luffed the sails and pulled above their stern just as the gun went off; 20 seconds short of the line. At the line crossing, we tacked to port with Sans Souci following suit ahead and to windward, as Dragon Z Balls blew past on port between us and the committee boat.  
We eased off the genoa slightly and got some breathing room in Sans Souci’s lee, slowly passed them and pulled ahead.  Would it have been better to have tacked twice for a clear lane? Maybe if she did not follow suit with a cover. 
Brian mentioned the fog developing at the far end of the sound, concernd with the affect on the wind. 

WNR - 052610

Mudheads WNR 2010

Crew: Brian, Seth, Bob & RW
Winds: NNW 4 to 8, gust 12; to nill at finish
Temp: 65 F, Baro: 29.67; 63 & 29.65 at race end
Weather: clear w/ possible overland TRW
Current: flood - North Hill 1642
Start time: 1800, 01:15 into flood
Start/Finish: just between Horseshoe & GLP
Course: s/f –D/M-s/f; 251 @ 1.5 nm Distance: 6.0 nm
Shrouds: +2,+3,+2

Brian cinched up the shrouds on the motor out in anticipation of a good breeze, and we got the motor off in time for a good line assessment, and thru in the flattening prior to raising the genoa.  We discussed changing to the older genoa due to the stiff winds; which would have been a good idea had we considered it sooner.  Also, we probably would have benefited from another turn on the shrouds.