Spring Series

Spring Series 2004 Race Results

April 8 | April 22 | April 29 | May 6 | Summary

April 8

The Spring Series began Thursday April 8th with a good turnout of 9 boats at the start line, with 11 paid entries... enough for the goal to be reached. TWO CLASSES!! That's right everyone! We have a racing class and a cruiser class (flying and non-flying) so everyone has an equal chance at placing! We welcome even more of you to come out and join in!

The series began with good wind as well, though it took a bit of patience on the part of the race participants and creativity on the part of those racers who took on the work of race committee also.

A huge word of thanks and appreciation goes to Mike Schott for organizing and committeeing (is that a word?), Bob Miles for course planning, Keith Andrews for setting up marks, and Blaine and Elaine Watkins for coming out and volunteering to be the committee boat! As soon as Nate & Mike crossed the finish line on Blew Bayou, Mike boarded Blaine's Catalina 34 and proceeded to record times for the rest of the fleet. Needless to say, it would be really great, and in fact, greatly needed, to have a few volunteers to come out and join the Watkins on their very comfortable committee boat. We need someone to run the start sequence and horns as well as to record times for the racers. Someone is needed also to be a human windlass and help Blaine get his anchor up at the end of the day. No one has to sit there in an open boat and freeze, come on out for a nice social time on a comfortable cruising sailboat, good company, and get the best view of the race starts and finishes! Any volunteers please call Mike Schott at (360)202-6543.

The race commentary comes from aboard Rossinante, so if I miss any details worth adding, please write me and we'll add them to the writeup!

The race start was excellent with all clean starts, and several boats were right on the line with precise timing. The windward mark roundings were clean, and the spinnakers came out, with a little bit of difficulty on Blew Bayou as it was the team's very first set together. They took their positions and raced on ahead of the cruisers who all chose wing-and-wing and went straight for the mark. The downwind leg seemed a mite long to the non-flying boats, and by the time we got to the leeward mark we wondered if we'd see the finish line before dark. Sling Shot and Skookumchuck led the racing fleet to the leeward mark, with Lucky Jim, Blew Bayou and Isabeau hot in pursuit. The cruisers found Rossinante in the lead, with Aileron alongside and then on her tail at the leeward mark, then Tango and Mariah II. At this point Rossinante's foresail split and tore and she lost her ability to point, bummer was, duck tape wouldn't stick! Who woulda thought? Neither would sail tape, mind you. Anyway, due to that issue, I failed to notice the events of the last windward leg for the flying boats. Again, anything to add, please write me!

The racing fleet all had sails furled and were heading home by the time the cruisers approached their finish. Struggling to see the finish line pin and sailboat under bare poles in the glare of the sunset, we headed that direction. We were all delighted to see Mike aboard the Catalina 34 to take our times! Aileron took tactical advantage of their higher point than Rossinante with her torn sail and passed her by then took her wind, then covered her the rest of the way to the finish. Tango shortly after, and the committee waited for Mariah II before shutting down.

RACE # 1

Course:

RACE #1 CLASS RESULTS

Race Committee: Mike Schott, Blaine & Elaine Watkins, Bob Miles, Keith Andrews