Nor'Easterns - Third Overall

All I had to do today was pick up one point to capture third. I ended up with finishes of 3, 1, and who cares. I'll explain in a minute.

The forecast was bad again, zero to nothing from nowhere. So the powers decided to have a 7:00 harbor gun and an 8:00 start to take advantage of the morning thermal breeze. The roosters weren't up yet at 6:30 when I rolled out of bed. Let's just say the rum was barely worn off. And my migraine I got Friday afternoon was still lingering around too.

We dragged the boat over to the club about 7:15 and hit the starting area about 7:45. The wind was a perfect thermal with hints of East in the 8-12 South. The course was short so starts were going to be key.

Race 4 was my tone setter. I needed a good race to solidify third. I started left center in clear air rolling over Bob Cole with the tracks down and bow down. I banged a left corner and came back to the top mark third, I think. Downwind I tried all the new tricks I teased out of people the night before. I lost a boat. Progress. On the long upwind I moved up to third about 45 seconds out of first and about three boat lengths over fourth.

So downwind I'm in third covering fourth with the two hotshots battling for the regatta win battling for the race win. I find the person I have to beat to get third overall is deep in the pack. I start doing score calculations and realize there is not much chance at getting second for the regatta. So I cover. I lose 3 of the 4 boat lengths lead over 4th and round 3rd with control over the guy behind me. He tacks to clear. I wait until I get a shift then tack to cover. I gained 10 lengths on him, and closed some on the leaders. So I decide to sail for the win. I break right playing the shifts while the leaders play with each other. I ended up cutting the gap in half and extending significantly over 4th.

Now I'm comfortable in my score, pretty well locked in third place. So I decide to be a bit more conservative at the start. The boat is favored and crowded so I opt for the 2/3 down the line. I get buried, second row. The PITS! I blew it. I tacked over to port to clear. Miracles do happen - nobody tacks on top of me. My air clears and I start working the boat not even looking at the fleet behind me. Ten minutes of intense boat speed work squeezing every inch out of the boat later, I round the top mark in third place. Downwind I - wait for it - no seriously you have to wait for it - I mean we need a drum roll here - I lose one boat but PICK UP TWO BOATS, one of which was the eventual regatta winner Rob Seidelmann. Yes I gained places for the first time in the entire regatta downwind.

I round the bottom mark second. The pass upwind was hard. We both came off the bottom mark headed for the West shore, the best wind on the lake. The first people West would have an advantage, at least that is what I learned over my 30 years sailing this lake. I held my own climbing up on his hip, about 10 feet left of his line and 2 lengths back. I gain speed and close one of those lengths. But with a long ways to go we got headed and I dropped right into his backwind. I tacked and he continued West. I played 2 more shifts and when I finally went back West to meet him I was able to just barely tack under his bow in a safe leeward. That dusted him off me stern for the remainder of the leg. I rounded first.

So now I'm positively giddy! I have 5 or 6 lengths lead on him and a long way on the fleet. The worst case scenario now is second place. This is where my butt starts to pucker, my stomach ties itself up, and for some reason no position I sit in is comfortable. Relax. Breathe. I stare at second place. I don't even care where I'm going. I am parking my boat between him and the mark regardless. OK how do I relax? I need to settle down. I'm in control of a race win but not myself.

Now some of you are saying "Seriously? It's a local 20-boat regatta. Get a grip." Agreed. I was gripless though. I know my sailing skills I know where they fail. Any reader of this blog knows I suck downwind in these overgrown Lasers. Winning a race, beating Skip Moorehouse and Rob Seidelmann in a fair clean race with medium wind is a big deal. It's not a fluke wind, not luck related.

We gybe for the bottom mark. I maintain and even extend a little, then lose a chunk of the lead. I still have three or four lengths at the bottom mark. I lead us both West, tack for a layline to the boat and he tacks 20 seconds later. I get headed but carry on. I make one more tack for the finish crossing his bow by 1 length. I win the race.

Now I have to be cool not to stay in control of the race, but because I am cool.

Race six. I did the math. This race brings in a throwout. So I have a 7 to dispose of. If I do better than 7 I gain the difference between that and my finish. Fourth place can't beat me I have third locked. Now Skip Moorehouse is in second. He is six points ahead. If I win the race and he does worse than his worst race of 4th then his 4 counts and we tie. But he wins on tie breakers. So I can't win and can't lose. I could do like Rob Seidelmann did and sail to shore. He locked up the regatta after 5 races. But I decided to sail.

I started middle. Brent tried to roll over the top of me at the start. I should have hit him and made him do circles. But the gun went off and I was second row, stopped. Race 5 start was bad, this was worse. I tack to port to clear and yet again nobody covers me. This time I am first to the top mark but overlapped. Bob Cole rolls me at the offset so I jibe out to get rolled by Brent Gillette. Incidentally, Keuka had all top five positions in the race for that mark rounding.

Brent G and I go West. He is a tiny thing, maybe 150 pounds wet. He rolls me and keeps going. I pace him but can't keep up. When we gybe for the bottom mark I am 1 length behind him. The pack though is bearing down on us. He scoots off on some personal puff and I get rolled by the fleet. Seriously almost the whole fleet. I went from first to 11th on one leg. At the bottom mark I get pinwheeled on the outside, buried in between boats and stuck. I also was hit by Brent P on the outside. He went on to take 5th in the race without me making him do circles AGAIN.

The fleet marches West. There standing on the end of the main dock with a beer in one hand yelling at us is Rob Seidelmann. It was funny. We all overstand the layline and it is just a follow-the-leader all the way. Brent Gillette, who was right with me before I got rolled is leading the race. I round 9th. There is no chance of winning and no chance of losing. I kick my feet up sail straight down the lake, whistle, stand up, stretch, watch motor boats, fart, scratch..... From the guy passing me a couple hundred feet to my left I hear "Oh how the mighty have fallen." Whatever.

At the bottom mark I was 11th. The West is obviously the way to go. The leaders are on a big right. I go East. I don't hike, don't do much of anything. I picked up two boats, almost picked up two more. Final race finish was ninth. Regatta finish was third, all alone, solidly, with nobody in striking distance in front or behind me.

Overall I did as I expected, probably my best. If I had done a few things differently I could have scored lower. But I don't think I could have caught Rob or Skip. I have lots of learning still to do.

I helped people pack, ate lunch, got my trophy and bottle of wine, shook lots of hands with my new friends and towed my boat home. It felt good. Really good. When the scores are posted at www.mcscow.org I'll post a link.

Next regatta is Cowan Lake, OH, the first weekend in October. No Blue Chips for me this year.

OK, off to work on my sore legs, back, knees, and band aid my flesh wounds.