SONAR FLEET ONE NEWS

FLEET RACING:

Sunday was another great day for racing. Nice breeze, not much sun and the rain held off until after the boats were put away.

PRO Tom Ross and the RC had their hands full after a big righty came through just before the start of race one. The wind settled in after that allowing us to get three races in.

After racing two D1's and a W1, Scott Harrison, sailing on Fast Forward with Chris Shapiro, Adam Westerman and Peter Galloway finished first with a commanding 4 point day. Lee Morrison finished second with 10 points followed closely by Glenn Morrison with 12.

Adam, Peter and Scott with their first place cups.

Here's a nice write up by Scott:

“Unsettled Weather kept us guessing”

This Sunday was challenging with the wind rotating south and a strong flooding current.

I was lucky to find Peter Galloway without crew, so he substituted for Warren, who was busy with the Girls opti regatta

We left the harbor and the wind was NE and as PRO Tom Ross set up, the wind moved right.  For your 1st  D1, starboard tack was the long tack, and with the current, the course geometry required you to find a lane and point to the mark on Starboard.  We had a poor start, bailed right and hipped up off Lee.  Luckily, several right hand boats over stood and we rounded 4th  behind Lee, Ed Sweeney and Glenn Morrison.  Peter called a jibe set, which I have never done in the Sonar, which allowed us to have an inside lane. Lee was first around all marks.

The wind settled into a 160-180 degree direction for the rest of the day.  The 2nd D1 was square and Peter thought the left had more pressure. With a clean start and only one tack to the port layline, we met Bill Jason and Basil Lyden who were double handling 500. They went right, we went left and Bill is 1st around. Downwind, we split and edge them out at the leeward mark.  We shoot the line to edge them out at the finish.

The 3rd race is a W1, so a good start is important. We play the same song again, middle left, and hit nice pressure, flip and cross. Thank you Peter.

DÉJÀ VU ALL OVER AGAIN:

Not all was perfect on Sunday...

2013 - Schultz/Norton

2012 - Tom Ross

Time to check the connection between your shroud turnbuckle and the chainplate. I bet John Schultz knows the name of this part:

BEFORE

AFTER

JULY 4TH SERIES:

Our 4th of July series starts on Thursday and continues on Sunday. The first race on Thursday is also the Commodore's race. Harbor start is 12:30 both days.

Sonar fleet prizes will be awarded after racing on Sunday.

REGATTAS:

There are two more chances to participate in major Sonar regattas prior to the world championships. The Atlantic Coast Championships are being held the weekend of July 26-28 at Eastern YC in conjunction with the Marblehead NOOD.

The New England Championships are being hosted by Vineyard Haven YC on August 9-11. The NOR is available from the SCA website: http://www.sonar.org/

As we all know, the world championships are being held September 18-22 in Rochester NY. After speaking with the regatta chairs, we now have commitments from teams coming in from the UK, Canada and New Zealand.

The goal is to get 45 boats on the line. Fleet 1 will play an important part in reaching that goal. I believe we can get 15 boats up there but we need your help. The time to start planning is now. The regatta is Wed-Sun so get your team together, get the time off from work, book your hotels and register. The registration fee is refundable if plans change but, like everything else, the sooner you do it, the easier everything becomes (and less expensive).

TEAM RACING:

Because of Independence Day, we are going to have sonar team this evening (Tuesday) and the John Mollicone clinic is on Wednesday evening. Please let me know if you'd like to sail.

Some video clips from sailing on Saturday:

Rob Crane is one of the best laser sailors in the world, but in this CLIP, you can see that he forgets that a sonar has a keel. Red has a 1-4-6 at the windward mark -- Peter recognizes that and as the first place red boat, holds onto first. Rob realizes that as the fourth place boat, he needs to trap Lee in 5th and pass his teammate through to establish a 1-4-5, but Rob slows too late and too much, and Lee has a full head of steam so he sails right over him.

HERE is a more effective move at the windward mark. TK in blue NYC 3 pins the red boat past the layline, creating space for Steve to tack inside and round first. Blue establishes a 1-2, which they held for the rest of the race.

If you think that team racing can get complicated, HERE is evidence that yes, it can. Red double traps blue at the leeward mark, allowing Rob to go through and establish a 2-3-4, but on the offset leg, TK comes back on starboard to attack and disrupts the blue combination. Fortunately, there wasn't that much wind, so it happens in close to slow motion. Even more complicated was this rounding, when at one point three boats were on starboard rounding mark 4.

Finally, HERE'S another leeward mark situation, when the red boat sneaks past by getting an inside overlap on the first place blue boat.

Clemmie
Noroton YC Team Racing norotontr@gmail.com

CALENDAR:

July 4th Series: Thu July 4, Sun July 7
Fleet barbecue: July 14 after racing
ACC: Eastern YC, July 26-28
New England Champs: Vineyard Haven YC, August 9-11
Fleet Barbecue: August 18 after racing
Labor Day Series: Sun-Mon, Sep 1-2
Kirby Cup: Noroton YC, Sat-Sun, Sep 7-8
2013 World Championships: Rochester YC, September 18-22