Tuesday, August 23, 2011

SONAR FLEET 1
NOROTON YACHT CLUB





FLEET RACING:

There was lots going on last weekend...Hinman Masters, European Championships (yes, we had two boats participating), vacations, questionable forecast. Despite all this, eight boats made it to the line for our Sunday fleet race. Those who went out were greeted with the best racing day we've had this year.

Some think it was because Peter Galloway, our PRO, wouldn't have it any other way. Others know it.

With breeze in the 13 -16 range (a few puffs up to 19) out of 200º, Peter was able to run two W2s and a W1.

Since I now have the video bug in me, here's one for Sunday. It's a little shaky at times...one reason no one calls me "doctor."...but I hope you like it anyway:



After the three races, our winner for the day was Rick Doerr who took two guns and a 4. Rick's team included (l to r) Christi Hart, Nick Connery and KC Hart.


Full results can be found here: http://www.fleet1.org/

JUST FOR FUN:

I saw this on YouTube. It's just some guy doing Billy Powell's piano solo on They Call Me the Breeze, (which is the background in the above video). I thought it was good enough to share. Watch if your interested.




TEAM RACING:

Noroton participated in the Hinman Masters last weekend. Here is a report from Lee Morrison...

Your Noroton team started slow and after the 1st round robin ended up with 6 wins, out of 11 races, but in a 3 way tie for the last slot in the gold fleet.  In the first tie breaker, Noroton beat American and American beat Annapolis – stilled tied.  For the second tie breaker, add up individual race finish points.  American beats us by 1 point.  In the silver fleet Noroton finishes 9-1 to give your team a solid silver fleet win.

Most of our losses in the 1st round were very competitive races where Noroton lost by narrow margins.  In our second race we had a very disappointing loss to Annapolis after being in positions 1-2 at the last mark.  In our race against Texas we acknowledged a foul on the 1st leg that gave them a 1-2 at the weather mark - which they were able to hold onto.  Eventual event winner, St. Francis YC, and our race against Southern were close but we didn’t prevail.  Most disheartening, was a loss to Eastern.  We went out to sail again after an almost 4 hour break to face Eastern.  The current was ebbing pretty heavily making it difficult to stay below the starting line. We didn’t sufficiently anticipate this effect and all three Noroton boats wound up too far down the line leaving the committee boat end open.  Two Eastern boats got away cleanly at the committee boat and never looked back.  To summarize, in most races we did not win the start which hurt us – especially against the better teams that wound up in the gold fleet.  Positively, we were able to team race our way into wins after trailing at the 1st mark.  Most notably, this was how we beat gold fleet teams NYYC and American. 

It was a great event with beautiful weather.  Every day featured clear sunny skies and 10-15 knot winds coming straight down the channel between Jamestown and Newport.  NYYC did a fantastic job with the logistics, the RC was outstanding, and I believe the vast majority of competitors felt that umpire calls were fair and accurate. 

Lee

SONAR EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS:

As mentioned, two Noroton members participated in the Sonar European Championships, a "pre-worlds" regatta hosted by The Royal Northern and Clyde Yacht Club in Scotland. They were Bruce Kirby and Steve Shepstone.

While the regatta was won by Skip Shumway, our guys performed well with Steve taking third and Bruce taking fifth. Second went to Simon Barter from GB and fourth was current world champion Dave Franzel.

Here is a link to the results: http://rncyc.com/sailing/racing/results/

UPCOMING SCHEDULE:


Sat-Sun, August 27-28 - Grand Masters
Sun-Mon, September 4-5 - Labor Day Series
Sat-Sun, September 17-18 - Kirby Cup
Sun, October 16 - Closing Ceremony/awards night. Time TBD

UPCOMING REGATTAS:

Tuesday Aug 23-Saturday Aug 27 - World Championships, Rhu, Scotland
Thursday Sep 22-Sunday Sep 25 - North Americans, Wayzata, MN
Saturday Oct 1-Sunday Oct 2 - ACC's, Noroton YC (NOR available on Sonar.org)

IMPORTANT LINKS:

Fleet 1 results: http://www.fleet1.org/

Monday, August 8, 2011

SONAR FLEET 1
NOROTON YACHT CLUB





FLEET RACING:

Rear Commodore's Race, August 7, 2011

I don't know if this will be fun or painful to watch but here is a video from the Rear Commodore's Race...



PRO Lee Morrison had a pretty easy day, excluding the 30º shift the the start of the race and the wind dropping from 7 to 4 kts with plenty of holes to get lost in.

At the end of the D2, the winner was our guest of the fleet Colin Gordon with (l to r) Michael Loeb, TK, and Monique Roeder.

Three adults and an angry sailmaker!

Second went to Team 500. In third place was Vespa showing great speed despite difficult conditions. Congratulations Vespa, now you will have to go to our awards ceremony at the end of the season.

Speaking of which, Randy Tankoos has asked me to pass along the following...

NYC CLOSING CEREMONY

We will have an “official” closing ceremony on the Sunday after Columbus Day weekend (October 16) when we will award season prizes and lower the flag. 

UPCOMING SCHEDULE:

Fri-Sun, August 19-21 - Hinman Masters
Sat-Sun, August 27-28 - Grand Masters
Sun-Mon, September 4-5 - Labor Day Series
Sat-Sun, September 17-18 - Kirby Cup
Sun, October 16 - Closing Ceremony/awards night. Time TBD

UPCOMING REGATTAS:

Tuesday Aug 23-Saturday Aug 27 - World Championships, Rhu, Scotland
Thursday Sep 22-Sunday Sep 25 - North Americans, Wayzata, MN
Saturday Oct 1-Sunday Oct 2 - ACC's, Noroton YC (NOR available on Sonar.org)

IMPORTANT LINKS:

Fleet 1 results: http://www.fleet1.org/







Tuesday, August 2, 2011

SONAR FLEET 1
NOROTON YACHT CLUB





FLEET RACING:

Sunday July 31

We made up for a complete lack of wind and no racing on July 24 with the best turn-out of the season on Sunday. At 12:30, when the RC postponed our harbor start, we had 18 boats patiently waiting on shore for the breeze to pick up. Thankfully it did...at least enough to get two races in.

PRO Jim Bishop and his RC ran two D1's in 4-5 knots out of the SSE with legs about 3/4 mile long.

Light air + short legs = lots of fun at the marks. A good indication of how competitive the racing was, we had boats with scores like 11, 3; 14, 2; 4, 11; 3, 10...you get the picture.

When it was over, Bob Monro won the day with a 2, 4. Bob's team was, for the most part a family affair with (l to r) wife Fran, son Ian and daughter Julia. Also joining them was Susan Morrison.



Coming in second was Ed Sweeney with a 6, 1. Third was Jim Linville with a 1, 7.

Next up, the Rear Commodore's race on Sunday August 7.

GO FAST:

I had a chance to ask Lee Morrison about sail trim when "shooting" the finish line. I thought I'd share his response with you.

To get the boat to turn into the wind the fastest - in order of priority:
1) heel the boat - then let the boat turn without using the rudder
2) trim the mainsail tight - also causing the boat to turn without the rudder and keeps the wind attached a bit further into the wind.
3) slowly trim the jib - letting it go will cause the boat to turn into the wind but then you loose all its power.  Trimming it too quickly could slow the boat because you need to use more rudder to get the boat to turn up.  You might release it at head to wind to make sure that it doesn't back and cause the boat to tack. 

Understanding how much momentum to carry the boat into the wind is important.  Turn too soon and the boat slows too much.  Turning too late doesn't take full advantage of shooting the line - getting further to windward on the line.  If you are overstanding it pays to just finish as close to the mark (or boat) as possible since you don't have the extra distance to shoot to windward.


SONAR WORLDS:

This is kinda last minute but...Opportunity to race at Sonar World Championships in Scotland in brand new Sonar. John Twomey is offering the use of his new Sonar (Hull number 844) at the Sonar Worlds in exchange for the use of a Sonar at the IFDS Nationals in Larchmont between 22-25th September 2011. If anyone is interested please contact John on johnct7@gmail.com

SAIL DONATION:


St. Mary's College  now has some Sonars and are in need of sail donations. The boats are used by the sailing team as well as the big boat team, among others at the college.

If you have any sails, particularly spinnakers, that could be donated to the college, they would be pleased to pick them up and get them appraised and transported to the college at their expense. The St. Mary's College Foundation would provide a receipt for the donation of the sails. The appraisal and foundation receipt would provide the documentation for a tax deduction.  They expect to arrange for the appraisal to be provided by John Savage at Hathaways.

Please contact Fred at Shields25C@aol.com or 914-723-3742 or Adam alwerblow@smcm.edu to arrange any donation and/or answer any questions you or others may have.


UPCOMING SCHEDULE:


Sunday August 7 - Rear Commodore's race will be the first race of the day

Fri-Sun, August 19-21 - Hinman Masters
Sat-Sun, August 27-28 - Grand Masters
Sun-Mon, September 4-5 - Labor Day Series
Sat-Sun, September 17-18 - Kirby Cup

UPCOMING REGATTAS:

Friday Aug 5-Sunday Aug 7 - New England Champs, Vineyard Haven
Tuesday Aug 23-Saturday Aug 27 - World Championships, Rhu, Scotland
Thursday Sep 22-Sunday Sep 25 - North Americans, Wayzata, MN

Saturday Oct 1-Sunday Oct 2 - ACC's, Noroton YC (NOR available on Sonar.org)

IMPORTANT LINKS:

Fleet 1 results: http://www.fleet1.org/