Next Thursday (10/14), Rob and Paul will be at the cove racing fast 1 meter yachts. Rob will have his exotic IOM (International One Meter) and Paul will have his US1Meter. Bring any boat and join them. Their boats will start each race after all the other boats.
Might be the last sailing of the season. Let’s have one last fling before the buoys are pulled out.
It was obviously “post season” at the cove this morning as only three turned up: Kim, Pat and me.We spent about 30 minutes in the water and then thunder and lightning stopped play.I guess there will be more DF95s on Thursday when the tide will be midway coming in.It was still fun!Derek
It is the first full day of Autumn, but it’s clinging on to summer, hot and humid, We were expecting a strong breeze from the SSE at about 14 mph, but what we got was very different. We got gusts then calm, and many changes of direction. A very challenging day for racing but 11 members and 1 guest arrived with their boats for the skippers’ briefing which was given by Race Director, Rob Hill. Rob set the course in a normal anti-clockwise direction: South then north both taken to port. Sometimes once around, sometimes with half a loop, and sometimes twice around. Just to add to the challenge of the wind. We had 12 races with our worst two scores thrown out.Our distinguished guest, Don Ouimette, showed us how it’s done and won 11 races! Paul won the one that Don didn’t. (Don was third). So our 2021 DF95 Regatta Champion is Don, with Paul second with five second places and four thirds.In third place was Kim with four second places and one third. Well done all.The full results are on our website mhbmyc.org
The Soling Regatta was remarkable for the fact that eight boats started and eight boats finished.With the DF95 Regatta, twelve boats started but only seven were still running at the end. There were a number of reasons but the most dramatic event was during race 6 when Jim Kelly lost control of his boat and off it sailed on a perfect course across the Sakonnet River. Jim went for a little drive and recovered it, but too late to resume racing. It was good to see new member, Sam Morgan come down to spectate and to see the arrival of the Paul Mercer fan club. Rob kept score until Wilkie stopped racing and took over the scorekeeping. Thank you very much. We all had a good time today. Well done everybody. And special thanks to Rob who organized the event to such good effectNext Tuesday, weather permitting, we’ll start our post-season fun races. Mainly for Solings, but we’ll be pleased to see any boat. High tide about 2 pm.Stay safe, well, and happy,
Derek
Just a perfect day to be at the cove with water up to your knees. The sun was shining and the wind was blowing generally from the southeast, but it was an odd wind, a sort of catch-me-if you -can wind. Race Director, Rob Hill laid out a course south, port rounding, then north with the line open, another port rounding then back to the line. For a couple of races, Rob added a loop-de-loop around the westerly starting mark, then around the north mark, and back to the line.Manny manned the starter, Wilkie kept score and we were delighted to have Ed Haddad stop by to view proceedings. Many thanks to you all.Eight Solings contested the regatta and we had some great and close racing with 6 different winners of the twelve races held. Paul won 5 races, was second 5 times, and thus became our Regatta Champion for 2021. Well raced, Paul.Bill Northup won the final three races and had one second place and three thirds to become our Regatta runner-up.This year’s Series Champion, Bill David was third today with one win, two seconds, and two thirds.Kim was fourth, also with a race win and Jim Kelly was fifth.The other race winners today were Danny who was sixth and me who quickly made up for that error by finishing last in 4 races. Ahead of me was Pat. The full results story can be found on our website mhbmyc.orgWe all had a great time this morning and hope that the DF95 Regatta will be just as much fun.
The forecast for Thursday has improved somewhat but Rob will make the final weather call tomorrow.If we go ahead on Thursday, the high tide is at 10.25. Don’t forget to bring lunch and a chairIf we delay until next Tuesday, the tide will be coming in at the start with a high at 1.54 pmStay safe and always be on the lookout for fun,
Derek
A recap of the Series Awards presented at last night’s banquet.
The racing calendar contained 18 possible racing days. However, the weather severely limited the actual racing activity. The Solings raced 10 days. DF95 raced 11 days. The Best 6 scores were used to tabulate the results for both classes. To qualify for a Series score, competitors needed a minimum of 6 racing days, and the Best 6 were used to calculate the results.
For the Soling fleet, there were a total of 11 Participants throughout the season. 6 achieved the minimum of 6 scores. First place went to Bill David with a “Best 6” score of 6. Second went to Paul Mercer with a score of 9. Kim Hanna took third with a score of 15. Other qualifiers were Bill Raposa, Derek Melven and Pat Donovan in that order.
The DF95 fleet had a total of 19 Participants with 6 qualifying for a series score (3 additional racers had 5 scores). Paul Mercer took first place with a “Best 6” score of 10. One point behind Paul, Rob Hill and Rich Field were tied for second. The tie breaker went to Rob with 3 first place days while Rich, awarded 3rd, had only 2. Other qualifiers were Bill David, Kim Hanna and Pat Donovan in that order. The competition in the 95 fleet was quite stiff with 5 different skippers winning race days, Rob and Don Ouimette 3 each, Paul and Rich Field 2, Henry DiPietro 1.
Congratulations to all. A challenging season but always fun.
Remember – Soling Regatta tomorrow. Skippers meeting 10:45.
DF95 Regatta Thursday, same time. Rain date Tuesday Sept 28.
Rob Hill
829 Division Rd
Westport, MA. 02790
Just a reminder that our Annual Banquet is this Sunday, September 19th in the Great Room of the clubhouse of The Village on Mount Hope Bay. The festivities start promptly at 6.30 pm.
Our postponed regattas will now be held next Tuesday for Solings and next Thursday for DF95sSkippers’ briefings at 10.45 by Race Director, Rob Hill.Don’t forget to bring your lunch and a chair.
Stay safe and well and have fun,
Derek
Weather has not been our friend this season! T-storms tomorrow (9/16) will cause a postponement until September 23rd. Start time that day will be 11AM.
The scheduled regatta on 9/14 will be sailed one week later on 9/21. The weather forecast showed poor sailing conditions on 9/14.
The DF95 Regatta on 9/16 might be postponed, as well. Please check this News Column before heading to the cove.
Four sailors took advantage of a Chamber of Commerce day at the Cove. An extreme high tide along with a 5-8k north westerly breeze challenged Paul in laying out a workable course. Indeed he succeeded with a Windward, Reach, Leeward, Windward, Reach and Run to the finish course that was great!!
Not an Olympic, rectangular, or trapezoid course. It was a Mercer course!
HENRY was on fire with great starts and 7 bullets over 12 races. Paul and Kim were always in the hunt with multiple first place roundings.
Wilkie had moments of tactical genius only to suffer from poor boat speed due to inadequate sail draft needed in the lumpy light air conditions.
With an ebb tide the sailors pushed for 12 races to enjoy 2 throw outs.
Thank you Paul and Wilkie for launching and retrieval of the course.
As Race Director today, I enjoyed it all.
Jim Pascalides
Next Thursday is MHBMYC’s annual DF95 regatta. We hope to have a large turnout!
Rain on Thursday has delayed our racing by one day. Enough skippers agreed to race on Friday, September 10th. Start time will be 11AM. This is our last scheduled event. Next Thursday is MHBMYC’s annual regatta for DF95s.