We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect late summer day. The temperature was just right, the wind came from the west and the north and, although variable, it was just right for model boat racing. We had gathered on the deck by 10:30 and spent the time until the skippers’ briefing chatting, enjoying the sunshine and admiring the trophies being set out by Steve. (Pictures 1 & 2). We were also intrigued by the markers being set out by Race Director, Rob Hill. (Pictures 3 & 4). Rob also sailed his boat, number 23, around the course to show us how easy it was. Hmm. (Picture 5).
Rob gave the briefing at around 11.30 which was about 30 minutes after high tide which was why we had planned lunch ahead of any racing. Manny’s wife Elaine arrived right on time with some delicious Italian Subs from Famous Pizza. Many thanks, Elaine. We were joined for lunch by Sue Kelly and Barbara Haddad who had volunteered to put the scores on the master scoreboard. Thank you very much, ladies. Manny was, once again, the on shore scorer/starter with assistance from Ned. Great job, guys. Thank you. Thanks are also owing to Charlie Smith who brought his boat to rescue boats as needed. Thank you Charlie and we were all so pleased that you had no rescues to perform this year. In fact there were no incidents at all, not a single boat problem until the seventh race.
After lunch we headed down to the beach (picture 6) and Rob told us the course. The start line was roughly parallel with the beach then NW to a yellow mark and its offset taken to port then south to the striped red mark and its offset taken to port then back north to the finish mark which was the yellow flag and a green marker which was perpendicular to the beach. A sailor’s eye view is shown in picture 7. Rob did vary the course occasionally, but the counter clockwise course didn’t vary substantially for the total of twelve races.
Racing started at about 12.15. You might remember that Dick Mahoney’s boat ended the races last Tuesday with a hole in the hull, but a trip to Santa’s Workshop also known as Rob Hill’s workshop resulted in a very effective repair. In Dick’s words, “That guy is a magician.”
Dick celebrated by winning the first two races…..and then went on to win three more. Other winners were Jim Kelly, Ed Haddad (2), Bill David (3) and Kim Hanna. Sorry there are no pictures of the actual racing as I was holding a transmitter instead of a camera.
But there is a pcture of the eventual prizewinners (picture 8) In 5th place, Kim, in 4th place, Don Berrett, in 3rd place, Dan McHugh.
Bill David, our newest member, took second place, but this year’s Regatta Champion is Dick Mahoney. Well done to the winners and everyone for taking part.
Especial thanks to Race Director, Rob Hill for a very enjoyable and fun event.
Written by Fleet Captain Derek Melven
We had a bright sunny day for our sixth annual regatta, the tide was on its way out, the grass had been cut and the deck tables and chairs had been set up. Richard had brought his canopy once again to provide shade. Many thanks Richard. Thanks too to Bill who had arranged the grass cutting. Coffee and donuts welcomed the sailors from around 9am onwards. Our guests from Martha’s Vineyard arrived ahead of schedule, our band of “scoring volunteers”, Jan Stewart, Barbara Haddad and Jim Fuller had arrived, later to be joined by Marge Fuller. Race Director, Chick Carter arrived early to survey and set the course. Charlie Smith had volunteered himself and his boat to provide rescue services. Assisted by his wife, June, his services were needed on a number of occasions. So a huge “THANK YOU” to all these volunteers. Amongst our guests was our club founder, Carroll Buress looking fighting fit. Always great to see you Carroll.
All 19 entrants had arrived for the Captains’ briefing and everything was in place for a wonderful and fun event. Only one thing was missing. There was very little wind and what there was multi directional. Quite a challenge for Chick in setting the course. In the event it turned out that we used our more usual clockwise, starboard turns format.
Commodore Ed opened the proceedings and informed everyone that founder member and all round good guy, Tony(Doc Mig) was in hospital instead of being here with us as he had planned, so we would dedicate this Regatta to him. We wish him well.
Chick explained the course and rules and we got under way, if you can call the drifting that we did, “under way”. We raced in three fleets, with two fleets in the water for each race. Because of the light wind, the tide, the current and the wake of passing boats, the first mark was extremely difficult so it took impressive sailing skills to do well. Dick Mahoney won the first two races, Rob Hill had a second and two thirds, Bill had a third and a second, interspersed with a DNS (quickly fixed), Glenn Provost had a second and a first and Don Berrett had a third, a first and a second. All this happened in the first five races and, as the going was very slow, we decided to break for lunch in the hope that the wind would pick up in the afternoon as it often does. It did! Manny’s wife, Elaine had arrived with the, now traditional, Italian subs from Famous Pizza. I hope everyone agrees that they are delicious. Thanks, Elaine.
Just before the lunch break we discovered that Phil and Manny were using the same AM frequency, 63 so Ed installed his old 90 frequency AM receiver in Manny’s boat so both could carry on racing. Well done, Ed.
After lunch, the wind was steadier and stronger from the south so we were able to complete another 13 races making a total of 18 which meant that each boat raced in 12 races. This also meant that the two worst scores for each sailor would be thrown out. While the scores for the final three races were being added to the master score sheet, we held a final, non scoring race, twice around with all boats in the water, but there were not 19, there were only 13. Six boats had dropped out by this stage. This fun only event was won by Dick Mahoney, with Don Stewart second, Rob Hill third, Don Berrett fourth and Kim Hanna fifth.
During the regatta there were some misfortunes such as Phil missing the first three races, Ed missed his last two races, Lee missed his last four races and more seriously, Will was without his boat from race 9 onwards and Wilkie was without his from race 11 onwards.
Despite these problems, it was a very enjoyable day.
Everybody assembled on the deck to snack on cookies and brownies, quench our thirsts and await the results. The final version of the results is attached. There are some minor revisions (such as an incident when I fouled Lee, but didn’t perform a turn so in the results I just swapped our positions in the race. Apologies Lee. 360 complete?). Ed presented magnificent plaques to the top four in the Doc Mig Regatta who were:
In equal first place…………………..
In third place…………………….
And in fourth place………………… Don Berrett
Congratulations to our winners and to all of our participants.
Smooth sailing,
Derek
The winners: Don Berrett, Rob Hill, Glenn Provost, Dick Mahoney
All the entrants
Results spreadsheet
The 2015 sailing season is over, culminating in a regatta against the Soling club of Martha’s Vineyard on September 12 and our banquet on September 13.