St Mikes; 2009

What a great weekend of racing!  We even dodged the usual Sunday bullet of light to no air. Lovely southerly breeze both days with warm temperature and low humidity.  Ten boats were entered but due to crew concerns Hi Tide was unable to race.  We missed you John, Ross and Norman!  Mike Rickels, however, was drafted onto Ducks.

Saturdays race blessed us with a nice ebb in the main bay, followed by a flood in Eastern bay.  Being OCS was a major concern.  Rightly or wrongly, Bonnie and her all girl crew on Catawampus were called OCS and had to restart.  They may have provided cover for another potentially OCS light blue boat that shall not be named.  Most everyone headed east on starboard tack for the ditch.  Sly dog John Anderson on Swell was the first to tack away, breaking from the pack and sailing well out to mid-bay.  When Swell converged with the fleet near Bloody Pt he had a convincing lead of ¼ mile or so, which he never relinquished.  At mark L the top order was Swell, Pussycat, Snagglepuss and Ducks.  It was a tight reach up Eastern Bay, making spin sets questionable.  After 15-20 minutes or so, Pussycat executed her spin hoist, followed quickly by everyone else.  Pretty much a parade up Eastern Bay to the rounding at mark N, where everyone returned to close-hauled mode to the finish.  The breeze was piping up by then, which was not surprising as small craft warnings had been predicted.  Swell still held her commanding lead and just maintained a loose cover.  Pussycat was being hotly pursued by Snagglepuss at this point and a tacking duel quickly ensued.  Ducks slowly closed up on these two.  Managing a very nice slam dunk, Snagglepuss was able to pass Pussycat.  For the last set of tacks Ducks took the right side and Pussycat took the left.  Ducks was able to just cross Pussycat on starboard at the finish line.  Order of finishes was; Swell, Snagglepuss, Ducks, Pussycat, Finesse, Odyssey, Katitoode, Catawampus and Airborne.

The awards on Saturday evening carried special significance to Fleet 8 and to Ernie and DeNyce Becker, in particular, as the initial presentation of a perpetual trophy honoring Ernie and DeNyce’s service to MRYC was made to John Anderson, the race winner.

Sunday morning saw cool temps and a decent southerly breeze.  Of course, the question in everyone’s head was “will it hold?”  It did, rather nicely.  We had an ebb current all day, which was a help in Eastern bay but a hindrance in the main bay.  The start was downwind with the wind over the port quarter.  Everyone started on port, with the exception of Pussycat and Snagglepuss, who came in on a hot starboard reach at the signal boat.  There was a lot of swerving, jibing and hollering but all boats got a clean start.  Pussycat won the start, sailed high and clear, maintaining their lead all the way to mark N.  Swell, Ducks and Snagglepuss rounded close behind.  It was almost, but not quite, a long one tack beat to mark L at the mouth of Eastern Bay.  Swell worked slightly higher than Pussycat and Ducks worked higher than both of them.  Snagglepuss took the low road and was the first to tack and head south, looking for more favorable current.  Swell tacked out next followed by Pussycat some time later.  Ducks held onto port tack all the way to the starboard layline for mark L.  Coming into the mark on starboard, Ducks crossed Swell and rounded 2-3 boatlengths ahead.  The leg up to Bloody Pt was a jib reach, just a little too tight for the chute.  Rounding Bloody, Ducks and Swell set chutes on port jibe for the run up to mark E, the “mystery mark”.  They were nip and tuck for awhile but Ducks was able to round E with a 5-6 boatlength lead.  We all knew it would be a very tight reach across to mark H by Thomas Pt and debated whether or not to drop the chute.  Ducks held the chute but Pussycat dropped and then reset after a short time.  Probably the amount of time it took to repack the chute!  Swell kept the chute up but raised their genny and then dropped it in the water for a salt water rinse! The breeze was up now requiring a lot of rudder to keep the boats under control.  Ducks rounded H with Swell, Snagglepuss and Pussycat following.  It was pretty much a dead run to the finish at mark X, with some moderate death rolls occurring.  Snagglepuss had been constantly gaining on Swell and acquired an overlap just before the finish.  Ducks had finished and was watching the tense battle for second place between the two boats.  Snagglepuss crossed just one second before Swell.  That is close racing!  Order of finishes was; Ducks, Snagglepuss, Swell, Pussycat, Finesse, Catawampus, Katitoode, and Odyssey.