Mid Atlantics at Rock Hall YC

October 21-22, 2006

October really is the best time of year to sail or race 505s on the Chesapeake. While it was only in the 60s both days, we had shifty light to medium breezes and three races on Saturday, and more breeze, building to GREAT breeze for the last of the three races on Sunday

Saturday
The forecast was for cool weather, sunshine and 10 knots from the Northwest. I would say we had 7-11 knots and lots of shifts with the direction roughly Northeast.

Saturday, Race 1
Drew Buttner/Ramsay Key put on a clinic for when to wire run and when to go low for much of the day. The shifts and puffs kept things interesting, with places changing around the course and teams making big gains and losses both upwind and down. The finish was reasonably close with Drew/Ramsay 1st, Jesse Falsone/Pete Levesque 2nd, and Rich Ryon/Parry Barclay playing the last right shift perfectly to get 3rd. Mike Coe/Alexander Meller were 4th, while a driver trying to prove crewing was easy, big Ted Ferrarone, got Barney Harris into a very close 5th using the same right shift.

Saturday, Race 2
In similar conditions, Ethan Bixby/Keith Davids demonstrated that they had learned lessons from race 1, gated later and went right more, and worked the shifts on the beats, while avoiding the big mistakes, to win race 2. Falsone/Levesque were 2nd, Dustin Romey/Macy Nelson 3rd, Buttner/Key 4th, and Ferrarone/Harris 5th.

Saturday, Race 3
Bixby/Davids stuck it to everyone one again winning race 3 as well. Coe/Meller had decided left on the first beat was not working for them in races one and two, and as rabbit had the option of going HARD right… this was looking good for a little while, but the puff and shift came in from the left, leaving them well back ¾ of the way up the first beat. Buttner/Key finished 2nd, Falsone/Lesveque 3rd, Amthors 4th, and Ferrarone/Harris 5th.

Counting the three races, Buttner/Key were tied with Falsone/Levesque for the lead at seven points. Bixby/Davids were one point back in eight. Ferrarone/Harris were fourth at 15 points, with Coe/Meller fifth at 20 points.

Saturday Dinner
Several years of RHYC Annual events had convinced the Annapolis contingent that Rock Hall Yacht Club knew how to put on a great dinner, but even those who had been there before were impressed with the spread the club put on -- all included in the entry fee. The dark and stormy drinks and dollar beers at the bar did not hurt either. While a number of competitors tented on the clubs expansive field, Nicholas had arranged accommodations for all those who asked, and competitors were put up on nearby boats, in people’s houses, etc.

Sunday
Sunday started with bagels, pastries and coffee (included in the entry fee) at the club. The forecast was for 10 knots again, but this time from the south, still cool, though thundershowers were forecast for later in the afternoon. The breeze was building as the fleet sailed out to the racecourse.

Sunday, Race 4
Teams were planning upwind and it was clearly wire-running conditions for Race 4. Port tack took you towards the Eastern Shore of the Chester River, while starboard took you out to the middle. Rip Hale/Garth Reynolds gated first, with Coe/Meller gating second. Coe/Meller blasted left, decided they could tack and cross and went for it, narrowly crossing Buttner/Key and Amthor/Amthor before tacking back above them. On the next cross Buttner/Key and Amthor/Amthor crossed Coe/Meller, who then decided the left was the place to be and kept going back left. Hale/Reynolds came out of the left corner to lead at the weather mark, while Coe/Meller lee bowed Amthor/Amthor on the starboard tack layline to be second at the weather mark by a couple of feet. Meller was concerned that Amthors would go high as Coe/Meller hoisted, so went high for a moment until Amthors bore away to hoist. This move put both Coe/Meller and Amthor/Amthor above Hale/Reynolds’s course, and first Coe/Meller and then Amthor/Amthor rolled over the top, while Buttner/Key went a little higher for speed and pulled into 3rd. Coe/Meller opened up slightly on the Amthors and then gybed first, with Buttner/Key gybing second, and the Amthors sailing further into the corner before gybing. Coe/Meller had gone slightly early, but were able to work low on waves, and only had to run into the mark for the last few boat lengths. Buttner/Key rounded second with Amthors third. Coe/Meller loose covered and gave up some distance, and led narrowly from Buttner/Key at the second windward mark. The breeze was a little lighter and Coe/Meller went low initially and then came up when Buttner/Key went straight to wire running at the hoist. A couple of gybes later it was Coe/Meller at the last leeward mark, with Buttner/Key not far behind, and Amthors right behind Buttner/Key. Coe/Meller hung on for the win, with Buttner/Key 2nd Amthors 3rd, Bixby/Davids 4th and Peter Alarie/Nick Nelson (a crew trying to drive) 5th.

Sunday, Race 5
Seems like a lot more teams were interested in gating early and going left up the first beat. It was close for a while, but the race started to spread out on the first run when several teams gybe set and opened up a fair bit. Falsone/Levesque won the race to take the overall lead. Dustin Romey/Macy Nelson were 2nd, Ferrarone/Harris 3rd, Amthors 4th, Buttner/Key 5th. Bixby/Davids had a tough race and finished 8th, while Coe/Meller ended a series of minor mishaps with the telescoping tiller extension coming apart on a tack which ended in a capsize, to finish 11th. Amazingly, Mike Coe grabbed the loose piece of tiller extension before it sank, claiming that 49er sailing had made him very good at grabbing pieces of broken tiller extension. Richard and Andrew Moakes ended up upside down with their mast in the mud, but were able to get the boat up with assistance from frogman Mike Coe (what with swimming on the way to to the race course when the main halyard broke, swimming at the capsize and then helping to rescue the Moakes, Mike may be ready to take up swimming instead of sailing).

Sunday, Race 6
While one theory was that only five races would be run, the breeze was building and most teams were happy to have another race. Buttner/Key were the rabbit, and led out of the right hand side. But the second boat around the mark was Coe/Meller, who had gated early, drag raced left and tacked when they could cross the nearest boats. A leftie convinced everyone approaching Coe/Meller on starboard to tack, so Coe/Meller never had to duck anyone, were lifted on port, and then planed over the top of several teams in the building breeze, into second. Buttner/Key went for the bear away set, but CoeCoe was calling for the gybe set, so Coe/Meller bore off around the mark, spun into a gybe and hoisted, despite the shift being a back. Only one other team gybe set on the first run. But the back held, or increased, and when the two leading teams converged, Coe/Meller had a useful lead. They covered up the second beat, and went for the gybe set move again, while Key/Buttner went for the bear away again. A huge puff that both Coe and Meller admit they had not seen hit them just after they got the kite up, and they took off on port at a high rate of speed. In no time at all, it was time to gybe, and despite the rapidly increasing breeze, they survived and then looked over to check how they were doing and realized that there useful lead had just turned into a huge lead. Apparently, the other teams had not gotten the puff until later on the run. Coe/Meller survived a third gybe, doused at the mark and started upwind in what was now BIG breeze, while the chasing pack came down the run, many having doused their spinnakers. Raked to max, Coe/Meller sailed up the final beat conservatively to take their second win of the day. They were a little too cocky about the win, and put their kite under the boat and around the rudder while hoisting to go in after finishing. Buttner/Key were 2nd, which clinched the Mid Atlantics title for them. Romey/Nelson took 3rd. Big Ted Ferrarone/Barney Harris were 4th, and Mike Renda/Sterg ‘the one handed” Papadakis 5th. Bixby/Davids were 6th, which had them counting the same finishes as Coe/Meller. Ryon/Barclay were 7th, Falsone/Levesque 8th, which cost them the regatta, and Rip Hale/Garth Reynolds 9th.

Overall
This gave the win to Key/Buttner at 11 points, Falsone/Lesveque second at 16 points, and a tie for third at 18 points strangely broken in favor of Coe/Meller over Bixby/Davids, despite the latter team having the better throw out. At least one person suggested the teams arm wrestle for it. Mike Coe was ready to take on Ethan Bixby, but fearing for his arm, Ali declined to arm wrestle Keith Davids. Actually, the ISAF Rules scoring appendix explains how to break ties and those who have looked it agree with the way the tie was broken. You have to read all the way to paragraph three to see this!

Age and treachery triumphed over youth and energy in the Nelson v. Nelson battle. Peter/Nick were sticking it to Dustin/Pops until the wheels fell off in the last two races. They went 6,10 while Romey/Pops went 2,3 to win by five points.

It was great to see so many teams from outside Annapolis at the event.

Well done RHYC; well done Nicholas!

Results

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