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celebrate a close fought 2004 NOOD win. Bill Cantrell is behind the white curtain. Photo by Tony Miro of Sailboat Specs. |
Friday morning pea soup fog had the bay socked in with no breeze. As it finally lifted in mid afternoon, a light easterly filled in. The RC lowered the postponement flag and headed out to set the course.
Little did we know that the race was beginning at the boat basin. “Mad Max”, “Changes”, “Viento”, and “Lucky Pony” were all at the line at the start but the rest of the fleet was still struggling against current and light air to get to the course.
Clawing their way to the first windward mark, the four boats who were at the start changed positions often in a breeze that oscillated 45 degrees and often ceased entirely.
“Lucky Pony” rounded first, followed by “Viento” and “Changes”. A late starting “Necessary Evil” had closed the gap enormously. On a glassy slick bay, the RC wisely blew this one off and sent us in.
Saturday morning things had improved considerably. A nice 8-12 knot southerly had filled in and races went off on schedule.
In Race One, “Viento” wisely avoided the current by going left early. They got back to the right in phase and pretty much led start to finish. The Texas crew on “Mad Max” was moving well, not far behind in second.
In Race Two, a large pack led by “Viento” rounded the windward mark close together. “Lucky Pony” and “Elixir” jibed immediately. As the breeze freshened and veered, those two took over the lead and finished in that order. The building breeze proved to be to the liking of the Sarasota boats which finished 1st through 4th. The next race was started in full blown honking conditions. As the SRs romped to the first windward mark in a tight pack, the Ultimate 20s were broaching and crashing right and left. The RC did not like the look of that, blew the race off, and signaled “Go Home.”
Sunday morning appeared as if things might get very interesting. The front had just passed and forecasts ranged from 20 to 40.
Race Three started in 10 - 15 knot westerly. “Lucky Pony and “Necessary Evil” rounded the first mark together with “Viento” not far behind. “Viento” went low and had taken the lead halfway down the run. Then the breeze piped up a lot and the two boats that went high rode big puffs down to the mark on a screaming plane. Then went on to finish 1- 2.
The wind had continued to build by the start of Race Four and was gusting well over 20. Some boats broke out blades. Sailing with the genoa, Dave Olson’s crew on “Necessary Evil” took off from the starting line and left everyone in the dust to win going away. It was a survival contest with spray flying surfing mixed with sail handling disasters. The “Changes in L’Attitude” crew, lightest of the fleet, placed a remarkable 2nd in the heavy conditions.
This regatta was very close from beginning to end. There is a lot of new blood in the class and they are proving themselves to be contenders. Next stop: Sarasota One Design Midwinters.