SSA Summer Series Day 1: BREEZE ON!!!
For the 3 intrepid boats that managed to show up for day 1 of the SSA summer series, the weather gods served up a delicious platter of 18-24 knot breeze, 72 degree water, 75 degree air, and sunny skies. The other 2 racing fleets (Comet, Soling) bailed without even raising sails, leaving the 5o5's as the only fleet to go sailing. Sterge Papadakis teamed up with Ali Meller. New SSA instructor Craig Thompson teamed up with Nicholas Place, and J Bergquist teamed up with Amie Boothe. The RC set up a racecourse off Brembe Beach, and we had 2 races before Nicholas decided he had stuck the mast in the mud one too many times and headed in. Ali and Sterge had other commitments so they headed in with Nicholas. Amie prevailed upon J to forego working on the keelboat in favor of blast reaching out to the middle of the bay. It was not a tough sell...
Conditions were very puffy, making it a physical day of sailing, with playing the main upwind extremely important. It was a good workout. During the shoreside debrief, Ali told me he was raked to the max (3'8" I believe), with ram at -1. We were a bit afraid to rake that far back with no flattening reef, so I had only gone to 3'6.5" with ram at +1. We may have had the ram too far up. But Amie kept saying 'woo-hoo' like a college girl at a frat party, so I guess our setup worked all right for her...
Setup discussions aside, this was an EPIC day of sailing, the kind that is all too rare on the Chesapeake. Those of you who didn't show up missed some of the best conditions I have ever seen in Annapolis (granted I've only been here 4 years). The combination of warm air, warm water, high support boat-to-sailboat ratio, and lots of breeze doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's a perfect opportunity to get out there and practice. The only way to get better sailing in breeze on is to get out there and GO SAILING!
Only 3 boats showing up is not a good showing for our fleet. It's embarrassing actually! I had to hang my head in shame when I went trying to recruit people to sail out of the J22 fleet. They had 12 boats out last weekend, and even though our ride is a lot more fun, without people showing up to race, it's tough to make a convincing argument that they should come sailing with us. We really need to work on having a better turnout for the next day of the Summer Series which is on July 8. So do what you have to do, clear out the schedule, and SHOW UP for that event! If you need help getting your boat ready, just ask!!!
Conditions were very puffy, making it a physical day of sailing, with playing the main upwind extremely important. It was a good workout. During the shoreside debrief, Ali told me he was raked to the max (3'8" I believe), with ram at -1. We were a bit afraid to rake that far back with no flattening reef, so I had only gone to 3'6.5" with ram at +1. We may have had the ram too far up. But Amie kept saying 'woo-hoo' like a college girl at a frat party, so I guess our setup worked all right for her...
Setup discussions aside, this was an EPIC day of sailing, the kind that is all too rare on the Chesapeake. Those of you who didn't show up missed some of the best conditions I have ever seen in Annapolis (granted I've only been here 4 years). The combination of warm air, warm water, high support boat-to-sailboat ratio, and lots of breeze doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's a perfect opportunity to get out there and practice. The only way to get better sailing in breeze on is to get out there and GO SAILING!
Only 3 boats showing up is not a good showing for our fleet. It's embarrassing actually! I had to hang my head in shame when I went trying to recruit people to sail out of the J22 fleet. They had 12 boats out last weekend, and even though our ride is a lot more fun, without people showing up to race, it's tough to make a convincing argument that they should come sailing with us. We really need to work on having a better turnout for the next day of the Summer Series which is on July 8. So do what you have to do, clear out the schedule, and SHOW UP for that event! If you need help getting your boat ready, just ask!!!
posted by J Bergquist at 5:32 AM
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