TOO MUCH, THEN TOO LITTLE
By Dan Muss
A few weekends ago races were cancelled because of
winds over 30 mph; we could have used some of that breeze on Saturday. Accuweather predicted 5 mph at 12 noon but what we had was
more like 0 – 3, more or less out of the NW. Now our racing guidelines require
the Principle Race Officer (PRO) not to start a race without a consistent
breeze of 4 mph or greater. The PRO should have called it off or postponed to
see if a steady breeze would appear later, but he didn’t, so we all crawled out
to the starting line.
When we got there we were surprised to see that the
course for the Flying Scots was Windward-Leeward 2 times around! In that
light air it would have taken hours to go around twice. We learned later that
the PRO had changed the course to once around one minute before the first
start. But by that time most boats were avoiding the starting line because
another class was starting. So the PRO sent the rescue boat around to tell
racers about the shorter course but Ray Gauthier, out in front of the
Championship fleet, didn’t hear until he was already past the finish line
heading to the windward mark for the second time. Someone hailed him and he
turned around and sailed (slowly) across the finish. But the postscript to this
story is that the next day Ray chose an RAF (retired after finishing) for that
Saturday race because he had received outside “help”. He didn’t need to do
that!
In that Saturday race we had a good start but
stalled at the windward mark while the rest of the Masters sailed by. Frank
Meehan, with his wife Geri up, won by a bunch but the Silvermans,
Alan and Lyn, came from behind to finish second. The
best thing I can say about that afternoon was that kind power boats began
towing racers back to the club.
On Sunday we had a lovely SW breeze but we were
amazed to see the PRO set the line in the slot between Turkey Neck and Thousand
Acres. The course should have been between Penn Cove and Zepp’s
Point on Turkey Neck where a windward-leeward course would have been perfectly
aligned with the wind. My crew, Fearless Marilyn Filemyr, and I led for most of
the race until, at the last leeward mark, we had trouble getting our
centerboard down and so the spinnaker came down late and Meehan, Rissell,
Peters and Silverman all closed the gap. It was an extremely tight tacking dual
for that final leg and we managed to beat out Rissell at the finish.
Our racing rules do not close either the starting or
finishing lines as is the case with many racing venues. (The reason is that our
lake is quite narrow and closing those lines would seriously restrict sea
room.) So, on the second beat of Sunday’s race, and blissfully unaware of the
proximity of the finish line, I tacked away from the shore onto starboard and
did not see a Laser approaching the finish line on port. As soon as I saw the
Laser I tacked back onto port to avoid it, as it was obviously finishing, but I
was too late; the Laser tacked away to avoid us. The irony was that it was our
son Andrew who had been visiting us for the last few weeks and this jog lost
him his first first-place finish at Deep Creek! I felt terrible.
Race
Results [skipper/crew(s)]
Lasers:
Race
1 1. Darrell
Van Hutten, 2. Tom Johnson, 3. Andy Muss
Race
2 1. Darrell
Van Hutten, 2. Kris Van Hutten, 3. Tom Johnson
Race
3 1. Darrell
Van Hutten, 2. Tom Johnson, 3. Andy Muss
Race
4 1. Darrell
Van Hutten, 2. Tom Johnson, 3. Andy Muss
Flying
Scots:
Championship-Gold
Bruce/Keith Spinnenweber, 2. Dick Gregory/crew, 3. Joni
Palmer/crews
Championship-Silver
1.Mark/Lauren Schaefer, 2. David Bertsch/Debbie McCombs, 3.
John Frank/Scot Perry
Masters
1.Dan Muss/Marilyn Filemyr, 2 Ted Rissell/Carol Muss, 3. Howard/Anne Wiley
Challenger
1 John Blake/Marty Earl, 2. David/Lissa Klueter, 3.
Patty/Dale Copeland
Lasers:
Race
1 1. Darrell
Van Hutten, 2. Kris Van Hutten, 3. Gordie Clefton
Race
2 1. Darrell
Van Hutten, 2. Gordie Clefton, 3. Kris Van Hutten
Flying
Scots
Championship Gold 1. Keith/Bruce Spinnenweber, 2.
David/Frank Meehan, 3. Lee/Joan Coraor
Championship Silver 1. Ed/Alice Kemp, 2. Spencer/Marie Deakin, 3. Heidi/Tom Kammer
Masters 1. Dan Muss/Marilyn Filemyr. 2.
Ted Rissell/Carol Muss, 3. Ed Peters/Sue Case
Challenger 1. David/Lissa Klueter, 2. Ned/Alec Holloway, 3 John Blake/Marty Earl