Greetings!
It's here! No, not Isaac the Oakcliff International. Well technically it is one after the other. Isaac is here dumping rain but will be moved out before racing starts on Thursday. Thursday also is the last race and prize giving for the Classic's Summer Series. Both events will join together for a yummy dinner. The Rollin' in Dough pizza truck will be back with wood-fired pizza, salad and espresso.
Also right up top I want to thank all of the supporters who are housing the teams and umpires. We really couldn't have a regatta like this without you. Thank you!
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Champagne Sailing Once in a Blue Moon
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 Last Friday's Vineyard Race was quite possibly the best sailing many will ever experience. Oakcliff entered the Ker 50 and a Farr 40 in the Vineyard Race. We joined with supporter and sponsor Rich Fleischman's Beneteau 44.7 Faith to sail as a team. So Oakcliff had a total of 27 people on the water for the sail of a lifetime.
Balmy breezes allowed for just shorts and t-shirts to be worn all night. The full moon lit the deck and the sails so flashlights were redundant.
The Farr 40 was sailed by Saplings, Acorns and a few friends. With the youngest 17 and the oldest 26 they qualified for the youth division, which was supposed to be a shorter course but they choose to sail with the 'big boys'.
This is their report: After a near perfect start and a fun reach through the sound we exited through the Gut. The next leg was straight downwind to the Tower with some very lumpy seas. Turning back upwind our Farr 40 excelled in her favorite point of sail but just like Dave (navigator on Faith) said, the wind soon shut down and we were in a washing machine watching our competitors including eventual class winner Xcelsior as well as American Girl hoist their code zero spinnakers and fly by.
The wind returned and we approached Long island on a close reach, passing and leaving Xcelsior in our dust. We started to realize that the Gut wasn't going to work for us with current and the Race wasn't good because it took us too far out of our way. We choose to go through the Sluiceway which is between Plum and Great Gull Island. Tricky and fun and with a 2-3 knot push from the current it put us solidly in front of our class. From there it was a straight shot to Stamford. With a building breeze just aft of the beam we were really wishing we had a set of reaching sails. We watched Xcelsior creep up over the 6 hours to beat us over the line by just 30 seconds.  The Farr 40 with symmetrical sails was challenged with the significant percentage of reaching conditions in this race but ended up finishing a solid 2nd place. Everyone did a great job keeping the boat moving fast and kept a positive attitude through the entire race. When is the next one!?
Actually the next race for this team, thanks to our generous sponsor will be American Fall Series.
The only stress came when they discovered that they had brought the tea kettle to boil the water for the freeze dried food but had forgotten bowls and spoons. The solution can be seen in the photo to the right and involved a Gatorade cap and batten pusher.  On the Ker 50 they did remember their spoons. This team was more of an expansion team with many sailing their first overnight race. Even those who were offshore experienced were stretched out of their comfort zone. All on board trimmed and many steered. Erica the 'littlest one' spent a fair amount of time on the pumps and Tim Hurst who has just become a boat owner in his own right was "a beast on the mast". Both Faith and the Ker 50 finished mid class getting stuck at one point or another in adverse tide or no wind but with the beautiful conditions, no one was complaining. |
Fall Series in Two Weeks
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 We are looking to get a firm idea of who is interested in racing the Fall series on the IRC boats. The dates are September 22-23 and 29-30. We will field as many boats as we have solid teams for. So please click here and sign up by the end of this week.
This year we will have a joint social on the Saturday the 29th as that is the last day of the Classic's Fall Series. It is really fun to have the cross pollination between the genres. If you want to race American Fall sign up above and if you 'significant other wants to get in on the sailing have them go to the calendar, choose their dates and sign up. |
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So once again go to the calendar at any time to sign up to sail but especially look at the Classics and American Fall series.
Sincerely,
Dawn Riley
Oakcliff Sailing Center |
