2015 COW IOM Regatta Report

Gene Coulon Memorial Beach Park on Lake Washington in Renton, WA

By Bob Wells

We schedule the COW for late April to early May for more consistent wind and to avoid weed. The plan has generally worked very well, although this year we had more light wind than usual. Still we ended Saturday pressed hard in top A-rig in serious waves, and enjoyed solid Saturday afternoon wind. Sailing in light air is a discipline too despite some naysayers, fortunately one that I enjoy. And the sun came out for much of our sailing with almost no rain, a much more pleasant situation than forecasted earlier in the week.

Californian Gary Boell sailed away with this one for a relatively low stress ranking regatta win, and he also maintained our tradition where nobody from Washington State wins our biggest Seattle MYC regatta. Gary was sailing in his first regatta with his new dark blue MOJO, and he was often noticeably higher and faster - fast right out of the box in other words. His big scimitar shaped rudder and the slick custom collar protecting his deck mounted drum caught my eye on this well prepared boat. Jerry Brower and Kelly Martin in particular took turns challenging Boells, but he held them off for a proper Worlds tune-up with a range of conditions. Our other Worlds skipper, Bruce Andersen, received needed race hardening as part of his Worlds prep, but he could only race the first day before he had to head home to Idaho. Jerry Brower finished second over Kelley Martin in third, but this wasn't determined until the last race. Likewise Joe Damico's fourth place over Bob Wells in fifth was in some doubt until after the last race.

I noticed all the local Seattle MYC boats are now of the modern skinny variety popularized by the Britpop, except David Jensen's Croatian PIKANTO. David is our newest regular from late last year, and he has a KantunSMX on order and coming soon. There are a few wider hulls sailing locally, but our evolution is close to complete. This happened faster than I thought it would, and as a group we are incrementally more competitive in our fifth year as an IOM fleet. We have so many skinny hulls that for my second regatta in a row I sailed a different borrowed spare BRITPOP, thank you Joe Damico and Steve Young for your generosity.

At COW regattas we combine the measuring process with a Friday afternoon gathering and evening dinner party at the home of Bob and Jackie Wells. Measuring Friday saves more time for sailing, and it is an excuse to socialize. Before dinner Bruce Andersen, our only Class Secretary candidate on the ballot, discussed his goals if elected and listened to concerns, but then I cut that short for our Skipper's Meeting and dinner. The party was another success as was our Saturday no host dinner at the nearby Red Robin Restaurant in Renton. We have the socialize part down.

For the second year in a row The COW is a USA ranking club regatta, drawing skippers from four states. This is easily our smallest COW yet in entry numbers, and it allowed single heat racing for the first time. A few local regulars had other commitments. I think Foster City Worlds in two weeks took precedence for a number of distance travelers. My guess is we had no Canadian entries for the first time because we happened to coincide with the unique Nanaimo RC Ocean Race, a favorite of the Herbert brothers. But we did have our Canadian, Barry Fox, who did a great job serving as our PRO. I always enjoy visiting with Barry, who is our IOM ICA Secretary.

Our brief awards ceremony had five very special prizes this year, excellent hand made lanyards reading "IOM USA" donated by Bruce Andersen. I emphasize excellent in describing them, thank you Bruce. We look forward to hosting the COW next year, and as they say on my Son's favorite rerun, "Same bat time. Same bat channel (...substitute "schedule" for our purposes)". Yes, we have a local regatta this coming weekend too.

COW Regatta results after 26 Races with four throw outs:

Full results here: http://www.ibextrax.com/RC2015/Results/0425COW.pdf

Images here: http://www.pbase.com/mikep/iom2015

CMBC/ WRMYC NE Ohio Club Challenge 

Western Reserve Model Yacht Club was pleased to host nine Members of the Cleveland Model Boat Club for the 3rd Annual NE Ohio Club Challenge Regatta, Event I, on Saturday, May 23. This is a competition between the two NE Ohio clubs, racing Soling 1 Meters. The scores of the Top 4 finishers from each club are added, and form a club score. Cleveland MBC has won each of the two previous year's Challenge Regattas. Twenty skippers- 9 from Cleveland Model Boat Club (CMBC) and 11 from Western Reserve Model Yacht Club (WRMYC) met at the WRMYC home pond in Painesville (OH) Kiwanis Recreation Park for the first of this year's 2 club challenge events.  

The day was bright and clear with winds 1 to 4. Early in the morning, winds were steady from the predicted WSW, but as race time approached, they clocked around to be generally from the North. The start line was crowded for 20 boats but all managed to get through, with few early starters. Most Heats consisted of a short beat (3 tacks) to a starboard rounding of Mark 5 in the NW corner of the pond. This leg was very interesting as a preferred starboard-tack start took boats close to the shore, before calling for "sea-room" to clear shore. Then, two more tacks were needed before approaching the windward Mark A. This crowded Starboard-tack rounding of Mark A was followed by a run down-lake to either a mark some 200 feet South, or in about half the races- a LONG run of 400 feet to Mark B, located in the SW corner. Being a run- there was little separation of the fleet- so the second (again Starboard tack) rounding was also usually very crowded. The final leg of the "sausage" course was a long beat back to the Finish. The racing was very competitive, with finishes having 2, 3 or even more boats overlapped at the line.  

Dan Reiber, of the Cleveland MBC, won the event, edging out Mike Wyatt from Western Reserve by 4 points. Dan started off with mid-fleet finishes or 9-6-11-2-and 15 for the first five heats. Then, he found the secrets of the fickle wind on Rec Park's pond, and closed up the balance of 12 Heats with all 2's and a 1- very consistent- to win the regatta. Dan and second-place finisher Mike Wyatt have raced sailboats for years- each having competing in FJ's going back to the 1980's. Dan only recently took up RC sailing, wisely buying several Soling 1 Meters in FL, and bringing them back north. He's learned fast, as the results show. In third was Ted Lutton, also from CMBC. In the club competition, CMBC beat WRMYC by a score of 192 to 211. This time, WRMYC put more sailors in the top positions, making it a closer event than in previous years. 

The second event of the NE Ohio Club Challenge series takes place August 1, hosted by CMBC at Borrows Pond, in North Ridgeville, west of Cleveland.  

Valuable assistance by: RD- Al Daviso  

Scoring- Sharon Daviso  

Photography- Sheila Jones, and Darlene Schreiber 

Top 5 Places- of 20 boats 

1. Dan Reiber,             CMBC- 34 points 

2. Mike Wyatt,          WRMYC- 38 

3. Ted Lutton,              CMBC- 42 

4. Sam Santora,          CMBC- 42 

5. Dave Karpuszka, WRMYC- 45 

2015 White Rock Cup

Team TOT 1 Chris Macaluso 40 2 Eric Rosenbaum 54 3 Brig North 55 4 Chuck Williams 65 5 Chuck LeMahieu 69 6 Bob Piper 105 7 Mauricio Dantas 124 8 Jerry Tippitt 130 9 Andy Rust 135 10 Chuck Porth 152 11 Chris Cafiero 155 12 Fred Sheldon 155 13 Russell Gardner 202 14 JC Greenline 217 15 Paul Thompson 217 16 Jimmy Greenlee 231 17 Jerry Sams 299

More photos here!  https://www.flickr.com/gp/63629329@N07/1CXH9Y

2015 ODOM REGION 6 CHAMPIONSHIP

by Rob Weaver

What could be better than the longest day of the year, the first day of summer and father's day in San Francisco? Simple, two days of racing Odoms on Spreckels Lake for the Region 6 Championship. 23 Odom sailors braved the balmy San Francisco summer on June 21 and 22 and enjoyed 17 races hosted by San Francisco Model Yacht Club. The races were presided over by race director John Super and organized by the Jason Spiller, with the competent help of Michael Fischer (who chose race duties over competition), Nancy Barbata (scorekeeper) and 9 other SFMYC volunteers. Charlie Roskosz, a US Sailing Judge, graciously volunteered his time to hear protests and resolve disputes.

SFMYC ably hosted this event, with a large staff and crew that assured friendly (but sometimes intense) competition for all. In the clubhouse after the awards were given to Jess, Larry and Gary, discussions were already underway for the next championship that could be held at SFMYC.

Summary of 2015 Odom Region 6 Championship

Date: June 21 - 22

Location: Spreckels Lake, San Francisco

Host Club: San Francisco Model Yacht Club

Entries: 23

Winds: 8 - 18 mph, with gusts

Races Completed: 17 (34 heats)

Scoring System: low point, odd/even heats

Regatta Committee: Jason Spiller (regatta chair), John Super (race director), Nancy Barbata (scorekeeper), Charlie Roskosz (race judge), and 9 other SFMYC club members

2015 Odom Region 6 Championship Results (top 8 finishers)

Place Skipper  Sail # Points

1 Jess Atkinson    56  20

2 Larry Grant       500 34

3 Gary Boell         964 47

4 Alan Finley        377 49

5 Jim Wondolleck 399 54

6 Chris Sullivan      62 57

7 Richard French  551 60

8 Don Radcliffe     197 69

L-R Jason Spiller, Jess Atkinson, Larry Grant, Gary Boell with John Super kneeling.  

Michael Fischer photo 

  Note the start mark in the lower left of the photo!

2015 Seawind Regional Championship

and 14th, 2015, at Lake Rooty in Glen Allen, VA. Conditions on the lake were
challenging, but not too difficult, although temperatures for the weekend were extremely
HOT, reaching the mid 90's by midday both days. The breeze fluctuated in direction and
velocity for most of the weekend, primarily coming from the north/northwest, with
speeds ranging from a few knots to gusts of 10-12 or so. There were only a few brief
instances where the wind laid down completely; only to pick back up a few minutes later.
Twenty-five races were scored for the weekend. The venue at Lake Rooty is ideal for RC
sailing, as shade trees provide excellent cover from the sun for most of the length of the
paved walk, which runs within the control area. This proved to be a huge benefit as
temperatures soared over the weekend. Skippers from three states attended the regatta,
with Class Secretary Mike Eades coming in from the Phoenix area of Arizona, and
friends Ron Small and Steve Helander attending from the Greensboro Model Yacht club
in our neighboring state of North Carolina. Ten entries were received, however our
friend Al Anderson was unable to race, so the racing went off on Saturday morning with
nine boats on the water.

David Lawrence 

Entries: 10
Winds: 3-10mph
Races Completed: 25 

Regatta Committee: David Lawrence (RD), Bobbie Lawrence, Doug Barry (Race Committee)

Results:

Finish Skipper    Sail # Total

1 Mike Eades          02   23
2 Rob Suydam      346   65
3 Steve Helander  417   69
4 Randy Pfrunder  454   77
5 Charlie Fawcett  186   89
6 Ron Small          272   90
7 Scott Duff          499 172
8 Dave Clark         312 169
9 PJ Seay              452 195