Shields Fleet 9

The Point Yacht Club aka Peter and Audrey Denton’s abode will host an Old Fashion BBQ after racing on Sept. 15.

Come give a proper send off to our teams heading to Nationals!

Fall Race 5

Race 5 started off at the mooring putting the 224 back together after great storm that has come to be known as the Dupe of Earl. On the craft this evening was Mark Kroening on brains, Henry Maxwell on the blue sail, Peter Clark on the throttle, Briar Macky on the Jib + entertainment, and rounding out the 5 was Brandon Flack driving the bus. Robin and his RC staff had to relocate due to our racetrack being occupied by the Intergalactic Yacht Club Clash of the Titans qualifier, so the 25 or so ships headed back to the friendly waters north of the bridge. Conditions found were a strong flooding tide and a 8-12 knot breeze at 235 deg. The forecast was calling for the breeze to shift right as the front passes through later on that evening. The course was set for special race mark 3p and back down to Xp (twice around). This shaped our game plan to start at the boat third and remain on starboard tack for a bit to get the tail end of the current relief from the Rose cone. At the gun we had Stubby (59) on our windward hip with Sollitto (76) pacing us to leeward. About 5 minutes into the beat we were able to tack onto port in clear breeze 2 lengths below Dirk on the Helen and send it back to the right side of the course and pass under the bridge at approximately the mid section of the right center span. The 217 was a threat from the right who appeared to be sailing in less current but as we neared the top end of the beat the right side pressure began to fade and we were able to tack on the leeward hip and shift the 224 into 5^th gear point mode and round the mark in lead. The majority of the downwind leg (sponsored by Narragansett Lager) was pretty tame until we neared the bottom third of the run. Kyle had the 254 hard charging on our starboard hip in the fading breeze leading us to jibe out to port to protect the inside. We ended up rounding several boat lengths ahead of the 254 and 217 with our game plane to continue on port until there was a threat of boats tacking onto to starboard. About 200 yards into the leg, the knocks started to become pretty evident and we tacked… onto layline from about 2 miles out. The forecasters earned their cash today calling for the right shift, that during the beat was about 30-40 deg right of base.  We maintained a good split between 217 and 254 marching up the right side of the course, cracked off at about 80-90 apparent but as we approached the bridge we saw the graceful sight of the Burnham/Baer syndicate bonecrushing it right of the middle of the course to our leeward. This made for a close rounding with the 224 maintaining a 2 boat length lead over 107 at the mark. The RC posted a change of course to finish to the southwest of Rose making for some of the most hair raising racing we’ve scene this summer. The 224 and the 107 in a dead heat rocked and rolled down wind at and exhilarating 7 knots. We must have paid more for our seats because the view back towards the mark was hair ball with a micro squall kicking up rain and gusting breeze in the low 20’s. As one person put it later that night at Zelda’s, “These Wizard of Oz-like clouds came out of no where and the rain drops were the size of golf balls…” That boat must have had the beer sponsorship too…

All in all we had a great race, squeaking out the 107 at the very end to claim the gun.

Great job to Robin and the gang + help from the 138 last night. These guys had a major game of chess on their hands.

Last Plug: If you haven’t signed up and considering sailing Nationals, it’s not too late of do so. Also, spoke to some who want to sail but are having difficulties filling out a crew. If this is the case, let me know and we can sort it out. GET ON IT!

Peter Clark

Dos-Dos-Cuatro

Virginia.