The Right Time to Start Racing a Shields
One of our newest owners, Kelsey Patnaude, contributed this blog. Thanks, Kelsey, and welcome to the fleet!
Just as quarantine restrictions were beginning to ease up, Fredeau (Frederic de Mesel), who has been locked down in Europe, asked me to go check out a Shields for him in Mystic. We had looked at a few this winter and this one seemed promising. With much of my working sailing season on hold—I had the free time and to be honest, my car really needed the epic trip ‘off island’. So, I went over two bridges and had a look at Prudence moored off the Mason’s Island Yacht Club.
Prudence (204) and the closely packed Newport Shields fleet approaches the nun by Fort Adams in a southeasterly breeze. Alice Athay-Croasdale photo
After going over the boat, which was in great shape for the price, I quickly decided that I wanted in. I remember over 5 years ago having a conversation with Austin Cohen about how we wanted to become part of the fleet someday, Austin saying “If you live in Newport and enjoy racing, a Shields is the way to go.” At the time, we were both young in our yachting careers and often joked and fantasized about joining the fleet over a couple of espresso martinis and Wadadlis, but never thought we would be able to get a boat till much later in our lives. So now on the car ride back from Mystic after seeing Prudence, I called up Fredeau and said, “we have to get this one.”
The mechanism viagra on line bought here of the medication- Technically the process of dealing with erectile dysfunction and that is Sildenafil citrate. This medication targets the circulatory system, particularly the heart. viagra the pill Any see here now order cialis online of these procedures done previously are a hindrance in achieving successful pregnancy. What is Forzest? Erectile linked here cheapest levitra Dysfunction can be a terrible cause for men especially who are newly married as it denies every wish of a person to enjoy a lust filled moment with his partner.
It was the right price and didn’t have any disastrous issues that would require a lot of work from us. He suggested we find a third partner to go in on the boat with, and I immediately thought of Austin; within hours the three of us put in an offer.
Soon, Austin and I were driving Prudence to his house in Portsmouth to begin work, sharing our excitement with our co-owner over Facetime. The season’s fleet racing was just a week away now and we had some things we needed to sort out before splashing. We got up early every morning and immediately got to work, sanding the bottom and topsides and tackling small repairs. In just three days and with the help of our bow-woman Peyton, who rolled and tipped the topsides, we were ready to launch.
Now came the difficult bit, racing in a fleet of tremendously amazing sailors. Onboard we have myself, Austin, Peyton, and Alex whom we have already nicknamed ‘maestro’ because he makes sure we are all doing the right moves at the right times. Having missed a lot of our desired practice time, we as a team, decided to be cautious during our first Fleet 9 race and focus on our crew work and maneuvers. Next came the Aloha Saturday series which I discovered was in fact not a Hawaiian-themed costume competition. Wet, cold, and ecstatic, we finished the second race with a second and you would have thought we won Nationals.
Fleet Captain’s Update: 2020 Season Underway
Fleet 9 Shields sailing got a slow and late start this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but beginning on June 3, we began holding informal evening races with crews limited to three sailors per boat wearing masks and PFDs, maintaining physical distance when possible. After three weeks with the fleet building slowly from 8 to 12 boats, new DEM guidelines allowed us to begin sailing with full crews drawn from within a “stable group” of 15 sailors. Crew lists were filled out, waivers were signed, and 16 boats competed last week in the first official race of the season, run by a lean, efficient Ida Lewis Yacht Club race committee. The summer season has officially begun!
Twenty boats are registered to race, and we’re hopeful of several more in the coming weeks. We welcome four new owners to the fleet, Michael Shea (232), Scott Foberg (151), Eric Shealy (17) and Austin Cohen/Kelsy Patenaude (204), the last of which is the freshest arrival, already registered, and nearly a winner in one of its first Aloha Cup races last Saturday! We look forward to seeing the rest on the water shortly.
To promote fleet unity even as we remain more distant from each other than usual, the Fleet provided official Fleet Nine gaiters to registered and in the water by mid-June. Stay tuned for the chance to order more.
Bomba Charger (156), with Mike Toppa at the helm, won the first Wednesday night race last week, and daughter Holley Toppa was published in Sailing Scuttlebutt on Thursday with a great story (“Coronavirus has a Silver Lining” about Mike’s push to get 156 and family sailing started. I would add that, as Fleet 9’s Executive Officer, Mike has been a key reason that our fleet has already been racing on a limited basis for the last four weeks. If you launched at Sail Newport this spring, you utilized the launch frame that he shepherded into existence—and for many of you he was on hand to help with the launch. Thanks from all of us, Mike!
We hope to have a report on Saturday’s Aloha racing shortly. Suffice to say, the racing was close among the half dozen boats that braved the impending rain and enjoyed a couple of good short races.
I’d like to thank everyone who has been on the water so far for adhering carefully to the Fleet 9 special rules regarding wearing masks, filling out crew lists, etc. In sailing, safety comes first, and we’re all doing our best to keep it that way even as we engage in the sport that love. The Crew Lists in particular are important to maintain so that contact tracing can be quickly implemented if a team member tests positive.
So viagra cialis this remedial procedure and activity can easily defeat impotency due to the efficient actions. If you have gone cheap viagra professional through surgical treatment of prostate cancer involves a combination of three tests. Most people who are visit address cialis samples looking to buy anti ED medicines online. Curing rheumatoid arthritis, preventing osteoporosis, improving bone health, lowering cholesterol level and relieving migraine troubles are other health benefits which readily improve levitra samples offscriptband.com the quality of life of individuals.
I’d also like to thank Bill O’Hanley, Robin Wallace and the rest of the Ida Lewis Race Committee. We’ve been in consistent communication and they have been super supportive as we’ve worked together to find the best way forward for Shields racing organized by Ida Lewis.
Thanks also to all my fellow fleet officers—Bill Doyle, Secretary; Ron Oard, Treasurer; David Bush-Brown, At Large; and Mike Toppa, as mentioned above. Each one of them has tended to a workload that has probably been double that of a normal year, and rarely has two weeks gone by without a meeting to assess new developments and revise our plans in keeping with a vision to grow the fleet. Thanks also to past Fleet Captain Ted Slee who handles the fleet scoring, still represents us along with Ron to the Shields Class Association, and recently joined the class technical committee along with Kim Roberts.
Finally, I’d like to thank Brad Read at Sail Newport for his leadership on behalf of all Newport sailors this spring. He actually helped to draft some of the new guidelines we’re able to race under.
That’s enough for now. Time to go sailing. I’ll see you on the water this week.
—John Burnham, Fleet Captain
First Official Race – View from the Front (156)
Ida Lewis Yacht Club kicked off the 2020 Shields Wednesday Night Series last night with a great number of boats and a beautiful night of racing. What was forecasted to be a partly to mostly cloudy night went away as Newport delivered an amazing evening. With clear skies and a steady 12 knots of breeze, the fleet set sailed down to the start line just south of Rose Island. The course was set up for Hammersmith and down, twice around. Off the start, most of the fleet sailed to the left side, hugging the shore of Fort Adams and playing the shifts off the land. This was the winning side on the first beat as the top boats at the windward mark came from the left except for one that came from the far right. On the first run, the wind started to slowly drop off. There was mild boat traffic with a couple of schooners and a super yacht which made for some obstacles, but if anything it was nice to see more and more action on the bay.
The second upwind mixed up the fleet as some boats split right making for huge gains. More than half the fleet still continued playing the left side, working off the lefties coming off the point nearing Hammersmith. There was a slight separation between the top couple boats and the rest of the fleet ,which was pretty compacted, making the last run exciting for many passing opportunities. When the fleet finished the one and only race of the evening, they all sailed in and got off the water before sundown. Normally, everyone goes to Ida Lewis for a post race Lobster Roll and a debrief, but things this summer are a bit different. Luckily though, everyone was still able to race together and have a great night out on the water showing off the summer of shield sailing!
Abnormal decrease in electrolytes for too much of viagra online buy a period will cause heart attack or low blood pressure. The price of the prescribed drugs is sky touching nowadays, the cialis properien http://twomeyautoworks.com/item-4387 acts as a rescuer for many ED affected men. Note that people who are practicing to lose weight should totally avoid cialis prescription twomeyautoworks.com these drinks as they have high density of calories. This has prompted many medicos to find a solution to this dysfunction and that was when viagra sans prescription jelly was found.
Fleet Captain’s Update: 2020 Season Underway
Fleet 9 Shields sailing got a slow and late start [...]
First Official Race – View from the Front (156)
Ida Lewis Yacht Club kicked off the 2020 Shields Wednesday [...]
Coronavirus Has a Silver Lining
This story by Holley Toppa (156) first appeared in Scuttlebutt [...]