|
Commodores Cup 2001
December 2-3 2001 Miami Friends, Happy New Year Folks! Another season has arrived. Yes, that's right! If you are in my part of the world and you are a Star sailor, the racing calendar begins with the Commodore's Cup in early December every year. This is where dreams begin and promises are made. To many, this is the beginning of the road, which hopefully, will take them to Athens in 2004. This years' event drew 31 boats from the US, Canada, Bahamas and Great Britain. We were all excited to get to know the British rookie teams of Iain Percy/Steve Mitchell and Ian Barker/Ed Peel. They may be new to the Star class but they are certainly not new to the sailing world. They both brought medals back to the Queen of England from the Sydney Olympics- Percy won the Finn Gold and Barker the Silver in the 49er class. Top sailors from nearly every class are graduating to the Star boat at some point or another. The future looks promising and we'll have a lot of fun over the next few years. The Commodore's Cup consists of three races and there are no drops. Every race counts there is no room for mistakes. The story goes: First race:
Mark and I were a little late as we started toward the RC boat. Kohlhas/Peters had a better start to leeward of us. We stayed on their hip for a while, but then made a short hike towards the right. The breeze had gone right and we looked good as we were coming back on a starboard tack, but it wouldn't last for very long. Slowly, but surely, the leeward most boats started to get headed and they all tacked. Our only option, pretty much, was to tack below the group of boats, which were on the port lay line, and try to survive up to the weather mark. We had Percy/Mitchell (GBR) on our lee bow and Lowe/Higgs (BAH) right on top of us. Mark didn't have a lot of room to keep speed up as the breeze fizzled to a low for the day. The Brits made a jump on us as they made two more tacks at the end of the beat. Reynolds took us to the starboard lay line and we rounded the weather mark in 8th position. Sustronk/ Wolfs (CAN) got around the weather mark in first, followed by McNeil/ Murphy (USA) . Mark and I found ourselves back in 8th place, suffering from the 25 degree left shift. The run was primarily sailed on starboard gybe. We made a small gain toward the end of the leg before rounding the left gate marker. It would eventually set us up for an even bigger gain, later on, during the second beat. The breeze oscillated right and, initially, the gain was huge, but as we neared the left lay line the port tackers were now lifted. We managed to lee bow them and take the lead at the weather mark the second time around. We made a gybe set, which for those of you who don't know, means I put up the whisker pole on the leeward side, from the very beginning of the run and we then gybed the main. This move put us on a starboard gybe before anyone else. Vesella/Fatih (USA) followed very closely, but to their frustration (I know all about it) their leeward jib sheet was tangled and they could not set their whisker pole. Our port tack angle to the finish line was not as favorable as for those who had waited to get on the port gybe. In addition, we may have been lifted some and it made it even less favorable to be on the left. Sustronk/Wolfs/CAN) and MacCausland/Meireles (USA) were going very fast and they both passed us. We barely held on to beat Vesella/Fatih (USA) and Percy/Mitchell (GBR) came dangerously close. Top three:
Second race:
We got off to a very nice start, about 1/4 up from the pin. We had full speed at the gun and we were very close to the line. I looked up towards the RC boat and noticed Percy/Mitchell a little poked. The pin end was buried, surely someone down there was OCS'ed (i.e. over early at the start). We went left for a while and then tacked to port. To our surprise, we were almost on the port lay line. A group of boats that had gone further out to the left were all over stood. Vesella/Fatih, who had positioned themselves very well within the fleet, didn't get as much of the port lift and increased wind pressure as we did. I could now see them through our main window, as we neared the end of the beat. Mark got us around the weather mark in first, followed by Percy/Mitchell and Whipple/Jensen (USA). Our run wasn't that good. We split gybes with Percy, but as we converged 3/4 down, they gybed to starboard inside of us and pulled ahead. Barker/Peel had made a nice gain on the left, but we managed to stay ahead of them and go through the gate in second place. The second beat was mostly right as we worked hard to stay close to the Brits. Whipple/Jensen did a good job of keeping in front of Barker/Peel. Percy/Mitchell crossed the finish line first but didn't get the gun. Unfortunately for them, I was right in saying that they looked poked at the start. Top three:
Third race:
Mark wanted me to keep an eye on Vesella/Fatih and MacCausland/Miereles. Those two boats were the closest to us in the overall standings and we wanted to make sure that we stayed ahead or close to them the entire race. Vesella/Fatih had a good start a few boats down the line from us, while MacCausland/Miereles had a poor beginning and had to tack away and take several transoms, heading towards the right. We were going good and stayed on starboard for a while. We could see Vesella/Fatih through the main window and Mark didn't want to split from our closest rival. We got a little bit of a header and tacked. The distant right started to look very good. We could see some cruisers, underneath Key Biscayne, which were lifted on starboard and appeared to have more breeze. We then knew that we had to get to the right, there was no doubt. Brooks Sperry/Eid (USA) had reaped the most of the 40-degree shift and led the fleet around the weather mark, followed by Bainton/Rogers (USA), Barker/Peel (GBR) and MacCausland/Miereles. They all came in from the right. Mark and I were in fifth position. Vesella/Fatih had stayed on the left side of the race course and were pretty deep by the time they rounded. Most boats gybed around the offset mark and sailed a long port gybe and so did we. A group of boats behind us, consisting of Vanderhoff/Karr (USA), Van Wagnen/Beckwith (USA) and Austin Sperry/Hiatt (USA), steered a higher course than us, which ultimately took them further out to the left where there was more wind and they made a pretty nice gain on us. Barker/Peel had gybed on to starboard about half way down the run, and they lost big. We passed them and, eventually, would keep them behind us for the rest of the race. We had to tack several times at the beginning of the second beat, in order to keep clear air. Mark got us in a nice position, just shy of the starboard lay line as the boats ahead of us were over standing. We passed Brooks Sperry/Eid and rounded the weather mark in third, right behind MacCausland/Meireles and Bainton/Rogers. It appeared as if MacCausland/Meireles had pulled ahead on the final run. Reynolds and I sailed a higher course then what they did and we ended up pretty separated. However, as we gybed on the starboard lay line, our angle was just a lot more heated and there was more pressure on the left. We rounded the left gate marker only a couple of boat lengths behind them. MacCausland/Meireles worked hard to protect the right on the last beat. The wind oscillated back and forth a few times, and there is no better sailor on the planet when it comes to an oscillating breeze, than Mark Reynolds. He would say, "let's take some of this" and "some of that", referring to tacking in the ever so small wind shifts. We appeared to have MacCausland/Meireles behind us at about 4/5th up the beat, but one thing is for sure, never count Little Mac out. One final righty had them to weather of us on a starboard tack, dangerously close to the lay line. Mark did an incredible job of putting us in a point mode and, finally, they had to tack away. We followed immediately and then slammed them, one final time, as we got on the lay line, close to the finish. As we crossed the finish line, Mark said, " That was one good race". I responded by tapping his back, saying, "yeah, that's for sure". Top three:
Final standings:
For complete scores, check out www.stardistrict20.org Check out this and other stories and pictures on www.agneta.org
|
