May 2, 2008

THE SOLO SUBSTITUTE
What happened to SOLO
 
Greetings and welcome to this emailed substitute for the venerable SOLO newsletter.  Our SOLO editor, Chuck Spear, is taking a break to recover from injuries gained in a collision during a Wednesday Sunset race, and there is a lesson to be learned here.  Chuck was hit by a port-tack boat that attempted to duck him without easing the mainsheet.  The power of the sails overwhelmed the influence of the rudder, and so the port-tacker didn't duck.  A bit of racing advice: if you have to duck, duck early.  It indicates to the starboard boat that you are taking appropriate action, and it lets you come up to course as the starboard boat passes which generally gives you a lift.  By turning down early, you have a margin of safety if there is a problem with easing sheets, you avoid a course change and protest from the starboard boat, and it's faster.  What's not to like?
 
Next meeting: May 12th.
 
"Good judgement comes from experience.  Experience comes from poor judgement"
 
Get a jump on this cruel truism by attending our next meeting.  Our speaker is Troy Bethel, a professional sailor of extraordinary experience.  From minis to maxis, from around the Horn to around the bay, Troy has done it all, and has agreed to share his insights on boat preparation, personal preparation and weather review from the professional's point of view.  He is currently in Marina del Rey aboard his Open 50 "Nanuq" .
 
Next race: May 17th
 
The Dan Bryne #4 Santa Barbara Island race starts one mile south of the Marina del Rey breakwater, rounds Santa Barbara Island (and Sutil Island) to port, and finishes at the West End of Catalina.  The mandatory skipper's meeting is on Thursday, May 15th, at 7PM.
 
Last race: Catalina to Port
 
This was a great race.  The wind was a little slow to fill in but by 1430 we were all romping along in a solid wind that held all the way to the finish.  The brisk reaching towards West End was to the liking of the only multihull in the race. Training Wheels, a F27 trimaran, did an amazing horizon job on the monohull fleet leaders, and we all thought we were going pretty well.  The run down the backside of Catalina was in enough breeze that no one saw the need to fly a spinnaker, or perhaps everyone was, like us, watching to see if someone else would be brave and test the waters first.
 
Results
   
 
Singlehanded  
Place Yacht Skipper PHRF Finish Corrected  
1 Janina Mark Keller 138 19:55:22 18:21:04  
2 Slow Poke Brian Radamaker 216 21:58:15 19:30:39  
     
Doublehanded  
Place Yacht Skipper PHRF Finish Corrected  
1 Runaway Eric/Robin Lambert 126 19:24:24 17:58:18  
2 Rubicon III Percival/Laubach 141 19:38:45 18:02:24  
3 Biyach Kaminskas/Emert 138 19:55:00 18:20:42  
4 Voice of Reason Jim McCone 198 20:44:21 18:29:03  
5 Avalon Phil/Katie Habegger 102 19:53:14 18:43:32  
6 Spitfire Sloane/Sloane 69 19:35:40 18:48:31  
7 Trojan Conquest Alan Cheeks DNF  
 
Mariners  
Place Yacht Skipper Rating Finish Corrected New Mariners
1 Training Wheels Victor Kofahl 23 18:43:00 18:27:17 16
2 Voice of Reason Jim McCone 198 20:44:21 18:29:03 191
3 Avalon Phil/Katie Habegger 123 19:53:14 18:29:11 117
4 Runaway Eric/Robin Lambert 75 19:24:24 18:33:09 70
5 Janina Mark Keller 119 19:55:22 18:34:03 114
6 Biyach Kaminskas/Emert 102 19:55:00 18:45:18 101
7 Rubicon III Percival/Laubach 72 19:38:45 18:49:33 73
8 Spitfire Sloane/Sloane 56 19:35:40 18:57:24 60
9 Slow Poke Brian Radamaker 211 21:58:15 19:34:04 228
 
 
That's all, folks.  Best wishes from Runaway, hope to see you at the meeting, and please join me in wishing a rapid recovery to Chuck Spear.