Kings Day Regatta
Florida Yacht Club
Jacksonville, Fla
November 19th and 20th, 2005
Last day of the East Coast Championship racing in Annapolis was Saturday, November 5th. John, Diane and Doodle packed up, tied down and headed out of Dodge. The boat left Annapolis the morning of November 6th and arrived in Jacksonville Florida late afternoon November 7th. Tim Monahan of the FYC met us that night in the club’s lot and helped us to tuck the Doodle away until we could get back for the regatta in a few weeks. John and I have been very fortunate to have met some great people down south and I can’t say enough about their help and hospitality. Their assistance with all of the logistical issues involved when traveling away from home with a boat has been invaluable. Thank you again, Tim Monahan, Will Newton, Jason Chavez, and Robby Brown.
John and I took a couple of days to NOT sail and do some other down-south activities before returning home. A little golf, a little fishing and some visiting with the in-laws in Georgia before flying back to Boston on November 12th.
The boat was well cared for until our arrival back in Jacksonville on November 17th.
Set-up and launch went smooth. Friday night we enjoyed the raw oysters, gumbo and beer hosted by the Florida YC.
Saturday morning brought gooooood sailing weather.
The crew consisted of John, and Diane, guest starring Susie Sinclair from the infamous Blue Fox, flying in from LA for this one. Matt Dalton and Allen Capellin, a couple of Tampa Florida boys, who were new to the crew. They were great guys to sail with and we were very happy to have them on board. The day was cloudy, 65 degrees, and windy, 20 knots at the start. 11 boats entered in the race. The J24’s were the minority on the water this weekend, however. 55 Melges had shown up for the Melges Atlantic Coast Championships. I gotta’ tell ya’ that looked fun!
1st race:
There was a bit of indecision regarding the headsail of choice but the genoa won the vote. Not a very good start. Spit out to the right, but that’s where we thought we wanted to go anyway. Sailed to the right, looking for a shift. Got a bit but not as much as we would have liked. Got to the windward mark in 3rd position. Held 3rd around the windward mark and leeward mark. Wind made for a rough take down and a not so smooth mark rounding. Forced to tack out to the left, stayed left, slight right hand shift as we came to the finish and one boat coming out from the right and got us on a “port/ starboard” at the finish. 4th in that race.
Peter Bream Team Tarheel = Winner
Rush in 2nd
Jesus Lizard(don’t ask!) 3rd
A bit of discussion in between races about a Lopez block that isn’t behaving for our trimmer. Sounds like a trip to the marine hardware shop is in store. Ahhh, a boat is a hole in the water into which one continues to throw money…….
The races are set up to be windward, leeward twice around with the start/finish line in the middle of the race course. We think we like this. It’s nice to finish to windward and not have to sail a long downwind leg to your next start. Diane doesn’t think it leaves enough time for snacking in between races however.
2nd and 3rd race:
The conditions began to take their toll on the fleet. Coming off the start, racing out to the left, Sight Seeing of St. Petersburg Fla., had their rig come down. It appeared as though the mast just snapped at the spreaders. A turnbuckle had come loose from the deck on one of the uppers. We felt awful for them. They have one of the nicest crews and are always hyped up for the racing. It really was a bummer to see them have to abandon the regatta. Avalance of Gulfport Missippi, had a hardware failure rendering them out of the race. Fortunately for them, there was a West Marine right down the street. Apparently with a Starbucks near by. They were able to get the piece they needed and return to racing with replacement hardware AND Grand Hazlenut Lattes in hand. They raced the 4th and 5th race of the day. Those guys from Gulfport are tough. Even if they do drink lattes.
Race 2 went about the same except for Will Newton and his blade on Majic was just faster than us on the second upwind leg and left us with a 5th in that race. The same top 3 players continued to lead the pack.
Now Will Newton’s a pretty smart guy and he lives right there on the river, so we thought we would show him a bit of respect and change to our blade to. And we were FAST with the blade, but without a great start we finished with a 5th in that one, beat out by the same top 3 players plus Robert Gibbs of Shannon, who pulled off his best finish of the regatta with a 4th.
4th race:
Wind is still holding. The blade is still the right sail. A good start. No malfunctions, but the wind was really puffy and shifty and Will Newton got us AGAIN! on the second upwind leg. The same 3 guys STILL leading the regatta.
5th race:
Still windy. Good start. Out to the right. It seemed to pay a bit. 5th to the windward mark, but lost a boat downwind. Picked up 2 on the next upwind leg. The boat just seemed to be going really fast, but only fast enough for a 4th in this one. Boy, I gotta tell ya’, a 4th was beginning to feel like a first with the top 3 positions so well protected at this point by Team Tarheel, Rush and Jesus Lizard. The window of opportunity for anyone else to earn a top 3 position in this regatta was closing fast.
2ND Day
Very light winds, about 6 knots.
1st race:
Got off the line well and found ourselves 3rd to the windward mark, RIGHT behind Peter Breem on Team Tarheel. Lots of roll tacking and roll jybing. Passed Team Tarheel downwind and rounded 2nd at the leeward mark. This was looking good. Got passed by Peter going upwind, then downwind turned into a 3 boat race with the rest of the fleet fairly far behind, unfortunately we got 3rd, but hey as I said earlier, 3rd was goooood! Best finish of the regatta
2nd race:
Aggressive start. Over early, but in good company. Peter Bream was “off- sides” also. We went back to dip the line, managed to catch up to one of the “on-time” starters and pass one of the other over-early boats to pull off an 8th for the race. 6th for Peter.
3rd race:
Decent start. Pinched off by a “moron” (I only type what I hear.) Wind was going left so everybody wanted to get left as fast as they could except for the one “moron”. Again, I apologize, but I am taking some dictation from the skipper at this point in my article. Tacked right to clear our air, quickly got back going left. Came in on the port lay line and jammed it in somewhere in 5th place. Jybed immediately. Passed one boat at the leeward mark, lost that boat going back upwind. 5th at the windward again. Lost one more boat going downwind but managed to pick him back up going upwind to salvage the 5th.
Overall our consistency with 4th and 5th really paid but unfortunately the top 3 boats were just much better than everyone else this weekend. The top 3 boats finished with a total of 12, 13 and 15 points. Airodoodle finished overall with 31 points total in 4th place. As you can see from the point spread, the top 3 boats didn’t just close the window, they slammed our fingers in it! Nice job and congratulations to Peter Breem and his Team Tarheel. It really is fun racing against guys that good. It gives you something to watch and wonder about and hopefully learn something from. Thank you Susie, Matt and Allen. A good time was had by all. The Florida Yacht Club put on a wonderful regatta, good racing and good people. The southern hospitality is very apparent with this group! See you in February!
