Sans Jeff

We noticed that Jeff's Red Dog was out there this last week without Jeff. It appears Jeff's crew took over responsibility for getting the boat around the course.

And the crew did rather well! Red Dog came in 4th - just 20 seconds behind Norm's Pagan who undoubtedly covered little Red Dog around the course. Given their choice of beverage, I'm guessing they also had fun.

Excellent weather again

It seemed to rain every day up until Wednesday for the races. There were a few more boats in the classes this week, but those of you who missed the races managed to miss out on some really nice spring racing. With three more weeks of Wednesday sailing left in the spring, it's time to get the boats out there.

Notable new appearances this weeks were Harry's J/30 Rumor returning to the A class and Corbin sneaking in as crew on Bob's Star boat Maddie. Of course sneaking in as crew doesn't really bolster the fleet, so Corbin will have to bring out his Star.

The wind was out of the north giving us another opportunity to get some upwind/downwind courses for the PHRF classes. All summer the wind will be out of the SE, so enjoy the variety. There was some question if the wind would hold out, so we chose a shorter course of only 3.9 miles. The line was skewed a bit, but the classes still found reason to head down to the pin end spreading out the starters.

In the A class, Art's Mooncusser found the conditions just right coming across the line to get honors, but so did Echo who managed to overcome the handicap and correct into 1st place by only 10 seconds.

B class managed to stretch out a bit in the falling wind just as the cruise ship came into the harbor. The PF Flyers on Freestyle came in 1st putting on a good show managing to hold off Tad and the Higgins Factory Team on Hopped Up.

The Stars had lots of action over the course with some new blood up in the front. Don in Starstruck Again managed to hold off Will in Lucky until the last upwind leg when crossing tacks allowed Will to sneak away and take 1st place.

Results are available on the website in the files section. Look in the folder called "2009 Race Results" for everything.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sm-wns/files/

Let's hope for more excellent weather and racing for this upcoming week!

So where were you?

It was a beautiful night for racing. Clear skies, cool weather, good breeze, but all that aside, the attendance was a little light. Only three boats were there for the A class and only 7 stars.

It was the kind of night you dream about in the middle of August. Big dividends for those of you who raced!

Results are available on the website in the files section. Look in the folder called "2009 Race Results" for everything.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sm-wns/files/

It was a great night for John Jenkins who won the Star fleet - good start, clear air and there was no stopping him. Bob Larsen on Blew Bird handled the wind well correcting to first for class A. Norm Brown's Pagan found the wind she likes and flew around the course coming in for a decisive first in the relatively large fleet of B class boats.

We don't always get it right the first time

Okay, just a little hiccup in the results for the first two weeks. It turns out that we messed up the finish position on the RC boat for week 1 and the method of calculating the distance of the race was a bit skewed.

But! We can fix mistakes. It's not like we're launching satellites here, so we have updated the standings. Just a little moving around for the PHRF and (obviously) the Star standings are the same. Good thing we take copious notes!

You can find the new REVISED results in the files section of the website:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sm-wns/files/

Clear and Breezy - 5/13 races

Now this week was much better weather! Temperatures were still a bit chilly (epically when the sun started going down), but there were clear skies and there was plenty of wind. Don't get too used to it. Summer will be here soon enough and you can bet that we'll be drifting around in 5 knots.

Coming out to the course last night, it seemed that the wind was SW. I guess it was blowing out of the harbor. Once we were out in the clear, we could see that the wind was really shifting all over the place. Anywhere from SE to SW, the wind seemed to settle in to a south wind about 12 knots with strong gusts coming from the SE.

Not knowing what the wind would do, we favored a southerly course for Stars and hoped for the best. Given the randomness of the puffs, the starting line was committee boat favored and everyone could see it. Not too much piling up for the Stars, but we did have an over early boat that returned to re-start.

A class was aggressive too. They set up for the committee boat start and managed to push one boat over who had to return. I think a few boats in the fleet may have been barging at the start. Ostinato certainly agreed voicing her opinion. B class, while having 11 boats on the line, managed a much more Corinthian start. The course for PHRF was mostly upwind/downwind about 7 miles. Good for stretching out your legs. Everyone had finished in 1½ hours, though the wind proved too much for some equipment.

For the Stars, Jade took an early lead forcing the rest of the fleet to hunt her the whole race. Shifty winds worked in her favor as she came across the line first.

Ostinato was hot on the course for the A class flying down to Scotland with her asym and coming in to take the line. Not quite fast enough to stop MyRx who corrected well into first place.

Freestyle kicked butt in the B class taking line honors and correcting first by 6 minutes! Plenty of competition, though, with only 1 minute separating 3rd place and tying for 5th. Hopped Up with the "Higgins Factory Team" racing her came in 2nd. With that kind of consistency, she is going to be a force on the course.

May 13th Racing is On!

Looks like it will be a good night for racing tonight. Weather is calling for 15 knots from the SE and we should be clear of any clouds until after sunset. Lots of fun - see you at the starting line at 6:05 pm.

Fog, wind, rain, and cold

It was an interesting night for our first Wednesday Night Racing for the 2009 sailing season. While watching the weather radar, we could see that there was a storm approaching. Of course, that's every day in the summer. We did have light rain, low visibility, increasing winds, and the temperature dropped as the race went on.

To make sure we got the race completed before the storm hit, we ran a short course for all the classes. Everyone finished in under one hour allowing boats to get back to port before all the lightening started. Weather radar was right - the storm hit about 8:30. Glad everyone was under cover by then.

Reasonable performances by all. Eric Wagner returned to the Stars for this year and managed to seal a 1st. Jeff Staley took line honors in the A class on Ostinato. B class line honors went to the crew "PF Flyers" on Freestyle.

Scratch sheets and Calculated Final Results will be posted soon on the website in the files section.

Tonight's Racing is on!

As of 4pm, we intend to start the races on time. That is a 6:05 pm warning for the Star fleet.

For further updates, call the Museum hotline at: 410-745-6428 Ext. 255

No updates will be made after 5:20 pm.

Tomorrow - 1st Race of the 2009 Season

Attention Wednesday Night Racers!

Tomorrow marks our first race of the 2009 racing season. We look forward to seeing everyone out there.

To date we have received registrations from the participants listed
below, by class. All are welcome. Please be sure to check in with the
committee boat.

Stars: Buggah, Jade, Locus, Lucky, Popeye, StarStruck Again and T-Bone

PHRF A: Blew Bird, Echo, Mooncusser, My RX, and Ostinato

PHRF B: Cabaret, Fiscal Stray, Freestyle, Full Deck, Hopped Up, Pagan,
Penniless, Red Dog, Resolute, Swagman, Widget and Wooshkeetan

We are keenly aware of the weather forecast, and as per the sailing
instructions, will make our final decision on the races by 5:20PM (45
minutes prior to the Star start). We will post a message on the CBMM
hotline: 410.745.6428, extension 255.

For those of you interested in dinner and/or drinks after the races, the Miles River Yacht Club will have a buffet dinner set up from 7pm until everyone gets a chance to eat. No more freaking out to get food before the town rolls up the sidewalks. The bar will stay open until 10pm as well. All are welcome - you don't need to be a member to get a bite to eat after the races.

On behalf of the 2009 steering and race committees, welcome to the
season!

-Mariana

Stars Are Out

Star sailors will be out this weekend in St Michaels for the First race of the year for the Miles River Yacht Club - the Dr. David Oursler Star Spring Championship.

The weather for Saturday is calling for rain, thunderstorms, and only 7 knots of wind. That's no fun. Perhaps Sunday will be better. I'll be on the water Sunday and will try to get some photos of our St Mikes people in action.