It was one of those Casco Bay nights that you dream about in the dead of winter: SSW winds, 5 to 8 knots, oscillating 20 degrees back and forth, an incoming tide to keep things interesting.
The kind of conditions that make for some mighty fine Etchells racing.
The forecast called for a slight chance of thunderstorms, but they never materialized. Every so often through the evening we would feel a hot breeze blow off the land. As you felt it you knew that the pleasant conditions we were experiencing on the water were not shared by those sweltering through a hot, humid evening on land.
The 10-boat fleet got everybody excited. Even those of us on the committee boat. Check-in went smoothly, and we pushed Matt Camerson, our mark boat operator, hard to get the windward mark and pin end set quickly so we could start on time. The orange flag went up at 5:55, warning at 6:02 and the first starting gun at 6:07.
The first race was a four-legger, with the windward mark set .8 miles upwind. The pin end was favored, and Joy Robber pushed the advantage a little too hard and was half a boat-length over at the gun. They responded to the recall flag, radio and sound, and efficiently cleared their OCS. ESP and Schadenfruede rounded the top mark closely contending for the lead, the white spinnaker came up, followed by the all red just a few seconds later. Most of the fleet worked the right side of the downwind leg, taking advantage of a favorable shift and the stronger tide. The two lead boats rounded the leeward mark, still in close competition, but Rob, Kendra, and Alyssa on ESP increased their lead on the second weather leg, holding off Stephanie, who was subbing for Andrew on Schadenfreude, for the bullet. Andrew is suffering with a bad back, and he was missed by all his competitors in the night's racing.
For the second race we moved the windward mark right, and the pin back slightly to square up the line. With the breeze holding we opted for a four-legger to give the fleet more mark roundings. The PRO, Catherine Carpenter, did a good job being responsible for the food, drinks, air horns and TALK. With her on board there was never a dull moment on the committee boat. The start was clean, and I panicked through a shift midway through the sequence, I came within seconds of blowing off the start, but patience prevailed; at the gun the line and course were dead on. The winds were getting a little more shifty, so we watched to see who would pick them up and find the pressure and carry it to victory. As the boats rounded the leeward mark, we noted a nice shift and said, "Let’s see who goes left and they will be the winners." We saw the Red boat and its cagey skipper, Nicole, go left and we all put our money on Boogie. It held true as she nailed the bullet in the second race holding off Scott Thomas, in one of his best finishes of the year in Foto Finish. The racing was very tight and the entire fleet finished the second race within four minutes of the first boat.
If we hurried we hoped to get a third race off in the nice conditions. Matt hustled to the windward mark and moved it left to adjust for the shift, Daniel put a "1" up on the board, and with two races done by 7:30, we went for our first triple-race night of the season. The winds were getting lighter, and we kept our fingers crossed it would hold and get everybody back to their moorings before sunset. Luckily it was a nice clean start and the fleet battled the incoming tide upwind, turned the mark closely downwind. Boogie once again favored the right side coming downwind, while Rick Tonks on Fuzzy Logic, with Richard Hubbell, and Terry Naylon on board, jibed off and played the left side, but couldn’t quite gain enough to take the second bullet of the night away from Boogie.
In the end it was a “Boogie Night,” taking the evening with two firsts and a third. ESP finished second with a first and two thirds. Fuzzy Logic and Foto Finish tied for third and were involved in some very close racing all night long. Schedenfruede, with Stephanie at the helm, was just a point behind in fifth, and a point ahead of Seth and the Medusa gang in sixth. The racing was close throughout the fleet as Pam, Rich and Katherine brought Tango home in seventh, with three seventh-place finishes in each of the races. More Cowbelle, USA 50, made its first races of the season finishing with three eighths, to take the eighth place. Drumbeat finished ninth, and Joy Robber had a tough-luck night being over in one race and caught on the backside of the shift in another.
The only fleet boats not racing were represented on the committee boat, so Fleet 27 should get a perfect attendance award for the evening. Hopefully we will hit a dozen boats on the line before the end of our 2008 season.
Thanks for a nice evening; its good to be home.
--Ralph, RC, VooDoo
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