SanDiego505 - SCRA April Regatta Report

April 6, 2003

Navy Yacht Club
Team TGIF

Turns out Steve's words were truly prophetic when he claimed that TGIF would "take advantage of new boat syndrome" and try to snag a victory from "Team Weasel II" - although the prophesy panned out in a different way than some might have imagined.

The morning began on a somber note, with many sailors lamenting the fact that they were forced to make the bitter choice between sailing SCRA and driving escort boats for the crew classic.

We all began rigging, wondering when the new Team Weasel boat would arrive. The unveiling was quite exciting, with everyone commenting on the cool color scheme. I think we all agreed it was a 2-tone 'flan and baby puke' scheme.

The actual sailing was quite fun, with a slightly longer courses than the typical SCRA regatta, but a nice short start line to make up for it. Team TGIF demonstrated the value of starting and finishing all the races (a lesson we learned at the NOODs this year). In the first race, we got a good start and led the way around the course - Roger and Mike looked good and their upwind speed seems like it's coming along quite nicely. They snagged second place in this one.

Weasel II decided to time their departure from the beach so that they could sail directly to the committee boat and round its transom at the gun (damn they're good!) - they then proceeded to show us the way, with some nice downwind speed on the reach/run to the wing mark. We chased them around the course and saw some battles between FreeBee and KAOS behind us.

In the 3rd or 4th race (can't remember which) we had a tough start but managed to stay close to Dan & Bill for much of the upwind. We noticed Roger was hanging with us quite well also - and the differences were mainly due to speed through the tacks. Dan & Bill would gain a length on us with every tack and we would do likewise with the other boats. Time in the boat with focused practice will help that. Before the race ended though, Most of Roger's centerboard decided to separate itself from his boat.

Freebee's upwind speed suffered dramatically with this extreme low-aspect, low-drag centerboard and they decided to call it a day. Dan & Bill graciously sailed over to the RC to inform them that FreeBee needed assistance and we passed them and stayed ahead as a result. Since they didn't ask for redress we decided not to complain about them hooking and dragging the weather mark on the second beat :-)

Mark and Bob worked out some of the kinks in Moxy, and at one point raked back to 24'10"! That may have been a bit much for the conditions.

The official results and high point rankings are on the website.

Lame Excuses

Mark Kurzava - oops! Sorry, Mark - I just typed your name out of habit

Chris Shand - didn't want to risk exposure to SARS

Dave Eberhardt - didn't want to miss his glam rock band reunion concert - The Crüe Classic

Chris Stomberg - it's just not funny anymore

Bill McKinney - getting his Hobie 16 ready for the Catfight - the best run regatta on the west coast

John Billings - spent the weekend checking out the high school girls

Rick Denney - thought SCRA was the Santana 20 Cruising/Racing Association

Team Tortuga - recent increase in exposure to toxic varnish fumes led to stomach ailments