Fleet Championship Race #3 was raced on another fine day in Mission Bay

 

The schedule was for 6 races in typical SCRA fashion (fast and furious, 3 min sequences, whistles for horns, no breaks). 

 

Weather was text book Mission Bay with 7-10kts, sunny, 72 deg and a right-hand shift in the afternoon.  The attendance was smaller than publicized with the non-appearance of Taz.  I personally also think that we were competing with an event on Harbor Island called Sail and Ale.  I have no idea what it was about but the guy who named it was a marketing genius!

 

Race #1 triangle sausage saw White Trash (Beale/Ken) sporting their pretty new main and now becoming Team Fiddlers Green.  Kurzava has a problem with change in his life(clearly) so has renamed them temporarily to Green Trash until he can accept it fully.  Well... it works... and after a good start they rounded the top mark in first with Team Bollocks!(Nelson/Kurzava) and Team Kitty(Billings/Wood) in a dual that was going to set the tone for the day.  After a poor set slowed Fiddlers down on the first reach, Team Bollocks! passed and then held off the Kitty for the bullet in race 1.  Team Road Kill (Pollard/McKinney) brought up the rear.  Bollocks!, Kitty, Fiddlers Green, Road Kill

 

Race #2 triangle sausage twice around was eventually thrown out by fleet vote due to some confusion on the course.  To their credit, Team Kitty is still convinced that the course was only two sausages instead of triangle sausage sausage.  Of course, Team Road Kill also are still convinced they get the bullet in this race as in their eyes they were the only ones to cross the finish line (even though race committee saw everyone cross before Road Kill rounded the leward mark).  No score.

 

Race #3 one sausage was more of the same as race #1 except RC kept it simple for John with a course that would not cause discourse.  Bollocks! rounds in first by picking the right side and holds off the fleet.  Bollocks!, Kitty, Fiddlers, Kill.

 

Race #4 triangle-sausage.  Race committee is making it tricky again- watch out!  Kitty rounds in first, Bollocks!, Fiddlers and Kill round it out. Bollocks! Passes Kitty to weather while Kitty deep and focused on something else and wins in a photo finish.  Bollocks!, Kitty, Fiddlers, Kill.

 

Race #5 sausage-sausage  Kitty is finding her feet and Bollocks! is getting tired.  Fiddlers has holed their kite and are still a contender to weather but are having a tough time keeping it fast downwind- especially on the runs.  In another photo finish, Kitty rounds the leward mark inches behind Kitty but Kitty defeats Bollocks! when Geoff tries to experiment with finishing the race with the mast raked back and no vang.  Note to self: it's not fast.  Kitty, Bollocks!, Fiddlers, Kill.

 

Race #6 three triangles.  I think RC is having pity on Fiddlers and gives us all reaches.  Team Bollocks! is really tired now.  Kitty rounds in fist, Fiddlers in second.  After an altercation with Fiddlers downwind and then another altercation with the top mark, Bollocks! is dizzy from doing turns- the result is Kitty, Fiddlers, Bollocks!, Road Kill (dnf)!  Mike Pollard had some crew rebellion issues on Kill and decided a solid dunking was the key to restoring order and discipline.  I am not sure if it worked but made for some fine amusement.

 

Final results:

 

Bollocks! 1, 1, 1, 2, 3= 8

Kitty 2, 2, 2, 1, 1= 8

Fiddlers Green 3, 3, 3, 3, 2= 14

Road Kill 4, 4, 4, 4, 5= 25

 

The Fleet Championship is really heating up though!  With these scores,

Kitty is tied for first with Taz (13pts) and Bollocks! is tied for second with TGIF with 10 pts each.  Fiddlers is close behind with 8 pts and Road Kill has 4pts.

 

Cheers,

 

Geoff Nelson

USA 7095

Team Bollocks!