Charlotte Harbor 2015: What a fantastic weekend. So glad I was able to be a part of it.
Here's a quick (or maybe not-so-quick) writeup from a Michigan perspective.
Normally I skipper my boat, but it stayed north this winter so I was able to connect with Riccardi and fly down to crew for him; departing early Thursday AM when it was -6°F. Due to a last minute injury to Brooks, Uli (the guy who sales with Krista) was also able to fly down with me and skipper with Jeff Dusek.
Day 1 proved to be the best conditions. Sunny, mid 60's, with a solid 15+ out of the NE with gusts in the 20's. Someone mentioned one of the buoys seeing 28kts, but who knows - it was enough to keep the N17s on the beach 60 miles north of us, so I wouldn't be surprised. Dave Ingram promptly lost his mast hook before the 1st race (2nd time in 13 months I've seen this failure on a C2, so watch carefully). Andy and Joseph must have been hungry as they were doing some shrimping during their 1st practice spinnaker douse. Both boats ended up on the beach for the day. Charles/Dalton had a schedule conflict so joined us on Saturday.
Laura and Alex ruled the course with 4 bullets in 4 races. The wind oscillated slowly back/forth through about 30+°. Obviously the boats that picked the correct side of the course and stayed in phase made huge gains on the fleet. I learned quickly that I had underestimated the level of fitness required to crew in a breeze. Todd and I managed a 2nd in race one, but my lack of experience on the front of the boat and slowness in the transitions didn't help us too much. Fortunately, we remained in the thick of things, 1 point behind Uli/Jeff and 4 behind team Marshack. Laura/Alex could do no wrong.
Day 2 was another beautiful day - a bit warmer and with just a bit less wind perhaps 8-12kts. Although he was not able to find a proper replacement mast hook, Ding was able to improvise and Andy sorted out the gremlins on his boat, so we had all 9 boats on the course. Once again, the dominant wind direction was from the NE, but there were huge oscillations that slowly over 20-30 minutes brought the wind heading back/forth through 30-40°. Charles/Dalton had a great day going 1,3,3,1 and Laura/Alex were a bit less dominant, but still solid enough to maintain a significant lead. Team Marshack kept their solid #2 position, and Uli/Jeff and Todd/I kept our positions of 3 and 4 with only one point separating us. After the race, the organizers had a great spread of food and beverages. Feeling the combined effects of day1, day2 and a few adult beverages, it was an early night for me.
Day 3 - once again beautiful sunshine and warmer (mid-70's) with just enough air moving to put ripples on the water.
Race 1 saw huge swings in standings as various boats caught or missed a small puff or shift and moved from last/first and vice/versa. Charles/Dalton had things figured out for a dominant bullet, followed closely by team Marshak. The rest of the fleet got caught in puffs/shifts that sometimes saw boats on reciprocal headings. Todd and I needed to beat Uli/Jeff to tie in points. Coming to the finish, we were on port gybe coming square into the finish and Uli/Jeff were on the starboard on the layline. I thought we had them with good momentum, but Uli/Jeff threw a last second gybe around the finish mark to win by literally a single foot. Sh!t. Now we were down by 2pts with the wind getting lighter and flukier by the minute.
Race 2 saw Uli/Jeff head off to the right side of the course, while Todd and I stayed left. Todd called a perfect layline putting us 1st around the mark followed closely by Charles/Dalton and team Marshack. The rounding had some real pucker factor as the current slowly carried us toward it. Fortunately we got around cleanly with a foot or two to spare. The wind lightened to the point that the waves were shaking the wind out of the sails, making it nearly impossible to trim. Seeing some ripples in the distance, we stayed course left and agonized as the wind lane retreated from us. Most of the rest of the fleet headed the other way. Todd once again called a good layline and we were able to come to the gate on one gybe. As we got closer, we noticed there was a powerboat at the gate with the white w/blue square. Thank God, shortened race. We got a 2 behind Charles/Dalton. Now the question was how many boats were between us and Uli/Jeff. It looked like there might be enough to do it. However, when we got to the beach, there was some question as to whether all boats finished properly (going through the gate first), so we had no idea whether we had moved up to 3rd until the awards ceremony.
Fortunately for us, it was enough. Final standings were Laura/Alex, Team Marshack, Todd/JeffR, Uli/JeffD (Full fleet details
here) .
It seems its always hottest when it comes time to tear down and this regatta did not disappoint. After 4+ hours of sweating, rearranging, disassembly, and loading, we had the 4 boat trailer squared away for its trip back up to the Northeast.
Overall, we had an excellent experience. With plenty of parking, two broad swaths of beach, and great indoor facilities, there is no doubt this venue will be a perfect one for next fall's 2015 F18 Americas Championship.
Big thanks to the organizers for putting on an excellent, well-run, and thoroughly enjoyable regatta. Thanks also to Todd for the invite and his patience with me on day 1.
I think their mast dinged a few jets flying overhead it was so tall...