alrussellvt
Member
member is offline
 
Posts: 57
|
 |
Fall '09 Wrap-up
« Thread started on: Oct 20th, 2009, 12:26pm » |
|
Well, It's official. Full season results here:
http://sites.google.com/site/mbbclaserfleet/
Christine Neville and Robin Doyle had their final match-up, and Christine handled the match race aspect like an old Pro, covering/smothering Robin and taking the Season Champs as No. 1. And the "Men" were just part of the scenery it seems. So, we've modified the Trophy to cover this new scenario. I'll show a pic after it's more publicly presented. We do have to give full credit to Christine, as it's not possible to just slide into First, after 63 races, most of which had 14+ on the start line, and sometimes up to 19. Besides having that lanky, light physique that is expected to work in our relatively light evening venue, Christine committed to Lasers, got her gear in shape, and commuted to Newport, RI to frostbite with some of the best there is all Winter. Time in the boat is hard to beat, no matter how talented or experienced you are (and recent time seems to outweigh time spent 10-20 years ago :-0).
Robin Doyle deserves credit too, coming in a very close Second. Her strong leadership all Summer showed us how dedication pays off, even though that is her busy season at work at ISS. She has been consistant and came closer than ever to taking the Season Champs trophy. 11 points behind, after 63 races, works out to .175 points per race. As most of you know, that's about 1/4 of a boatlength at the first weather mark, on average. That's the difference between one good roll tack, and a mediocre roll tack, per race.
Mike Hoffman, out favorite Badger (UWis) came in Third, after a valiant effort. Pretty good effort for a guy with 2 kids, a job, and a power boat, all distracting him from Lasers. (Contact him if you want to buy a power boat!) BTW, UWis is hosting the ICSA Nationals this Spring.
Dave Klebanoff finished fourth, and did an admirable job of scorekeeping all year. He eventually worked out a way to beat the MBBC password game (or should I say the lack of a password). Sign him up for next year I say, as scorekeeper. And check out that website mentioned above. Good place for your latest pics, cool ideas, race analysis. It's something we've needed, now send him stuff to fill it. I cc'ed him, so that you all can bookmark his email address, and send him pics and stuff.
Wrap-up - 63 races is actually kind of light for us, as we've had 90+ a few years ago. We did lose 3 nights to T-storms and rain in July, but I think we also did a lot more twice arounds than in previous years. The fleet's skills grew , resulting in lots of overlaps on the first time around, so that second time around makes it better, giving a much better chance to resolve who was fastest at that particular time/condition. There also seems to have been almost no super light crapshoots, as the wind died for the night. Lots of pretty fair medium hiking conditions instead. 38 Skippers came out at least once, and 14 of them won a race. Also, 24 MBBC Club members own a laser now.
MBBC Laser Alumni are spreading the Word! Former MBBCer Geoff Hurwitch followed his employer (Rossignol) to Park City a couple of years ago. Something about powder and sunshine left him a little bored. Well, real men/women ski Ice and race Lasers, we all know that. So, anyway, he decided he just had to race lasers, so he looked around Utah, and concluded that he had to build his own fleet to match his Burlap/MBBC quality of life, since Utah Powder alone doth not make the Man! So, now he has found some man made lake and gets 20+ laser Tuesday night starts, with a total of 45+ boats in his racks. And since he's a graduate of the Rossignol School of Promotion, he's been written up in Sailing World, Scuttebutt and others as the Guru of sailing in the Powder Capital of the World. Check out SW Oct or Scuttlebutt's report of their 30 boat Masters No-coast Champs (where MBBC and even your's truly gets a mention)
http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=8391
Speaking of Alumni: The College racing scene has really noticed UVM. Their Co-eds are consistently ranked Top 15 (as high as 10 recently), and their teams depth is equally as important. Sailgroove.org is even attending their practices with video. Pete and Conner are helping to build the rep, as every weekend they send teams in 3-4 directions to race. Their women have even started to make some moves in a brutally tough NE circuit, and even at an Intersectional at Navy last week. UVM Coed's were ranked 14th nationally last week. Climbing from there is exponentially hard, as they race against the best there is in NEISA.
Brown's women are holding on to 3rd, and Coed's 4th. St Mary's is steady in the top 7-8, both Coed, and Women. Allyson is abroad til Dec. but she says hello to everyone from Mombasa or Nairobi or whereever is next..
Anyone else have any news to share?
http://www.sailingworld.com/ranks and http://www.sailgroove.org/ (great videos!)
MBBC Awards Dinner is Oct 24, sort of right after Club Closing.. Info attached, if anyone is interested in attending. Rsvp deadline is TODAY, and the Ship casts off promptly. Info attached (I think?)
And a Thank you has to go out to Sarah, for being there every single night, and delivering really good lines/courses/results. There is no question in my mind, that the single best RC work of the year at MBBC has to go out to her, and her numerous helpers. She has helped us to bring MBBC laser racing to a higher level, and it's true that if you don't even notice the RC when racing, then they have done a great job, even with 18+ boats on the line. Additional thanks to Scott Beaudin and Al Baker for believing in my rather odd concept of having our own RC boat, and agreeing to partner up. The Robalo has worked out well, for Lasers as well as for our own use for other things, such as RCing the Lightnings, etc. Thanks guys! The Lightnings are racing this weekend, and Sarah and I are RC, so let us know if you want to help out.
Club Membership - Yes, there is a waiting list for full club membership, so if you're thinking that you might want to join someday, then get on the list NOW, as it might take 3-4 years. There is info at mbbc-vt.org.
Club Closing is October 24 also. Come over at 9 AM-1 if you want to offer some help. There is no boat storage at the Club, so make sure yours are gone either by then, or a few weeks afterwards. If you want anything from the inside racks for Fall or Winter sailing etc Get it by the 24th as the building gets boarded up, and I haven't got the key.
New sailors - You bet, as I have 2 newbees actively looking for boats now. Let me know if you want to upgrade, and I'll connect you to them. The ex-World's boat are available from various sources at 4600. which is a great buy for a boat used only 5-10 days. They have new dolly and sail, I think.
|
Author
Logged