Monday, April 09, 2007
2007 SCYC A-Cat Spring Open
The Santa Cruz Yacht Club hosted a 505 and A-Cat regatta in classic springtime conditions. The fleet in Santa Cruz has been exploding recently and five local sailors welcomed Jeremy Laundergan from SoCal to experience Monterey Bay sailing at its finest.
Saturday had a cool morning with light southerly winds that slowly gave way to warm clear skies and increasingly strong westerlys until a light easterly came around in the afternoon. Andy Kolb demonstrated some impressive performance enhancements on his new heavily modified flyer as he launched ahead of the fleet right on the heels of Jeremy's A2 in the light winds of the first race on Saturday.
Jeremy held on to a dominant lead, but due to a tactical mistake (a local rule) he found himself disqualified at the finish line. That left Andy to celebrate the day until he was called over-early in the second race and then suffered a ruptured downhaul line inside the mast that forced him to retire just as the winds shifted to the west and were building to his favorite conditions.
With the Kolb flying machine out of the picture, and high winds approaching, Bruce Edwards and Davi Ottenheimer found each other vying for a lead as they blasted over large ocean swell and through the choppy wind waves. Bruce showed his extensive 505 fleet sailing experience by roaring with Davi through an obstacle course of slow-moving spinnakers, as if the other boats were standing still, and then emerging clean ahead to the finish.
Towards the end of the third race the wind from the west started to ease and the day finished with a spectacular sail back into the harbor.
Sunday started out with clear skies much earlier in the day, which usually indicates a blow-out westerly is to be expected. Although big wind was not in the official forecast the fleet took off early for some extra time in the light morning southerly. The wind hesitated to build and so a fourth race was sailed in light southerly breezes.
Back to light air Jeremy turned on the A2 afterburners and walked away from the local heavy-wind loving fleet. Following the previous day's wave action kelp became a huge factor as the slimy green stuff filled the course and threatened to grab foils and bring competitors to a standstill. Mike Egan built up incredible momentum and flew into position just behind Jeremy on the second windward leg but he was mercilessly attacked and forced to retire by an angry kelp monster.
With Mike headed home Bruce Edwards then started to extend his lead on the fleet. He managed to keep his position ahead of Davi and Andy until the final leward rounding when Davi swept in from a big "righty" and initiated a tacking dual to the finish. Although Bruce started to build his lead again through the tacks, he cursed an oily appendage of kelp at the finish as Davi sailed ahead over the line.
After the fourth race the southerly wind shied away and left the sailors in lumpy trough-like seas waiting for new wind. Giant ominous-looking whitecaps could be seen in the far distance but the transition stalled. The committee took some readings and then decided to move inshore to pick up an early easterly instead of sending everyone further offshore into the full-on 20+ knt spring fury of Santa Cruz ocean breeze and swell.
Once again in light wind Jeremy turned the corner at the first windward mark and said "sionara" to the others. He had quick line honors on a shortened course. The big rolling waves combined with a breeze from the opposite direction provided some challenging conditions for sail trim and angles in the final race.
Photo by Bob Simpkins
Saturday had a cool morning with light southerly winds that slowly gave way to warm clear skies and increasingly strong westerlys until a light easterly came around in the afternoon. Andy Kolb demonstrated some impressive performance enhancements on his new heavily modified flyer as he launched ahead of the fleet right on the heels of Jeremy's A2 in the light winds of the first race on Saturday.
Jeremy held on to a dominant lead, but due to a tactical mistake (a local rule) he found himself disqualified at the finish line. That left Andy to celebrate the day until he was called over-early in the second race and then suffered a ruptured downhaul line inside the mast that forced him to retire just as the winds shifted to the west and were building to his favorite conditions.
With the Kolb flying machine out of the picture, and high winds approaching, Bruce Edwards and Davi Ottenheimer found each other vying for a lead as they blasted over large ocean swell and through the choppy wind waves. Bruce showed his extensive 505 fleet sailing experience by roaring with Davi through an obstacle course of slow-moving spinnakers, as if the other boats were standing still, and then emerging clean ahead to the finish.
Towards the end of the third race the wind from the west started to ease and the day finished with a spectacular sail back into the harbor.
Sunday started out with clear skies much earlier in the day, which usually indicates a blow-out westerly is to be expected. Although big wind was not in the official forecast the fleet took off early for some extra time in the light morning southerly. The wind hesitated to build and so a fourth race was sailed in light southerly breezes.
Back to light air Jeremy turned on the A2 afterburners and walked away from the local heavy-wind loving fleet. Following the previous day's wave action kelp became a huge factor as the slimy green stuff filled the course and threatened to grab foils and bring competitors to a standstill. Mike Egan built up incredible momentum and flew into position just behind Jeremy on the second windward leg but he was mercilessly attacked and forced to retire by an angry kelp monster.
With Mike headed home Bruce Edwards then started to extend his lead on the fleet. He managed to keep his position ahead of Davi and Andy until the final leward rounding when Davi swept in from a big "righty" and initiated a tacking dual to the finish. Although Bruce started to build his lead again through the tacks, he cursed an oily appendage of kelp at the finish as Davi sailed ahead over the line.
After the fourth race the southerly wind shied away and left the sailors in lumpy trough-like seas waiting for new wind. Giant ominous-looking whitecaps could be seen in the far distance but the transition stalled. The committee took some readings and then decided to move inshore to pick up an early easterly instead of sending everyone further offshore into the full-on 20+ knt spring fury of Santa Cruz ocean breeze and swell.
Once again in light wind Jeremy turned the corner at the first windward mark and said "sionara" to the others. He had quick line honors on a shortened course. The big rolling waves combined with a breeze from the opposite direction provided some challenging conditions for sail trim and angles in the final race.
Photo by Bob Simpkins
Date: April 7-8, 2007
Sailed:5, Discards:0, Entries:6
1 199 XJ Davi Ottenheimer SCYC 2 2 2 2 2 = 10
2 244 Flyer Bruce Edwards StFYC 5 1 1 3 4 = 14
3 79 A2 Jeremy Laundergan ABYC 6 5 4 1 1 = 15
4 150 Flyer Andy Kolb AKYC 1 6 6 4 3 = 20
5 184 Flyer Mike Egan HBYC 4 3 3 5 6 = 21
6 181 Flyer Paul Allen SCYC 3 4 5 6 6 = 24
# posted by Davi @ 11:21 AM 
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