The last Wednesday afternoon non-spinnaker race brought the four stalwart NEHF competitors to the line. A southerly faded into a westerly as the juniors were getting ready to race IODs in the Barton Eddison Race just ahead of the cruising class. Then, as soon as they started, a shot of seabreeze pushed back the westerly. The cruising sailors were sent off towards D on the Seawall shore and then back to Bear Island. Racing remained very tight as the breeze lightened again and everyone compressed before turning the green can 'M' at the mouth of the Western Way. A very tactical run followed with Far Out working Cranberry early and jibing down the middle after that. Flirt tried the same strategy but got burned badly by the Sidewinder who heated things up along the Manset shore and drove down across Flirt's bow with more pressure. A nice beat from Bear Island into SW Harbor gave the sailors the freshest breeze of the day. Far out stepped out even farther to capture victory after reaching around Greening Island to the Fleet for a finish. Far Out corrected to just under 2 minutes on their victory over Sidewinder and they put the nail in the coffin for the others on the August Haaland Series.
A beautiful NW breeze cleared the skies from the morning rain and showers. The wind did not have much gusto as the fleet of boats had a downwind start from Q to Islesford's outer can. A beat back to N at Kings Point was followed by a downwind leg back to Q. Flirt was on the tail of Far Out as racers headed back to Fleet mark S at Gilpatrick Cove. They had a tough time breaking by Gilpatrick Ledge as the current was ebbing hard. Sidewinder went out into the current and made a big gain and got around S in hot pursuit of the big red boat. They winged a little too long as Far Out gybed into fresh pressure off Greening and carried it down to Q. The RC changed the course to finish at Q as the current was really cranking out. Far Out claimed their well deserved victory followed by Sidewinder and Flirt.
A crisp cold front with fairly stiff breezes from the NW greeted racers at Mark Q for the fifth race of the series. A beat up into Gilpatrick Cove made everyone work hard in the strongest blasts of the afternoon. Sunscreen was necessary for the long leg out to Baker Island's Can 3 off the NE corner. Upwind action followed to Bowden Ledge off Seal Harbor with the shifts getting wider in angle and the pressure varying more as well. An open reach down to Islesford's outside can led to a long beat back to P at the mouth of the Sound. The tide was exactly high so it was easy to judge the laylines up in the corner off Fernald Point. A run back to S concluded the afternoon. Most of the separation seemed to occur on the first leg. Far Out nailed the start at the boat and never looked back.
Only five boats came to race today on a beautiful mid-July day off Mt Desert Island. Starting from the south corner of Greening Island, sailors made their way out the Western Way and out around Little Duck Island to starboard. There was much tight tacking along the Seawall shore as the current was flooding pretty hard. Far Out showed their heels and broke out past South Bunker Ledge first. Flirt and Sidewinder were in hot pursuit with Va Pensiero and Woodie following close behind.
The return trip saw the rate of flooding beginning to ease and the breeze had some nice thermal blasts as sailors made their way through SW Harbor and past Greening Island to the green flasher at the mouth of the Sound. A jibe turn sent everyone back to Gilpatrick Cove where Far Out grabbed the cannon and corrected out to victory by just over 5 minutes on Flirt. Interesting that corrected time matched finish order exactly today.
Maggie Bacon's sailing coach from Tufts stopped by with his family on this celebratory day at the NE Harbor Fleet. Ken Legler not only showed the stern to the crowd but he won by almost 10 minutes corrected on a 5.6 mile course. Ken and Lisa were sailing Dakota and they did an amazing job of sniffing out the pressure as well as avoiding the foul current.
After a delightful barbecue at the Fleet House, competitors gathered just off Gilpatrick Ledge. The faint east breeze was mediocre at best but, sailable. The current was ebbing pretty hard. Competitors headed upwind to Bear Island's W, down to the SE corner of Greening Island, up to W again, back by S on their way to the mouth of the sound, and finally returning to mark S off the anchorage.
At both windward marks Sidewinder led. However they had a difficult time sailing dead downwind winging their jib. By sailing hotter angles they actually ended up putting the boat in more adverse current. The Legler family simply sailed more rhumb line and ended up sailing a much shorter distance over the bottom.
It was a fun, thinly overcast day with patchy breeze which was readable on the surface ripples. Congrats to the Leglers!
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Sailed:2, Discards:0, To count:2, Ratings:PHRF, Entries:11, Scoring system:Appendix A |
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|
Rank |
Boat |
Class |
HelmName |
PHRF |
Haaland Series Race 1 |
Haaland Series Race 2 |
Total |
Nett |
|
1st |
Flirt |
J/100 |
Mike Cook |
102 |
83.9 |
78.2 |
162.1 |
162.1 |
|
2nd |
Woodie |
IOD |
John Roberts |
162 |
74.0 |
69.5 |
143.5 |
143.5 |
|
3rd |
Dakota |
IOD |
Ken Legler |
162 |
44.2 DNC |
95.5 |
139.7 |
139.7 |
|
4th |
Sidewinder |
J/105 |
Tom Rolfes |
96 |
44.2 DNC |
86.9 |
131.1 |
131.1 |
|
5th |
Far Out |
Morris 52 |
Hal Kroeger and Ben Lathrop |
84 |
93.8 |
34.8 DNC |
128.6 |
128.6 |
|
6th |
Firefly |
IOD |
Sandro Vitelli |
162 |
44.2 DNC |
60.8 |
105.0 |
105.0 |
|
7th |
Mary Jane |
Luders 16 |
Wells Bacon |
228 |
64.0 |
34.8 DNC |
98.8 |
98.8 |
|
8th |
Va Pensiero |
Center Harbor 48 |
Joe Weber |
78 |
54.1 |
43.5 |
97.6 |
97.6 |
|
9th |
Puff |
IOD |
David Schoeder |
162 |
44.2 DNC |
52.2 |
96.4 |
96.4 |
|
10th |
Luders 16 |
IOD |
Pancho Cole |
228 |
44.2 DNC |
34.8 |
79.0 |
79.0 |
|
10th |
Laney Lu |
Morris 36 |
Mark Kryder |
129 |
44.2 |
34.8 DNC |
79.0 |
79.0 |
The inaugural race of the 90th season of organized sailboat racing at the NE Harbor Fleet had a great turnout with seven competitors showing up for a rainy day on the Great Harbor. Unfortunately, Sidewinder had main halyard problems and had to put in for repairs before the starting signal.
With a SSW of 8-11 knots the sailors headed out from Bear Island to Long Ledge. Flirt and Woodie crushed the start with everyone soon looking for better pressure and angle on the Manset shore. A little flooding current relief was found to the right as well. Flirt was first around after a 3.8 mile beat to windward. Far Out was trying to reel them in while Va Pensiero, Woodie, Laney Lu and Mary Jane were anxious to make some big gains, too.
After riding the current and lighter breezes back in, the competitors were trying to work their way through SW Harbor to round Greenings Island. Everybody compressed and the fleet got quite tight by the time they emerged on the north corner to head back to Bear Island. A west breeze looked promising but, it was not to be. The pressure dropped and everyone stretched out again. The race was shortened at the Bear Island Bell for a total of 9.5 miles.
Congrats to Ben Lathrop on Far Out for taking the first gun of the season and achieving victory in the last half mile to the finish. Results and links to many pics will be up on the Fleet website Thursday. Reath Trophy pursuit race is next on tap for Sunday afternoon. SIs are on Fleet website and will also be available from the RC at Mark S. Lots and lots of winning categories and cannons will be blasting!
