Second verse same as the first…. This past Wednesday night had all of the great things in
common with the first race and none of the bad! J-Mark was still M.I.A and the breeze filled in from the
south shortly prior to the start at 12-15 knots. Over 60 boats showed up on the
course for a beautiful night, WOW! Principle
Race Officer John Wolf opted for the course of YUH once around. He also kept us on our toes by letting the
boats start by class in alphabetical order (fast boats first, with spinnaker
boats bringing up the rear). This
change in starting order should help please the minority woe-is-me crowd.
Video of class A Start
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In Class A, J-130 Lesson #1
driven by Jay Williams gave the other sailors a real lesson in
Port Tack starting. Jay hit the line
on time, with boat speed to win his start. Well-done Jay! Tim Murray’s Keep Moving who may be
the best twilight racer of the new millennium once again dominated his
class by placing first. Tim’s
finishes this year include six 1st place finishes, a 2nd and an OCS.
(He lent the boat to the Taggart’s for the 2nd place finish
and was covering a competitor on the OCS).
One of Tim’s many secrets is getting his bottom wiped by Ricardo
every week (boat bottom that is).
Banker, Guy Williams
sailing his light air bandit Hobie 33 Pineapple Express placed second. After having a little trouble getting out the gate, race-horse J-130
Java driven by Merlin Wilson had to call out snack-tician Jeff
Hampton, from the galley down below,
for some of his infinite twilight race wisdom to help grind down its
deep drafted sister ship for their third place finish. Needless to say, dinner was late.
Video of class B Start
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In Class B, to the dismay of most port
hackers, I mean tackers, J-22 Throwdown driven by John Maclaughlin
caused havoc at the start by showing up on starboard (the nerve of him). John
executed this great start with the help of rock star racers Gilbert
Maclaughlin & Ryan Bancroft. By
the way, their wives left another message with NOYC bartender “Come home now! Next Wednesday, we’re
gonna go racen and dey gotta watch da kids!”. Throwdown corrected
out by over thirty seconds to win Class B. J-30 Zephyr, driven by
Scott Tonguis (graduate of Bobby Knights school of sensitivity)
also started on starboard to finish in second place. Jorinda Junious-Rogers driving J-30
Halfaglass started aggressively on port and pulled off a Houdini-like-maneuver
to avoid fouling and trading paint with Gigi, Zephyr and Throwdown
to finish third in class (it wasn’t pretty and some eyes got really
big).
Video of class C Start
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In Class C,
Jim Evans’ Morgan 34 The
Reason Why corrected out to first place.
Jims’ boat really likes those medium-heavy air reaching legs and that
is “The Reason Why….. they kick so much
butt on a regular basis!”. Series
sponsor Al Gooch driving Scampi finished in second place. In third place, was Douglas
White’s Red Luder. Those L-16’s
just don’t have the water line to compete with those other fast Class C
reaching machines.
Video of class D Start
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In Spinnaker Class D, race committee
professional Phil Pizzeck sailing his nicely refurbished Rhodes-19
Rhode Hawg corrected out to a first in class and first in fleet, but
whose counting? Good going Phil!
Oh yeah, I almost forgot, Phil gotta little help from series sponsor Benz
Faget. Placing second was Wayne Connellys' “Worlds Fastest Hunter 34”
Cool Change. Rumor has it that Wayne
bought his headsail on the Internet for $100 (give him a call and he’ll find
you a headsail too) really, for true, just ask him, he brags about it all the
time after he beats you with it. [Editors' note: Wayne writes"....although I do own a $100 headsail that I did buy off the internet, I have been sailing with a North
3DL that Benz made and I need to give credit where credit is due."] Once again, LPRC red jacket winner Alan Robson took a third on J-35
Footloose.
It was another great Wednesday night twilight race. The Race Committee did a great job again.
John Wolf states that he will try to set a better starting line next week. The prizes
this week included BBQ pits & beer from WARSTEINER (The best selling
German beer in the world), bar tabs and gift Certificates from
North Sails. We have some nice video of most of the starts and we will try
to be streaming this video on NOYC.org before next week. To the fleets and RC’s dismay, a few boats have been showing up and not
registering, if you know any of these folks, please have them register at the
bar, by phone or online.
The opinions expressed in this twilight race recap do not necessarily reflect those of the New Orleans Yacht Club members, its board of directors or our series sponsors. But you know, if you read it on the
internet, it must be true! See you next
week.
