We got a chance to check in
w/Rubin of Chutzpah on his Tripp 40 and here is how it went last week in Key
West:
On the first day of racing
we were not the smoothest team but still managed to beat all but the Aerodyne
395's and took a fourth. During the second race we were a half boat ahead and
to leeward, separated by about 10 ft. of a 395 on the first upwind leg and were
squeezing them out. A starboard tack boat rating 42 appeared and it looked like
a easy cross. They past to stern
closely but without a "situation". They unfortunately felt they had
to alter course to take both our sterns as well as the 395's and protested us.
Since it was so early in the regatta and since the possibility of losing a
protest like that would be so devastating (13pts) we took the optional 20%
penalty and that cost us three points. Later the bowman off that boat
apologized to me and indicated that they really didn't have to duck us-I
thanked him for his honesty but the damage was done! We took a 4th plus three!
Through out the week our
boat handling, crew work and tactics really came together. With Benz's great
shift calling…we took firsts and thirds in each of the next four races. During
the last race we were over early and after restarting we worked our way back up
to 3rd place, we blew one shift that might have moved us up to first but ce'la
ve Benz was perfect otherwise. Approaching the finish line on port we tacked
over to starboard to finish. Unfortunately our new jib sheets with new hardware
opened on the port side (the type with a rotating pin lock) and by the time we
got moving again three boats slipped in on us with less than two boat lengths
left and we took a 7th, our worst finish.
Our 13 boat fleet was very
competitive, "Doc" the Olson 40' skippered by Donnie Brennan sailed
well in our fleet and finished 4th. At the end of 7 races Chutzpah was in first
place one point ahead of Tango(and Aerodyne 43 rating 12) and two ahead of
Tsunami(a Farr 395 rating 33)The last day of racing would be in light air. The
Aerodyne took a 9th in the first light air race and admittedly would not do
well in
race 8. All we had to worry
about was the boats from behind, primarily Tsunami which was well sailed but we
had been beating them more often than not. They would need to take a first
place to beat us unless we totally tanked which was unlikely, as we now had the
boat dialed in for most conditions and "our crew" was ready to sail
that last light air race. Even Benz had got to bed early. The breezes reached
4.5-6.5 but the race committee cancelled the race. Not ten minutes later we
were looking at 8's. By not starting the last race and allowing a throwout we
slipped from first to second by one point losing to Tango, a boat we certainly
would have run over in light air and who had to give us 33 secs/m.
Rubin
