This Thing is Getting Popular

Sunfish are starting to gather on the lake

The Saturday Sunfish Series is getting more popular and the competition is heating up. Three new racers showed up today to help create the most crowded Sunfish line of the series. Mike Goldstein, Gary Werden and John Houstle came to race today, bringing the total number of Sunfish Sailors entered in the series to 12. The competition was very close all afternoon, with Mark Stoughton, Gary, Mike, and John all taking firsts.  A lot of the races were decided in the last 40 feet, and often the first second and third place finishers were separatated by less than a half boat length. Gary took 4 firsts, Mark 2 and John and Mike took 1 each.  To show how close the competition was, Mark hit for the cycle today, with 2 firsts, 2 seconds, 2 thirds and 2 fourths.

Hearsay Racing

On the sidelines this week.

Your intrepid MYC Sunfish reporter was not at the races yesterday, so this weeks report is a bit sketchy.  Reports are that the racing was close with first place finishes going to at least three different people.  Alan Silk, of the Barrington Yacht Club is the first non MYC-member to make an appearance at the Series, and took a couple of firsts in tight races.  We have confirmation that he will be back racing with us later this summer.  Welcome Alan!

I Bet You're Wondering Where This Week's Post is

Where did all the Sunfish go?

I'll bet that you're looking at this picture and saying "Where are all the Sunfish?  The answer is that there weren't any this weekend because there was a Laser Team Racing regatta.  If sailboat racing is Soccer, Team Racing is like Rugby.  They run races on a "Z" shaped course, with he start and finish in the middle.  Sailors on each team cooperate with each other to block sailors from the other team.  It's almost like a bunch of match races all run simultaneously.  It's confusing to watch, and more confusing to sail in.

The Sunfish (and the sanity) will return this coming Saturday. At least one new Sunfish sailor has committed to join the rest of us, he'll be guest skipper on Sunfish 3929, since Mark can't race on Saturday.

Great Racing, and New People Every Week

Close Racing (Photo by Bob Gaffney)

The second Saturday Sunfish Series featured two new competitors and more close racing.  The day turned out to be perfect for Sunfish racing, with 10-15 mph winds from the southwest.  Rick Schlosser and Bernadette Levesque joined Mark Stoughton and Skip Russell for week two.  This makes a total of 7 different Sunfish skippers who've taken part in the two weeks of the series.  Rick took all five races, in some cases by closer margins than he won last year, while Mark and Bernadette took turns for 2nd place honors all day.  We're hoping for one and possibly two additional new skippers next week.

Results are on the MYC club website.

2013 Saturday Sunfish Series 1

Massapoag Yacht Club

Results are final as of 22:03 on June 24, 2013

Overall

Sailed: 10, Discards: 2, To count: 8, Entries: 7, Scoring system: Appendix A

SailNo	HelmName	Nett	R6 6/22/2013	R7	R8	R9	R10	Total
18037	Rick Schlosser	8.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	10.0
3911	Kevin Buruchian	8.0	1.0 DNC	1.0 DNC	1.0 DNC	1.0 DNC	1.0 DNC	10.0
3918a	Andrew Kline	16.8	(2.2 DNC)	2.2 DNC	2.2 DNC	2.2 DNC	2.2 DNC	22.0
1	Bernadette Levesque	18.0	2.0	(3.0)	2.0	(3.0)	2.0	24.0
3929	Mark Stoughton	21.0	3.0	2.0	3.0	2.0	3.0	27.0
3901	Skip Russell	32.0	4.0	4.0	4.0	4.0	4.0	42.0
None	Alan Dimson-Doyle	36.0	4.6 DNC	4.6 DNC	4.6 DNC	4.6 DNC	4.6 DNC	46.0

http://SailMYC.org

http://MYCSunfish.blogspot.com
MYCSunfish.gmail.com

Sailwave Scoring Software 2.9.7
www.sailwave.com

Saturday Sunfish Series Starts!

Kevin Buruchian Demonstrating the proper rigging of a Sunfish.
The Flying Scot in the background passed out from the depth of Kevin's knowledge

The Massapoag Saturday Sunfish Series kicked off in style this afternoon.  Kevin Buruchian started the events by generously volunteering to lead a Sunfish Rigging seminar.  He used two boats to demonstrate heavy air vs. light air rigging differences. Then he personally inspected the boats of every Sunfish competitor, offering tips and suggesting rig improvements.  His instruction didn't stop on the beach either.  On the water, he spent time with every Sunfish sailor, giving tips, pointers and critiques to the rest of the fleet.

On the water, the racing was spirited.  Kevin did horizon jobs on all of us, including the Laser sailors, but there was close competition betwen Mark Stoughton and Andrew Kline for 2nd and 3rd places and between Alan Dimson-Doyle and Skip Russell for 4th and 5th places.

Today's results are below. Full Series results are here

2013 Saturday Sunfish Series 1

Massapoag Yacht Club

Results are final as of 21:40 on June 15, 2013

Overall

Sailed: 5, Discards: 1, To count: 4, Entries: 5, Scoring system: Appendix A

SailNo	HelmName	R1 6/15/2013	R2 6/15/2013	R3 6/15/2013	R4 6/15/2013	R5 6/15/2013	Total	Nett
3911	Kevin Buruchian	(1.0)	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	5.0	4.0
3918a	Andrew Kline	2.0	2.0	(3.0)	2.0	2.0	11.0	8.0
3929	Mark Stoughton	(3.0)	3.0	2.0	3.0	3.0	14.0	11.0
3901	Skip Russell	4.0	(5.0)	4.0	4.0	5.0	22.0	17.0
None	Alan Dimson-Doyle	(5.0)	4.0	5.0	5.0	4.0	23.0	18.0

http://SailMYC.org

http://MYCSunfish.blogspot.com
MYCSunfish.gmail.com

Sailwave Scoring Software 2.9.7
www.sailwave.com

Sunfish Racing Begins with a Clinic

What we hope the beach looks like tomorrow!

The MYC Sunfish Racing Series begins tomorrow!  Festivities are going to start at 1:00, when MYC's own Sunfish champion, Kevin Buruchian, is going to conduct a Sunfish rigging clinic.  He will demonstrate a standard Sunfish rig and a customized racing rig, pointing out the differences and improvements that can be made.  Plus if you'd like he will inspect the rig on your boat and help you tune it to make you faster on the race course.  Bring your questions!

Racing starts at 3:00pm, and we will get in as many races as time allows and we will finish up at around 5:00.

Massapoag Capsize Club Part II

Sailing like this is slow.
(Photo by Bob Gaffney)

This year's Spring regatta picked up right where last year's fall regatta left off. Nearly 30 intrepid Sunfish and Laser sailors braved heavy winds and 30mph gusts at the 6th annual Sunfish/Laser Regatta.  Capsizes and difficult shifty conditions were the order of the day. A lot of people found out just how slow sailing upside down really is.

In the Sunfish B fleet, Mark Stoughton put up 3 firsts and 2 seconds to take first place in the B fleet.  The score doesn't show how close the racing was between Mark, John Houstle and Harvey Davidson, with all three of them trading the lead throughout the races.

After leading at the A fleet at the lunch break, Kevin Buruchian waged a close battle with Amanda Callahan and Bill Brangiforte.  Bill won the day by just two points over Kevin and Amanda, who were tied, with Kevin taking the tiebreaker for 2nd.

John Eckart bested the 14 boat Laser fleet, putting in a solid performance throughout the day.

Diane Kampf has created a Flickr page with a series of excellent photos of the regatta, including some outstanding shots on the water taken by Bob Gaffney.

Sunfish Fleet Results are here: http://mycsunfish.blogspot.com/p/race-results.html

Full results are on the Massapoag yacht Club web site: http://www.sailmyc.org/Racing/MYCRaceResults.aspx