MYCSunfish: AWOL

Artist's representation of what the racing must have been like this week

MYC@BYC updates have been noticeably absent lately as MYC Sunfish's intrepid reporter has been AWOL from the racing.  He says that there have been good reasons for his absence, apparently something to do with his inability to sneak away for several hours unnoticed from Mrs. MYC's birthday festivities. He promises that he will be on the scene next week.

In any case, We do have some results to present this week. Bill Brangiforte reports that the weather was much warmer this week, with a shifty northwest breeze, and that racing was close all day.  Doris Aschman reports that Scott Greenbaum ended Ken Charles' streak of weekly first place finishes, while Bernadette Levesque topped the B fleet. A big Thank You goes out to Doris and Bill!

The BoatCam wasn't idle though. It has branched out into another activity that apparently has a frostbite season. 

MYC@BYC Week 1: The Curse of the Camera: BROKEN!

Ken Charles beating his way through the fleet on a way winning the 1st race of the 2014 season.

The Spring 2014 Barrington Frostbite season got off to s strong start today, with 10 boats on the line on a beautiful brisk, sunny day.  Winds varied between 0 and 20 mph, with gentle shifts anywhere between 5 and 270 degrees. More than once, boats sailing in the same upwind heading were seen to be on different tacks. Downwind legs mysteriously became upwind legs. Reaches just as mysteriously became runs.

Ken Charles was able to pick his way through the shifts better than anyone else today, taking 1st in the A fleet and overall. More importantly, he broke the curse of the BoatCam! All of the other hapless BoatCam victims have suffered one malady after another on the race course on the day that they were chosen to carry the camera.  Ken decisively broke the curse by taking three 1sts in the 6 races run today.

In the B fleet, John House and Mark Stoughton fought a close duel all day, both finishing the day with the same number of points. John took first for the day after the scores were run through the tiebreaker.


R.I.P. Boatcam One

Today was to have been the first day with dual BoatCam coverage. We had BoatCam 2 on one A fleet boat and BoatCam 1 was returning to service after a year's layoff on one B fleet boat.

BoatCam 1: Somewhere under there, still filming.

During the start of the 4th race, the boom of the B fleet Victim's boat made contact with another boat.  The camera mount snapped, and the camera dangled precariously for several seconds before dropping off the boom into the depths of the Barrington River, still filming.

Boatcam One was getting long in the tooth. It was five years old and had developed a camera's version of Macular Degeneration in the last couple of years, with a large out of focus spot in the middle of its field of view. It was also coming down with Camera Alzheimer's, and would occasionally refuse to write to the SD card, but when it delivered footage, it was always good. It was doing what it loved when it dropped off the boat, and now it will film forever under the waves.

Somebody Forgot to Tell the Wind that Racing was Scheduled Today

No wind, snow problem.
(Photo by Eric Woodman)

This week was supposed to be the first week of the Spring Frostbite series at Barrington, but it appears that the weather gods didn't get the memo. At race time, the wind speed was 0, and things never improved. At that rate, the incoming tidal current would have swept the racers all the way to the Massachusetts line. Initial weather reports for next week are better, with 10-15 mph winds and 40 degree temperatures.