Gentle Breezes?

Bernadette Levesque (4158) showing her son Noah (4062) how to sail a fast downwind leg.

29 boats, and their skippers showed up for an easy sail in the gentle 21-30 knot breezes at the Massapoag Small Boat Rodeo Regatta yesterday. Capsizes were the order of the day in all three fleets. Some of the boats threw their skippers, and others sailed away without them, and there were a couple of breakdowns due to the wind.

The competition in the Championship fleet was fierce. PRO Greg Kampf summed it up perfectly, saying "Tough Fleet" when he found out that one quarter of the fleet was made up of current or former North American Champions. Dan Hesse travelled all the way from Saratoga Springs NY to take the regatta with 8 points in 6 races. He bested Bill Brangiforte, Scott Greenbaum, Alan Beckwith and Ken Charles.

The Sunfish Challenger fleet ended up with a 3-way tie for first place. John Houstle took the tiebreaker and first place, even after sailing upside down most of the day.  Mark Stoughton too 2nd and Noah Levesque took 3rd.

The Levesque family is trying very hard to match the Charles family for the biggest family Sunfish Fleet.  Bernadette was joined by her husband Pete and her son Noah, who are both new to the Sunfish class.

Dwight Escalara of Wakefield, RI took the Laser honors, beating John Eckart, Judy Krimski, Nat Cook and John Dugan.

The regatta also marked the inaugural of RS Aero racing at the club.  It's a new class and they guys in that fleet are generating a lot of interest in the boat.  Eric Aker took first place, winning all six races. Derek Stowe took 2nd and Gary Werden took 3rd.

Thanks to MYC's Scott Rosa for taking a lot of fantastic photos, which are up on our MYCSunfish Flickr site.

Safe and Legal

Mike Goldstein emphasizes some of the finer points of motor boat operation

Two important parts of good racing are safety and good race committees.  Yesterday we ran extensive training sessions for both.  In the morning, several new and returning members took part in Massapoag's start of the year Safety and Race Committee Training program.  

The seminars were put together by MYC's Education Chair, Bernadette Levesque, and featured boat safety presentation by Mark Stoughton and Mike Goldstein, followed by powerboat operating procedures by Mike Goldstein.  Mike took participants through all the aspects of each of the clubs powerboats.  All participants were also actively encouraged to take Bob Gaffney's Powerboat Certification course later on this year. 

Joe Honor, Marta Kovat and Raplph Lambalot
taking charge of the Committee boat

After the safety seminar and lunch, Mark Stoughton and John Houstle took 9 members through that basics of service on a race committee.  Conduct of a race and the responsibilities of each member of the race committee was presented on shore, then everyone headed out onto the lake, where each participant took turns in the crash boats and the committee boat. Each participant got a chance to drop and move marks, set up a course, and run a mock race. 

Dan Abram even provided
the feeling of a real race

To finish out the safety related weekend activities, today, members of the Coast Guard Auxillary were at the club to offer free safety assessments for anyone at the club who wished to have their boats checked out.

Next Week: How to

It's time to go back to school.  Next Saturday is MYC's annual Safety Seminar.  It is a day long seminar focussing on how to stay warm and safe and dry. (Well, except for the Sunfish, Laser and Aero sailors, who are expected to be wet.)

You will learn what needs to be on your boat, and more importantly, on you (Like a lifejacket).  This seminar is mandatory for all new members, and recommended for everyone.



The class starts at 10:00am and runs until approximately 12:00pm, rain or shine.





Immediately after the safety seminar (12:00 noon), there will be a second seminar teaching the rudiments of Race Duty.  You will find out that running a race is more than just pushing the button on the Ollie.  You will learn how to set a race course, how long to make the starting line, how long to make the legs, course choice, mark boat positioning, and more.  We heartily recommend this course for new members, and anyone else who wants to improve their race duty game.

First Day of Racing - Well for the Big Boats Anyway

The only small boat in sight is the kayak

The first day of racing at Massapoag got underway today. Well, at least for the big boats.  With at least 4 Lasers out of commission, and two Sunfish up on the repair lift, there were no small boats on the water today.  Roger and Kate Sharp, John and Connie Eckart and Jim Cavenaugh with crew John Houstle had maiden voyages for their new Scots, After two races, Roger/Kate and Jim/John along with Greg Kampf, with crew Harvey Davidson filling in for Diane, are in a three way tie for first place with various ways of getting 5 points, with John/Connie being one point behind.  

Just a reminder, there is no racing next weekend because of the Mother's Day holiday. Racing resumes on May 17.  In addition, on that day the club will be offering free Coast Guard safety inspections for all comers. Wednesday night racing begins on May 20.