2002 LPRC

As sure as fall is here, so is The Lake Pontchartrain Racing Circuit.  The LPRC is the premier PHRF racing event of the northern gulf coast, hosted by New Orleans, Pontchartrain, Tammany and Southern Yacht Club. It was sailed with pretty much the same cast of local characters as usual with very few out of town participants.  The regatta had 54 entries.  The six spinnaker classes had 43 boats and the one non-spinnaker class had 11 entries.  At first glance participation appears to be trending down, but actually it may not.  Yes the boat count is down, but the actual number of people sailing is probably higher or much the same.  Just think about how many crew a SC 52, three J-130’s, two Mumm 36’s, the big Benateau’s and some of the other 35 foot plus boats suck up.  When several sailors weigh the option of racing their own Cal 25, Hunter 34’s, Merit 25’s, Ranger 29’s, Easterly 30’s, Capri 25’s or sailing on a first class big boat, they are usually going to go the better, faster, catered and more cost effective route for themselves.  Now the racing;

In Race one, the course was a windward-leeward 2.5 times around with the breeze out the Northwest at 10-12 knots.  The breeze was phasing slightly east with more pressure on the right side of the course for all three beats.  As predicted, the Eagan’s Mumm 36 No Fear stomped A class and Sonnier’s Sudpack waxed B.  In C class, Hightower’s Sabadaba which was forced out of the cruiser/racer class surprised a few with their bullet in this race.  In Class D Myers C&C 35 Spray finished first and in Class E Jessee’s Santana 30 gained back their lead for their first ever first place LPRC finish (congrats).  In Class F, The Choate’s Wavelength 24 da Bear was the windshield and the rest of the class was the bug.

In Race two, the course was another windward-leeward 2.5 times around that was started in a fresh 8-10 knots of breeze, that phased more east and crumped.  This race turned into the typical LPRC reach fest as Decision got around the leeward mark before they could change the windward mark for a square beat.  The Murray’s SC 52 was first to finish in a dying breeze and won  Class A.  I wonder if the LPRC committee is making plans to “thump” this boat next year too??  In Class B, no surprise, light air bandit Cutlass with Cal Herman sailed up into the back of  Class A to take his bullet.  In Class C the consistently sailed Frigate knocked down another second with the Hobie 33 Pineapple Express taking a first after they were DSQ’d in race one.  In Class D, C&C Redliner WWII and  Keep Moving went one-two in this race.  In Class E, the two most wallet-whipped thirty footers on Lake Pontchartrain went head to head, bow to bow only to finish in a highly contested tie for first place.  Mile’s Pearson Flyer POGO and J-30 Zephyr were overlapped going into the finish jib reaching.  Zephyr took POGO about 50 yards high of the finish and then set the chute trying to save their time,  POGO set their chute in rubber bands causing a slight delay but enough to cause the tie.  In Class F, again, da Bear da windshield, da rest da bug.

In Race three, the first distance race from the Big Easy over to Slidell.  The conditions were upper number one right on the nose.  The boats that won their classes were the boats that go upwind or the boats that go upwind and played the south shore.  The heavier boats did most of the damage in this race, Palermo’s Big Benetau Sapphire in A, Klyce’s Tartan 47 Dom Perignon in B, North Shore Boys on Frigate in C, Fraser’s Beneteau Whistler II in D, J-30 Zephyr in E and once again, da Windshield in class F.

In Race Four, another distance race, this one from Slidell to Mandeville.  All three major local weather channels and four weather related web sites called for 10-20 knots out the North East going South as a warm front from the South West approached. I was informed by my crew on the bus ride over, that “They don’t sail for fun, and that they weren’t in the happy business” (soon to be the NOYC.org posting board theme)…what a way to set the tone for a 17 mile crap shoot.  In a nut shell, this was the type of race that makes you want to quit sailing.  Every one I talked to, about this race was “just crushing their class” at one time or another.  Most went from the penthouse to the outhouse as the breezes clocked 360 degrees over course of the race. Class E’s Pogo spanked their competition and actually beat Class A’s Decision to the eight mile North hump in this race.  In Class F, score one for the Bugs as Tenacity beat da Windshield for the first time in the series.  For the rest of the winners check the results and take a look at the times, it should help sum this race up for you.

In Race Five, several overall class winners were already determined as they hadn’t sailed a throw out yet, but it looked like the Jacket winner would probably be No Fear or da Bear (da Windshield).  The breeze was a fresh 15-18 out of the east with another 2.5 times around windward-leeward course set.  In Class A, No Fear continued its domination.  In Class B Sudpack, much of the same, even after the Beast and Footloose got a one minute head start due to some flag confusion.  In Class C, Cruiser Sabadaba showed that it could do it with new rating and in the racing class by taking a first to win the tie-breaker over Frigate.  In Class D, Spray took the last race but Whistler II won class.  In Class E, J-30 Jalapeno took first with a bang but overall class went to Zephyr after they put POGO in a WWF head lock at the start.  In Class E, score one more for the bugs, as Outtasight won, with the da Windshield (Bear) in second but taking class honors.

Overall non-spinnaker fleet was won by NOYC’s George Tillman’s S2 7.9 Getaway.  The Tillman family won in a Throwdown like fashion with Royal Flush finishes of 1,1,1,1,1.  With these finishes, they were issued a new Blazer and a Non-spinnaker Graduation Diploma.  We hope they attend Grad-School in spinnaker fleet next year, cause those boys ain’t toddlers anymore.  Overall spinnaker fleet was won by PontYC’s  Steve and Karen Choate’s Wavelength 24 da Bear. This is the second Blazer for this boat.  Congrats to all!

Little editorial here, you gotta love PHRF’ers and their complaining (me included), “they need to take times to the 100th of a second”…”they need to calculate the finishes with distance to the 100th of a second”…”they need to make sure that they count the extra 35 yards the finish line is past the weather mark”…”A sprit boat will never win this series if they don’t do Gold Cups or Triangles”…”When will they ditch these crap shoot distance races”…”when are they going to fix that boats rating”.  Its things like these that muddy the PHRF water just enough to make some sailors think that they are actually better than the hard copy results that are posted.  Hell, it might just be what keeps us  coming back and from buying one-design boats to get a true assessment of our sailing ability.  Now this is what I really truly like about the event organizers and participants of this series; if its windy- the racers down size sails, if its cold- they bundle up, if its raining- they where foul weather gear, the one thing we know for sure about sailing is that it is an outdoor sport and if its LPRC time, you’re going racing!

The 2002 LPRC was a good time.  The RC work was great, the sponsors gave too much, the parties were fun, the rum was free and the trophies were high end.  Part of the LPRC’s success is that they put on a great series with a large base of volunteers and it doesn’t put too much stress or burden on one particular club with the rotation of races. It’s great to see the volunteers busting their tails one weekend and then partying at another club the next. The LPRC committee is always willing to lend an ear to the chronic complainers, but are smart enough to realize they can’t please everyone.  The LPRC committee will be sending out questionnaires shortly and this is how they gather serious suggestions or constructive criticism to help make this series better, so please complete and return them.

-steinkamp