The NOYC North Sails Wednesday Night Twilight Series presented by Ruth’s Chris Steak House started and ended in pretty exciting times for 62 race boats. The first race on May 12 was nearly canceled at the club house as storms to the north threatened. But with a close eye on the storm tracks, Principal Race Officer John Wolfe elected to bring the fleet out as the weather clearly looked as if it would skirt the lake to the north. With a first gun at 7 PM, the classes were started down the course to “J†mark and back to “Aâ€, when the western horizon darkened and turned green. A storm cell had dropped out of nowhere west of Kenner and was headed directly at the fleet. Wisely, the RC fired the abandon signal and urged the fleet back to port. All made it back to their slips before the squall hit with winds at a steady 35 and gusts to 50 mph. It rained sideways in sheets for nearly an hour before the storm passed.
Fortunately, that was the only race of the 5 race series that was not scored, and the next 4 Wednesday nights saw some of the best evening sailing conditions of the year. Obviously, conditions were perfect for Gilbert and his dad John MacLachlan as they doublehanded their MacGregor 25 Good Intentions to take 3 firsts in class D as well as 3 firsts in the non-spinnaker fleet to take first overall in the series in both class and fleet.
Second in non-spinnaker fleet and first in Class C was George Tillman in his S-2 7.9 Getaway earning honors with class finishes of 1, 2, and 3. Third in non-spinnaker fleet and winners of Class B were Scott Tonguis and Dale Steinkamp skippering the J-30 Zephyr with class finishes of 1, 1, and 2.
In the non-spinnaker class A, there was intense competition as the three area J-130s currently all with the same rating (and keels) fought it out. Going into the last race they had score totals of 7, 8, and 9 points–it was anyone’s series. In the end, it was John Lee’s Lesson #1 with Jay Williams and International Luder champion Doug White calling shots taking first overall with finishes of 1, 3, and 1. In second place overall was Chris Lopez’ Juggernaut with finishes of 4, 2, and 2. Rounding out the top three was Bob Maher’s Java with a 2, 3, and 3.
In the non-spinnaker Class B, finishing 2nd after Zephyr was NOYC Board Member Ryan Bancroft’s B-25 Piranha with finishes of 1, 2, and 3. In third was Tom Morris’ New York 36 Mojo with finishes of 1, 4, and 2. In the non-spinnaker C class, in second behind Getaway was veteran Steve Burnsed on his Pearson 30 Ripoff with finishes of 1, 4, and 2 winning the tie breaker over Greg Rubin’s J-22 Stumble that collected finishes of 2, 1, and 4. In the non-spinnaker Class D, behind Good Intentions was NOYC Rear Commodore John Winters on the S-2 9.2 Dixie Chick finishing 2nd overall and placing 3, 2, and 1 in the series. Rounding out the top three was Steve Salzer’s Easterly 30 Captain Bligh with finishes of 2, 3, and 2, just one point behind Dixie Chick.
Saving the best for last, in the Spinnaker fleet three boats ended up tied with 8 points each. But it was Debbie Grimm on her Irwin 28 Tuesday Child with secret weapon and CSA Commodore Casey Grimm on board winning the tie breaker to sweep the spinnaker fleet and to win class with finishes of 1, 1, and 6. Debbie has been a regular participant in local races including handicap, one-design, and skipperette races and has received well-deserved recognition for her achievements. Francis Russel on the B-32 Nightmare broke at 2nd place with finishes of 1, 5, and 2. Wayne Connelly on the Hunter 34 Cool Change found the shortest end of the tie break stick to place 3rd overall in the series.
Altogether it was a fun series that saw a good number of boats coming out each night. Johnny Dicks’ narrow beamed JS-9000 Sugah Babe made its debut in the series as well as Scott Sonnier’s 1D 35 Revolution. We’ll miss Scotty’s Judel/Vrolijk Sudpack (ex-Ocean Storm) on the local scene, but he’ll probably have a lot more excitement with the new technology and one design capability as well.
Congratulations to all on the water. And thanks to the tireless efforts of the NOYC Race Committee ably headed by PRO John Wolfe.
