WEDNESDAY NIGHT WRAP-UP
Wow! We had a great one this Wednesday. Winds were out the North at 18-25 knots with 3-4 foot rollers spread out just right. Almost the entire fleet finished inside of an hour. Race committee experts John Wolf & Phil Pizzeck showed up promptly and set a pin end favored line to keep the hackers off of their anchor line and boat. They set the usual Wednesday night favorite course of J-H-A (a real crowd pleaser for those heavy air reaching machines).
In Class A, Turkey Wings won the start but tanked shortly after as they didn’t have enough sail up and crew on the rail. Tim Murray’s Keep Moving (J-27) aborted their start with about 45 second to go and managed to recover with a favorable position at the pin. Zephyr (J-30) bailed from their pin end port start with about 16 seconds left on the clock and started right after Keep Moving.  Zephyr and Keep Moving mixed it up all the way down to J-mark sailing up in the lulls and blasting off as much as 20 degrees below course in the puffs. Rocky Sanchez driving Half A Glass (J-30) took the low road to J and looked great at times but had a little trouble fetching the mark at the end of the first Leg.   Zephyr held off Keep Moving to take first. Keep Moving corrected out second and Half A Glass (w/their fourteen refugees on the rail) took third. Overall series winner for this class was Stephen Murray’s Decision, who won the tiebreaker over Keep Moving.
In Class B, Robert Kemp’s Revelry (Ericson 32) took a liking to the heavy air reaching and finished first. George Tillman’s Getaway was smoking on the way back from J-mark on that broad reach and blew the doors off of Throw Down for a change. Getaway corrected out second. In third was everyone’s favorite old-timer Steve Burnsed on Rip-Off. Ryan Bancroft’s Throw down found themselves struggling, with too much breeze, not enough crew and the wrong head sail up and they still squeezed out a fourth. Overall series winner for this class was Throw Down…, as we know they RULE.
In Class C, Jim Evans magical Morgan 34 once again cleaned house by taking first in this reach fest of a race. Louie Lambou’s souped up Easterly 30 rocked their way to a second place finish. Nat Belloni’s Breezin (O’Day 25) held on to his third place finish, which sealed this class for him as the overall winner of the series.
In Class D, the spinnaker boats wimped out and didn’t fly chutes on the way back from J-mark. Tom Morris’s Paloma (Olson 30) finished first once again to seal their overall series victory. Bill Johnston’s Road Runner (11 meter) hung tough on the fetch to J-mark and flew back like a sled on the broad reach to finish second. Class sleeper Scott Shackleford on Sundancer (C&C 24) got his boat cranked up in this strong breeze to finish third.
This years sponsor Warsteiner Beer awarded trophies and prizes for twilight race “Boat of the year†in each class. Tim Murray with ace crew Tommy Taggert on Keep Moving took it all in Class A. These guys are tough, but they are getting older and Team Zephyr hopes they take up Wednesday night Bingo soon! In Class B, Ryan Bancroft’s Throw Down with the father/son Mclaughlin crew swept all of the series to back up their obnoxious web page postings. In Class C, Jim Evans on The Reason Why whooped up on all the reaching this summer for their well-deserved boat of the year trophy. In Class D, Alan Robson’s Footloose had consistent finishes near the top to hold on to their “Boat of the Year†title.
Last night was perfect…it was a great way to finish the season. In about two months, my eyes will start twitching, my hands will get the shakes and a visit to the doctor will confirm that I am having the symptoms of WNRW ….better known as ..Wednesday Night Racing Withdrawal. I’ll close with DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME RULES!
-steinkamp
