Star Class Honoring the Past, Leading the Future
Report by Horton/Nichol on Day One:
The North American Championships kicked off with a beautiful day of sailing. Two races were sailed in 6-10 knots out of the west under perfectly sunny skies. The freighters moored around the race course were the talk of the day as they hung like flags in the confusing English Bay current. Normally the tide comes in and the tide goes out but when 400 foot hunks of steel lay across the bay, balanced by the current and the wind, it’s hard to tell which way the water is moving. If you started and sailed straight for 3 minutes in either race today you would hit a freighter. So, one of the big calls was to start at the pin and go behind the freighter or to start at the boat and go above the freighter….
Ross MacDonald continued to show the fleet how to navigate the bay posting a 4th place in the first race, followed by a commanding win in the second. One point behind the local hero was Eric Lidecis and Mike Marzahl with a pair of third place finishes and Andy Horton and Brad Nichol in third with a 1, 6 to start the regatta.
Day Two Report from Horton/Nichol
In the first race of the day we raced in a light westerly with the current changing from the ebb to the flood. The pack of boats that were able to hold their lane all the way to the left rounded first including Andy Macdonald, Horton/Nichol, and Ross MacDonald. We were able to get around Andy Mac at the bottom of the run and hold off the attacks from the rest of the fleet for a win. Mark Mendleblatt made a great move on the last run to finish second followed by Brian Ledbetter.
For the second race all we could think of was our host “Fox”. He told us all we needed to know about racing in Vancouver - when there was a flood tide was to race to the beach and when you see the kids in the water, keep going until they run away and then tack. Until today we weren’t even sure which beach he was talking about. When the flood tide started and the windward mark was put in place for the second race it became quite clear which beach we would be on. Literally at one point we were “on” the beach. Luckily for us it was only a touch and go in the middle of a tack and it was worth it. We were in the middle of a three way tacking dual as the front pack made it up to the windward mark. Ross Macdonald was leading, we were 2nd and Lars Grael was third. All three of us were fighting up the shoreline trying to keep our noses out of the current, but also keeping an eye when to break out into the “river” to get to the windward mark. We got out of phase with Ross early in the tacking dual. This made Ross always the first boat to push out into the current as we tacked up the shore. He went out one time and took a loss so we put the bow right in on the beach scarring away a few kids and actually touching the bottom. It was just enough of a gain to leebow Ross when he tacked back to starboard. But now we had to fight off Lars who also had pushed into the beach one extra time. We had just enough space to cross Lars and hip up on the layline while Ross was forced back out into the current. We were fortunate to make it out of that corner and around the mark in first, continuing on for another win. Ross finished second and Brian Ledbetter was third.
When we came in we realized our grounding was not that bad as there were a few stories of people jumping out of their boats to push them off the sand…. All in all it was a tricky day. Light air and current are a difficult combination even without 400 foot tankers and 50 great teams. So we feel quite fortunate to have such a good day.
Day Three: - Report by Horton/Nichol
So, today was a little different…. We woke up this morning to some light rain, overcast skies and a light breeze from a completely different direction. It took the Race committee a little extra time to figure out where to put the course because there were 2 new arrivals last night (freighters). This brought the total up to 7 which made the bay a little tight.
Once the race started the right side became heavily favored and it was that way all the way around the track. Most of the top teams were on that side and posted good finishes. We miss judged the current advantage on the right and found ourselves way back in the pack. George Szabo won the race easily with Rohan Lord second and Ross Macdonald third.
All of this will make for an exciting day of racing tomorrow which is the final race and the forecast looks like another light sea breeze from the West. It should be a great day of racing.
Race six report by Horton/Nichol:
The penultimate race of the Star North American Championships proved more exciting then any medal race we have sailed in the last two years. Going in we led Ross MacDonald by one point, George Szabo by three, Mark Mendelblatt by six and Brian Ledbetter by seven. The race committee moved the course in towards the club and beach and the course was covered with spectators on British Columbia Day.
Going into this race to win the regatta we could be beat by Ross, but without any boats between us and we had to be in the top five. We could also be behind Szabo with 2 boats between us and still win. So, with that in mind we went into the starting sequence.
Just before the start Ross made an attempt to sail us away from the line, but we were able to get under him and make it back to the line for a pin boat start. After the start we put the bow down and headed for the beach for current relief. When the fleet made it to the shore we tacked up the edge dodging docks, mornings, kayakers, and dinghy sailors from three clubs. We were able to lee bow Ross a few times and push him out into the current, but this put us back a few places.
We made it to the weather mark in ninth, ahead of Ross but Szabo was leading the regatta in second place. So we spent the next 4 legs focusing on passing the boats ahead of us trying to get into the top 5 and close to Szabo. Slowly we were able to pick off a few boats here and there to get back into it. By the finish we had worked our way up to second place behind Andy MacDonald with Star class rookie Jud Smith in third.
Our second place finish was good enough to win the regatta with Ross in second overall and Szabo third. The English Bay Star Fleet and Royal Vancouver YC put on a spectacular awards dinner which was capped off by a fireworks competition between Canada, Spain and China.
We would like to thank our coach, James Lyne, for keeping us going in the right direction, our host and good luck charm Brent Foxall for a great place to stay and all the regatta volunteers who put on the event.
EVENT DESCRIPTION
Entry deadline July 11, 2007
Races 1-6 - August 1-4, 2007
