Carinthia Web Log

Wirth Monroe Fort Lauderdale to Palm Beach - Are you sure we will fit under the bridge?

2011-12-03T18:34:00.001-05:00

Carinthia has done this race now a number of years so it was very close to the conditions we have seen before. As part of the southern circuit Hot Ticket again joined us for the "race to the buffet". She was late getting to the start for which was explained to us later.

Apparently a crew member who was late delivering a sail caused HT to miss the 9am opening of the Fort Lauderdale 17th street bridge to reach the Atlantic Ocean. After much discussion the decision was made that they would be able to clear it. Except a scary moment occurred when the radio antenna on top of the mast scraped the bottom of the bridge and navigation lights on the spans in spite everyone sitting on the end of the boom to tilt her.

Route up the course

To make things worse after arriving in the starting area their #3 genoa went up incorrectly and had to be taken down minutes before the start. With all that distractions we were the first boat to the ocean side of the line at the gun with the J105 Loki a little behind and to our leeward. HT was noticeably late on the shore side of the line. We decided that we would start with our #1 with the wind speed in the high teens close hauled and from the northeast. In the first 10 to 15 miles Hot Ticket managed to match speed with us, but we made every opportunity to point as high as we could so we could sail into the gulf stream. Loki soon fell back and we were the farthest right in our fleet. We started getting lifted and continued to get out farther right. About 20 miles up we were heavy in the Gulf Stream with the miserable 8 foot pounding waves that accompanied it. On the conveyor we got nearly a 2 knot kick that catapulted us ahead of everyone in the PHRF fleet including Ticket. By the time we reached the end of the 40 mile course the other J120 was nearly 4 miles behind us. At the end we were headed but made the finish line without tacking. The boats behind had to tack 4 times to stay off the beach.

Arrival at Sailfish Club in Palm Beach

All in all, we managed to place 1st in class and 1st overall, second year in a row.

Here is the link for the finishes: http://www.yachtscoring.com/event_results_detail.cfm?Race_Number=1&eID=543
Crew Members: Bob Declercq, Chuck Stormes, Eric Ryan, Karl Kuspa, Dave Shriner, Pat, Nicole Neely

Ted Neesley and Mike Lawrence with the rum babe

The trip home was also successful. Karl managed to bag 6 fish and we ate really well that night with fresh seared tuna and broiled mahi-mahi, a taste treat indeed.

Bullhead dolphin fish

Catch of the day

Miami Nassau Race - Swiss Cheese Sail

2011-11-14T15:22:00.000-05:00

Carinthia with code 0 at the start

This race was across the Florida Straits from Miami around Great Issac and Stirrup Reef and down to Nassau. This year our Bayview Yacht Club dock neighbor and fierce competitor Hot Ticket elected to do the race with us. The wind was out of the northeast at 12 knots but it soon proved that a code 0 was in order. When we rounded Great Issac we turned about 20 degrees to the right and went to a 3/4 spinnaker.

Wind conditions and path for the race

Spinnaker Change

At least it is warmer than Detroit - Spence Colpaert, Nicole Neely, Clemens Lorscheid

Hot Ticket then put up their .6 oz and at that point we caught up and rolled her. But as long distance races go it was not over as the wind clocked some more. After dark we could see Ticket catching up and we went to our .6 runner but it was not enough. She rolled us and continue to pace away from us. It turns out that this 4 year old spinnaker was just too porous and we just could not get enough juice to keep up. For us this was a two boat race and this is one we wanted to beat her. In all Ticket finished 8 minutes ahead of us. But at least the conditions were great...full moon, steady breeze, and temperatures in the 70s.

Paul Falcone

After rolling Ticket the wind started backing

We finished just behind the "other" Hot Ticket

Finish in front of Nassau Lighthouse

Ticket's finish just ahead of us

Its all about the party

Here is the final finishes link

Crew members: Nicole Neeley, Paul Falcone, Jim and Cynthia Best, Karl Kuspa, Clemens Lorscheid, Jim Dalessandro, Spencer Colpaert, Lance Smotherman

However the fishing was pretty good on the delivery back

Windsor Night Race - September Cruise

2011-09-30T17:38:00.000-04:00

Here is a cool video made by Jeff Pearson last September on a Wednesday night race. Most of the Detroit J120s are in attendance.

Bayview Long Distance Race - I'm Late for a Very Important Date

2011-08-21T18:53:00.000-04:00

This was the 2nd day of racing after the EBC on Friday night. That race we managed to get a good start and with Ken Brown's help we managed to lead the entire way. We started the BYC in light air out of the south and this year they had the entire fleet start in two waves. Unfortunately we were late and put up the main after the gun went off. We only had Hot Ticket to race against in our class and spent the entire time catching up which we almost did. We only had 6 people while HT had 5.

One lap around the lake

The first leg was a beam reach and the wind came up to 15 knots by the time we got to the Thames River buoy. Hot Ticket gybed ahead of us with their .6 spinnaker, while we did with our .75. Eventually we both changed to the code 0's. At the St. Clair Light we both went back to our ap1 genoas. We tacked back and forth with the hope we could get from outside of HT's line.

The storm at first did not seem to contain much wind but looks were deceiving

Eventually off of Gaukler Point the clouds got darker out of the west. I remember saying I do not see much wind in those clouds but prepare to roll in the head sail. Ticket was about a 1/4 mile to the west and I saw them get clobbered.

You can see the boat turn down to get the headsail under the mainsail

I called for a tack and then to roll in the head sail immediately. We were hit 10 seconds later. Unfortunately we were slow rolling it and I had to turn the boat down to do it in 35 knot winds. We eventually got it in and just ran with it until the wind abated. We then rolled it back out and fetched the rest of the way to the club with Ticket finishing a little ahead.

Considering the crew was some put together with a couple of other J120 people we did OK under difficult circumstances. Nicole trim the spinnaker competently for nearly the entire trip and with enough breaks from Tom Jackson I steered nearly the whole race. Fortunately for us we saw some boats finishing the race while eating dinner with drifters up. Apparently the storm had sucked all the wind out of the area.

Bayview Mackinac Race - Tea for Two

2011-07-28T17:08:00.004-04:00

This was the first race that the J120s have ever done the shore course. The beginning of the race was very light air with spinnakers. We had a goal of starting on the right side of the line. We crossed on port and gybed in front of Hot Ticket just before the gun. The rest of the fleet sailed closer to the shore. They did get an early lead because there was more pressure inshore.

Expedition course for Carinthia off of Harbor Beach

Flyin Irish managed to gybe in front of us at dusk where the at that point more wind was out in the lake vs. the shore where many of the J120s were sailing. We sailed closer to shore as the wind was blowing about 6 knots out of the northeast. Flyin Irish and Carinthia pulled ahead of the rest with a little more air and a little lift off the shore. Although it gets a little tricky off the thumb with giant rocks, we kept an eye on the gps and sweated it out.

Yellowbrick version of the J120s

Changing to the genoa south of Harbor Beach

Crossing Saginaw Bay the wind started to fill in from the southeast at 15 knots and later went more northernly. Hot Ticket tried to fly their code 0 and it was just too much sail. Before the wind filled in we were very close to Flyin Irish for the lead. We never fell more than a 1/4 mile but could just not make it up.

Expedition view of the journey to the straits.

When we passed Presque Isle, Hot Ticket went in closer to shore. Considering she was the boat behind us we should of gybed to cover but stayed with Flyin Irish. HT was going a knot faster than both of us and when she came back up to our line was nearly a mile ahead of both of us.

The rest of the race was the equivalent of a train ride to the finish. We all arrived to Bob Lo at dusk and unfortunately as predicted there was a shift from the west that made the last few miles very slow. With the easterly current it took nearly an hour to finish past the point. We could of been 1st or 2nd but because we blew a fundamental rule of sailing (cover your competition), Hot Ticket ended up with a bullet and 3rd overall. Carinthia and Fyin Irish ended up with tea for two while the Hot Ticket gang drank champagne.

Link for finishes: http://www.bycmack.com/mack/results.cfm?Class=J120&Class2=OD

FIFO - First In, First Out

2011-05-28T21:33:00.030-04:00

This was the Detroit Yacht Club Point to Point Race starting from the Grosse Pointe Yacht Club on Lake St.. Clair. We had 5 J120s participating. The wind started out of the south at about 7 knots. We had a nearly perfect start at the committee boat side at the gun. Night Moves was over early in front of us and had to restart. Jay Hawker and Ihnsanity were behind us so they started late. Hot Ticket was to the left but up at the gun.

This race started at about 7 knots but picked up to 20 when the clouds moved in

In the first part of the leg a typical Lake St. Stupid event occurred. Although we were unable to point at the mark the boats behind us were able to point 10 to 20 degrees higher. We all flew code 0s in the last half of the leg from the lift and really got moving. Of course that meant we got squeezed out at the mark in 4th place. The next leg was a an upwind and could not find a passing lane.

Code 0!

Rail meat

Winner and champion...Night Moves

The rest of the race was just trying to fight off Ihnsanity off into the river.
Finish: 4 out of 5 J120s
Crew members: Jim D., Nancy, Brian, Fred, Colleen, and Nathan
Here are the final results:
http://www.drya.org/race2011/Results/DYC%20Results%2005-28-11.pdf

Here is the track with Night Moves (lower course)

Just a Taste of Spring

2011-05-15T21:05:00.014-04:00

Since returning to Michigan I have not made any Carinthia updates, as the weather has been a little inclement.

Since Carinthia was in the sling, we were the first sailboat to go in the water at Bayview

Last week was the Warren Jones Memorial Regatta. It is usually early early in the year so that the keelboats can experience the fair spring weather of Michigan. Needless to say, the race was cancelled because of inclement weather. After all, the temperature was in the low 50's, wind in the low 20's, and a cold rain. But because we wanted to sail we had a private race with Hot Ticket.

We went out to buoy R2 at the base of Lake St. Clair and back to Bayview. Below is the video of the finish.

Great photo

2011-03-31T12:33:00.004-04:00

As a new season begins we got a fantastic surprise...US Sailing placed a picture of Carinthia sailing the 2005 Key West Week in an ad in the April Sailing World. It was kind of neat to see this photo with some old friends. Here is the old post from that series: http://carinthiasailing.blogspot.com/2005_01_01_archive.html

Fort Lauderdale to Key West - Some like it cold, we like it fast.

2011-01-13T16:50:00.181-05:00

Crew included Kevin and Greg Thomas, Mike Henk, Nicole Neely, Camper Pete Petersen, Bob Declercq, Brian Finocchiaro, Karl Kuspa, and Art Levassuer down below playing with the computer

Soon after the start.
The red, black, and white chute
is the shoal draft J/120 Tampa Girl

The day before the weather was in the 70's but overnight a northerly was settling over Florida, bring colder temperatures. The course at the start was nearly south. The current was negligible at Fort Lauderdale. We got a pretty decent start but the boats that went farther out in the ocean got a little more push from more wind pressure. Thin Ice, an Aerodyne 38 managed to slide in front of us and we were never able to make it up. As we slid farther down the course the temperature turned colder and the wind built. By 03:00 it was blowing around 24 knots and as we bent right it became more of a reach.

You can see from the chart that Thin Ice & Galilee has already pulled ahead

Just before sunset

Although it was cold at least we did not get rain.

The last mark was an unlit buoy and passed it just before dawn. The last leg we went to a #3 and tacked to finish about 15 minutes after Thin Ice.

The object was to stay out of the current without hitting the reef.

At Mackinac Island it is horses
but at Key West it is wild roosters in abundance.

It did not end well for this race. We just could not get that breakout even though we were sailing a reach. It was really frustrating to be sailing neck and neck with a Hobie 33 and a full spinnaker J/105. You can see the tracking of the race at http://www.kattack.com/webplayer/?raceGUID=22cb9f15-b4ad-4016-a96c-1f5e772a9acb&startTime=38# This is the last southern race for Carinthia so when you read this she will be up on the stands at Bayview with all the other sailboats waiting for warmer weather.

Wirth Monroe Fort Lauderdale to Palm Beach Yacht Race - Riding the Conveyor

2010-12-04T14:49:00.116-05:00

This race is sponsored by the Sailfish Club of Palm Beach and the Lauderdale Yacht Club. Our start was at 10:05 with the wind out of the North Northeast at about 15 knots. We made the decision to sail with our ap#1 and try to stay as close to rumb as possible.

After the start

The Gulf Stream was half the strength in front of Ft. Lauderdale so it did not matter that we stayed closer to shore. However an hour in the race the wind started to go right and picked up a couple of more knots so as we got in the stream it got pretty rough. We got about a 2 knot push so in order to make good progress the crew had to endure getting wet by sitting on the rail. We got as far as 8 miles offshore to ride the conveyor. We probably went in a little early but it was enough to win PHRF overall.

Carithia sailed up to 8 miles out

The finish at the Worth Channel Inlet

Crew: Nicole Neeley, Karl Kuspa, Bob Declercq,, Fred Rozelle, Erik Ryan, Jim Dalessandro, Jim Dundas

Welcoming committee

Holding the first place award

Best buffet in South Florida

PHRF A				phrf	Class	Overall
Carinthia	J 120	Frank Kern		48	1	1
Second Wind	Dufour- Feici/Roseo 44	Ray Sullivan		69	2	2
Bandana	Oyster 48	David Wallace		93	3	4
Loki	J 105	David Bond		82	4	5
Risky Too	Hobie 33	Jens von Holten		93	5	7
Ghost	Hinckley 52	Carl L.C. Kah, Jr.		98	6	8
Garuda III	J 37C	Andy Flack/Sea Scouts		85	7	9
Rhumbline	Hobie 33	Andy Flack/Sea Scouts		93	8	12
Mostly Harmless	SR33 sloop	John Brim	DNS	66	10	18

PHRF B
E-Ticket	Beneteau Moorings 38	Rob Hutcheson		126	1	3
Sempre Amantes	Hunter Pasage 42	Colin Whittaker		120	2	6
Unicorn	Creekmore/Croff 36	Michael Peteler		187	3	10
Sara Deane	Hinckley	Don McKenna		186	4	11
Munequita	Cherubini	Charles Evans		120	5	13
Ocean Dancer	Catalina 387	Mark Stephenson	DNF	150	11	14
Tudo Bem	Lazarra 50	Maurice Hynes	DNF	138	11	15
Anticipation	Beneteau First 38	Michael Phelan	DNF	117	11	16
Yellow Jacket	Morgan 24	J. Christopher Woolsey	DNS	225	11	17

Miami to Nassau Race - I love Peanut Butter

2010-11-12T14:51:00.124-05:00

The course was from Miami to Great Isaac Light and leaving Great Stirrup Island to starboard

Prepping for the start

We has a pretty decent start by owning the left side of the line. It was pretty much a fetch with 16 knots of wind with the heavy#1. We carried this until we could fly the jib top well past Great Isaac Light.

On the way to Great Isaac Light

Upwind in the gulf stream is always a challenge, but the 10-15 degree 'push' you get from the current makes it worthwhile. Carinthia, who just eked around the Great Isaac Lighthouse, but a number of boats had a hard time getting around and had to throw in multiple tacks to make it. The right turn we had been looking forward to became more of a labor than we expected as the wind piped up at around 2 am to 27 knots with storm bursts we couldn't see coming. All we could see was low hanging clouds sweeping across. "We sailed a bit more conservatively as we had moments where the wind would go from 15 to 25 knots in seconds." Having a jib top in the sail quiver helped them with their tighter wind angles at the northern most points of the course and they "finally got the kite up about an hour before the finish." Carinthia flew along at 12-13 knots. That seems fast until you see the speed the TP52 Decision was clocking...over 20 knots of boat speed at their peak according to their race tracking page. Congratulations to the big winners of this year's Nassau Cup, Stephen Murray Jr, of the TP52 'Decision' in IRC and Frank Atkinson and crew ofthe Fast 40 'Different Drummer' in PHRF. The course from Miami to Nassau is made up of three legs - the crossing of the Gulf Stream, Great Isaacs Lighthouse to Great Stirrup in the Bahamas, and then the southward turn from Great Stirrup to the finish in Nassau. 14 of the 15 boats who started finished on Friday, with one boat dropping out early due to equipment failure. The Race Committee could not have asked for better or more challenging conditions - clocking, then backing breeze, velocity from 15 - 27 knots, and 70 - 80 degree temperatures. Tom Lihan, crewing on Decision, said, "we never tacked, but we were constantly thinking, wondering if we should follow the rhumb or look at the current, which sails to use (they had 7 changes and flawless crew work), watching the weather....these were classic conditions for this boat." Part of the Decision team was made up of Morning Light crew, Lihan said, and they've sailed together enough to make the work look effortless. The conditions were just not right for our boat. The wind was too high to fly the spinnaker but our competition could get more boat speed. The crew rode the high side all night and Nicole's main diet was peanut butter to settle her stomach. In sleep mode she found a spot next to the stove holding a plastic bag. Still it was only enough to get a 4th.

Crew: Nicole Neeley, Erik Ryan, Karl Kuspa, Nancy Caldwell, Colleen Flanagan, Greg Thomas, Paul Falcone, Jim Best.

Full results posted here.

Finish in Nassau Harbor

CYC Mac - Just like Lake St. Clair

2010-07-26T16:33:00.358-04:00

From left to right: Fred Rozelle, Steve Rozelle, Fred Kreger, Nancy Caldwell, Pete "Camper" Peterson, Mike Henk, Dale Marshal, Harald Kolter

The CYC Mac had 9 J120s sailing. We started with 16 knots of air out of the southwest. We chose to start on the right side of the course. Of course Hot Ticket was just to our left. We almost started early so we kept the sprit in to prevent it. HT immediately put up her .6 spinnaker where it took us a little longer.

Jayhawker behind Flyin Irish...little did we know how much we would be looking at them

Steve Rozelle trimming the spinnaker...again looking at the stern of Hot Ticket

Gorgeous Lake Michigan Sunrise

About 35 miles farther up the course the wind started to peter out. The bulk of the fleet was on rhumb line where we were a couple of miles to the east. Fortunately the wind started to fill in from the right and we were one of the first to receive it. Another 16 miles up the course the wind died and rotated another 180 degrees. Later that night we were see 16 knots to the north by northwest. By daybreak we were crossing tacks with Flyin' Irish and Jayhawker by Ludington.

We sailed to the Michigan shore to get the onshore winds. With the northwest gradient we got a lift and more pressure. Jayhawker and Flyin Irish had the same idea.

We had good luck tacking to weather. We seemed to be able to point higher and a little faster than the other two J120s. By staying in shore we managed to maintain a higher point and with a little more pressure went faster than the boats out in the lake with a onshore breeze after 2pm. After tacking around Sturgeon Point it was a reach up the Michigan coast. The real question to us was how was Hot Ticket doing. She was probably 10 miles west and a tad a little farther south.

Going to weather off of Sturgeon Point at dawn

Sleeping Bear Dunes

Dale Marshal

Fred R. and skipper discussing strategy over dinner

This was Fred Kreger's 100th Mackinac. He rode the rail just like everyone else.

Approaching the Manitou Passage we were ahead of Jayhawker and Flyin Irish by at least a couple of miles. Since we were approaching from the west of the islands a decision to be made was to go inside or outside the islands. I ran an optimum path on the laptop and it suggested going through the passage. Fred and I agreed that if we ran on the outside it could get sticky if the wind changed. We sailed through the passage and the other two J120s followed us. Still we knew Hot Ticket was coming in from the west and would probably go outside the islands. If everything worked they could of got a rung up on us.

Course through the Manitou Islands

Coming out of the Manitou's the wind again went to bed. Our competition came screaming up to us and at different times they passed us. Fred had enough sense to put up the .5 oz drifter spinnaker and we were one of the first boats to come out of the hole.

Just south of South Fox Island the wind went to bed allowing Jayhawker and Flyin Irish to nearly pass us. Fortunately after putting up the drifter we were one of the first to sail out of the wind hole.

Ile Aux Galets Shoal just south of Grave Reef

Flyin Irish got a little ahead of us but sailed more easterly of course with Jayhawker following. We were on a northeast course. The wind started out of the southeast and the wind was forecasted to go more southwest. That enabled us to get leverage on both of them when we got to the Graves Reef Light. Also Hot Ticket was unable to press their separate lane to their advantage.

Approaching Graves Reef Light

At Graves Reef it was a question of staying ahead of our competition. Past buoy #3 at the west end of the Mackinac Straights it was our goal was to stay between the finish and the others. We did manage it although as the wind moderated Flyin Irish managed to catch up a little.

Camper in charge

Flyin Irish under the Mackinac Bridge

Flyin Irish never was out of sight since Ludington.
The white spinnaker behind her is Jayhawker

Fred Rozelle under the Mackinac Bridge

As we got closer to the finish we saw that out of desperation Flyin Irish and Jayhawker started to jibe farther out from the rhumb line. We did finish first in class with the Detroit boats taking 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th place. It had to be frustrating for the other J120s to watch us take it away. Amazingly it turned out to be a longer version of the same boats beating each other up on Lake St. Clair.

Finishing with "Cone of Silence"

Going east early helped Carinthia stay in the front

Results: 1st out of 9 J120s in class, 13th in a fleet of 152 boats
Link to the results: here
Link to race tracking: here

Chicago Delivery Surprise

2010-07-24T14:50:00.007-04:00

I thought this was a neat picture of Carinthia approaching Chicago for the delivery from Mackinac Island. I just woke up from a few hours sleep. Immediately I went to visit the back of the boat when there was Jayhawker with a woman taking photos. This picture was taken after I discovered my lack of privacy.

Bayview Mackinac - Can we get a break?

2010-07-21T16:30:00.243-04:00

Crew in Port Huron from left to right: Nicole Neely, Fred Kreger, Kurt Hahn, Mike Henk, Pete "Camper" Peterson, Nathan Caspers, Nancy Caldwell, Colleen Flanagan, Hank Mistele, Harald Kolter

This race we got 4 crew members from Night Moves to come since their boat was not ready after running into a SUV.

We did not use this device enough

Going to weather

Start your engines

The start was with the J35s. We managed to start on the left side of the line. I noticed there were no boats on the weather side of the line and it looked like nobody could reach it. Unfortunately a J35, Night Train, came from the leeward side we had to slow down so we would not get caught barging. Although we were about 5 seconds late we had decent start. The first mistake I made was calling for the .75 spinnaker because of the tentative thunder storms. The other J120s used their .6 spinnakers and the sail area allowed them to get ahead of us in the first mile. We later changed to a .6 but never seemed to be able dig out of the hole.

After the start...Capers eventually got the lead and won the race

All the J/120's had a MB sticker on their sprits in honor of Mike Badendieck

The later classes got some storms with wind in them

Going to weather Monday morning, a little colder and rougher

West of Bruce Peninsula before Cove Island buoy - we were the farthest east

Fred's 99th Mackinac

The weather report was pretty inaccurate after the start. There was low center that was traveling across the lake. They get dicey predicting local weather and most of the forecasters said it was going to cross farther north. This creates a lot of wind holes and unpredictable wind directions. As it turned out, Carinthia and Jayhawker suffered from one more hole and although we got a better bead to the buoy, HT, Capers, and FI rounded just ahead of us.

After rounding the buoy we put up the .75 oz. in 16 knots of air and eventually went to the .6 spinnaker when the wind moderated.

Henry in his element

Mike Henk and Henry Mistele

We almost got leverage on the lead three J120s until they got a lift off the lower peninsula

We tried to pull it out by getting in a passing lane. We stayed north of the rhumb line when possible and almost pulled this one out. In the end we could only get a 4th not far behind Capers, Flyin Irish, and Hot Ticket. This was a well sailed race but we could not just get a break.

Here is the results link: finish results
Here is the link for iboat tracking: here

Sail change

Carinthia crossing finish line a Mackinac Island

We got a good mix of running and going to weather mostly
in moderate wind with the requisite wind holes

Unfortunately a J120 has no chance of winning the BYC Mac race with the Cove Island course. The best a J120 has done under IRC is 18th and this year although they sailed a nearly perfect race Capers got a 20th. We won in 2007 on the Thunder Bay course but the entire fleet sailed into a hole. There are no longer many passing lanes on this course. This change does discourage boats from sailing our race. The great thing is that we got to race one design and even though we got our heads handed to us, I love racing these guys.

Scooter came to greet us at the dock

Mackinac Island at last

This race seemed to get it all...wind, no wind, running, reaching, going to weather. We put up nearly every sail in the inventory. What really made it special was that we returned Mike's ashes to the waters north of Boblo Island near the straights of Mackinac. Mike had been stowed below and this was the first time we had seen his remains. We were surprised to find them contained in a Bacardi bottle wrapped in his crew shirt, a solemn moment indeed. Each crew member had a silent moment with him and we sent him to his eternal resting place.

Port Huron 100 - uhm, uhm, uhm

2010-07-04T17:47:00.006-04:00

Made the mistake of going left after Kettle Point

The Port Huron International 100 is actually 89 miles long. This year we got 5 J120s to sail the race. We started off the Sarnia YC. It was immediately a port run out to the outer buoy. I kind of goofed the start. I got under Hot Ticket before the gun but unfortunately had to sail above weather to get to the mark. That little mistake meant we rounded the next two marks the same distance behind Hot Ticket since there was no passing lane.

We followed Hot Ticket within a hundred feet for nearly a third of the race

Flyin Irish and Irresistible before Kettle Point buoy

At Kettle point mark we immediately went to a port run, another bad mistake. The weather forecast had called for the wind to more westerly and we got on the wrong side of the course so the other boats that went right got headed on the northern part of the leg. Irresistible and Jayhawker went right and at the next mark rounded ahead of us and HT. We almost missed the top weather broadcast buoy because it was .7 miles farther south. At that point it was trying to pass HT without success. The wind the entire race was in moderate air and temperature. We may of gained by sailing the right side of the river but by then it was too late.


JHawker and Irresistible tacking in front of the Blue Water Bridge

Final results are posted at http://www.yachtscoring.com/event_results_detail.cfm?Race_Number=1&eID=328

Finish Line at PH

DBC Race - Not Almost Perfect

2010-06-28T13:03:00.002-04:00

We had Kurt Hahn on this race with Rod, Amy, and Michele returning. It was a nearly perfect downwind start right at the right pin. Spinnaker went up fast. We even managed to stay on the outside of the dumping grounds and rounded first.The second leg of the giant triangle was a tight reach so there were no passing lanes.

On the third mark we got caught underneath a J105 and a T10. There is an old racing philosophy that we all fall for is to never, never get caught under a slower boat. Ticket tacked behind us while we were stuck going slow. Unfortunately she got a lift and more wind ahead and all we managed to do is lose a place. At this point we were managing to hold off Jay and Ihnsanity but punched a hole in the head sail.

We let Jay get on the shore side and she managed to squeeze by. We did almost caught her in the last few tacks but could not pull it off. Just goes to show you that it is never a sure thing in sailing.

WYC Long Distance Race - Deja Vu All Over Again

2010-06-20T09:47:00.007-04:00

We had managed to skip the Windsor Overnight race on Lake St. Clair for the last four years but decided to do it as a change up. It had been shortened to 42 miles. It seems a number of times we would go 2/3s around the course, the wind would die, and end up motoring home. This was our first major race since the NOODs and it was still a little bit strange to go back sailing.

At the start

It started with a reach at about 60 in 12 to 14 knots and we attempted to fly the .75 spinnaker in the first 2.4 miles of the race. Unable to hold it up we went back to a headsail and then flew the .6 spin at the next leg.

Jayhawker with code 0 on first leg

After rounding in first we got passed by Jay and HT on the leward leg. I think this spinnaker just has too many thousands of miles on it and is just tired.

At the top leg we all rounded within feet of each other. The second leg was a fetch. Rounding with other boats the J120 cannot point with other boats and we had to take the lower course. We let the other boats go higher as we saw that there already a lift at the top of the mast indicating what would happen farther down the course.

Hot Ticket and Jayhawker. All boats were less that a hundred feet away down the course the entire way.

That did happen as we got lifted with the storm approaching. After dark I made a point about the crew wearing pfd's and the expected weather. A comment was made that it did not look too severe but I retorted that you cannot tell at night.

On the left you can see where we broached.
On the right was our search pattern for the overboard crewman

Mike Henk in the rain

We started to see boats rounding up behind us and I called to roll up the headsail but it did not happen in time. About a mile and a half from the Thames River buoy it hit and we immediately rounded up. It got real scary we saw other boats going in different directions out of control and had to duck them. At this point we shredded our #1 (it was 7 years old). At the buoy we saw a multihull overturned and discovered they had lost a person overboard. Immediately we took down our sails and joined in the search. We found the same flashlight floating in the water three times hoping there was no person had been attached to it. After 45 minutes of looking for that person it was ascertained that person had been picked up and all crew members accounted for. This could of been a real disaster. None of the people on that boat had on life preservers. The crewman that was picked up did not even know the name of his boat.

Here is the radar of the storm approaching
Thames River at the eastern part of the lake

When the search was called off we decided to just motor home. Jayhawker had shredded her main and participated in the search. Hot Ticket did finish. It almost seemed like a repeat of previous two week's incident. After a long motor ride home we discovered the power was out at Bayview. A find ending to another stressful event.

In Memory of Mike

2010-06-07T16:47:00.042-04:00

Receiving boat of the day award
in Key West with Dan Lorenz

This past Saturday we lost a good friend in a tragic accident. Mike Badendieck was a close companion to a number of people. He had the bearing of a military man (he served a tour aboard a submarine) and showed composure under pressure. He knew how to have fun but had the seriousness to be not taken for granted. Trim and athletic, he was a very accomplished sailor. He could handle any job on the boat. Mike was a bit quiet but you would get an opinion that was always well thought out. He was passionate about his BMW. Annually he would go to performance driving school with old chum Rob Ramirez. It was washed at least 3 times a week and he was even got caught vacuuming his engine. He positively touched many lives and all will truly miss him. He is survived by hiswife Marian Green; his parents, Laurna and Juergen Badendieck; hissister Claudia (Mike) Simons. He will also be missed by his Uncle Jamesand Aunt Anne Kalitta, in-laws Lee and Oliver Green, brother-in-lawEdward (Marisa) Green, and nephew Oliver and niece Eleanor.

In lieu of flowers,his family will appreciate memorial donations be made to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.

I had quite a few requests for the poem read at the service so here is "Navy Wife", written by Lance Brady for his wife Joan:

She stands behind the man she loves,
A Sailor from the sea,
And waves farewell and sheds a tear,
When err he has to leave.

Each day she humbly carries on
This prayer upon her lips,
"Our Heavenly Father keep them safe,
The men who sail our ships."

She often writes and tells him of,
The things gone wrong ashore,
His oft reply "I love you dear,
But I must sail some more."

So oft she stands out on the pier,
A kiss upon her lips,
Reserved for him who holds her heart,
Her Sailor on the ship.

His final day along the rail,
"Request to go ashore,"
"I love you dear, I’m home to stay,
In ships to sail no more."

Going 19 knots downwind in Key West. Mike is the farthest right standing

Miami standing with Rod Weston, Nancy Caldwell, Rob Ramerez, Mike Pearson, and Doug Scheibner

Yes that is Mike water skiing on a bunk board

Chicago Mac

Mike and Marian loved to ski

Always active here they are with their bikes

A day to remember!
Winner overall Bayview Mac with Rod Weston, Nathan Caspers, Nancy Caldwell,
Fred Rozelle, Steve Rozelle, Colleen Flanagan, and Bob Declercq

At BMW school with Rob Ramirez and Dave Rodrigas

with Rob Ramirez

with Henry Mistele in Key West

On the way to Nassau, Bahamas

Lynn Kotwicki, Ken Flaska, Bob Declercq, Chuck Bayer, Colleen Flanagan, Karl Kuspa, Mike Kirkman in Nassau

Partying with crew of Hot Ticket at Mackinac Island

I love my car!

Race from Ft. Lauderdale to Key West January 2010 - Chuck Bayer is also in this video

Regata del Sol al Sol - St. Petersburg, FL to Isla Mujeres, Mexico - "Race of the sun to the sun"

2010-04-28T08:25:00.108-04:00

The race started with very little wind. The race committee has a rule that is really cool so that the race is not delayed. If there is no wind the committee boat will fly the postponement flag and leads the entire fleet down the course until the wind fills in. We were the second start but passed the entire group of boats by the bay bridge. We were able to see the yacht Second Wind by the first evening but after that we did not see any of the fleet. Difficult to believe, but Carinthia was able to point higher than most of the boats in the fleet. The next 400 miles were 15 to 25 knots of a port fetch. When it came to put a reef in the main we suddenly discovered that we had forgotten to put the reef line in. Although a bit slow, we did get it in by lowering the sail. However when it went back up, there was a tear in the back of the sail. Fortunately it was along the leech cord and we sailed 300 miles with it that way. We also broke one of the genoa halyards but just had to make bareheaded sail changes with the other one.

This was a tedious race and we kept sailing into square waves that caused the boat to drop every 4th wave. In fact I got launched out of bunk and landed on Jim Best's head, a pleasant surprise for him. We rode the southern current as long as we could and crossed the northernly stream as quickly as possible. We had to cross back on a starboard tack just north of Isla Contoy. Bob noticed just west of the island the depth decreasing to 24 feet. We immediately saw the foam of a reef straight ahead and tacked. It was a close call for ending up on the rocks but we did manage to duck that bullet. We did finish on Monday morning at 1: 54 am and the next boat did not arrive for the next 8 hours. That is the first time Carinthia got to be first to finish. We were first in the tiny spinnaker class but the day after our finish the wind finally filled in from the north so our great performance was nullified.

Beach at finish line

Crew: Bob Declercq, Jim Best, Karl Kuspa, Paul Falcone, Eric Ryan, Greg Thomas

Race Tracking: http://cloud.iboattrack.com/r/start.php?r=2010_regatadelsol

Race Website: http://www.regatadelsolalsol.org/

Final results: pdf document

At dock at Isla Mujeras

Paul Falcone's all terrain golf cart

Paul tried his hand in the suitability of the golf cart's off roading capabilities. In the end he did not care for it, but managed to miss the rocks and landed in the sand. He did not break his neck so I guess it was a relatively successful endeavor.

Manitee River to St. Petersburg

2010-04-11T20:40:00.001-04:00

Tampa Girl is on the right, Carinthia is in the group on the left

This was a broad reach start in about 16 knots of air for this 12 mile race. Madcow managed to sail in our quarter wake and stuck to us like glue. The second leg was a short run. After rounding mark 2 it was pretty much a beat to weather. We managed to cross the finish line in 2nd place and only losing to Warrior by 23 seconds corrected time. If we would of beat her we would of won the regatta in our class. However we did to place 3rd overall for all classes so it was not too bad.

Link: Race #3

Series

Overall Series

This race was mostly upwind up the bay

Crossing the finish line

Race from Tampa to Manitee River

2010-04-10T19:37:00.000-04:00

Pre race..Nicole, Rodney, Karl, Con, Mark

Straight trip down the bay

On the second day we started on a broad reach in breeze under 10 knots for this 25 mile race. The start did not go well. We got on the leeward side of the fleet and could not get out from under Warrior, a Tripp 38. She was the slowest in our class and it hurt us. Madcow, a B-32 tried to bluff us by forcing us up when we were rolling her inside the 3 boat circle of a mark of the course. Unfortunately the second half of the race it turned into a moderate air run and that was our weak point of sail. Tampa Bay Girl, a shoal draft J120 was able to stay ahead of us and with their 8 second PHRF advantage we could not get close to her in this race. We could only score 5th in class. We had some problems with our electrical system we could not get the engine started. We could sail into the Manitee River but soon found out that the approach to the Brandenton Yacht Club was in some spots under 7 feet so we got stuck. Carinthia did get a tow and a place to spend the night. Link: http://henrymoore.org/scrw/2010_race_2_scrw.pdf

Carinthia is on the left

Carinthia in front of Brandeton Yacht Club

Suncoast Regatta St. Petersburg to Tampa

2010-04-09T18:08:00.059-04:00

Carinthia in front of St. Pete Yacht Club

This was the first day of a three day regatta with the first a 21.3 miler from St. Pete to Tampa (Davis Island Yacht Club). It started with a decent 16 knot wind from the stern. We got caught in a little bit of traffic but got the .6 spinnaker up with no problems. We managed to round the first mark in 4th place but managed to move up in the upwind leg. At the top end of the bay the wind at 15 knots turned into a reach. At that point we put up the code 0 and started to reel the other boats in. We finished 2nd corrected time so it was a pretty decent day. Link: http://henrymoore.org/scrw/2010_race_1%20scrw.pdf

Spinnaker class start...Carinthia is in the middle

Rodney hard at work

Rodney in front of Davis Island Yacht Club

2010 Fort Lauderdale to Key West Race - Just a shorter Mac

2010-01-20T12:36:00.005-05:00

This race starts in Fort Lauderdale. The starting conditions where the wind was at about 8 knots from the north.We started on the right side of the line with the .6 oz spinnaker and held to starboard to get as close to the shore as possible to stay out of the current. This made some sense but boats such as Bad Fish (Melges 32) and Meridian (Farr 36) that stayed about a mile to the east did get some more wind pressure early. We managed to stay ahead of the 53 foot Swan Dragon Fly by about a half mile in these moderate conditions.

As the evening turned to night the wind started to freshen. It was more westerly and we we started to get 110 degrees apparent and went to the 3/4 oz. At this point the Farr and Melges started to fall behind in the current but Dragon Fly's faster hull speed started to come into play. We were able to skin the line that marked the edge of the reef. At this point we held them off until about 10 pm but were never able to pass her. We got so close we could read the numbers on her instruments a couple of times. The last time the wind picked up and we blew up the 3/4 spinnaker. There was a call for all hands on deck and we managed to put the code 0 up on deck but lost a half a mile. We caught up some more but it just was not enough by daylight. At 8 am we rounded the Key West buoy and went to weather with the #3 headsail to finish. As you can see from the video it did get cold but it was not worse than any Mackinac race but is not expected for Florida.

Result:: 2nd in class A
Link: http://www.keywestrace.org
Finish link: http://www.yachtscoring.com/event_results_detail.cfm?Race_Number=1&eID=297
Crew Members: Bob Declercq, Chuck Bayer, Rod Weston, Scott Shrake, Colleen Flanagan, Nancy Caldwell, Karl Kuspa, Michell Busho, Mike Badendieck

This is not a Carinthia blog but it is about our neighbor to the west of Bayview - Originally printed by Metro Times.

2010-01-03T14:09:00.003-05:00

Stephen Hume feeds a strip of cloth into an antique sewing machine to demonstrate that it still works. It’s one of 15 he has scattered around the room, which is in the cabin of his huge tugboat, docked at a riverside yard filled with scores of sleek little sailboats, yellow school buses, and quaint old bicycles. It all amounts to a magnificent mess of a collection.
The place is known as the Goat Yard, named for the pet goat that used to roam the grounds, back when the lot was still surrounded by stands of trees where pheasants dwelled, back before developers began encroaching and complaining about loud parties here.
It’s hidden on the east side near St. Jean and Freud, where long streets pass empty fields to reach the marinas at the river’s edge. There’s a vine-swarmed gate and signs forbidding trespass, behind which is a path winding through the rows of boats and stacks of machinery. Rising above it all are remnants of a brick-making factory that closed years ago, now little more than a debris-filled steel frame and an old shack with a workshop inside.
It’s all part of the Detroit Boat Works, Hume’s boat storage company that also sells used sailboats and their parts, particularly Crescent sloops, which are fiberglass boats invented in Dearborn in the 1950s by a Ford engineer. The boats are narrow and low to the water, offering a wet, splashy ride for their small crews.
Detroit Sail Club members — also based here — race a couple times a week on the river, then come back to drink and celebrate. Sometimes they jam in the School Bus of Rock, an old bus painted green, powered with electricity, and outfitted with electric guitars and bass, drums and microphones. Other times they party on the tugboat, which once was a restaurant and still has a full bar inside.
At the center of it all is Hume — sailboat enthusiast, former political side-thorn and affable eccentric. He’s 57, has graying hair and a clean shave where a while ago was a beard so long he could tuck it in his pants. Most days he can be found in the yard, fixing something or other, or on the river in one of his beloved boats.
“There were only 27 Crescents ever built,” Hume says, noting that 24 are here at the club. He is clearly a dedicated admirer. “The Crescent is the most valuable object in the universe!” he says with glee.
He first got the yard to store sailboats he was buying and repairing. The property was originally the dumping grounds for a nearby wood pallet manufacturer. “There were stacks of pallets as high as that building,” Hume says, pointing two stories up. “I burned those for a whole year.
There was a loading dock where the boats are and we just kept throwing them in that loading dock. We borrowed a forklift to move big stacks over and dump them in there, and we never had to relight the fire for a year.”
Hume acquired the goat only after he couldn’t get a horse for his longtime girlfriend, Sue McDonald, a fellow sailor. “I had it all lined up with the cops to give me one of their old retired cop horses, and I was going to have it running around here,” he says. “We had this guy we used to sail with, he’s the guy who designed the little horse on the Mustang car and the little horse on the Pinto, and he said I couldn’t get her a horse ‘cause of the yard and all of the rocks, and that he would personally prevent me from owning a horse at the boatyard.”
So he settled for goats. Originally there were two of them; one drowned soon after coming here, the other, named Nemo, was a pet for years and became the icon of the property.
“He’d jump on every nice car that came in the yard,” laughs Hume’s brother Chris, 53, one of six siblings, several of whom often sail here too.
“We had a lot more trees around here, and if you’d park your car under a tree for shade, he’d stand on your car so he could eat all the leaves,” Hume says. “He did it to Don. Don poured a pop on his head. He ran by everybody’s car and jumped up and down on Don’s Porsche and that’s what Don got for pouring a pop on his head. That goat knew exactly what he was doing. They had a war going. The goat loved to poop on his boat, and he would always fuck with the goat.”
The goat lived here for years until he was killed a few years ago by wild dogs that used to run in packs on riverfront land. “They got him out on the ice there,” Hume says, pointing to the canal that runs through the yard. “There was ice here in the canal, and he didn’t have very good traction out on the ice.” Its head is now stuffed and mounted near the bar in the tugboat.
Besides the boats and rusty bicycles and banged-up lawnmowers, the lot has a red, full-size Detroit Fire Department truck with a 150-foot hydraulic ladder. Weeds poke through the fender of a 1940 Dodge truck.
Several old school buses are parked at one end of the yard; one of them is packed full of old wheelchairs. “I’ve been buying ‘em cheap. It’s just a matter of time until we’re all going to be using wheelchairs, so I’m stocking up,” he says wryly. He once converted an old Dodge Ram into the Aqua-Car, a working boat (“We drove it around in the river”), and made a bike powered by a remote-control airplane engine.
These curiosities pale, though, compared to his past political antics. During the ‘70s and ‘80s, he was a nuisance to Detroit politicians, most famously Mayor Coleman Young. “He used to say, ‘If you don’t like it, run against me,’” he says. “I ran against him every [election] year.” He was the “Beer-a-cratic” candidate, whose slogan was, “We’ll bring our case to the people.”
He took part in candidates nights, which Young never attended, and would taunt the mayor with statements like, “I want to do like Mr. Young — I want to have sex with my appointees,” which were dutifully reported the next day in the papers. “I used to terrorize the shit out of him,” he says. He usually drew a few hundred votes.
In the early ‘80s Hume bid on a neighboring city-owned marina, won as the low bidder, then the city canceled the sale without clear explanation. Hume sued, the city settled. He took the money, bought video cameras and started a company called Public Eye Video, a one-man operation that taped all council meetings after he found crazy statements made by council members never made it into the meeting minutes. “I videotaped their asses, so at least somebody would have a record of what the fuck they’re saying,” he says.
It drove them nuts. They tried to shut him down, but learned they couldn’t because it was a public meeting and he had a right to record it. Then they tried to cut off his use of their electricity, but he found a way to buy it directly from the City-County Building authorities instead. At one point council member Kay Everett lost it in front of his camera, shouting at Hume, “You’re very close to getting this thing rammed down your throat!”
He became notorious for impish political pranks. One year he took out a classified newspaper ad claiming a millionaire was leaving town and needed to quickly sell off “rare guns, gold coins, fully appointed limousines, state-of-the-art security system,” references to some of the scandals associated with Young’s administration.
The ad featured the mayor’s address at the Manoogian Mansion, but not his name. “People were backed up all the way down the street,” Hume says with a grin. “Chief Knox said he’s gonna get down to the bottom of this and they’re gonna pay!”
He once bought a used bulldozer and two forklifts for $300 at a city auction, and when asked by a curious city official why he wanted them, he replied that he was going to lasso the mayor’s home and drag it down neighboring Fiske Street. The next day the city called off the deal without bothering to return his deposit.
Eventually he fashioned a huge, streaming banner that read “Retire Young,” which he would fly from his sailboat as it passed downtown and Young’s offices in the City-County Building, and during boat races, the Grand Prix, and the fireworks. An infuriated Young sent the police out several times to ticket Hume for minor offenses, sometimes seizing the boat. The banner now spans the ceiling of the Boat Works office.
He also ran for City Council, city clerk, county clerk, state rep and U.S. rep as a fringe, protest candidate and clever troublemaker, an irritant to the political elite.
Hume lives a quieter life now, “just going out and sailing and racing,” he says. He still hosts the Sail Club and its 50 or so members here, some of whom are currently making a film about Hume and the yard. “Everybody’s friends, everybody has fun,” he says. “A lot of times I see these guys come back [to other clubs] and hold a grudge about who won and stuff. It’s not like that here.”
He lives in nearby Indian Village with McDonald, 57, a former Grosse Pointe News editor who met Hume after assigning a reporter to write a feature on the Grosse Pointe bike shop he ran nearly three decades ago. They fixed up and moved into an old house together, repair and race boats together, and shop at garage sales together for odds and ends that often wind up as part of the visual cacophony here.
The yard is not without hassles — from a city that forbids improvements to the buildings, a developer who whines about the wildness here, and a landlord looking to sell the lot. All would prefer that this prime spot of land were used as something other than a ragtag boatyard and hangout for oddballs.
“Anybody else would be just totally frustrated, but he just took lemons and made lemonade,” McDonald says of Hume, as he and others work nearby on boats on a sunny afternoon. “He worked around it, doesn’t let it bother him, makes a little bit of money and a lot of people have a lot of fun.”

This article originally appeared in the Metro Times.

**post log - Steve is now circulating a petition to run for congress in the 1st district. His new slogan is "I'm running against Kwame's mommy!" Good luck Steve.

Bayview Long Distance Race

2009-09-19T13:53:00.061-04:00

Here are some pictures from this race. Rounding at Huron Point Buoy...very slowly

Yep got the bullet!

2009 Detroit Noods

2009-05-29T19:49:00.007-04:00

Pictures from this year's Nood

WYC Wednesday Night Race - Seeing Red

2008-08-28T14:41:00.000-04:00

This was a start to weather with the committee being favored on the left. I figured that most of the J120s would try to come in from the right on starboard. Instead I opted to traverse the line on port and then tacked when we reached the first boat who happened to be Hot Ticket. Rod and I did our rope a dope to weather to finally force her to tack. When we crossed again were clear ahead and rounded in 1st place. After this we just covered and kept ahead. The last leg down Hot Ticket and Night Moves were sparring downwind. HT decided to stay closer to the Canadian shore where NM gybed back to the entrance channel following us. By the red buoy we heard screaming and then HT put up their genoa to get around red DP8. Oops they had forgotten it was a mark on the new course. They did deserve another chorus of "Oh Canada"

Result: 1st out of 5 J/120s
Link: http://www.windsoryachtclub.com/race/WYC%202008%20Results%20%20Fall%20Race%201.pdf

Chicago Mac - You can breath now, we finally finished!

2008-07-21T14:30:00.010-04:00

This was race that at the start was very miserable conditions. It rained steadily for two hours before the start. We had already rigged an external display for the computer since I had cracked the laptop screen so that was a bit of distraction. When we got to the starting line we saw that the wind was coming out of the south at no more than 2 knots. Fred Roselle filled in as tactician so I could steer the start. We ran the engine up to 5 minutes before the gun from the west side of the line a little bit to the north. This would allow us to reach to the line.

Unfortunately, there were a few boats from the previous start who had the same idea. In fact the boat in front of us had to push themselves around the committee boat. Fred advised me to nearly skim the committee boat but he soon changed his mind when he saw that activity. Although we were a minute late crossing the start, we were one of the first in our section to cross. The real beauty of it was J/120 Flyin' Irish was approaching on port tack to our starboard tack. This forced them to gybe away where we immediately gybed back on port, throwing up the .5 oz drifter and then sped away ahead of everybody. I could see farther east up the line everyone was caught in a giant hole and not moving. In fact I understand that J/120 Night Moves was called over early and it took them at least a half hour to restart.

Farther up the course the wind went west with more force at about 5 knots. We put up our 3/4 ap spinnaker and managed to stay just ahead of Flyin' Irish. As the wind went more northerly we were forced to

go to the ap #1 headsail. At this point we seemed to get passed by Perseverance. We just kept running into other boats in front of us that would
gas us where Perseverance would not have the same problem. We did mange to stay ahead of Irristable and Flyin' Irish. As midnight approached we seemed to come into our own. The wind died and crew was on their game for pushing through it. As daylight came up were again in the lead among the J/120s.

During the day the wind went back to the south at about 10 knots so we used the .6 oz runner. The fog was so thick that most of the day we could not see more than another boat at a time. In fact it got really spooky when we could hear a ferry boat horn going off and not knowing where they were. As we got close to the Manitou Islands we knew were a little ahead of Perseverance but 6 miles east. If they were going to go between the islands and the Michigan shore we knew it would cost them extra distance. As we passed through the Manitou Passage we could see them about a mile behind us.

Past the Manitous Perseverance drove a quarter mile up to our stern. When we thought the wind was going back we prepared the code 0. Unfortunately we did not come up with the lift and she nearly passed us to the north. As we approached the Graves Reef light the wind lifted and we managed to round it with Perseverance 12 feet behind us. We went in defense mode and entered the straights of Mackinac about 100 yards ahead. At this point I decided I wanted to stay closer to rumb and put up the .6 runner in 4 knots with the air abeam.

About 7 miles west of the bridge we saw wind filling in from the south and steered towards it. When we reached it we tacked in front of Perseverance and got a quarter mile lead again. At this point we simply did a loose cover to finish 2 minutes ahead.

Bayview Mac - How about an Irish coffee?

2008-07-14T14:27:00.001-04:00

This one started wild and wooly. On the way out to the start, rain started coming down in sheets. Then the wind came. Visibility was so bad that two boats rammed each other in the prestart area. We hung out on the Michigan shore side before the race. When we finally traversed the starting line before the gun we found that the restriction mark that had started right behind the committee boat had drifted a third of the way down the line. This made for an interesting start.

We ducked just to the left of the restriction mark and then being leeward boat enabled us to get good boat speed. With the gun we put up our .6 oz spinnaker beside Hot Ticket. HT put up their .75 up because of their fear of more thunderstorms. I noticed a little wind shift and gybed towards shore. Flyin' Irish followed us on this path.

South of Harbor Beach,the wind died, especially out in the lake. We did spot some cat paws closer into shore so we got in closer. This enabled us to sail farther north than most of the J/120s except for FI. When the wind filed in it enabled us to get a good lead.

After this point the wind picked up feom the west southwest. WE used our 3/4 oz spinnaker mostly up the rest of the leg. We still managed to stay ahead of FI but we had aproblem just before the weather buoy. I did not get the crew up in time and we rounded up a couple of times to go to new headsail. FI rounded 5 minutes before us. The last leg was a fetch nearly the entire distance for abou 65 miles at 18 to 20 knots. We could never make up the distance finishing second. Just finishin the 400 mile on a 18 to 22 knots to Bermuda, this seemed like a walk in the park.

Crew: Nancy Caldwell, Mike Badendeick, Colleen Flanagan, Rod Weston, Brian Gennebaugh, Dale Marshal, Nathan Caspers

Finish: 2nd out of 8 J120s
Link: http://www.byc.com/mack/results.cfm?Class=J120&Class2=OD

Pink Pony - no explanation necessary =>

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Newport to Bermuda ---- Finally

2008-06-26T14:23:00.002-04:00

Carinthia finally made it to Newport, Rhode Island! I felt that the difficulty of preparing for this race an accomplishment itself. It is a ISAF category 1 event we needed to increase some of the safety equipment to those standards. It is a requirement that a portion of the crew take the safety at sea class and just filling out the paperwork.The race is 650 miles and crosses the gulf stream. I was lucky enough to get veteran Chuck Beyer as navigator. With the meanders of the stream with weather forecasts so it was important to get the right guy. Also aboard was Bob Declercq who has done many successful offshore races with me, the world famous Jeff "New York Times" Henderson, world traveling racer Lynn Kotwicki, Jim Best, who is truly a great all round offshore racer, the skilled Joe Mayfield, and Erik Witte, who has done quite a bit of ocean racing.

The race began in Naggausauget Bay. The starting area was packed with spectator boats. We had to weave our way through them just to get to the starting area. We put up the heavy #1 and ran the line. We got to the left end on starboard and tacked at the gun.We managed to get out of the bay on two tacks and went to our #3 when the wind picked up. We did get a small lift and went with the code 0 for a few hours but soon returned to the #3. We had down loaded the gulf currents and got a big push in the first one. At that point we were probably in the lead in our class. Then an amazing thing happened. 4 miles west of us the boats sailed on at 7 knots where we sailed on at 2 knots. At this point we were already 50 miles west of rumb.

At this point we could just not pull it out. Even though we kept the boat fast on a fetch we could not catch up to a full headsail boat. We did manage to stay ahead of the other J/120s but it just was not enough to do better than 4th on corrected time.

Result: 4th out of 13 in class 4, 24th out of 124 overall
Result Link: http://www.bermudarace.com/CompetitorsBoats/2008Results/tabid/264/Default.aspx

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Regata del Sol al Sol - St. Petersburg, FL to Isla Mujeres, Mexico - Race of the sun to the sun

2008-04-28T14:17:00.002-04:00

This race is 450 miles from St. Petersburg, FL to Isla Mujeres, Mexico off of Cancun. What makes it extremely interesting is that the gulf stream flows at about 3 knots north up the gulf of Mexico, then loops south along the Florida coast. The race starts right off the pier outside St. Petersburg inside the bay. After a slow start at 10:20, with moderate running wind, Carinthia got out of Tampa Bay within a few hours with clear skies and warm weather. Early on a shoal draft J120, Tampa Girl, passed us at the outer buoy. As the sun set were on a windward reach with the code 0. During the night the wind shifted to 110 degrees and we gibed in the gulf southernly current. We then got pretty much on the rhumb line when then encountered the northernly current on the other side. At that point we made a hard right and crossed over to the other side of it. Once out we just followed the shore to Isla Mujeres. For some reason our GPS stopped calculating our position so we had to finish with handheld. I found out later that there was 32nd satellite added at the end of February and our Northstar could only read 31. This caused it to regularly get lost, especially the last 30 miles. Because we had two spare portables we still found Isla Mureres. We finished at 18:51 on Sunday night. In any case we finished ahead of Tampa Girl by about 1 and 1/4 hours corrected time. Carinthia won the spinnaker race division and placed 3rd overall in the entire fleet. As an additional plus I found out even though we were 4th over the line we beat the last record set by a TP52 named Rosebud. You can follow the race and look at the standings at http://charthorizon.com/races/2008_tampa_islamujeres/htdocs . The event website is at http://www.regatadelsolalsol.org

Under and past the Tampa Bay bridge with Tampa Girl in pursuit.

Although you can not see them well a family of dolphins came to play.--->

Mexican Navy at the finish(Comment on this)

Miami Nassau Race - Again Irked by IRC

2008-02-10T13:10:00.006-05:00

This race from Miami to Nassau began with nearly 2 knots of air out of the southeast. Because the air was so light the start was delayed for nearly an hour at 10am. In fact because of the outgoing tide current we got pushed over the line early. We went back to start over. We then went right towards the cut and got a good push from the current and nearly got back in the lead. By noon the wind was at 8 knots with a boat speed of 6 knots.

Crossing the Florida straights we stayed in sight of the J125 and the J44 with a lot of reaching. On the Florida side we had a current of 5 knots so Carinthia would have to point at least 30 degrees high just to keep our north south position.

When morning broke the rain was coming down in sheets. Boat speed was continually good as we would get a buildup and more astern. As you can see we tore the .6 oz at the tapes and we went to the 1.5oz with no loss of speed.

In the last part of the race we managed to stay ahead of the J125 who had a faster rating. In the last 10 miles we passed Golddigger, a J44. This group sailed a nearly flawless race with almost 35 sail changes. Again I stuck it to us myself. If I would of registered the boat in IRC we would of placed 1st overall.

Happy, Sleepy, Doc, Grumpy

Whadya mean, no beer? Wait a minute this is not Hot Ticket!

The plot above got a little cruddy because in the middle of the race we discovered our alternator had fried and we let the laptop battery run down. (Click on the chart for a larger image)

Crew: Chuck Bayer Jr., Bob Declercq, Lynn Kotwicki, Mike Kirkman, Mike Badedieck, Colleen Flanagan, Ken Flaska, Karl Kuspa, and in the buoy race Jim Dundas

As you can see above this race was a big deal here. This an event that was part of the old SORC. With the fantastic facilities on Paradise Island and hospitality of the Nassau Yacht Club this is a race nobody should miss!

In the buoy race it blew between 18 and 22 knots. We managed to lead in both races. Towards the end of the 2nd race Jim Dundas tried to move the boom with his head and we took him to the hospital for observation. Fortunately he got only four stitches behind the ears with no other permanent damage. BTW the doctor would not let him walk out of the hospital with the head bandage on.

Results: 3rd in long distance race, 1st in buoy race, Winner of Governor's Trophy
Link: http://www.miaminassauraceweek.com/

WYC Wednesday Chimo Night Race - Stirred not Shaken

2007-10-10T13:05:00.000-04:00

This race started in the Detroit River in front of the Windsor Yacht Club. The course went up past DP5, DP7 and then up to R8 in the shipping channel out in the lake. The wind was coming up the river at maybe 5 or 6 knots from the Windsor side. I wanted to start from left side by the buoy but got there a little early. We gybed to starboard along the line until the gun. Night Moves was on our right and eventually started to gas us. I could tell there was less pressure in the middle because of high rise blocking the wind so I called for a gybe. When we hit the island side it was clear with less current and more air and were making time on the other J120s. As we got pushed into the river

we got caught with Hot Ticket our left and had to concede a place to them. We continued with a chute out the leg where we went to a head sail at R8. We allowed Jayhawker to get up on us and they rounded ahead of us at R2. The next leg was at about 45 degrees apparent but I could see everyone getting lifted farther down. We went high on the leg and when we got farther down we would put up our code 0. At that point we rolled right past Merlin and beat them to mark Dp7. They immediately tacked and we went a 100 yard past and did the same thing. At this time a free for all started. 4 J120s were tacking back and forth. We entered the river with Merlin in the lead, Jayhawker, Us and Hot Ticket. We had tacked a little to the center of the river and got more pressure there. We managed to roll Jayhawker and nearly reached Merlin. It was an exciting race and a fitting end to our Michigan season. We came out of it in 2nd in a close race and recovered enough to end up first overall for the Wednesday night season.

Result 2nd out of 6 J120s
Link: http://www.windsoryachtclub.com/2007-regatta/WYC%202007%20Chimo%20Race.pdf

WYC Wednesday Night Race - Who needs wind?

2007-10-03T12:59:00.000-04:00

The first leg was 110 degrees with light air around 5 or 6 knots out of the northwest. The starts in front of us were starting on port with spinnakers. The boats farther in the lake were getting more air so they seemed to get a little more speed. I noticed about 7 minutes before our start some cat paws coming from the south shore. I could see there was a major shift coming (180 dgrees) and actually motored for 15 seconds before the 5 minute gun to get to the new air. We hung around the right pin before the gun and put up our spinnaker. Hot Ticket reached up to us and got across first with Merlin and Night Moves in a hole farther down the line. Up the first leg I could see the pressure was still on the right side of the course so I tried to bias the us there. It was enough to round mark A with us on the inside of Hot Ticket. They tacked immediately where we held out tack about a 100 yards since Merlin right behind stretched their tack out also(port tack was favored). Going farther up the leg we managed to hold our lead with Ticket and they crossed behind us on the next tack. At this point I only wanted to cover HT and stay to their right. Hot ticket had a battle with a fishing boat and went aground. After a number of tacks in lighter and lighter air Merlin managed to catch up four boat lengths behind us. At DP5 the wind shut down and essentially we drifted in ahead of them. We could still win the race even without wind. Go figure.

Result: 1st out of 4 J/120s
Link: http://www.windsoryachtclub.com/2007-regatta/WYC%202007%20Fall%20Race%207.pdf

COURSE 5 - 4.6 nautical miles
Start to A (110o) leaving it to starboard
-then to DP7 (275o) leaving it to starboard
-then to DP5 leaving it to starboard
-then to finish line.

(Comment on this)

WYC Wednesday Night Race - Where's Waldo?

2007-09-28T12:51:00.001-04:00

This was a weather start in about 8 knots of air with the left pin slightly favored. We came in on port and tacked to starboard when we got close to Merlin on the left side of the line. We could not this time got up in Merlin's lane when she got lifted. We could not get control of her because they managed to stay on our right hip. Up towards the top of the leg she managed to get in our lane and tacked on the layline before us and managed to get lifted to the mark. That put us at the top B mark in 2nd. At this point in went dark quickly with the rain coming on. We gybed back and forth a couple of times looking for mark D and just could not find it. This proved to not be problem for Hot Ticket and Night Moves where they rounded it on top of us and quickly rolled us on a broad reach. As we approached DP8 Jayhawker got inside of us and to injury to insult I steered the boat too slowly and stalled at the mark causing us to touch it. We did our penalty turn and then went up the right side of course because we felt there was more pressure there. We managed to round right after Night Moves and stuck to them until DP5. Since it was almost dead downwind we managed to start gassing NM and then got on the left side of the river where there was more pressure. This put us in the position of passing her to finish third. This race was not successful mostly since we could not find that mark D. In the group of boats ahead of us we just could not see it. Maybe if Colleen had been there....

Result 3rd out of 5 J120s
Link: http://www.windsoryachtclub.com/2007-regatta/WYC%202007%20Fall%20Race%206.pdf

COURSE B - 7.5 nautical miles
Start to B (065o) leaving it to port
-then to D (261o) leaving it to port
-then to DP8 (208o) leaving it to port
-then to CC (063o) leaving it to port
-then to D (309o) leaving it to port
-then to DP7 (212o) leaving it to starboard
-then to finish leaving DP5 to starboard.

Grosse Pointe Yacht Club Bluenose - How Carinthia Got Her Groove Back

2007-09-23T12:42:00.000-04:00

This was a triangle race running around the triangle clockwise. The wind was varying between 335 and 348 degrees with wind speeds around 12 knots. Because the first leg was going to be a close reach I felt it was important to start at the left pin upwind from all the other 4 J120s. At 1.5 minutes before the gun I ran up toward the pin on starboard and when I felt there was enough room to tack on port. We managed to be near full speed at the gun where the leeward boats were going a little slow because of maneuvering. Merlin was the next boat down and they could not get up us before the start because the where too far down the line(thanks Doug). With a clean start I could sense the others were drifting south of the rhumb line we went down with them in the puffs to give cover. Every time the wind went left we gave them some gas. Hot Ticket got caught in the group and got squirted out the back. They then went to the north of us but I was not concerned because there were other slower boats up there to block there air. Merlin went way low on the course but I felt it would only be extra distance and when she came up to our line at the mark we would still gas them. With Jayhawker on our line behind us we would go up to their lane the wind backed and still get faster down the leg by doing so. We got the first mark in first place. After gybing we put up the .6 oz spinnaker. We were going slow at first so I saw an open spot above us and got

the boat moving again. At the end of the leg we needed to gybe before reaching mark W. We had it catch on the spreader so it was necessary to go behind the C&C35 to our left since we were on port. We did a Mexican takedown so we managed to accelerate and get above most of the boats ahead of us on another close reach. The last 2 miles of the leg the wind went to 50 degrees apparent so we put up the code 0. We used it around the last mark and the short dogleg in first. This race was determined at the start and if executed well there would be no pasing lanes for the boats behind us. It feels good now that Carinthia has her groove back.

Result: 1 out of 5 J120s
Link: http://drya.org/race2007/Results/gpycBN.htm

WYC Wednesday Night Race - Never Give Up

2007-09-20T12:35:00.002-04:00

This was another race to mark D on broad reach in 10 knots of wind. I tried to get us to the committee boat side at the gun because it was favored. Unfortunately Merlin had maneuvered to the middle of the line and at about 20 seconds to the gun had forced Hot Ticket over to our side from leeward. I originally thought there was room to squeeze through but by the time the gun went off there was only a half a boat width to make it. At the last possible

moment I told the crew we were going to spin to the left ( we already had the spinnaker up). We did a 360 turn, getting the spinnaker half way down. Back on course we put the chute back up and started on our way. Merlin just ahead had problems with her spinnaker and we gybe rounded just behind her. Fortunately we rounded from far out and managed to get an inside on Jayhawker, causing us to gas her and move up to 4th. At mark B it was a spinnaker drop rounding. This leg we caught up to Merlin and managed to pass her when she went left and we went right. Just before DP7 we crossed behind Night Moves and on the next tack we were in front. The only boat to catch was Hot Ticket. The only chance we had was to go farther south on the Detroit River and almost caught them when we had the wind pressure they did not. In any case we were stern to bow and they only beat us by 13 seconds. If we would of had a 1/4 more mile we would of passed them. It just goes to show even in last place never give up.

Result: 2nd out of 5 J120s
Link: http://www.windsoryachtclub.com/2007-regatta/WYC%202007%20Fall%20Race%205.pdf

COURSE D - 7.2 nautical miles
Start to D (309o) leaving it to starboard
-then to B (081o) leaving it to starboard
-then to A (187o) leaving it to starboard
-then to D (296o) leaving it to port
-then to DP7 (212o) leaving it to starboard
-then to finish leaving DP5 to starboard.

BYC Long Distance Race - The Good, The Bad, and the Real Ugly

2007-09-16T12:30:00.000-04:00

This was a romp counterclockwise around Lake St. Clair. The wind was out of the northwest at about 15 knots. We managed to get to the line a little ahead of the other boats. But after the 3/4 spinnaker went up the trimmers got an overide and collapsed the spinnaker. This caused night Moves to roll us and we had to ride her stern. It was a very fast leg with boat speeds between 7 and 10 knots. We managed to only broach only once. After getting slowed down under a Na40, Hot Ticket got in just ahead of us at Thames River buoy. At this point I thought we had good chance to pass Night Moves. They put up their #3 and it was blowing only 14 knots and sure to go slower. Hot Ticket only had 4 people so they most likely would be unable to do well going to weather. Both predictions came true. On this leg the wind was shifting 25 degrees so it was necessary to continually tack. Somehow the only boat to catch up was Merlin. We must of come together with Merlin at 7 times and manged not to lose ground. The last time we tacked towards them and got hit with a header in the middle of the tack. We could not tack back because the wind speed was down to 5 knots by this time. So we rounded buoy g27 in the shipping channel behind Merlin but still ahead of Jayhawker. What happen next was simply amazing. Even though Jayhawker was only two lanes above us they got a lift and we got a header. If we would of tacked I thought we would cross behind them. They simply took the lift almost all the way point huron buoy where we just managed to sail into a hole. We rounded the buoy in 3rd and put up the .6 spinnaker since the .75 had a rip in it. Luiz and I repaired the rip and when completed we put up the .75. We almost caught up to Merlin and Jayhawker but they managed again to leave us behind. The rest of the race we got headed and went back to the ap1 to finish in the river. We finished at about 8:30 so it was relatively fast.

We had about 30 tacks on 2nd leg so the crew never got bored. I felt we had good upwind boat speed and most of the time we were in the hunt to win so it was good bad and ugly.

Result: 3rd out 6 J120s

WYC Wednesday Night Race - A nice fall evening

2007-09-13T12:24:00.002-04:00

This race started in 3 knots of air with the port tack favored going to dp8. I decided to start on the middle of the line since I thought it was important that we had good boat speed with the light air. The other J120s fought for the pin end and even though it was favored I knew there would be problems if we had do a lot of maneuvering before the start. After the gun we seemed to do well against the other J120s. Hot Ticket came down to our line behind us. Just as fast they got a lift we did not get and got even to us to windward. Down by the mark I tacked to starboard before HT did. Since were a little behind I thought that the current would push us down and may get a small lift. We did manage to round on the inside of HT and got our spinnaker up quickly. Farther down the leg Merlin who was in first went high on the reach leg to get around the other boats where I decided to go low because it seemed that the fleet in front of us was also going high. In any case Merlin rounded far in front of us and HT got in on the inside. The next leg was a close reach. We rounded the next mark and tried to get to weather as close as possible. HT got behind a J105 and was force to tack to starboard. I thought this was perfect for us since we could get downriver faster. On the next crossing we were in front of Ticket and the rest of race we just covered her to hold our lead. I thought this was well sailed race. The worst mistake I made was to no recognize that there was more wind pressure on the left side of the course on the first leg. This allowed Merlin to get in ahead of us.

Result: 2nd out of 5 J120s
Link: http://www.wyc.info/2007-regatta/WYC%202007%20Fall%20Race%204.pdf

COURSE 3 - 6.3 nautical miles
Start to DP8 (243o) leaving it to port
-then to A (091o) leaving it to port
-then to CC (291o) leaving it to port
-then to DP7 (251o) leaving it to starboard
-then to finish leaving DP5 to starboard.

WYC Wednesday Night Race - A nearly perfect race

2007-09-05T12:21:00.000-04:00

The first leg was a broad reach on port. This time I got the boat to the line on the left side to the windward side of the 3 other J120's. We managed to get the boat to mark d in 1st with Night Moves and Merlin with the 3/4 oz. chute in 12 knots of wind. We made the turn gybing the spinnaker. Unfortunately the chute was a little slow coming around and I let NM get on the inside to windward. This was the noisy leg as Kurt o NM would not shut up. I am glad he was on the other boat. We managed to get just ahead of NM at mark B and this time getting tight to the mark so they had no room to pass. This allowed us to gas them on this weather leg and gain some ground in front of them. We stayed on port until the lay line which allowed us to gas NM all the way in on starboard. The following leg to D was another reach so there was very little to gain or lose there. I just tried to stay between NM and mark D. The leg to DP7 was a weather leg. Hot Ticket and Merlin went to the left side of the course where we stayed on the right to cover NM. At DP7 we simply went on a close reach and managed to hold off Merlin and NM to finish 1st.

COURSE D - 7.2 nautical miles
Start to D (309o) leaving it to starboard
-then to B (081o) leaving it to starboard
-then to A (187o) leaving it to starboard
-then to D (296o) leaving it to port
-then to DP7 (212o) leaving it to starboard
-then to finish leaving DP5 to starboard.

Result: 1st out of 4 J120s
Link: http://www.windsoryachtclub.com/2007-regatta/WYC%202007%20Fall%20Race%203.pdf

WYC Wednesday Night Race - Party at the end of the world

2007-08-29T12:13:00.000-04:00

We knew that the thunderstorms were going to show but did not know when. The first leg was a broad reach on port. Again I got the boat to the line early. The crew was quick to point out that I was going to be early so I turned the boat back in time before the gun. We managed to get the boat to mark d in 3rd behind Merlin and Hot Ticket with the 3/4 oz. chute in 8 knots of wind. We made the turn gybing the spinnaker. Merlin and HT took each other up where we stayed on rumb. About a third the way down the leg the wind hit from behind at 30 knots. Immediately we rounded up so the first order was to get the spinnaker down. After a couple of attempts we managed to get it down. Then the wind picked up to the high 30's and I considered taking down the main and quitting. I had even started the engine. HT already had ripped their main in half. Merlin was just ahead. I decided that it would be better for the main if we continue going down wind rather than try to take it down. We rounded around mark b with just the main and the ap #1 rolled. Merlin took theirs down and put up their #3 on this reach leg. Since we had only 6 people without Brian and Sandy on board we decided to ride it through until the wind would die down to put up the #1. The wind went down to 18 knots on the leg to D so we unrolled the #1. We caught up considerably to Merlin and just before mark DP7 they did a bareheaded change of their headsail to the #1. This allowed us to catch up to their stern. At DP5 we put up our code 0 since the wind was at 80 degrees. Merlin put up their 3/4 spinnaker after us but not soon enough. We managed to roll them and finished 30 seconds ahead. This was an exciting evening with Night Moves, Hot Ticket, and Jay Hawker dropping out. Jay Hawker got their prop shaft wrapped around a line so it took a while for them to get back to BYC. As the storm hit and while they were flying their kite, the yacht "Risky Business" had a man overboard. Within 45 seconds, they got the boat around and sailed back and got the man back on. The yacht "Epic" clocked the wind at 48 knots true and we got to see a water spout travel up the fleet.

COURSE D - 7.2 nautical miles
Start to D (309o) leaving it to starboard
-then to B (081o) leaving it to starboard
-then to A (187o) leaving it to starboard
-then to D (296o) leaving it to port
-then to DP7 (212o) leaving it to starboard
-then to finish leaving DP5 to starboard.

Result: 1st out of 5 J120s (only 2 finished)
Link: http://wyc.info/2007-regatta/WYC%202007%20Fall%20Race%202.pdf

Crescent Sail Yacht Club Regatta - Another nail biter

2007-08-25T12:11:00.000-04:00

This was a port reaching start with the first leg at 29 degrees to mark D. The wind was coming out to maybe 100 degrees at 11 to 12 knots. It was needed that we start at the left side of the fleet. We only had 6 people for this race so we had problem getting the .6 oz. spinnaker up twisting the head. Hot Ticket got their nose ahead of us to leeward. Ihnsanity and Night Moves got above us so we stayed low since we knew there was more pressure farther out in the lake. We rounded right behind Hot Ticket. The next leg was a close reach at 20 knots. Ihnsanity almost caught us but had to round behind us. The next leg was a weather leg with the favored being port. We were not able to tack because Saturn, a Melges 32, was to leeward and waited a half mile to tack. We had to still wait because a good portion of the boats behind us were blocking us. Ihnsanity managed to pass us because they did not have to overstand the mark and more people on the rail. At the next mark we were unable to gain on the boats in front but did not lose any places even though we were extremely light on rail weight. At this point there were major shifts so we tacked and almost caught HT. We finished just behind HT in 3rd.

Result: 3rd out of 4 J120s

Link: http://www.drya.org/race2007/Results/csyc.htm
Course: Start, D, C, B, A, Finish

Detroit Yacht Club Sweepstakes Regatta - Another St. Stupid Day

2007-08-08T12:22:00.000-04:00

This was to be a 2 race windward leeward series. The first race was set in about 6 knots of air with the line straight. We started in the middle but Hot Ticket managed to get on the left of us and eventually we had to tack to port and duck Ihnsanity. We wanted to get on the right side of the course but we soon found out that the left side had more pressure near the shoreline. We rounded the first mark in fourth place but picked off two boats on the downwind side by going near shore. After rounding the leeward mark we tacked to starboard to get back to the shore. We got a lot of distance up to HT but after rounding we stayed near the shore on the downwind leg. It turned out there was more pressure this time out in the lake and Night Moves nearly caught us at the finish. Because of the lack of wind they canceled the second race. Just another typical day on Lake St. Stupid.

Result: 2nd out of 4 J120s
Link: http://drya.org/race2007/Results/dycsweep.htm

Bayview Mackinac Race - Go East Young Man and Seek Your Fortune!

2007-07-25T10:32:00.012-04:00

This race started with the wind wind out of the north at about 15 knots. It was a difficult start when we had Flyin' Irish come down and foul us. This caused us to get in their windage so we bailed on port crossing to the right of the fleet just behind Merlin's stern. It was forecast that the wind would moderate that evening with the wind eventually filling in from the southwest. We also knew because the air temperature was close to the water temperature that there would be no offshore effect at night. Since a high pressure was going to travel over Saginaw Bay we decided to stay east and try to get around it to the north before it got too far east. After dusk the north wind started to die. Although we did not get a lot of wind we managed to keep moving the entire time. At about 2 am on Sunday we were about a 1/4 mile behind and left of J120 Hot Ticket. The wind went to about 55 degrees apparent and we put up the code zero. This allowed us to pass Ticket and slowly horizon them. Fortunately for us Ticket did not see the sail change before it was too late. As we got further north we got the stronger wind before Ticket. When daylight broke we had the NA40, Velero, to our right, Hot Ticket a mile behind, and Natalie J to our left. At this point, we thought we had a good night but until we got closer to the mark the realization came about we were also with some Santa Cruz 70's, a very good sign. In fact after rounding the mark a couple of more 70's passed us and that was because they had a 30 foot waterline advantage.

At this point it was a straight shot down to the straits. We made an effort to not get within 5 miles of the Michigan shore because we felt the wind would get soft there after sunset. At this point we discovered that the alternator had failed and we had limited time on the batteries. We cut all power consumption down to only the instruments and gps. The boat kept moving all

the way to the point at Bois Blanc Island. It was necessary to make a couple tacks in 2 or 3 knots of air but crossed the finish line at 8:54 am, 20 minutes ahead of Power Tripp and 2 hours ahead of Hot Ticket. Fortunately for us the wind shut down behind us. Because our batteries were low we had to sail into the dock. This prompted a safety inspection from the race committee and they did check to see we had the mandatory fuel left. Obviously we passed it with flying colors. I think

we did well because we came up with a strategy and stuck to it. We wanted to stay on the eastern third of Lake Huron so we would have all the options needed when the wind changed and the belief that the wind would be a little stronger on the eastern half of the lake. The crew performed nearly flawlessly and getting others up when we needed to make major sail changes. When we docked in the harbor there were only two 50 footers, 46 foot Natalie J and the SC 70s, 2 of which had motored in earlier in the race. This is one race that I am still overwhelmed by, 1st in class and 1st overall - what a race, what a year.

One postscript story - on Sunday afternoon a bird landed on the good ship Hot Ticket. He promptly took a dump on Bobby Kirkman's head and then attacked elder Bob Kirkman's glasses. They therefore named him little Frank. A little later Mike Kirkman was releaving himself when little Frank then went after his plumbing and almost got it with his claw. Little Frank, the son I never had.

Results in J/120 Class:
Link: http://www.byc.com/mack07/results.cfm?Cl ass=J120&Class2=OD

Carinthia 43:14:28 1
Hot Ticket 45:16:13 2
Jayhawker 47:09:08 3
Ihnsanity 53:55:33 4
Capers 54:04:13 5
Flyin' Irish 54:27:42 6
Night Moves 55:30:30 7
Merlin 56:34:20 8
Irresistible too56:37:45 9
Jahazi 74:10:00 10

Results overall: (1st of 158 boats corrected time)
Link: http://www.byc.com/mack07/results-overal l.cfm?Div=Division I - IRC

USA 25497 Carinthia Frank Kern Monday - 08:54:28 43:14:28 47:26:07 J120 1
USA 28990 Power Tripp James Kraft Monday - 09:17:18 43:27:18 47:40:12 IRC B 2
USA 15044 Velero VII JOHN S. BARBOUR Monday - 12:22:51 47:22:51 48:19:42 NA40 3
CAN 4151 Mystery Stephen Jay Monday - 16:23:54 51:33:54 48:59:12 CC 35 4
USA 25328 Hot Ticket Robert Kirkman Monday - 10:56:13 45:16:13 49:45:07 J120 5
USA 50596 Natalie J Philip D. O'Niel III, D.D.S. Monday - 07:36:07 41:36:07 50:02:49 IRC A 6
USA 43737 Gaucho Sanford Burris Monday - 09:29:47 43:29:47 51:01:16 IRC A 7
USA 18970 Nitemare Thomas W. Neill Monday - 05:25:11 39:15:11 51:20:34 GL 70 8
USA 70 Evolution Kohler/Reichelsdorfer Monday - 05:26:06 39:16:06 51:54:45 GL 70 9

The crew included: Mike Badendeick, Colleen Flanagan, Fred Rozelle, Steve Rozelle, Bob Declercq, Nancy Caldwell, Nathan Caspers, Rod Weston

WYC Wednesday Night Race - Nuts

2007-06-20T10:27:00.000-04:00

This was a downwind start in about 8 knots of wind. The plan was to start at the left side of the line. We could of stayed on starboard. Then when I got the other 2 boats extended out on right side of the course, we could jibe on port to be first to the mark. Night Moves immediately got a hourglass in their spinnaker and we got ahead. What I should of done is immediately jibed but NM got on our wind and rolled us to the first mark. This got us around second and the next leg was to weather We stayed on the left where Hot Ticket went to the right and was first to round the next mark. The next leg was a near fetch and we still rounded in third. On the next downwind leg we went to the left and then right and jibed on a header. We rounded in 2nd and went down to DP7 just behind HT. We then got caught in small boat traffic when the wind died. We managed to drift past HT but NM managed to get on the right side of the river and passed both of us.

COURSE D - 7.2 nautical miles
Start to D (309o) leaving it to starboard
-then to B (081o) leaving it to starboard
-then to A (187o) leaving it to starboard
-then to D (296o) leaving it to port
-then to DP7 (212o) leaving it to starboard
-then to finish leaving DP5 to starboard.

Result: 2nd out of 3 J120s
Link: http://www.wyc.info/2007-regatta/WYC%202007%20Spring%20Race%206.pdf

Windsor Overnight Race - Ouch!

2007-06-15T10:22:00.002-04:00

Carinthia did not race this night but Shooter and I took out Fast Traxx to watch the start and get maybe a few pictures. After the gun went off in the J120s I heard a bunch of yelling between Hot Ticket and Jayhawker and then a big bang. At first we thought someone had hit the committee boat but it turned out HT had taken out a back corner of Jayhawker with her bow. Needless to say both dropped out of the race. I understand Flyin' Irish quit when the wind died later at 2am.

WYC Wednesday Night Race

2007-06-13T10:19:00.000-04:00

This was a fun race. The first leg was a windward leg. I tried to get on the left side of line but Merlin did a great job of keeping us on the outside. We luffed and started behind Merlin where we immediately tacked on starboard. I could see farther up the course the wind was going right. The mistake I made was to tack back on port and held it to the starboard layline. This caused us to round in 4th. The next leg was a reach so there was no room to pass. The following leg was a run. Although the starboard tack was favored we gibed to port. This allowed us to get to the next mark in a close third, going inside Night Moves. The last leg down the river was a run where it turned into a drag race, Ht managed to round DP5 ahead of us but because they had lost speed we managed to roll them finishing second.

Result: 2nd out of 5 J120s

Course:COURSE A - 6.8 nautical miles
Start to A (110o) leaving it to port
-then to B (007o) leaving it to port
-then to D (261o) leaving it to port
-then to CC (129o) leaving it to starboard
-then to DP7 (251o) leaving it to starboard
-then to finish leaving DP5 to starboard.

Mills Race - What could of been

2007-06-08T10:14:00.000-04:00

This one I managed to recruit the world famous Chuck Bayer and the veteran Tony Lawrence. Leading up to the regatta the race committee decided to put it to us. Since we did not have dacron headsail they decided we did not deserve a roller furler credit. This took us down to a 45 from a 51 DRYA rating. This Mills was fast. We started on a run at 17:50 with up to 25 knots of wind. We put up our small spinnaker and managed to stay even with Large Marge and Crazy Horse. The sport boats in these conditions simply left us. When the wind moderated to 20 we did a nearly perfect spinnaker change to the .6oz large chute. When we rounded the buoy at Cedar Pointe we went to a head sail and later a code 0 when the wind moderated going north. At midnight we got headed and went to the ap1. When we rounded the top mark we then went the code 0 and left the sportboat behind us by at least a mile. For the next mark I called for the .6 and we to the .6 spinnaker. Unfortunately we had to launch it 3 times before we could get it up without a twist. The rest of the race we gibed back and forth as needed to the finish. We finished at 03:58, 35 minutes behind Marge and 30 behind Crazy Horse. When I plugged in the numbers we would missed 1st place in IRC by 62 seconds but in Lake Erie PHRF we were 6th. What a shame!

Results:
1 1 USA 139 Vanpire 32 Melges 32 /Reichel P Dan van Heeckeren 27 1/2:54:18 -00:33:49 08:30:28 1
2 2 51757 Stand Aside Thompson 8 /870 Bill Bollin 45 1/3:20:11 -00:56:21 08:33:49 2
3 3 691 Adrenalin Mumm 30 Sailing Team, MSU 45 1/3:34:57 -00:56:21 08:48:35 3
4 4 73273 Pterodactyl Evelyn /Evelyn Symonds, Mark 39 1/3:40:24 -00:48:50 09:01:33 4
5 5 117 Say Uncle Henderson /Henderson Lemonds, Kevin 39 1/3:41:51 -00:48:50 09:03:00 5
6 6 25497 Carinthia J/120 /J/120 Frank Kern 45 1/3:58:18 -00:56:21 09:11:56 6
7 7 USA39 Three Niner Mumm /30 Gonzalez, Dave 45 1/4:04:21 -00:56:21 09:17:59 7
8 11 USA 42744 Crazy Horse Frers /50 Bud & Andy Siudara 12 1/3:38:53 -00:15:01 09:33:51 8

Detroit Noods - It can only get better

2007-06-03T10:11:00.000-04:00

On day one I had us start on the left side and slowly got lifted. The mistake was I should of tacked to consolidate our losses. Instead I took us to the left side and thus ending the race in 6th. Because of the lack of wind that day there were no more races.

On day 2 we took 5th in the 1st race, 4th in the 2nd race and 3rd in the last race. There were no races on Sunday.

Finally after sweat and tears Carinthia is ready to go

2007-05-23T10:05:00.001-04:00

I put together a collection of pictures of the repair we made of the front bulkhead of Carinthia.This was a major repair that delayed us for the first race. We managed to make the WYC night race our shakedown cruise.The top had rotted out because it had not been sealed and the tabbing was not totally across the top. The extender line had pulled right out of the bulkhead because of rot. The bottom cavity had rotted out because TPI had put no water protection inside the cavity. In this case we decided to use 3/8" marine plywood for the front and sliced up some mahogany boards and epoxied them on for the cabin house side. Of course we made sure the bulkhead was sealed on all edges. We put in blind nuts to attach the back of the bow pulpit because the bulkhead is directly below the attachment point. We also put in an access port for the cavity for easy cleanout and inspection.

Pineapple Cup - Ya mon!

2007-02-20T23:56:00.007-05:00

This is a race that I have wanted to do for a long time and this was the year I had the time to put it together. Its course starts at Fort Lauderdale, crosses the Florida Straits, arcs through the Bahamas, turns around the eastern coast of Cuba and finishes at Montego Bay, Jamaica. Since it is usually a 4 or 5 day 811 mile race we decided to sail with a small 7 person crew to keep the weight down from bodies, supplies, and gear. It was important that most of the crew be capable of doing all jobs including steering. It usually starts with a reach and ends with a run past Cuba.

We had a good start with the wind coming across our port stern. We had a fast night crossing the Florida Straights with the wind blowing out of 315 degrees at about 20 knots. We flew our .75 oz AP spinnaker from our 14:05 start until it just blew up just before sunrise. We had been generally happy with our progress since we knew that the only boat ahead of us was a Santa Cruz 52 with a 33 second faster PHRF rating than us. Around midnight we kept shorting out our navigation lights. Fortunately it was diagnosed as a short in the bow lights and we snipped off the wires and put up the emergency bow light. We were leading Blue, a 1D48, most of the night along with a J133 from the IRC class. When we reached the northern tip of the island of Eleuthera in

the morning as the wind dropped to 5 knots out of the northwest directly behind us. The wind was so light the only spinnaker we could fly was the code 0 and took most of the day to sail 20 miles. It took nearly 16 hours to pass the island. It then filled in from 280 degrees and the wind speed went up to 25 to 30 knots. Frank got the boat up to 19.6 knots driving where Karl managed 19.9. It could have been faster but with the water spraying over the cabin top it was difficult to see the instruments. The seas were rough and we found every leak on the boat. Thank goodness for duct tape!

Once past the south point of Long Island, we passed to the west of North Rock, On Monday at 2 am we launched the 1.5 oz spinnaker in 26 knots and destroyed that when the bow sprit extender line snapped. We still averaged 10 to 12 knots per hour with the jib top in heavy air. It was pretty rough to the extent that all hands on deck were tethered on with safety straps at all time. We saw regularly wind speeds up to 33 knots. Since we expected a right wind shift we sailed on starboard until we were approximately 18 miles off shore.
At this point we unrolled the regatta flag since it was pointed out in the regatta premeeting that the Cuban military should leave us alone with it displayed. We then jibed over and paralleled the shore of Cuba.

We rounded the eastern tip of Cuba at about 11am with a jibe onto starboard. We then decided to toss up the code 0 and sailed with that successfully for some time, until the shackle blew on the sheet, resulting in a shredded code 0. The jib top went up again. We were sailing along in somewhat civil waves (at least compared to previous night) with wind speeds approximately 20 knots true at a heading of 265 degrees.

After Cuba we sailed directly for the finish line at Montego Bay. The winds were pretty much easterly and then went to the northeast at 18 to 22 knots true. We then launched the .6 oz, running chute after sunrise and headed directly to Jamaica in 18 knots of wind. We were down to our last spinnaker (.6 oz.) and we babied it the entire way. In many cases we tried not to surf on the waves since we would go so fast that the spinnaker would collapse into the spreaders and then the consequential pop when it filled again. We did have one major broach when I was in the bunk and salsa sauce went literally all over the cabin and specifically on Ken’s head. Most of the night we were going at 10 knots with a little bit of surfing we got as high as 16 knots. At about 80 miles out we knew we were not far behind on corrected time the Santa Cruz 52, Renegade. We needed to make us go faster. The only thing left was to jettison the food and excess water, and ice. Since I had been wearing the same shoes in salt water for 4 days they were really starting to smell bad. I had talked the crew into not jettisoning them. By 13:44 pm on Tuesday our race was over. Upon finishing we knew we had beat Renegade by 54 minutes corrected time. The boat we were worried about the 48 foot schooner, Munequita needed to arrive by 0:930 the following morning to beat us since we owed them a 17 hour handicap. Fortunately the wind moderated in the ocean and they did not arrive until 13:57.

Carinthia, with a quality Bayview crew won 1st Overall in the Pineapple Cup race to Montego Bay. We beat an impressive combined PHRF & IRC fleet including the new Sjambok, Titan, Blue Yankee and a host of others. Second overall was Cone of Silence which corrected out 28 minutes behind Carinthia. More information can be found at www.montegobayrace.com. Trophies won include the Arawak Trophy for winning PHRF division, Pineapple Trophy for winning overall, and the Navigators Trophy won by Erik Ryan. Even more satisfying is Carinthia's and my picture and will go on the wall in the Montego Bay Yacht Club with some great sailors and boats that have won this race before such as Escapade, Tenacious

(Ted Turner), Kialoa, Stormy Petrol, and Zephyrus V. Even more amazing are the boats that sailed this regatta in the past and did not get this trophy such as Roy Disney's Pyewacket and Larry Elison's Sayanara. Most of the larger boats used pro crews where we basically got high caliber Bayview racers. What a ride....it does not get better than this!

Result: 1st in PHRF, 1st Overall
Link: http://www.montegobayrace.com/acrobat/2007%20SILVER%20PINEAPPLE%20OVERALL%20RESULTS.pdf
http://www.montegobayrace.com/acrobat/MOBAY%202007%20%20FINAL%20RESULTS%20BY%20CLASS.pdf

The crew includes (from left to right) Ken Flaska, Erik Ryan, Karl Kuspa, Frank Kern, Bob Declerq, Colleen Flanagan. Missing from the photo is Jim Best.

One final note: Ted Neesley, a regular Carinthia crew man, managed to land a ride on Munequita, a 48 foot schooner. Since they arrived last he did get the cook's award. This is certainly a more attractive photo than his mug shot. (see below)

Key West - Day 5

2007-01-19T23:54:00.000-05:00

This day we just wanted to start on the left side of the line and go up the left side of the course. We started on port and when we came to the first boat we tacked to starboard. Loose Fish was to our left but had trouble getting over the pin. We went up with a full head of steam and managed to roll them. To keep in pressure we stayed on the left side of the course and managed to round 4th. We were a little slow putting up the spinnaker but still got to the low mark in 3rd rounding the right gate. Although the start was in 12 knots the wind started to decrease to about 9 pulling us back with the other boats.The rest of the race we kept on the left side of the course but kept loose fish at bay.

Result 7th place
Link: http://premiere-racing.com/07_KW_Results/kw07_div2_series.htm#PHRF-2

Key West - Day 4

2007-01-18T23:52:00.000-05:00

Again 8 knots of air so so it was not J120 weather. I talked to Doug Schiebner on the phone about the rig tune because we were dead slow upwind yesterday. We took some major turns off of the shrouds and depowered the backstay with full on running backstay. This seemed to be pretty good. We still had problems upwind because I think we crossed too many time and got disturbed air from the classes in front of us. We had some other problems with putting the spinnaker up. I think we tacked too early at the upwind mark and got swallowed. In any case it was not a fun da

Key West - Day 2

2007-01-16T23:49:00.001-05:00

Key West - Day 2
I dont know what they ate but 3 of the crew got food poisoning. Baker actually fainted in the bathroom last night and Don was so sick he was not able to go out with us this morning.

Another light air day. We got a decent start on the left side of the line. We managed to reach the upper mark in 5th and had a successful rounding. On the first downwind leg in light conditions the wind filled in from the left and of course we were on the right. We managed to get a few places back but it was ugly. We also finished with Perrigrine. We entered the two boat circle clear ahead and they screamed that they needed room at the mark. (see picture below) To avoid hitting them I gave them enough room to cross so we ended up tying. I took it to the protest room but got ruled against in arbitration. I decided it was better to not take it to the room because I would of had to find the witnesses who by this time had scattered.

I race 2 we just could not just get on the right side.

Result: race 1 8th
race 2: 11th

Link: http://www.premiere-racing.com/07_KW_Results/kw07_div2_series.htm#PHRF-2

Key West - Day 1

2007-01-15T23:43:00.000-05:00

Today it was at most at 9 to 11 knots wind speed. In the first race we got in the second row on the right side of the starting line. We thought Loose Fish in front of us was over early but it was enough for them to gas us. So the first part of the first leg was getting clean air. With the terrible start we managed to rope in boats ahead of us 1 at a time by good boat speed, tactics and handling. We had some good mark roundings especially in the leeward gates. We managed to polish off Cash Flow on the final leg and tied with El Ocaso. Unfortunately with his aluminum spar we give him 3 seconds a mile.

In the second race we got right up to start with a good carved hole. We got crushed a little when a Ben 40.7 was over early to our right. But he eventually bailed and we obtained free air and again started out move up the fleet. We first nosed out El Ocaso at the upwind mark and then polished off Perrigrine on the downwind mark. By the bottom of the 2nd downwind leg we got ahead of Emocean. On the last upwind leg I think that we sailed the boat a little too full and Emocean managed to pass us again to finish ahead. Bounder had a great second race by placing 1st. It was their type of conditions for the Sydneys, Ben 40.7 and the Hadley. I did like our boat speed most of the time in both races so I am still optimistic.

1st race: 6th
2nd race: 5th

http://www.premiere-racing.com/07_KW_Results/kw07_div2_series.htm#PHRF-2

Key West 2007

2007-01-14T23:40:00.001-05:00

We have a first. Ted managed to land in jail before his feet even touched the ground. He drove down from Miami when one of the locals followed him into the parking lot where he was staying:

Arrest Date: 01/13/2007 Time: 01:58 CAD #: Offense #: KWPD07OFF000228
Name: NEESLEY, THEODORE ALDEN DoB:11/10/1980 Age:26 Sex:M Race:W
Address:
219 MCMILLAN ROAD, GROSSE PT FARMS, MI 48236
Occupation:
SAIL DESIGNER
Arrest Location: 300 GRINNELL STREET, KEY WEST
Charges:
1 Misdemeanor Count(s) of 322.03.1

Key West Feeder Race sailed by crew of Night Moves

2007-01-13T23:12:00.002-05:00

This was posted by Eric Peterson-- crew of Night Moves

Umm, some highlights:

Big swells as soon as we left the safety of the Ft. L harbor, ok no big deal.

Decent wind out of the NE meaning set up for a fast reach with?

Rig the .6, hmm wind building and getting nosier for the start.

Ok, rig the .75 and have it ready, the three and main are up and wer'e moving quite nicely in the prestart.

Hmm, wind is building how about derigging the .75 and change to the 1.5 with 30 seconds to go.

Oh, look one of the tri-mirans has capsized, did I mention big swells and building breeze.

Forget about them, our start is going off, hoist the kite!

Kite up and drawing, douse the #3, ummm, you know what leave it up, it's a nice stable staysail and man we're going fast.

Can't shake free from the other sprit boats, two 109's and a Farr 395.

Hello Miami, good bye Miami.

Goodbye to the other sprit boats as well, they are losing their kites left and right and ours is flying well with the #3.

Wind and waves are growing as it's getting darker, wind is squaring up as we bend around the Keys.

Henry, Jeff and myself are driving and rotating with ever increasing speed. Trimmers and grinders are doing likewise.

Take the #3 down, it's too far aft.

The wind lightens for a while, 5 minute rule becomes a series of about 15 ten minute rules on changing to the .75 AP. Everytime we get close it fills in again.

Ok, let's finally change it. We don't have a regular bowperson and we don't like the looks of the other spin halyard so we'll go bare. No big deal, we're going to do 8 knots with main only for the minute it takes anyway.

.75 is up and drawing nicely, we need to do some jibes to stay out of the Stream.

Override develops after one gybe, we're working on it and puff hits, boat rounds up, no ease and no more .75.

Retrieve .75, now that was a bit of work and , put the 1.5 back up, ok all is good again.

The wind builds, it's pretty steady in the mid 20's with gusts to 30. Huge waves, HUGE, it's been blowing out of the E / NE for a week prior to the race and blowing pretty good day and night. We could tell we were in the stream as the waves got even bigger. For some reason the temp guage on the B&G's never really changes much. I wouldn't trust it for telling you where the Stream is in retrospect.

Regularly doing 15's and 16's with the occassional 17's.

I think it was about 3AM while I was driving and we hit 18.7

About a half hour later when Jeff Pearson was driving we hit the race high of 19.5.

Luiz said they hit 26 knots on the TP52!

More gybes, more rotation of crew. Drivers are so tired we're seeing things. Oh, maybe not, those are Dolphins.

The bow gets buried up to the bow hatch about 5 times, the last time a fish was flapping on the deck just in front of the cockpit.

BOOM, the halyard (the heavier one) blows and the kite comes down and fills with water. Shrimp city! Nine crew and I mean NINE as hard as they can pull crew are retrieving the 1.5. Put er down below and pack her again and put her back up on the lighter primary halyard.

Gybe some more, surf some more. Hey, do another body count make sure we still have 10.

We blow one gybe and wrap the kite around the headstay. It was a nice tight wrap, the kind where you're thinking we're going to finish that way or have to cut the kite down. With three 240 pounders on the bow (Me, Jeff and Charlie Elmer) we get it out.

More gybes, more surfing, more fun.

BOOM, the tack blows out of the 1.5!

Whatever is left of Charlie, Jeff, Me and the rest of the crew we managed to get it behind the main (with some effort as it was pretty well filled behind the boat flying on sheet and halyard as we're still surfing down LARGE swells with main alone doing 10's and 11's and then get it down.

Hmmm, now what? Code? .6? umm, I'm recommending the #3, ok, get it on deck.

Try wing and wing, waves too big, course too unsteady to hold it. Ok, sail slow gybe angles with jib and main for the next three hours and get to the sea bouy to make the turn and fetch the finish. Having the #3 up was actually a welcome relief for Henry, Jeff and I in terms of driving. The three of us were pretty well spent. Driving most of the night was like holding an angry tiger by the tail and for most of the night there was nothing to steer by, no moon, no stars, no stern lights. In those waves, with that kind of pressure it became a real challenge to steer by the compass, electronic or otherwise and the three of us were spent.

We cross the line at 8:50 AM. Fitth place - we beat the other sprit boats (109's and Farr), the Symmetrical kite boats all beat us. From Miami on it was deep and since we didn't have a full 1.5 to run with and it was a bit much to short gybe the reefs in those conditions at night we and the other A-sail boats likely spend far too much time bucking the stream. Proof of this is in our average speed. 160 miles in 20 hours = 8 knots over the ground. Other then the last three to four hours with the 3 we NEVER saw less then 9 knots and I'd say we were AVERAGING 12.

Oh well, we got the boat there and didn't break anything major that can't be fixed in time for the week. Get a well, rinse sails, rinse boat, rinse bow, dry out, swap B sails for A sails, eat, replace halyard clean up call Karl and Frank. As the .75 was in the KW race week picture, Henry had Frank call the loft and pick up the NM .75 before her left. Ahh, all is done, begin 72 hour drunk before returning home Sunday.

Did I mention Hip Kitty? Ah, a story for the future.........

Respectfully submitted to our friends and dock mates on the crew of Carinthia.

More to follow,

Sailfish Club - Munroe Race Ft Lauderdale to Palm Beach

2006-12-01T23:05:00.000-05:00

The forecast had been for the wind to start at east northeast going to southeast in the afternoon. It was a partly cloudy day in the low eighties with a heavy chop. This race was set to have the first start at 10 am with Carinthia to be th the e second start. We got our main up at 9:30 when we heard on the radio that committee boat was having problems with their anchor and there was going to be a delay. For some reason they started on time anyway and we did not hear that. The first group got off and we put up our headsail and nearly had a perfect start at the windward pin side. To our leeward side was Act One, a Swan 45. We managed to pace with her which we were encouraged about since she rates a PHRF -12 to our Florida 42(ouch). We sailed with our heavy #1 early to get away from shore to get the gulf stream. At the appropriate time we put up the 1.5 oz chute and actually started to pull up to the Swan. When the wind went further back we put op the .75 oz. It took a little longer than appropriate where Lynn Kotwicki blasted at Erik Ryan “why is it taking so damn long.” Erik replied, “ it is because I have not done bow in f******g ten years ” With the .75 we pulled up again on the Swan 45. As the wind went back further we changed to the .6 oz chute. With the wind now at 135 degrees apparent the other Swan 45, Barbara Ann, also pulled ahead. But with the finish after 40 miles, they were only 4 ½ minutes ahead. As we docked we heard the other boats on the radio calling in we knew we won PHRF class B. We only placed 6th overall but it was fantastic race. It was wonderful reception with the waitress bringing our rum drinks out to the boat and of course the seafood buffet was again one of the best in Florida. Of course my brother Bob Judge ate too much and spent half of the night going to the bathroom but he said it was worth it.

Result: 1st in class B and 6th overall
Link: http://www.sailfishclub.com , http://www.sailfishclub.com/Final2006Sco

re.pdf

Crew: Lynn Kotwicki, Nathan Caspers, Ted Neesley, Colleen Flanagan, Bob Judge, Charles Bayer, Bob Declercq, Ken Morrison, Erik Ryan, Karl Kuspa

Go ahead--- make my day!

Windsor Wednesday Race - You got fins to the left, fins to the right

2006-09-13T23:04:00.000-04:00

This race was only one leg out and back to finish. Thunderstorms to the north and thunderstorms to the south. 5 minutes before the gun we were reading 60 degrees apparent on port but at the gun we were getting 40 degrees at 8 knots, too little for a code 0. This seemed to be the day Jayhawker would seem to follow me around the start. I could not just shake them and therefore could not get up to the pin end of the line. Night Moves was to the far left and then Merlin. We started up even with them and managed to scoot up enough to round with NM to the outside and Merlin behind after they got gassed by Night Moves. Jayhawker just did not start with her nose out enough in order get traction on us to the right. Hot Ticket had managed to get ahead of us at mark A by reaching up from below. They rounded in 15 knots of air and immediately shrimped the spinnaker, stopping the boat. I dove inside just missing them and NM got to the windward side of us. Fortunately the spinnaker raise was nearly perfect so we managed to get our nose in front of them. At that point it was a drag race with our .75 to the river. I boats to the left and boats to the right and we were the only bait in town to paraphrase Jimmy Buffett. We managed to hold of NM through the river nearly going aground. When they went up on us we went with them so they would not roll us but stayed on the left side this time. With nearly perfect trimming by the crew we finished 35 seconds ahead. The lesson I learned last week was that the wind lasts a little longer on that side and it turned out to be the right move.

Result: 1st out of 6 J120s
Link: http://www.windsoryachtclub.com/regatta2006/WYC 2006 Fall Race 5.pdf

COURSE 5 - 4.6 nautical miles
Start to A (110o) leaving it to starboard
-then to DP7 (275o) leaving it to starboard
-then to DP5 leaving it to starboard
-then to finish line.

Detroit Yacht Club Sweepstakes Regatta - Yes it is St. Stupid

2006-09-09T22:57:00.000-04:00

This was to be a 2 race windward leeward series. The first race was set in about 6 knots of air with the committee boat favored. I knew that there would be a crowd at that end so I decided to come in on port and find a slot and tack in the starboard boats. Unfortunately Ihnsanity snuck in on my port side with a little more speed. It was obvious we had to bailed and tacked. Because I believed that the wind would continue to shift right I continued to work us to the right side of the course when possible. I was very successful at that so the wind filled in and shifted to the left and left us in 5th place at the top mark. We did a near perfect race to the finish but we could just no catch up enough. Night Moves and Merlin had bad last downwind leg and we nearly caught them but still finished a boat and a half behind. We were supposed sail a second race but it was canceled due to the black storm clouds forming to the north and west. So we never had a chance to redeem ourselves in spite a near perfect crew performance. Just another typical day on Lake St. Stupid.

Result: 5th out of 5 J120s
Link: http://www.drya.org/race2006/Results/dycsweep.htm