505Fleet40

Mid Atlantics Report

2006-10-25T08:06:00.000-07:00

A detailed report on the Mid Atlantics held October 21-22 at Rock Hall Yacht Club, is posted on the 505 NA site at Click Here for MA's Report

Plane Insane Regatta Report and Results

2006-10-09T15:31:00.000-07:00

The [very detailed, believe me] regatta report is on the US web site at Plane Insane Regatta Report

The results are at: SSA Website

October 7-8, Plane Insane Regatta Scratchlist

2006-09-11T09:16:00.000-07:00

Please forward this to your local fleet!

Dear all,

Fall is the BEST time of year to race 505s on the Chesapeake Bay. 505 Fleet 40 at SSA hosts a major event in October each year. Next year -- in 2007 -- we are hosting the 505 North American Championship from October 15-19. This year we are hosting our "Plane Insane" event October 7-8. Last year we hosted the East Coast Championships -- http://www.int505.org/fleet19/events/200510ECC/ -- with 33 505s racing, the largest ECC turnout in years!

Warm water, excellent chances of good breeze (ask anyone who raced our fall events in 2005, 2004, 2003, etc.), excellent race committee work, billeting available. Fleet captain Sterg Papadakis will be sending out the official NOR shortly.

But put this weekend on your calendar and come to SSA to see what great fall racing on the Chesapeake is like, and to scope out the venue for the 2007 North American Championships.

Don't have someone to sail with? Let me know, I will match people up.

Don't have a 505? Let me know, we have a fleet loaner boat, I have a second boat, and we will try to match up interested sailors with boats.

Scratchlist
Frank Kortbeek/Jeff Samelot/Alexander Meller 8776
Bob Patterson/Alan Salisch 7068
Keith Davids/John Torgerson 8851 (one day, probably Sunday, only)
Nicholas Place/J Bergquist 88??
Chris Gildea/Mike Renda 7776
Dustin Romey/???? 8629
Brendan Connell/may need crew 7605
Doug Watson/Chris Watson 8850
Dave Burchfiel/Anthony Johnston 8351
Jeff Janos/someone 7200 or 7080

Cannot make it:
Jesse Falsone (unless Thistles are blown out, in which case is wants to sail 505s. BTW, this is looking increasingly likely! Check the forecast!)
Tom Sitzmann, working boatshow
Harry Scott - weekend at the cottage
Evan Aras - checking out colleges
Sterg Papadakis - broken hand (there must be a story here)
Dave Stetson
Rene de la Rie
Erica Seamon (doing Applecore Nationals)
Drew Buttner (doing Region I Championship)
Macy Nelson (anniversary)
Nick Nelson (school)
Amie Boothe (working Boatshow)
Jim Cockerill (leadmine delivery)
Chris Legg (Lasering)
Erica Giraldi (studying)

Interested skippers or crews:
Jon Wasserman
Howie Baetjer
Jeff Janos

more

Boats Available:
7080 or 7200

FORECAST!

NWS Forecast
FZUS51 KLWX 051934
CWFLWX

COASTAL WATERS FORECAST
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON DC
334 PM EDT THU OCT 5 2006

TIDAL POTOMAC RIVER AND MARYLAND PORTION OF CHESAPEAKE BAY.

FORECASTS OF WAVE HEIGHTS DO NOT INCLUDE EFFECTS OF WIND DIRECTION
RELATIVE TO TIDAL CURRENTS. EXPECT HIGHER WAVES WHEN WINDS ARE
BLOWING AGAINST THE TIDAL FLOW.

ANZ500-060745-
334 PM EDT THU OCT 5 2006

SYNOPSIS FOR THE TIDAL POTOMAC AND MD PORTION OF THE CHESAPEAKE BAY

LOW PRES WILL DEVELOP SOUTH OF THE AREA TONIGHT AND THEN MOVE
SLOWLY OUT TO SEA TOMORROW THROUGH SUNDAY. HIGH PRES WILL BUILD
OVERHEAD SUN NIGHT

ANZ530>532-060745-
/O.EXT.KLWX.SC.Y.0116.061006T1000Z-061008T0600Z/
CHESAPEAKE BAY FROM SANDY POINT TO NORTH BEACH-
334 PM EDT THU OCT 5 2006

...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY NOW IN EFFECT FROM FRIDAY MORNING THROUGH
LATE SATURDAY NIGHT...

SAT
NE WINDS 15 TO 20 KT WITH GUSTS UP TO 25 KT. WAVES 2 FT.
SHOWERS LIKELY.

SAT NIGHT
NE WINDS 10 TO 15 KT. WAVES 2 FT.

SUN
N WINDS 10 KT...BECOMING E IN THE AFTERNOON. WAVES 1 FT.

SSA Fall Series

2006-09-06T17:47:00.000-07:00

SSA Fall Series

Overall Results: http://www.severnsailing.org/results/2006/917505.shtml#505

This year the 505 SSA Fall Series was two consecutive Saturdays. One day on each of two weekends was thought to be easier for people to sail than two days on the same weekend. Overall, this worked, as we had 9 505 teams (8 from SSA) over the two weekends, with five boats racing the 9th, and six racing the 16th, giving us the total of nine teams over the two days.

Sterg Papadakis/Mike Renda went 2,1 to win the first Saturday, but missed the second Saturday as they went to New England for the New England Championship. Keith Davids/John Torgeson went 1,1,2 to win the second day, but could not make the first day. Chris Legg/Howie Baetjer raced both Saturdays with solid positions to take second overall, while the combined team of Mike Coe/Ali Meller (on the 9th) and high school rockstar Harry Scott/Ali Meller (on the 16th) went 3,1 and OCS, 2,1 over the two days to take the SSA Fall Series. Despite sailing only one of the two days, Keith Davids/John Torgeson finished 3rd overall. Other notables included Rob Almeida crewing for Brendan Connell and newcomer Anthony Johnston crewing for rookie (as a driver) Jesse Falsone.

Saturday 16th Report
They key issue was, how breezy is it? Harry and I were raked big time and spilling so it felt windy (upwind) to us, but when we turned the corner and hoisted the kite, it did not feel quite like wire running conditions in the first race. And no one tried it, so it was probably under 12 knots. Keith/John controlled the pin and led of the line, rookie driver Jesse Falsone, with newcomer Anthony Johnston were looking strong, but worked the right and faded. A number of teams were close up the first beat, but bad tacks, capsizes and shifts took their toll. At the first weather mark it was Keith/John, Harry/Ali and Jesse/Anthony. Chris/Howie continued to threaten Jesse/Anthony, while Keith/John and Harry/Ali fought a private two boat duel at the front, though Keith/John were always in control.

It was reasonably close at the finish, but it turned out that Harry/Ali were OCS, moving Jesse/Anthony up to the second.

The breeze was a little softer for race two, though still raked, overpowered and flat out wiring for Harry/Ali. Keith/John controlled the start again. The fleet was bunched again, but Jesse/Anthony fell back when Anthony missed the trapeze hook up and went for a swim, while Jesse sailed back to pick him up. It was close for awhile, but once again at the finish line it was Keith/John, then Harry/Ali and Jesse/Anthony.

Race three started in similar fashion. Jesse/Anthony tacked to the right early and were looking strong angle wise, maybe not pressure wise. Keith/John were controlling on the left, with Harry/Ali following. Both teams tacked short of the layline, and waited to see if Jesse/Anthony would make the right work. They came back in less pressure and despite the great angle could not get across. When the three lead teams converged, Keith/John went left with Jesse/Anthony, while Harry/Ali worked further right and found some pressure or angle to put themselves slightly in front. Jesse/Anthony and then Keith/John crossed close behind on port and went all the way to the layline, while Harry/Ali, just short of the layline and feeling good kept going on starboard. A little puff later and they had a nice little lead at the weather mark. They gybe set, while Keith/John and Jesse/Anthony went for bear aways and then gybed. The three lead teams closed up on the run, and Keith/John were able to sail up and through Harry/Ali to lead narrowly at the leeward mark, with Harry/Ali inside Jesse/Anthony… All three teams ended up on starboard very shortly after rounding, with Jesse/Anthony the first squeezed out and forced right. Harry/Ali did not have the height Keith/John did, but were able to punch forward even as Keith/John gained height on them. But he (or they) who laugh last, laugh loudest, and Harry sailed Harry/Ali into the left corner into a knock that put them over the layline but ahead of Keith/John. This shift put Jesse/Anthony a little further behind. Working their way through a nearly-parked Daysailer, the two leading teams close reached into the windward mark, rounding overlapped, with Keith/John able to pin Harry/Ali and prevent them gybe setting, while Keith/John rolled through the bear away into a gybe, closely followed by Jesse/Anthony. Harry/Ali eventually gybed and thought they were able to sail lower than the other two teams, but when Keith/John gybed back to converged, they were very slightly ahead. Ali was wondering if they could cross behind Keith/John and get inside at the leeward mark, but Harry assessed the situation better and called for a gybe on Keith/John’s air… the gybe stuck and despite Keith/John luffing a little, Harry/Ali rolled over the top and broke the overlap just outside two boatlengths. The two teams rounded nose to tail with one of the RC boats signaling a course change. Harry/Ali’s rushed douse resulted in the sheet and guy going under the bow. Keith/John rounded and tacked, while Harry/Ali rolled into a tack to cover. Ali was desperate to get the sheet and guy out from under the bow (the sound of the lines dragging through the water was driving him crazy) but before jumping off the wire to fix this, he noticed that Harry/Ali were going faster and if they hung tough, they could roll over the top of Keith/John, which they did. Keith/John tacked to clear, with Harry/Ali going right on them. Keith/John tacked back, but Harry/Ali had figured out where the new windward mark was and realized they were just short of the layline, so kept going. Keith/John went 20 boatlengths and tacked and the two teams drag raced to the line on port. It was close, with each lift favoring Keith/John and each knock favoring Harry/Ali. Ali was all for tacking over to cover in a knock, but Harry was cool and kept going. Harry/Ali came in below the port layline for the finish, calmly concluded the RC boat end was favored, and tacked just short of the RC boat to cross, while Keith/John reached into the pin. Jesse/Anthony were 3rd. The race went to Harry/Ali, but the day went to Keith/John.

Scratchlist

Harry Scott/Alexander Meller 8776
Martin Hermida/Bob Patterson 7068
Chris Legg/Howie Baetjer 7150
Keith Davids/John Torgerson 8851
Jesse Falsone/Anthony Johnson 8629
Brendan Connell/Rob Almeida 7606

your name here/a crew 7080
J.R. Maxwell/Evan Aras?? 7200??

Boats available: 7200

Interested People: Paul Murphy, Evan Aras, J.R. Maxwell

Cannot make it: Sterg Papadakis/Mike Renda, J Bergquist, Chris Gildea, Tom Sitzmann, Andy Cole, Dustin Romey

Saturday September 9th SSA Fall Series #1

2006-09-06T17:35:00.000-07:00

Report

Four and a half 505 teams showed up at SSA for the first of two fall series days, this past Saturday. J Bergquist raced single handed (showing impressive speed upwind in race 1), so five teams raced.

Sterg Papadakis/Mike Renda won the day with a 1,2. Tom Sitzmann teamed up with Dustin Romey in Bob Patterson's boat and finished 2,3. Mike Coe drove Ali Meller's Rondar with Ali in the front, and went 3,1. Chris Legg/Howie Baetjer were late for the start of the first race, which put them in the back (they were setting up the rig and were too far upwind when the signals started).

While we probably never saw 8 knots, conditions were better than we expected (which was 0-5 knots). J was trapezing in the second race, and Ali got out on the wire (high) in the puffs.

Scratchlist

The first day of 505 Fall Series is September 9th. The second day is September 16th. Who plans to race? Who is interested in crewing or driving? Looks like we have boats, driving positions and crewing positions open. Please let me know if you plan to race either day, cannot make either day, need a crew or driver, or are interested in racing 505s.

Thanks,

Ali

September 9th:
Alexander Meller/Mike Coe 8776
J Bergquist/&crew or driver needed 6987
Chris Legg/Howie Baetjer 7150
Sterg Papadakis/Mike Renda 7199
Tom Sitzmann/Dustin Romey 7068

Cannot sail the 9th:
Bob Patterson,
Keith Davids
Paul Murphy
Mike Renda
Nicholas Place
Amie Boothe
Evan Aras

Macy? Brendan? Barney? Doug/Chris Watson? Rick Cassell? John Hauser?

Available boats: 7200, maybe 7080

Interested people: Harry Scott

Thursday Evening Practice: Awesome 505 Conditions

2006-09-02T09:48:00.000-07:00

Our scheduled Thursday afternoon/evening practice session had breeze for a change!

Richard Born drove J's boat with J on the wire, while Amie Boothe drove Ali's Rondar with Ali on the wire.
Thomas Pt. reports 16-19 knots while we were out! Thursday's is J Boat race night. Amie and went by their racing area twice wire running. The second after they had finished and were just starting their sail in. One team we blasted by was cheering us on.

6987 was raked to 3' 7". 8776 was also raked a lot, rammed down most of the way, with the CB (HA3-540) only very slightly raised from vertical. 8776 used the flattening reef, I don't thnk 6987 did.

We could have had more boats! Mike Coe was there hoping to sail (Amie and I had teamed up earlier when I had not heard from Mike), but we could not get him anyone to sail with.

What a fun evening of sailing! No capsizes, maybe one near miss. J's spinnaker halyard pulled a piece of diagonal bulkhead out, so they had to sail in under jib and main only.

You should have been there....

Ali

Fall Schedule (Region I and Region II)

2006-08-23T07:13:00.000-07:00

Sep 9 Fall Series at SSA
Sep 16 Fall Series at SSA

Sep 16-17 Region One Championship @ Saunderstown, RI

Seo 23-24 Carl Miller Regatta @ West River, MD

Oct 07-08 High Performance One Design @ Rye, NY
Oct 07-08 SSA Plane Insane @ Annapolis, MD

Oct 21-22 Region Two Championship @ Rock Hall, MD

Nov 11-12 Hampton Fall Fling @ Hampton, VA

SSA/Fleet 40 To Host 505 North American Championship!

2006-08-18T17:23:00.000-07:00

I received a text message from J Bergquist who is at the 505 class AGM at St. Francis YC in San Francisco.

"We got the regatta"

Apparently our bid for the 2007 505 North American Championship, to be held October 15-19, has been accepted!

We're going to have a GREAT event!

So if you have been thinking about getting into 505s, how would be a GREAT time to get in, so you have a year's experience in the class before the NAs.

Ali

SSA Summer Series Ends With a Terrific Day of Racing

2006-08-12T14:52:00.000-07:00

Who would have thought we could have a nice day with some breeze, not too hot, in August?

Saturday August 12th was the last of three days of Summer Series for the 505s. With some boats coming back from the worlds, and two regulars (so two boats) on the way to San Francisco for the North Americans, turnout was down a bit.

Brendan Connell/crew joined fleet captain Sterg Papadakis and crew Mike Renda, while Alexander Meller crewed for high school star Harry Scott in Alexander's Rondar.

We had three races off of Bembe Beach, with the Daysailors.

Thomas Pt. Light reports 8-12 knots, but in our area we might have seen 10 for brief moments and were sailing in about 8 most of the time, enough to be trapping and not bending knees too much in the lulls, upwind.

Harry/Alexander won the first two races going away -- who IS THIS KID -- with Sterg/Mike second and Brendan/crew behind them. But Sterg/Mike worked in left shift off the start line in race 3 to take the lead and extended for the rest of the beat and first run. Harry/Alexander closed on the second run and looked like they might be able to cross a couple of times on the beat to the finish, but in the end Sterg/Mike won the race by a couple of boatlengths.

This gave the overall Summer Series in to Sterg/Mike, with Ali/various second and Keith Davids/various third.

Results at http://www.severnsailing.org/results/2006/812505.shtml

The next 505 event at SSA is the start of the Fall Series, on September 9th. BE THERE!

~Ali

Saturday July 8th Summer Series

2006-07-10T09:27:00.000-07:00

Six teams arrived at SSA for the July 8th Summer Series day, the second of three that comprise the summer series. Chris Gildea was down working on the boat, but did not make it out.

The teams that launched were:

Keith Davids/Yvette Davids/8851
David Tunnicliffe/J Bergquist/6987
Chris Legg/Howie Baetjer/7150
Brendan Connell/?????/7606 (using Larson/Baylis's 8854 sails)
Stergios Papadakis/Mike Renda/7199
Craig Thompson/Alexander Meller/8776 (using 7200 sails)

We had Solings on the same course, an interesting preview for the MacBugly in August, particularly since the RC chose to start the Solings first! And it was very light air.

The pin was favored for the first start. Keith/Yvette won the start big time, tacking onto port on top of Craig/Ali at the start, and forcing them to tack away. Keith/Yvette extended and were running away (well perhaps drifting away) with the race when they made a very uncharacteristic mistake and went to far down the run, probably seeing the pin end of the line, rather than the leeward mark. Craig/Ali were in second at this point, but gybed onto the correct angle for the leeward mark and led with a handy margin. Keith/Yvette struggled to recover, and rounded just ahead of David/J. Craig/Ali's lead should have been sufficient, but apparently Keith/Yvette did not get the memo saying they would be second, and the patiently ground back, and then go something on the left to close up. At the second (and last) windward mark Craig/Ali led by 5-10 boatlengths. The slight puffs would make a big difference, as first one team and then the other would gain in them. Craig/Ali were holding off Keith/Yvette most of the way down the run, but as they approached the layline for the finish, Keith/Yvette worked a puff down low, trying to get inside of Craig/Ali so they could pin them. Craig/Ali went for the early crash gybe to prevent this happening, and Keith/Yvette chose to let them go. This may have been a mistake, because a stalled J80 was a bit of a roadblock on the course, and when Keith/Yvette did gybe, they had to go up to get around it. Craig/Ali were leading a little more comfortably at this point, sailing on port towards the committee boat, hoping the current would take them down to the line... but for some reason it did not, and meanwhile Keith/Yvette were determined to make a race of it. The latter gybed back to starboard when they could lay the pin end, and Craig/Ali were forced to counter, and did not land their best gybe ever. It turned out the pin was favored, and it was too close to call as both teams drifted across the line. But the RC confirmed that Craig/Ali had won the race.

Many of us would have been content with one drifter and an early adjournment to the snack bar; The Angry Chef was rumored to have a shrimp special!

But Keith/Yvette were happy to stay out, so we all did, and the obliging RC ran another race for us. This was similar in pressure (crew on cap upwind, hard to fill kite downwind), and also had the pin favored. Keith won the start again, while boats pinching to get around the pin forced Craig/Ali over to port. Keith/Yvette were again opening up a useful lead on the left, with Brendan looking sold for second, and David/J third. Craig/Ali were down to fourth, wondering how to get back in the race. They finally took the opportunity to get back left, found some pressure and angle, and climbed back into second by the windward mark, with Keith/Yvette not far away distance-wise, but far ahead time-wise. The leaders held their positions, while the chasing pack fought bitterly for 3rd through 5th, with places changing around the course. At the second windward mark, Craig/Ali rounded in an uncharacteristic puff, but had to sail high to fight through the wind shadow of a stalled cruising boat. As they turned down the puff dissipated, so they were unable to work it down. Never-the-less they found some pressure to take down, and managed to close on Keith/Yvette. The backing wind that had favored the left side upwind, meant that we did not have to gybe downwind. Craig/Ali closed, but Keith/Yvette were sailing directly at the pin, and Craig/Ali would have had to go through them to get to it first. Keith/Yvette won, Craig/Ali were second.

Whether or not there should be a third race was not even discussed, as Craig/Ali turned hard right at the pin and headed in, followed the the rest of the fleet. We were all towed in along with the Solings. Chris/Howie stayed out for a couple more hours and reported that the breeze eventually filled in a little, even allowing Howie to jump on the wire briefly.

After racing, fleet beer was enjoyed by all sailors before retiring for a barbecue on J's keelboat which is now back in action with a new motor after a one-year hiatus. Bob and Shawnna Patterson showed up with the newest fleet member, Carmen who was introduced to everybody. The barbecue went late into the evening with some night sailing involved and recruitment of some potential new fleet members to even out the male-female ratio. A good time was had by all.

We're back to Tuesday TESOD and Thursday practice as of this week.

The next summer series is August 12th.

The CBYRA Midsummer event DID NOT require a minimum of 5 boats to be a class. The three or four boats that were rigged on the Thursday could have registered and would not have been the smallest class. But there were zero races on Wednesday and only one Thursday, so we did not miss much.

Saturday July 1st Practice, Maybe Sunday and Tuesday Too!

2006-07-01T17:23:00.000-07:00

So this week the Thursday evening practice session was a bust with no wind.

Who cares!

Saturday afternoon after the Lasers and Vanguard 15s had finished racing, Mike and I went out in the late afternoon. We were hoping there was still enough breeze for wire running... but thought it was dying. My, were we wrong! Thomas Pt. says 19-21.. we were raked all the way upwind, and just flying... this was a very good thing as we needed to go a long way upwind -- to Tolly Pt. twice -- to give us enough of a ride downwind. What a BLAST!!!!

MM DD TIME (EDT)	WDIR	WSPD	GST	ATMP	WTMP
07 01 7:00 pm	S	20	23	79.9	79.7
07 01 6:00 pm	S	19	21	80.1	79.3
07 01 5:00 pm	S	19	21	80.4	79.5
07 01 4:00 pm	SSE	16	17	80.6	79.3

Mike and I thought it was blowing harder than 19-21 knots, and friends of mine who were out sailing there cruising boat told me there seeing 25 knots, so more than Thomas Pt. light was showing.

Sunday's forecast is 10-15, Keith, Ali, Mike are all interested in sailing.

Keith and Yvette were out, but Ali went catamaran sailing.

6/27 TESOD: Rain, with breeze!

2006-06-28T07:47:00.000-07:00

Synopsis: 3 boats, lots of rain, 8-18 knots of breeze, starting at around 170 degrees, continually shifting right through the evening. No races completed (by me anyway), but just boathandling and speed practice going out to the mouth of the severn and back in to the NA seawall.

I showed up at 4:30 in the SSA dinghy park to rig the boat in the rain. It had been breeze on all day. John had already called me once from the club to say breeze on get your butt down here. Unfortuantely he couldn't take off work at the SSA junior program or I would have been there at 1 PM. Anyway, we hit the water by 5 in the lee of Eastport and by the time we got to the shoal pole we were raking and planing upwind. We got out to the spider, pulled the kite up and let 'er rip. We were both stoked just to be sailing, having spent all day watching the wind and wishing we could be out in the 5-oh. It was raining. We didn't care. It was just awesome to be out there tearing around the mouth of the Severn with warm air and water and no powerboats. John commented that it's tough to practice boat handling in the 5o5 because it's just so much fun to drive the boat in a straight line! We buzzed the RC on one of the runs downwind. Not sure what the laser guys were thinking watching us come screaming down in a cloud of spray and foam. Another 3 trips up to the spider and back down to SSA, and I had to come in and switch out for my other driver Martha who I took for her first 5o5 ride last week at TESOD and there was very little breeze. So little in fact that we had to paddle the boat back from Pussers...last week I promised we could go sailing again, but next time in breeze. That promise came true on 6/27.

But I digress. When John and I hit the dock, Dan Wittig was rigging Bob Patterson's boat and Mike Coe was getting Ali's boat ready. Martha hopped in and we headed back out. We made a couple more laps and by that time Ali and Dan had made it off the dock and we all headed out to the bay for some upwind speed tuning. Dan and Ali definitely had speed on us but Martha was quickly getting the hang of how to make the boat go fast. The breeze went up we put some rake in. The breeze dropped off, we took some rake out. At one point I took a very spectacular swim while driving from the wire and Martha was working on stuffing the kite back in the bag (I hate how that stupid kite comes out of the bag!!!) Unfortunately this happened right in view of the other boats, so there was no way to brush it off. All we could do was laugh. At least we didn't flip. Nothing broken but a little slice of ego...

By the time we got out past the spider it was starting to look truly ominous back in Naptown, so we pulled the kite up again and went careening off back down hill. On the way down Martha just kept saying 'I love sailing 5o5's!' Seriously she probably said that 10 times. Anyway, as we came back in the wind went flukey and the rain arrived in earnest. Trying to get into the harbor was a bit hairy. It was dumping massive buckets of rain, so much it was very difficult to see. Eventually we hit the dock and got the boats put to bed. After 2 helpings of Kieran's special and a couple glasses of wine, I went home super happy. 2 skippers, 3 hours of sailing, plenty of breeze, and a whole lot of fun. So much fun in fact that we didn't even remember to show up for any races! Plus the TESOD courses were set up way inside where the breeze was flukey and light and the water was not mast-depth!

We'll do it all again this thursday. Show up and take a ride!

6/22 Training Event

2006-06-23T04:24:00.000-07:00

I arrived at the club around 5:45 to survey the situation and see whether to go sailing or work on the boat. The forecast from the way cool wind site was for a southerly to fill in at around 10 kts in the evening. This appeared to be happening. My driver, an SSA summer jr. program instructor named John Loe, said that the wind had been flakey all day, so I was thinking we'd do boat work. It was hot. When I got to the club though some breeze appeared to be filling in so we decided to rig. Keith Davids and Mike Coe were on hand both rigging boats. John and I hit the water first and headed out to mid harbor, then put the kite up and came back in to reconnect with the other guys. Then we all headed out past the spider, set kites and did some gybing practice. Conditions were full on wire running towards whitehall bay. It was beautiful. Then we took kites down and did upwind speed tuning back up towards Bay Ridge. There was a lot of back and forth as we each adjusted our boats and driving technique, but nobody was squirted out the back. Once we got near shore we put kites back up and went down again. By this time the breeze was somewhat lighter so not much wire running. But there were some nice waves running and we practiced riding those as we came in. We were on the dock around 8:30, after a beautiful sunset. It was an epic night for sailing.

The one big lesson I took away from the evening:

We pulled ram way down (-2 or so, with rake at 3'3") in the moderate air but big chop. This really helped us to make the middle of the sail look fuller and get the leech to hook. I had not done that before, but it really seemed to work.

SSA Summer Series Day 1: BREEZE ON!!!

2006-06-12T05:32:00.000-07:00

For the 3 intrepid boats that managed to show up for day 1 of the SSA summer series, the weather gods served up a delicious platter of 18-24 knot breeze, 72 degree water, 75 degree air, and sunny skies. The other 2 racing fleets (Comet, Soling) bailed without even raising sails, leaving the 5o5's as the only fleet to go sailing. Sterge Papadakis teamed up with Ali Meller. New SSA instructor Craig Thompson teamed up with Nicholas Place, and J Bergquist teamed up with Amie Boothe. The RC set up a racecourse off Brembe Beach, and we had 2 races before Nicholas decided he had stuck the mast in the mud one too many times and headed in. Ali and Sterge had other commitments so they headed in with Nicholas. Amie prevailed upon J to forego working on the keelboat in favor of blast reaching out to the middle of the bay. It was not a tough sell...

Conditions were very puffy, making it a physical day of sailing, with playing the main upwind extremely important. It was a good workout. During the shoreside debrief, Ali told me he was raked to the max (3'8" I believe), with ram at -1. We were a bit afraid to rake that far back with no flattening reef, so I had only gone to 3'6.5" with ram at +1. We may have had the ram too far up. But Amie kept saying 'woo-hoo' like a college girl at a frat party, so I guess our setup worked all right for her...

Setup discussions aside, this was an EPIC day of sailing, the kind that is all too rare on the Chesapeake. Those of you who didn't show up missed some of the best conditions I have ever seen in Annapolis (granted I've only been here 4 years). The combination of warm air, warm water, high support boat-to-sailboat ratio, and lots of breeze doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's a perfect opportunity to get out there and practice. The only way to get better sailing in breeze on is to get out there and GO SAILING!

Only 3 boats showing up is not a good showing for our fleet. It's embarrassing actually! I had to hang my head in shame when I went trying to recruit people to sail out of the J22 fleet. They had 12 boats out last weekend, and even though our ride is a lot more fun, without people showing up to race, it's tough to make a convincing argument that they should come sailing with us. We really need to work on having a better turnout for the next day of the Summer Series which is on July 8. So do what you have to do, clear out the schedule, and SHOW UP for that event! If you need help getting your boat ready, just ask!!!

June 8 Training/Practice Scratchlist

2006-06-08T04:53:00.000-07:00

Bob Patterson will be there with some junior instructors/7068
Ali/Mike/8776 not confirmed

J cannot make it

Saturday June 10 SSA Summer Series Scratchlist

2006-06-07T20:45:00.000-07:00

Who is in for racing Saturday?

Ali/Mike/8776 (probable)
J/Amie/6987
Andrew McKechnie/Jesse Falsone (last couple of races)

Joe Hidalgo looking for a ride
Bob Patterson not racing, boat possibly/maybe available
Cardiac Arrest is available
Chris Legg not available
Derek Davies not available

June 6 TESOD

2006-06-07T05:18:00.000-07:00

4 505 sailors showed up at SSA to go sailing last night: J Bergquist & Amie Boothe were on hand to practice for the first day of the upcoming summer series. Jimmie Cockerill (sp?) managed to shanghai someone named Ivan off the SSA porch to sail Cardiac Arrest with him. Ivan turned out to be quite an accomplished sailor, hailing from Bulgaria, who described the experience of driving a 5o5 as

'zis boot feelz zo ALIVE! zhe iz juust zo ALIVE!'

This was a description of driving Cardiac Arrest. I wonder what he would have thought about driving a nice boat?

But I digress. We were in the water by 6:15, with a northerly at about 5 knots and J/Amie immediately headed out past the TESOD race course and spider to get some practice and tuning time, let Amie find where to land her butt after a tack and what to do with the tiller extension. After we got some wits, and about the time we were mid-span on the Bay Bridge, sailing in a 10-12 kt easterly, a huge rainbow came out, which we took as an omen and decided to pull the kite up and practice going downwind. After a couple of errant gybes where Amie managed to find new and interesting places to put the tiller extension, we developed a system and the breeze built to allow wire running. Unfortunately, we then broke the topping lift sheave and got a very low pole, but that didn't stop us from coming screaming into the harbor, nailing a few more gybes and taking the kite down just in time to enjoy one TESOD race so we'd get counted for participating.

After our race, we all did a bit more practice, then headed in to enjoy the Angry Chef's salad with white wine, followed by a beautiful sunset and beers at Davis's with the Vanguard 15 crowd. All in all it was a great night with decent breeze, good 5o5 practice, two epic rainbows, a nice sunset, and lots of hanging out with friends.

We'll do it all again next week. First start is at 6 PM. Don't be late.

May 30th TESOD: You Never Know

2006-05-30T20:25:00.000-07:00

After a flurry of e-mails, "I'm in" messages, followed by "I cannot make it", and e-mails from other SSA 505 owners, a few of us showed up at SSA to a glassy smooth calm.

Keith called in Yvette and they washed the bottom of the boat.

Ali had agreed to sail with ex I-14 and recently ex Etchells sailor, Joe Hidalgo, and after a few minutes of chatting and looking at the glassy smooth water, they decided to launch.

It wasn't clear they would be able to move, but somehow they drifted out to the starting area, and then Joe saw a puff to windward towards Greenbury Pt. A couple of minutes later, Ali had finished putting the trapeze harness on, and was out on the wire, with the boat nearly flying upwind in the flat water. A bunch of people came down to SSA and decided not to launch. Wow, were they wrong!

Joe and I sailed around for awhile and then reluctantly turned back as we noticed the sun going down. But TESOD racing was still going on, so we mixed it up with the TESOD fleet (and swam when the tiller extension came off the tiller) before heading in with the last of the daylight. As someone said, "it was a triathalon, sailing, bobbing and swimming."

Now Joe is interested in 505s.

Monday May 29th Coaching/Training

2006-05-30T07:07:00.000-07:00

After watching weather forecasts, and juggling people's schedules, we finally decided that Monday afternoon would be the best window for training.

Keith Davids/Jesse Falsone teamed up in Jesse's Waterat
Ali Meller/Mike Coe sailed 7200
Stergios Padakis/Mike Renda sailed 7199

Yvette Davids grabbed the rigid bottomed inflatable and some marks, and ran drills for us.

After briefly discussing objectives (a bit of speed of bit of boathandling), we sailed out. Yvette set a windward and a leeward mark, and we used rabbit starts to set everyone up, racing several windward/leeward races.

There was a LOT of powerboat traffic (it being Memorial Day), but the breeze was nice (marginal trapezing with some flat out trapezing), and Yvette found us a spot away from the major powerboat routes going North or South out of Annapolis.

We were out from about 2:00PM to 4:40PM.

Sterg/Mike finished rigging a spinnaker pole launcher, and it seemed to be working for them first time out. Ali/Mike continue to work with the Superspar M2. Keith thought he and Jesse were using an M2 as well.

Different boats were fastest in different races. Upwind Keith/Jesse had a slight speed edge on Ali/Mike, though Ali/Mike had a height gear they were able to use to advantage several times. Sterg/Mike were very slightly slower at times. Downwind, Ali/Mike were able to real in Sterg/Mike (who were sailing very low at times) and thought they were gaining on Keith/Jesse a few times.

7200 had an M2 mast, HA3-480 CB, North 3DL main, North jib, Ullman kite (thanks, Keith!)
Keith/Jesse had an M2?? mast, ?? CB, somewhat aged North Kevlar/Mylar main, North jib, not sure about the kite.
7199 had a Proctor D? Cumulus? mast, Waterat std. CB, North 3DL main, North jib, not sure what model kite.

SSA Spring photos and Videos

2006-05-26T05:22:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay in posting. It's been a crazy week.

But yes, without further ado, we do have some videos and cool pictures from last weekend's sailing, courtesy of your favorite RC officer, Alon Finkelstein:

Video 1

Video 2

Video 3

Picture page

Fitness/Strength for 505 Racing

2006-05-25T09:32:00.000-07:00

Warning: This is an endorsement of a commercial service!

In case any of you are interested:

In my ongoing effort to win the 505 world championship/finish as well as possible, I decided that my fitness level needed to improve, and that I needed to do something about it quickly in the leadup to the 2006 world championship.

I know Harry Legum of Annapolis Sailing Fitness, and had wanted to try working with a personal trainer for some time. Now that I am back in IT and no longer trying to survive on the marine industry's near-starvation pay levels, I decided to give this a try.

Harry works with a number of Annapolis sailors including Terry Hutchinson, Geoff Ewenson, Jahn Tihansky, Dan Wittig, the USNA dinghy team, the SSA Junior Program and more. I started working out with him a few weeks ago. We agreed that I would focus on aerobic exercise on my own (which I have largely failed to do), while we would work on strength together.

It is working very well for me, and I think the key factors for this are:

1. Harry sails and races, understands racing, and works with a range of sailors from America's Cup to small dinghies, so he understands appropriate fitness/strength goals and tailors the workouts to help you get there.
2. It is easy to blow off an exercise session by yourself. When you have made an appointment and committed to spending money, you show up each time.
3. Harry works you harder than most of us will ever work ourselves.
4. Harry works with you as you are doing a set, varying the load; my understanding is this helps muscle building over the normal number of reps with a constant weight which you would normally do.
5. Harry varies the workouts so they are always different and never boring
6. And the whole time Harry is telling you stories, cheering you on, whatever, so you don't get to think about the burning sensation in your muscles and how nackered you are, and you keep lifting!

The reason for all this is to be a better and more succesful 505 sailor. Here are several things I have noticed already:

I am hiking more easily (stronger quads and stomach muscles)
My occasional lower back soreness is mostly gone (stronger stomach and "core" muscles)
I am quicker on spinnaker and jib hoists on the keelboat (OK, not a 505 issue)

As we continue I expect to also see greater arm strength making playing the main easier
Overall better protection from fatigue, muscle cramping and injury
Better balance

So this program is working very well for me; some of you may wish to consider giving it a try.

Ali

ScratchLists: May 23 TESOD, May 25 Training, May 27-29 Weekend

2006-05-22T19:16:00.000-07:00

Tuesday May 23rd TESOD
Ali will be there
Keith/Rob Almeida will be there
Bob Patterson may be there without his boat
Candance Clough may be there
who else?
This turned out to be a wonderful evening, see the offical TESOD report on the SSA website, and see the 505 report on this blog.

Thursday May 25th Training/Practice
Ali Meller/Mike Coe/7200 are sailing
Keith Davids/Rob Almeida/8850 are sailing
who else?
Bob Patterson cannot make it
Kevin McGill/?????? who were going to sail Cardiac Arrest or Raptor, had to bail

Monday ( 29)
Stergios/Mike
Ali/Mike
Keith/a crew
Jimmie Cockerill - can be there sat, anytime, sun, anytime, and mon after 4:30 pm
who else?

SSA Spring Series April 15, 16, May 20

2006-05-21T18:53:00.000-07:00

The SSA Spring Series was held over three days this year. 505s raced April 15th and 16th and then May 20th, with all three days counting for the Spring Series. Choosing the Easter weekend and Mother's Day weekend was not deliberate, but more a result of those dates being available.

Final results are posted on the SSA web site at: http://www.severnsailing.org/results/2006/521505.shtml. We had a range of conditions over the three days, with some light air races, some crazy shifts, and some wire running and capsizing conditions too. We had line starts and gate starts, and we had a great turnout, with some teams racing all three days, others making it our for two, and some just one.

Given the different teams, different turnouts, different conditions, and nine races, a number of teams had good races. When you check the final results, you'll see that Alon Finkelstein/J Bergquist were second in one race (and crossed the line first in another but took a Z flag penalty), Joe Morris/Colin Robertson led at one weather mark and finished second in a race (and that was sailing the "I don't get no respect" Cardiac Arrest. Doug and Chris Watson were second in a race, Derek Davies/Chris Legg were second in a race, Sterg Papadakis/Mike Renda were second in a race. Race winners included: Macy Nelson/Dustin Romey, Alexander Meller/Mike Coe, Alon/J, Barney and Shorty Harris and Keith Davids/John Torgeson. It was also great seeing some newcomers using this series to try out the 505. All of Derek Davies, Joe Morris, Colin Robertson, Erika Seamon, Amie Boothe, Greg Lines and John Torgeson are either new to the 505, or have had minimal time in 505s.

Macy Nelson/Dustin Romey took third overall, racing two of the three days. Bob Patterson with several drivers/crews took second overall, while Alexander Meller/Mike Coe, who raced all three days (but missed two races on the last day due to a torn spinnaker) won narrowly over Bob Patterson.

Other highlights included: The swimming and diving competition on May 20th. I saw Sterg/Mike auguer in just in front of Mike/Ali and Macy/Dustin on the run in race 9, and heard afterwards that Erika/J had entries in the swimming/diving portion of the competition as well. But I did not see those! Erika's perfect record in 505 racing is over! After a string of all bullets, Erika's record as a driver dipped with some back of the fleet finishes on May 20th. Neither Erika/J, not Amie/John were able to sail all the May 20th races; Cardiac Arrest was trying to eat spinnakers, forcing Amie/John in early.

An earlier report on the first two days of the Spring Series is at: http://www.usa505.org/fleet40/2006/04/ssa-spring-series-days-1-and-2.html.

Thursday May 11th Practice/Training:

2006-05-15T09:15:00.000-07:00

With 505s not yet back on the SSA lot after the Volvo Party, and some teams packing up to go to Hampton this weekend, our Thursday practice/training session was down to just one boat.

Ali Meller and Bob Patterson went blasting around last night in 7200. I thought it was blowing about 18 to 20 knots, but Thomas Pt. Light reports:

05 11 8:00 pm SE 23 27 - - - - 29.48 -0.11 66.0 61.7 - - - -
05 11 7:00 pm ESE 21 23 - - - - 29.52 -0.09 64.0 61.7 - - - -
05 11 6:00 pm SE 23 27 - - - - 29.56 -0.08 64.6 61.5 - - - -

so 23-27 knots for the period. Hmn. With the breeze out of the SE, there was a good fetch and some great waves/chop. And for added amusement a small fleet of J24s and J80s were out for the Thursday J World racing (there may have been some J22s out too). So we had a course to drag race around and some keelboats to plane by. What a blast!

Thursday May 18 Training, May 20th Racing

2006-05-15T09:09:00.000-07:00

Ok, who is showing up, or wants to sail, in the 505 coaching/training session this coming Thursday evening at SSA?

I would like to know who is definitely coming, what boats are definitely sailing, who needs someone to sail with, and who is interested in sailing.

Thursday May 18th:
Ali/Mike 7200 or 8776 are starting as soon as they can (they have jobs and school)
Macy/Dustin 8722 are in, and are starting at noon
Tyler/Jesse are in, starting early
????/Nick in 8660 are in, and are starting at noon
Bob Patterson will be there, without 7068
Jimmie Cockerill will be there

JB Turney/Daniel Esdorn might make it

Chris Legg cannot make it

Keith? Chris? J? other SSA member 505 owners

Since this is a coaching/training event NOT racing, it is easier to being someone new into the 505 on the Thursday evening session, if someone needs a crew or driver.

Since we have a one-day 505 event at SSA on Saturday, teams coming in for the regatta can show up early and do the Thursday evening session.

May 20th Racing:
Ali/Mike/7200
Macy/Dustin/8722
Tyler/Jesse??
????/Nick??
Bob Patterson/Greg/8776
Amie Boothe/John Hauser/7080
a driver/new 5o5 owner Chris/7776?
others?
Keith Davids/Rob Almeida?

Regrets - cannot make it
Chris Legg
JB Turney/Daniel Esdorn
Tim Sayles
Derek Davies

Ali