Chesapeake 20 Newsletter
July 20, 2009
Next Race: We
continue our Summer Series on Sunday,
July 26 with our usual start at 1PM and sailing in the cove. We have been extremely lucky so far this
summer with solid winds and not too hot weather. What a great season!
Nelson Parks Regatta: There
was an excellent turnout of eight Chesapeake 20s for the Nelson Parks Regatta
in which we started early at 11 AM and got in five solid races finishing after 3:30
PM.
As we were launching the
boats, the wind was from the West, but shifted to the East as we sailed out to
the race course off Parish Creek. The
first race was slow with cat’s paws and an adverse current. Clay Taylor in Endeavor went left into the current and chop from powerboats and with
a favorable wind shift pulled off a win.
For the next four races, the wind was from 8 to 12 knots and it kept shifting
to the Southeast. The best tactic appeared
to go right into the cove which usually paid off with significant wind shifts in
fetching the weather mark on starboard tack.
The racing was tight with Gracie and Osprey tied at 14 points each, and the tiebreaker giving Bob
Blomquist and his dedicated crew of Jim and Donna Reuter the victory. Derick Lynch finished second, and Stormy, third, just one point ahead of both
Clay Taylor in Endeavor and Rick
Parks in Nova, each with 17 points,
and that tie breaker going to Clay. Of course,
Rick Parks is Nelson’s son and we were happy to see him charging around the
race course with us. It really added an extra dimension to the race.
Robin Hartge in Spirit and Andrew Resnick’s Contrary were next, and Joe Kidwell with
the e-yacht builders team in Picardy were
just trying the figure out what makes a 20 go fast while having a good time. There was competitive racing up and down the
fleet with the leaders having sixth place finishes. In the final race, the entire fleet was
nearly bow-to-stern in finishing in a freshening breeze.
We liked the course in Parish
Creek cove, set up and ably run by Rolf and Karen Eppinger; since it was out of
the heavy boat traffic and they cleverly anticipated the southerly wind oscillations. After the races, we celebrated my birthday
with champagne and hors d’œuvrés. We were all a bit tired after a long day,
but exhilarated by the close racing, good time on the water and camaraderie.
|
Sail #
|
Boat
|
Skipper
|
Race 1
|
Race 2
|
Race 3
|
Race 4
|
Race 5
|
Total
|
|
302
|
Gracie
|
Blomquist
|
4
|
1
|
2
|
6
|
1
|
14
|
|
203
|
Osprey
|
Lynch
|
3
|
6
|
1
|
1
|
3
|
14
|
|
210B
|
Stormy
|
Weihe
|
2
|
4
|
4
|
2
|
4
|
16
|
|
49
|
Endeavor
|
Taylor
|
1
|
2
|
5
|
4
|
5
|
17
|
|
200
|
Nova
|
Parks
|
6
|
3
|
3
|
3
|
2
|
17
|
|
0
|
Spirit
|
Hartge
|
5
|
5
|
6
|
5
|
6
|
27
|
|
31
|
Contrary
|
Resnick
|
8
|
7
|
7
|
7
|
7
|
36
|
|
210W
|
Picardy
|
Kidwell
|
7
|
8
|
8
|
8
|
8
|
39
|
Miles River Regatta: You
are encouraged to start making plans for the Miles River Yacht Club Regatta
which will take place on Saturday, August 1, 2009. We will be towing boats behind Jenny Girl on Friday, July 31st
so let me know if you plan on going and if you need a tow. We plan on having a good time in St. Michaels with a dinner after the racing.
Get to the AMM soon – the 20s
will never have another display like this in 50 years. We put up pictures of the exhibit on our
website: www.chesapeake20.org for
those who are out of town and unlike to make visit it.
Ted