By Joanne Aspinall (C-14.2 Race Committee)
Photos by Joanne Aspinall; Junior Fleet photos by Renata Hejduk
TTL’s third racing weekend of the series brought out some new faces, some rules lessons learned, and, well…not a lot of wind. The Lasers started off with a large fleet finishing two races, with two of the hard core sailors saying “Yes, please!” to a third. Newcomer sailor Jen Lee made a fantastic AYC debut by coming in first place in the 2nd of two races for the Sunfish fleet. Emory Heisler on Erin Morgan made up the entire Portsmouth fleet this weekend; he looked pretty proud of his two first place finishes! And Colin, Myles, and the two Charlies in the Junior fleet showed us all how it’s done in their two races.
The first race had the typical west/east course setup, but the wind changed enough on the second race to convince the race committee to switch around the direction for race #2. This led to a bit of confusion when sailors approached the start/finish line on their way to the 2nd mark; am I allowed to go through? The answer, as some learned the hard way, is “no”. If you do, you must go back through the line, then go around the line. That, along with some over-early starts (which means you need to go back behind the line and start again), led to some great lessons learned!
A big thanks to the C14.2 fleet who was on race committee; thank you to Ron and Lynn Simzyk, George Sheller, Marc Danner, George Tingom, Robin Stewart, Andrew Newhouse, Joanne Aspinall, and new AYC member Doug Houle for their help making the day go smoothly!! Maybe too smoothly…they promised to arrange for more wind next time!
The entire Portsmouth Fleet, several Sunfish sailors and a few Race Committee members retired to nearby Fate Brewing afterward to discuss light-air racing strategies … but mostly to rehydrate.
