San Diego NOOD - Brian Janney

This past weekend I sailed with Ian Trotter on his J/24. This is the second time I've sailed on Ian's boat the first time we got second in the J-fest. This time we won. On board we had Ray Cooke, our bowman from Blue Blazes. Mike Monastra from Blue Blazes was our Spinnaker Trimmer. Sandra Sherman was in the pit. I was trimming upwind and calling tactics. (Mike, Ray and I just got finished racing the San Diego to PV Race on Blue Blazes).

The J/24's only sailed Saturday and Sunday. We were on the South Course along with the Etchells, J/105, J/80, and Catalina 38's. Saturday was about 15-18 knots of wind with about 8-10 foot swells. This made for some really challenging conditions. In the first race we didn't have the best start and rounded the first weather mark in 3rd. By the leeward gate we were in 2nd but right behind 1st. Up the beat Ian did a great job going fast and getting us into first. On the run the second place boat Geraldine, who is known as the top boat in San Diego, did a round down we were happy until the same wave that got them flipped us. After 30 seconds we gybed back and took off. I think we gained on that little move. For the first race we were 2 steps above our base and still had the Genoa up.

In the second race we went up another step on the rig an changed to the jib. This was a wise move as the genoa was not slower but the jib made it easier to steer over the larger swells. We led for the whole race and never looked back.

In the 3rd race we thought it got lighter and changed back to the genoa for the first beat. That was a mistake we were over powered and had to change to the jib during the run. The first place boat stayed with the jib and we walked away from them during the beat.

On Sunday the wind was much lighter (10-13 knots). Our goal was to finish in the first race in the top 3, we got second and secured the regatta. For the first race of the day we were 1 step above base and the boat felt bound up so for the last race we went 1 step below base and our speed and point were the best in the fleet. We had a great team; everyone got along and worked hard to come back when we were behind.

The Florida Yacht Club
34th Annual Orange Peel
March 14-16, 2008
FINAL RESULTS
Series Summary

Pl	Sail	Skipper	From	1	2	3	4	5	Tot
1	3985	Paul Abdullah	Jacksonville, FL	1	3	1	7	4	16
2	1049	Skip Dieball	Toledo, OH	9	6	7	2	8	32
3	3969	Mike Ingham	Rochester, NY	2	4	2	32\*1	1	41
4	3809	Vlastimil Kunc		10	1	12	14	5	42
5	3976	Greg Griffin	Jacksonville, FL	33	8	4	3	3	51
6	3997	Scott Griffin	Taylors, SC	6	5	6	21	19	57
7	3911	Pierce Barden	Wilmington, NC	4	7	24	10	18	63
8	3979	Michael Gillian	Glen Ellyn, IL	12	22	19	13\ZFP	2	68
9	3709	Dennis Griffin	Green Cove Springs, FL	8	11	13	17	26	75
10	4008	Scott McCormack	Atlanta, GA	14	10	23	23	16	86
11	3980	Michael Lenkeit	Flowery Branch, GA	7	42\OCS	5	8	25	87
12	3741	Gavin McCormack	Atlanta, GA	15	13	28	15	17	88
13	1	Chris Klotz	St. Petersburg, FL	22	42\DNF	3	9	15	91
14	3579	David Van Cleef	Newport, RI	5	26	8	42\OCS	10	91
15	3883	David Reddaway	Suwanee, GA	19	25	15	4	29	92
16	3397	Ben France	Newport News, VA	20	42\DNF	9	13	9	93
17	3878	Doc Gates	Pittsford, NY	18	16	11	24	24	93
18	3975	Mike Ross	Acworth, GA	11	23	10	11	42\DNF	97
19	3849	Erik Goethert	Belmont, MA	16	9	26\ZFP	42\OCS	6	99
20	3868	Matis Heinrich		27	14	22	1	42\OCS	106
21	779	Kevin Bradley		25	42\DNF	16	6	20	109
22	386	John Norton	Chapel Hill, NC	35	21	17	30\ZFP	7	110
23	2724	Jim Kincaid	Nederland, TX	29	12	14	34\ZFP	23	112
24	4007	Loy Vaughan	Birmingham, AL	3	2	26	42\OCS	42\OCS	115
25	1329	Scott Latham	Coatesville, PA	17	42\DNF	20	25	11	115
26	3759	Brian Swingly	New London, CT	13	20	33	28	22	116
27	3672	Scott Harris	Atlanta, GA	21	42\DNF	21	19	21	124
28	3680	Brian Anderson		26	18	29	41\ZFP	14	128
29	1915	Peter Bream, Sr.	Jacksonville, FL	36	42\DNF	27	18	12	135
30	3745	Lincoln Baxter	Charlotte, NC	24	17	32	20	42\DNC	135
31	3898	Peter Hale	Stevensville, MD	28	42\DNF	25	30	13	138
32	2991	Bradley Stookey	Jacksonville, FL	30	19	34	27	31	141
33	3999	Doug Fisher	Springboro, OH	34	15	35	42\OCS	32	158
34	3983	Jason Hubbard		31	42\DNF	36	31	27	167
35	3998	Jim Roberts	Acworth, GA	23	42\DNF	30	32	42\DNC	169
36	2450	Don Read	Asheville, NC	40	24	40	36	30	170
37	2177	Dale Newnham	Marietta, GA	38	42\DNF	37	20\ZFP	34	171
38	3912	William Harris	Annandale, VA	32	42\DNF	39	35	28	176
39	3818	Jack Mahaney	Iizella, GA	37	42\DNS	31	29	42\DNC	181
40	3461	Ken Obst	Melborne, FL	39	42\DNF	38	34	33	186
41	2472	Michael Bozeman	Green Cove Springs, FL	42\DNC	42\DNF	42\DNS	42\DNC	35	203

*1 = ZFP+ZFP

R.C.Chair: Tim Monahan & Will Newton
Jury Chair: Henry Mullen
Scorekeeper: Ron Curtis
17 Mar, '08, 10:32
St. Pete Scorer

Thistle Midwinters East 2008
by: Skip Dieball

The St. Petersburg Yacht Club is the winter-time home to Thistlers from all over the USA. Many of us use this time to reacquaint ourselves with our fellow sailors, but more importantly, we use this time to reacquaint ourselves with our love of sailing. The timing is perfect, weather (generally) is beautiful and creates an "event" that is full of memories for years to come.

The 2008 edition of the Thistle Midwinters East provided challenges for all sailors as the wind didn't exactly cooperate all week. When it did, it provided some great racing.

After five races, Greg Griffin, Karl Felger and Dave Decamp won. They picked up a great finish in the final race, which was sailed in a building breeze which eventually exceeded 25 knots. Second Place went to Brent Barbehenn, Chris Murphy and Jess Murphy. Third place was Mike Inham, Dave Hansen and Ann Hansen. Complete results: http://www.spyc.org/club/scripts/view/view_clubannouncement.asp?pg=PR&GRP=5564&AID=40032&NS=PR&APP=58

The final race took its toll on many boats. Nearly 12 masts were damaged or broke and a hand full of boats capsized.

Socially, the MWE event is in a category of its own. For those that haven't been, SPYC is right in downtown St. Pete and is flanked by many bars and restaurants. The typical routine finds the crowd starting at the famed SPYC bar and finishing at Mastry's, which incidentally was named by Maxim Magazine as one of the 10 best dive bars!

Another rite of passage is the pre-banquet gathering at Wet Willies in the Bay Walk. A few years ago it was just a group of friends enjoying a slushy drink. Now, nearly half the fleet gets their happy hour on there and it is another opportunity to swap stories and reflect on a great week of sailing.

The MWE is the first leg of the Thistle Southern Circuit. The 2nd is the upcoming Orange Peel Regatta in Jacksonville. With over 50 boats last year and nearly 25 boats qualifying a teammate in the overall scoring of the So. Circuirt, the "OP" as it has been coined, provides those of us with a hunger for sailing in the south one last opportunity before heading to the still frigid north.

The Melges24 QUANTUM RACING team helmed by Terry Hutchinson used the standard Quantum Melges 24 FUSION M upwind sails and the R1 and R2 spinnakers to win the 50 boat St. Pete NOOD regatta this past weekend.

Quantum sails were on quite a few of the top teams and turned a lot of heads with yet another great performance. The Quantum Racing Melges24 Team has now done three events including a win at the North East District Champs, a 3rd at the Atlantic Coast Champs and now another win at the St. Pete NOOD.

The 2008 Quantum Melges 24 sails are setting the standard in the class with the best technology and design. The downwind sails cover all the ranges and our R1 Reacher Asymmetrical is the fastest reacher in the class as tested last weekend. The St. Pete NOOD was sailed in mostly light conditions under 8 knots where the R1 is designed to perform. The sail is flatter and designed for the tighter angles the M24 sails in these conditions. In one race this sail enabled us to sail past 20+ boats in one leg!

J24 Midwinters - Tuesday, Feb 12th (Day 3)
Day cut short by storms

We are back on shore after two races....Race 3 was started (under Black Flag) and abandoned when storms approached quickly. They didn't really "hit hard" but it was looking scary for a while. The radar has a lot of activity in the area.

Before the weather went bad, the wind went bad. It was really light and shifty and the fleet was really mixed up. Many in the top 5 had very bad races, and some of those same teams were glad to be abandoned to "stop the bleeding".

It is hard to tell who is on top now, but when the results are posted, I'll try to get them up on the blog.

Here are some pics of the madness today:

J24 Midwinters - Davis Island Yacht Club
Feb 12, 2008
-Skip Dieball, Quantum Sails

The weather couldn't be better. Sunday's breeze was in the mid-teens and the group got 3 great races in. Doug Clark's team on Blind Squirrel was leading after Day 1.

They held their lead after another 4 races on Monday. Once again the story is the weather. 70s and sunny and great wind!!! 2nd place tie between Twins and Team Tarheel with Chris Snow's 5277 in 4th after a good Monday.

As I sit in the club to catch up on some work on Tuesday morning, the forecast is for some lighter winds and rain. The group is heading out and seem to have enough breeze to go straight downwind (not VMG), which is a good indication of more great sailing.

I'm heading off the dock and will hopefully post an update with scores tonight. There have been a number of protests, which is common for a group that races as tight as these guys.


Top 10:

Doug Clark 35pts
Chris Zaleski 39pts
Peter Bream 39pts
Chris Snow 63pts
Mark Hillman 64pts
Tony Parker 67pts
Jeff Johnstone 69pts
Stuart Challoner 70pts
Will Welles 75pts
Brian Smith 92pts.

Thistle Midwinters West - 2008

The Mission Bay Yacht Club was faced with some tough decisions after the 2007 event. The event wasn't growing, many were having a tough time with the timing (holidays). The gang at Fleet 13 decided to push the date back, tweak the venue with all ocean sailing and see how the masses would react. With nearly 40 boats this year, they've made the right call!

Paul Abdullah and I talked about going to MWW since last summer when Mike Polterak promised ocean sailing. It had been a few years since we drove out and seemed appropriate for us to make the trek again. As plans started to form, Ken Lane pulled the trigger and bought 3995 from me. He wanted to pick the boat up in San Diego....great! Then as we got closer Ken and I decided that he should sail his new prize. I was cool with that and then decided to run around in a motor boat and watch.

A few weeks later Scott McCormack, who attended the 1st Jacksonville training weekend in December, said that he had some interest in going to San Diego and that we could team up and sail his new boat, 4008. I was game and we put our plans together, which the end result was 3 boats heading from Jacksonville to San Diego.

Paul and I have fun when we travel and the trip out was no exception. Aside from some stiff headwinds that yielded about 8mpg, we made it with no issues and had fun catching up....all 36 hours!

The event itself was terrific. Weather couldn't have been better with sunny skies and temps in the 60s. The competition was incredible with many very good teams from all over the USA.

In the end, Paul Abdullah and his team of Nick Turney and Sarah Paisley won. They sailed a solid event and finished strong by winning the last race. Very impressive series by this team. Second place went to Greg Fisher sailing with Jeff Eiber and Joanne Fisher. Scott McCormack and I finished 3rd. We had a great time and though the wind was a bit more than we expected (we sailed 2-up), we hung in there and had fun!

Thanks to everyone at the MBYC. They bent over backwards to make sure we were taken care of and had fun. Free beer, hors devours, great meals, etc. If you are looking for a change of scenery (yes, all you in the east!), you should make the trip....it is worth it!

Photos by George Szabo.

Jacksonville Training #1 - Saturday's Footage