J/22 Racing - July 30, 2006 

A very light northerly greeted the fleet as Race Committee co-chairs Jim Porter and Joan Touchette Porter elected to set up the starting line just south of the marina channel entrance.  This location soon proved to be a wise choice as the breeze filled in nicely from the east southeast at 8 knots.  The Race #1 course was Yp (green can south of Goat Island), finish.  The tide was mid-ebb.

The favored committee boat drew a crowd, and when Machbuster tacked into the leeward boat position, the ensuing traffic jam caused at least Rhapsody to be over early.  Lowell Thomas' Chaos, however, got a great jump from the middle of the line, out-dragging Machbuster to the left side of the course.  Blues eRacer, Rhapsody, and Good News all worked to the right early, and to their dismay, found less velocity nearer the Jamestown shore.  As the fleet approached Newport Harbor, Chaos had extended her lead by maintaining a loose cover on Machbuster's starboard side, protecting against the more likely veer to the south.  At the windward mark, Chaos still led Machbuster by 10 lengths, while Blues eRacer and Rhapsody followed by another 6 and 10 respectively.  On the run, an early gybe by Chaos was matched by Blues eRacer and Rhapsody, but Machbuster gained both separation and at least a dream of current relief from Rose Island by staying farther right.  As the leaders converged for the downwind finish, Machbuster had slowly ground down the big Chaos lead sailing a lower gybe angle without a commensurate loss of speed.  It didn't really matter whether this was due to her light two-man crew, the world-class spinnaker trimming of guest crew Mark Sertl, or simply that the breeze may have gone more southerly,  the fact was that Machbuster had managed to spoil a great race by Chaos in just the last 300 yards.  Blues eRacer, Rhapsody, and Good News followed in that order.

The course for Race #2 was changed to Rp (Clingstone Bell), finish, as by now the breeze was southerly.  The starting sequence had a similar look to Race #1, only this time Blues eRacer got the great mid-line jump with Machbuster again to leeward.  The better breeze on the left immediately favored the two blue boats, while Rhapsody and Chaos paid a price on the right.  Winning the long drag race, Blues eRacer was nearly to the left corner before Machbuster finally tacked out from underneath her, beginning a short tacking duel.  This skirmish ended with Machbuster squeezing in from the left to round the big bell less than a length ahead of her rival.  Despite gaining an overlap early on the run, Blues eRacer could not sustain the off-wind speed of Machbuster and her "Sertl" trimmed spinnaker.  Rhapsody was initially able to gain on the leaders by gybing for the Jamestown shore and less current, but the hole near the shore soon ended her advance.  Chaos finished fourth, while Good News retired after the first race.  Joan Touchette, fishing from her mark boat while waiting for the breeze to fill prior to the races, turned out to be the only one able to "catch" Machbuster today when she momentarily snagged the inattentive racer by the rudder with her rig.

It's still early in the season, but Machbuster's double victory against a slightly depleted fleet (no Bad News or Paladin) has temporarily vaulted her into a slim four point series lead over Blues eRacer and Paladin.