Lucy and Conundrum are Winners as Sunday Racing Resumes

Fleet 12’s decision to race on Newport Regatta weekend proved to be a good one, as the best sailing conditions turned out to be after the Regatta had ended at 1pm on Sunday. Crew conflicts reduced the J/22 fleet to four boats, but as the accompanying pictures show, the racing was as fun and competitive as always. Race Committee Chick and Alexis Pyle, assisted by a “crewless” Lowell Thomas, and guest Bob Vincent and his wife, dealt with the initially very light northerly conditions by moving the line to near the marina channel entrance where the no wake sign became the right-side pin. Chick’s handsome “Mudslide” made for a very snappy committee boat whose party atmosphere belied their expert handling of today’s races in highly variable conditions.

After a 30 minute postponement, the course for race #1 was set as Tp (Rose Island Nun), the wind was east northeast at five knots and the tide was just beginning to flood. All four starters, Lucy, Conundrum Machbuster, and USA 1575 were forced to start on port as a left shift had taken away the starboard option. Within two minutes of the start Cory Sertl’s Lucy had gone back to starboard just beyond the mooring area and was soon joined by Matt Dunbar’s USA 1575. Conundrum and Machbuster continued towards the middle of the bay on port. The race order was essentially determined in the next couple of minutes, as it became clear that the left had better pressure and current. The breeze stayed very light, and Conundrum and Machbuster eventually came left too, allowing Dick and Emily Boenning, who were crewing on the blue boat, to have a casual over-the-water conversation with Scott and Kim Ferguson as they drifted back from the Newport Regatta on their Lasers (Scott having won the event, but no Laser races were completed today). Lucy controlled the windward leg, managing to stay safely ahead of USA 1575 as the inevitable “blue line” finally signaled the arrival of a nice 10 knot sea breeze and 90 degree shift. Conundrum found herself the furthest from the new breeze. The second leg became a fetch, so the race had effectively ended at the nun with Lucy first, followed closely by USA 1575, not so closely by Machbuster, and eventually the new fleet captain on Conundrum.

Mudslide quickly relocated to special mark 3, and set the course for race #2 as Zp. All four boats jockeyed for position at the right-side pin (Goldigger’s mooring). Spotting trouble, Machbuster bailed for the middle of the line while Cory Sertl used her Rolex skills to bottle-up Conundrum and USA 1575 successfully. After the start, it was a long drag-race to Z, with Lucy and Machbuster the early leaders. Long tacks such as this make the evenness of the J/22 one-design apparent, as no one showed a measurable boatspeed advantage. As the windward mark approached, Lucy foolishly over-played her control of the leeward Machbuster and slightly overstood the port layline, allowing Conundrum to round first. USA 1575 squeezed in between Lucy and Machbuster, as all four boats rounded nose-to-tail. The run to the finish saw USA 1575 and Machbuster stay more to the right and perhaps better current. Conundrum was able to extend her lead, while Lucy went furthest left, and paid for it, not only losing second to the red-hot USA 1575, but getting nipped at the finish by Machbuster who crossed the line at the favored boat end, close enough to Mudslide to have Chick holding onto his fore-and-aft “hot dog” hat!

With the breeze now southwesterly, the race committee creatively reasoned that the only way to get in a true windward leg and still have a short course was to start downwind and go to 13p (the can). Downwind starts are not usually one-design sailors’ favorite, but with only four boats, everyone was able to get off the line evenly with no obvious foul-ups. The two boats on the right, Conundrum and Machbuster did slightly better, but Conundrum maintained an inside overlap as the two approached the can. Once again the four boats rounded nearly nose-to-tail, and the beat back to the finish would provide some of the best racing so far this year. Machbuster was able to cross Conundrum for a momentary lead still north of the bridge. Then the always tricky currents and wind shadows of the bridge scrambled the order completely as all four boats appeared to occupy each place from first to last at least once between the bridge and the finish. Conundrum made some gains towards the shore and took the win. Machbuster, coming in near the port layline, couldn’t quite cross USA 1575 when they met two lengths from the finish line, had to duck her and in the process lost third place to Lucy as well. All four boats finished within about fifteen seconds. A much better experience than that had by all those Newport Regatta sailors who spent their Sunday morning drifting aimlessly.

Lucy still leads the season standings by two points over the surprising USA 1575, who has yet to win but seems to have a lock on second. Machbuster and Conundrum are tied for third, five points back. Expect to see more boats next week.