July 12, 2003
It was a gorgeous day in Boston Harbor but, strangely, only two boats made it out to the course, McDonald/Howard and Charles/Leonidov. The forecast was for pretty good wind, in the 20's from SW for the afternoon but in the morning the boats started in light SE'rly. The nice wind and having only two boats naturally resulted in a full tilt matchracing dance at the pre-starts, with the boats chasing each other's tails in endless cirlces near the line.
For the first race the boats started almost even on the line and McDonald/Davis proceeded on starboard tack towards Deer Island, looking to find favorable outgoing tide.
Charles/Leonidov tried to explore some options and naturally lost on the first beat. Whatever was lost on the first beat was recovered
on the run to the finish, where the positions changed when Charles/Leonidov managed to get on McDonald/Davis air and force them to gybe.
R1: Charles/Leonidov
For the second race the warm shots of SW breeze started coming down the course off the land and while McDonald/Davis went for the same tactics as in the first race,
Charles/Leonidov went on the inside searching for the right shift. When it came in it filled in with force and a huge angle change, allowing both boats to reach to the weather mark.
The run to the finish turned into a gorgeous reach but the right shift was hard to overcome and the finishing order remained the same.
R2: Charles/Leonidov
For the third race the RC moved the weather mark to the right, the yellow nun by Spectacle Island, and gave a two lap course. McDonald/Davis did a more conservative pre-start and ended up crossing the line right on the dot,
while Charles/Leonidov were over early. McDonald/Davis sailed a solid race, while Charles/Leonidov had their poor start compiled with some problems with the rig tune when the wind started hitting 15 knots. Raking the mast helped but there were no passing lanes as the run to the
finish turned into a one-gybe affair.
R3: McDonald/Davis
July 5, 2003
After a loud and spectacular July 4'th Fireworks display Friday Night at the Cottage Park Yacht Club, the hot and humid weather carried into the next morning for the continuation of the Boston Harbor Star Fleet Championship. The Committee setup for an 11:30 AM start with SW winds 7-10 mph. Racing off the 'E' mark, the course was set for a 10 mile windward/leeward, twice around. Six Stars started with the lead exchanging several times to the top mark in close racing. Gary and Howard reached the mark first followed by Carlos, then John/Bob and Steve. The 2 hour race in increasing SW winds resulted in the following finish: 1) 7732, 2) 7468, 3) 8052, 4)8080, 5) 779, 6) 5292.
Race # 2 was started almost immediately following in 12-16 mph SW breeze. 3
boats went in leaving 7732, 8052 and 779 to duel it out for 6 miles, in the
once around windward/leeward course. The race got spicy in a tacking duel half
way up the weather leg with the first two boats, but Howard and Gary prevailed
over Steve to reach the head of the course first, pulling away to the downwind
mark and the finish.
1) 7732, 2) 8052, 779 DNF.
June 28, 2003 - Constitution Cup
Weather: S-SW 5 - 10mph, hot, humid, hot.
It was a solitary race for the solitary one design class in the Constitution Cup this weekend. This is one of the regattas in the season where we share the starting line with the PHRF boats, and sometimes includes a separate J105 OD start, although this year they were mixed in with the PHRF fleet.
It would be almost fair to declare the last weekend of the second quarter of the year as the first true summer weekend of the season. It started off with uncomfortable heat and the temperatures gaining 25 degrees from the prior weekend. As would be typical in the summer, the heat was oppressive on a windless sail outside into the Broad Sound. As would be typical in the summer, the breeze slowly built in and gave us an almost perfect sailing day in very marginal hiking conditions.
The course was somewhat restricted by the outgoing tide in the shipping channel and the weather mark placed in its vicinity, which gave little opportunity to recover for those who got sucked to the left by the tide, while the course was dominated by a right shift on the first beat, a left shift in the beginning of the second beat and a right shift in the end. That right shift on the first beat layed out the cards from the first mark rounding and for the remainder of the race. McDonald/Davis timely dug out from the left side and cut into the right corner in the top third of the beat, flanked by Woods/Paton on the outside, while Braverman/Leonidov were hoping for a left oscillation to arrive in the end of the first beat but it was never meant to be and they came to the mark third. The first five boats rounded the first mark in the same order as they finished the race but procession it was not. Downwind choices differed between bearing off and staying with the tide in the beginning of the run, to gybing around the mark and looking for more pressure and a right shift coming off the Deer Island. Additionally, the tide that was sweeping the course right to left, helping those who gybed around the mark. In the end, though, it was definintely a game of finding the pressure patches, with the breeze hitting the water from above and drawing large escalating circles on the race course.
The fleet came out in force, showing 10 boats, marking the first race for Scott Rosen and his revitalized 5992 Lippincot, with Deb Blogett crewing. Just proving that the old girls can also have fun, Rosen/Blogett and Unger/Browne's 5995 Buchan managed to beat a much newer boat of Hornos/Rivera. It was good to see healthy fleet competition picking up on all levels.
Unfortunately the light wind, the long sail home and the twice around course did not allow the fleet the time to complete two races and the regatta, which at first looked like a no-sail event, was decided on a singular race, with McDonald/Davis reaffirming their dominance and Lavery/Kostoulas making a strong come back together in a new to them boat. Braverman/Leonidov suffered from their mistake on the first beat, finishing in third.
| Place | Sail No. | Skipper/Crew | R. 1 | Points |
| 1 | 7732 | Gary MacDonald/Howard Davis | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 7614 | Ted Lavery/Apostolos Koutoulas | 2 | 2 |
| 3 | 8052 | Stephen Braverman/Serge Leonidov | 3 | 3 |
| 4 | 7629 | Ken Woods/Bill Paton | 4 | 4 |
| 5 | 7228 | Joe Zambella/Dan Vanonni | 5 | 5 |
| 6 | 779 | Mike Kailin/Chris Stowe | 6 | 5 |
| 7 | 7228 | Dennis Unger/Kevin Browne | 7 | 7 |
| 8 | 5292 | Scott Rosen/Debbie Blodgett | 8 | 8 |
| 9 | 8080 | Tomas Hornos/Carlos Rivera | 9 | 9 |
| 10 | 7621 | Peter Costa/Carol Graco | 10 | 10 |
June 6, 2003
Weather: SW 5 - 10mph, rain, fog, mess.
| Sail No. | Skipper/Crew | R. 1 | R. 2 |
| 8052 | Stephen Braverman/Bob Coyle | 5 | 4 |
| 7621 | Peter Costa/Corey Baker | 3 | DNS |
| 7732 | Gary MacDonald/Howard Davis | 1 | 1 |
| 7629 | Ken Woods/Emilia Wachter | 2 | DNS |
| 7468 | John Siljander/Bob McKie | 4 | 3 |
| 7228 | Dennis Unger/Kevin Browne | 6 | 5 |
| 8080 | Carlos Rivera/Hugo | DNS | 2 |
May 31/June 1, 2003 - JFK Regatta:
|
Sail # |
Skipper/Crew |
Yacht Club |
Race 1 Results |
Race 2 Results |
Race 3 Results |
Score |
Regatta Results |
|
8052 |
Stephen Braverman Ron Rezac |
CPYC |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
|
7732 |
Gary MacDonald Howard Davis |
CPYC |
2 |
2 |
2 |
6 |
2 |
|
6767 |
Eric Larson Matt Whitlock |
CPYC |
4 |
5 |
3 |
12 |
3 |
|
7911 |
John Fox Nancy Fox |
CPYC |
3 |
3 |
7 |
13 |
4 |
|
7228 |
Dennis Unger Kevin Browne |
AYC |
5 |
8 DNF |
7 DNS |
20 |
6 |
|
8080 |
Carlos Rivera* |
??? |
8 DNS |
4 |
4 |
16 |
5 |
On Saturday the wind was blowing 8 to 14 mph for the first race and gradually increased in intensity during the rest of the day. The RC managed to fit three races for the Star Fleet.
On Sunday, all racing was called off due to rain, fog, and very blustery conditions.
May 24, 2003 - First Day of Fleet Series Racing
| Sail No. | Skipper/Crew | R. 1 | R. 2 |
| 8052 | Stephen Braverman/Bob Coyle | 1 | 1 |
| 7732 | Gary MacDonald/Howard Davis | 2 | 2 |
| 7629 | Ken Woods/Bill Paton | 3 | 3 |
| 7784 | Dennis Unger/Kevin Brown | dnf | dns |
Steve Braverman reports:
It was supposed to be a total washout, but ended up being a great day for star sailing. Could have used a few more boats on the line. As usual, there were crews chomping at the bit to hop in a star boat, but not enough skippers going sailing.
Dragged a Snipe and IC frostbiter Bob Coyle out for his first career star venture. He had been wanting to hop in a star for five years, so just after the 10:30 downpour, we decided we were going out for a spin even if nobody else came out to play.
We dragged out our frostbiting gear from storage, put on our drysuits, hats and gloves, and headed out around 11:30. Good breeze. Not too much, not too little. Did about 30 tacks, and 30 gybes between the airport pier, and deer island, and had some nice reaching surfs.
Dennis and Kevin showed up around 12:30. And just when I thought we would be the only two out for the day, we could barely make out Gary & Howard and Kenny & Bill's sails coming around Snake Island through the mist and fog.
Boston, Logan International Airport, MA, United States
Noon May 24 NNE 13 mist
1 PM May 24 NE 10 mist
2 PM May 24 NNE 15 mist
3 PM May 24 NNE 13 mist
Around 1:00 we started out by the channel, just East of Lower Middle, and raced 2x to Yellow Can "G" off Deer Island finishing downwind the first race. Second race, Hatch added a third upwind leg, with he moved deep into the channel near snake island after the lefty.
Close start, and tight racing. We spent some time lined up with Kenny and Gary, just playing with speed, matching, and trying to tweak to get a little edge. Speed was pretty even. Most costly mistakes were getting out of phase, sailing away from the mark, and overstanding the weather mark.
The other adventures were at the club when we got back. We need to very careful about the tides..... Just ask Kenny. One of the things he likes about sailing a shallow-draft boat, is the ability to hop out and push the boat off the bottom without getting very wet.
In addition, power was out at half of the club -- including the hoists. Pudge and Mass Electric came to the rescue and fixed the line at about 6:30 and we finally pulled our boats. (much closer to high tide too....)
This gave us plenty of time in the bar to use our chits. Bob enjoyed his day, and kept talking about the star, and the snipe, comparing, and discussing other people who have been known to sail both (Szabo, Torben Grael, Sandstrom, and others).
Thanks Hatch and Dev for venturing out in the Paul Marks and running races for us on a truly miserable day, not good for anything other than star racing. (not a day to paint the house, or do fiberglass work....)
May 18, 2003 - Skipper's Choice Regatta
See the results and report here.