Monday July 30

Yesterday, almost everyone arrived on time…with luggage.  Bad weather seemed to be everywhere except here at the club: it was a lovely sunny day at Pleon.   

This morning brought rain and a slim prospect for wind afterwards.  John Vandemoer and his coaches (Ward Cromwell, Molly Vandemoer, Sarah Lihan, Allie Blecher and Thomas Barrows) divided all the girls in to four groups and rotated the groups every 30 minutes.  Topics ranged from body positioning in the boat, to proper rigging, to tactics at the start.  It went very well and the girls said they were learning quite a bit more in these smaller groups than when they are all together as one large group.  Meanwhile, the sun came out, the wind started to move the flags around and it looked like a lovely day. 

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Tuesday, July 31

This morning started out much better: the sun was out and no hint of fog.  The competitors were divided into groups of four again for the final clinic classroom setting.  Lunches were made and boats were launched.  The sun continued to bake and the breeze died as the afternoon went on.  However, the on-the-water drills went well and the girls came in early….just in time to overlap with the hoards of Pleon junior sailors!  One ramp; 100 boats!

 Thank goodness for some brawny Pleon graduates (Eastern YC’s A Team of On-Shore dolly guys) we got the Pleon sailors out of the water and then made quick work of the JWS sailors. 

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Wednesday, August 1

Clear, sunny and a nice northerly breeze greeted us all at Pleon this morning.  The thought around the venue was that the breeze would clock around and die.  Well, it did both, but not until we got in four races. 

Looking at the yardarms at Eastern and Corinthian Yacht Clubs, the breeze looked nice and strong, but it wasn’t down on the water’s surface.  However, as the races progressed (all W2s), the breeze continued to clock and build ever so slightly.  The second race was abandoned due to some RC errors and was restarted under a black flag (the first I have seen at the JWS in 5 years).  The third race, again under the black flag general recall, saw 14 competitors sitting it out.  The last race started and the wind seemed to decrease as the minutes ticked off the clock.  The race was eventually shortened to a W1 and the girls finished after one lap.

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Clear skies and a southerly breeze awaited everyone at the tent.  Indications were for bigger sea breeze in the afternoon….and we got just that.

With competition tight going into today’s races, one point separating first and second places, all eyes were on the front of the pack, and they did not disappoint!  The RC set the line above what Sydney Jones (USVI) called the Lobster Pot Death Zone (numerous pots that dotted the starting area of yesterday).  The breeze was steady all day and continued to build throughout the afternoon, slightly decreasing in the last stages of the final race.  Yesterday, we had 12 starts for four races; today, we had six starts for four races and never once saw the dreaded black flag.

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Friday, August 3

Going in to the last two races, there was five points separating the top two boats.   Race 9 started out very close for the winners, but Eliza Richartz, firmly in third place, was like a horse out of the starting gate, she got ahead and never looked back.  This makes two back to back wins for her.  At the finish, Mayumi Roller placed second to Carolyn Prioleau’s fourth, closing the gap to three points.

 Carolyn sailed over to John Vandemoer’s coach boat and asked “what do I do?”  John said, “You’ve got to start next to Mimi, stay next to Mimi and try to cover Mimi.”  Simple, right?  Well, the pressure is pretty intense.  Carolyn let Mimi go right after the start.  At the first weather mark, Mimi was in fifth and Carolyn was in the teens.  On the first run, Mimi moved into fourth and Carolyn began her long journey, clawing back up the fleet.  Somewhere on the second and final beat, Jessica Claflin fouled Mimi and had to do turns (and they were bad turns at that!).  This exoneration would prove to be the boat Mimi needed to put in between her and Carolyn for the win.  Carolyn was charging up the beat and rounded the mark in 8^th.  If Mimi held on to third, Carolyn needed to finish sixth or better to beat her in the tie breaker.  The whole last run was tense!  Meanwhile, Eliza Richartz sailed away with her third straight win!

 Mimi was unable to catch Renee Gagne for second and Carolyn managed to move into sixth place.  They both ended up with 22 points, but Carolyn has four 1^st place finishes to Mimi’s three 1^st place finishes, and wins the championship…first time the US Junior Women’s Singlehanded Champs has been decided by a tie breaker!  It was an excellent race to watch both girls making mistakes and trying their best to fix them.  Big wind shifts and current played a factor, but the mental game was the order of the day.

 The folks at Pleon and Eastern Yacht Clubs have been such generous hosts….fitting that Nancy Leiter Clagett was a member so long ago here.  Mindy and Peter McManus and the entire event committee and volunteers should be proud: they ran a flawless championship event!  I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with this event and getting to know these girls.  This was a fantastic regatta for the final regatta of my tenure.   I look forward to seeing these young ladies out on the water!

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