Daily Reports
Day 1 –
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
Competitors arrived at Kanehoe Yacht Club to an
island-style continental breakfast. PRO Jim Tichenor got a report of 1
knot of wind from the North from the local Navy Base, and raised “AP” at
0830.
On Monday, the competitors held a clinic, sponsored
by Rolex, in the morning. After lunch, practice was held on the fleet of
11 loaned J 24s using US SAILING’s J24 North sails. After sailing,
everyone enjoyed a Chinese buffet.
The Race Committee started the first race of the
event in a steady 4k breeze from 060’.
It took the sailors a few legs of the race to get the
feel of the bay, as the winds increased to 9k by the end of the race. The
Area A team, skippered by Whitney Besse from Vineyard Haven YC led the
first beat and then Kathy Irwin (Rush Creek Yacht Club) took over the lead
for the rest of the race. She increased her lead on every leg of the race
and finished almost 2 minutes ahead of Besse, who finished second.
The second race was started in the same 9k, 060’
wind. Besse and Gail Heausler (Davis Island Yacht Club) fought for the
lead on the first beat with the Besse’s boat leading at the first weather
mark. Heausler took the lead at the leeward mark and held it until the
last tack of the final beat, when the Besse’s boat took the gun. The
fleet finished much closer together than in the previous race, with places
changing on the last beat of the 5-leg windward-leeward course.
After a light rain shower, which was actually
refreshing in the heat and humidity, and a wind shift of almost 180’, and
a drop to 3.5 knots, the third race of the day was started. Three boats
were OCS and returned to start correctly. Joni Palmer (Deep
Creek Yacht Club) stayed on
the starboard layline on the first beat, and got to the mark almost a
minute ahead of the rest of the fleet. The other boats rounded the
weather mark, each overlapped with another boat. Mid-fleet , a wind shift
turned the run into a reach. Heausler made up 30 seconds on Palmer, but
Palmer still led at the first leeward mark by 30 seconds. The fleet went
high of the course and caught up on the leaders. The wind was very light –
everything was in slow motion. The RC moved the weather mark to 310’.
The 2 leaders continued to lengthen their lead on the fleet all the way to
the finish. There were lots of place changes on the last leg of the 4-leg
windward-leeward course. The race ended with Palmer still ahead of
Heausler by 30 seconds.
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