[Sonar] Worlds

[markoch at gmail.com]

Just a quick report from the Sonar Worlds in Noroton. Marty, Cheryl, Bill,  
and I towed Surly Angel out to Connecticut after the Fall Regatta. We  
stayed with the Morrisons about a quarter mile from the yacht club and were  
able to walked over each morning. Our host Lee is the class measurer and he  
and his wife took fifth in the regatta!

We had troubles with the starts and the chop and so ended up further back  
(42nd). There is a good description of the racing here:  
http://bymnews.com/news/newsDetails.php?id=61077.

We did go left in the race with the 30 degree wind shift and ended up 7th  
in that race. There were 9 boats that were with us in that shift. This was  
a huge thrill and the high point of racing for us. We edged out Nefarious  
and another boat at the finish. We had similar boat speed to these other  
boats that day (no chop).

The starting line was long and it was not a problem getting up on the line  
if you chose to do so. However, many times we could not see either end of  
the line and every race was raced with the I flag and Z flag so you had to  
go around the ends and take a 20% scoring penalty if you were over early.  
So what happened for the most part was that we fell behind in the first 400  
yards of the race and then never recovered. Taking sterns did not work (I  
proved that!) since there was always a wall of boats that forced us back to  
starboard before we could escape the crush.

Getting a lane of clear air at the start was almost impossible for us.  
Getting bow out was definitely not something we were able to do. Watching  
the leaders move out in the first 400 yards was mystifying to me and a  
marvel to watch. It was like they had a rope on their keels dragging them  
past us.

After the starts we could do OK excepting the chop. We slammed more upwind  
than others did I think. Downwind we did fine.

I had a great time and I think the others did too. I won the raffle they  
held ($600 cash). Second prize was a spinnaker.

Our trailer tires disintegrated someplace in Ohio on the way home. We  
noticed this when the tool box that was bolted to my trailer frame broke  
loose at 4am and dropped down in front of the axle. It made quite a racket  
as it slid along the concrete at 65MPH. Fortunately there was no damage to  
the box, boat, or trailer. At this time we noticed a third of the tread was  
missing from one tire and 5-10 percent from the other. After mounting the  
spare we drove cautiously to town and I upgraded two tires from load range  
B to D at Tires Plus in Toledo for only $109. (do this first when taking a  
long trip!) We drove straight through both ways.

I hope to figure out the starts and chop and try this again sometime. All  
the Sonarians out East are great to talk to.

Mark
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.wyc.org/pipermail/sonar/attachments/20091007/ba80dd9b/attachment.htm