<html><head><style type='text/css'>p { margin: 0; }</style></head><body><div style='font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000'><br>I'm hearing through the scuttlebutt with being involved with the Richardson Cup this weekend, that there is a new Sonar 'team racing' fleet of 6 , going to 9 next year near Toronto. I'll get the scoop on where exactly that is (e.g. Hamilton YC etc.)<br><br>With Sheboygan, Galveston, Toronto and soon Lake Winnipeg, not to mention New England team racing venues, I'm looking forward to more 'away' regattas without the hassle of towing.<br><br>"Maximizing Business by Minimizing Surprises"<br>Thomas Brown<br><br>----- Original Message -----<br>From: "Mark Kochendorfer" <markoch@gmail.com><br>To: "sonar" <Sonar@lists.wyc.org><br>Sent: Saturday, October 10, 2009 11:41:28 AM GMT -06:00 Central America<br>Subject: [Sonar] Fwd: Worlds<br><br>---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: Martin Fossen <martyfossen@yahoo.com><br>Date: Thu, 8 Oct 2009 19:09:33 -0700 (PDT)<br>Subject: Re: [Sonar] Worlds<br>To: markoch@gmail.com<br><br>Mark and Fleet 5,<br><br>Here a few of my reflections on the big event: Firstly, Mark, Cheryl,<br>and Bill were great racing and travel mates. Though we struggles with<br>boat speed in the chop, we all stayed positive and focused. Secondly,<br>It was a lot of work and and an arduous drive for six races but, for<br>me, it becomes perhaps almost a zen thing; getting to the big event,<br>culminating in the intensity of the huge, crowded start line and<br>mixing it up with top racers. Thirdly, the New England racing venues,<br>at least the few I've seen, are amazing, both on and off the water.<br>You all should experience an event out there.<br><br>A little more detail on the good news: Compared to my effort in<br>Marblehead two year ago, we were much better at carving our spot on a<br>crowded start<br> line. In the race<br> we had in flatter water in which we finish 7th, we did benefit from a<br>wind shift on the first leg, but during the later legs we also passed<br>two boats and maintained a close lead over the boat that was<br>ultimately 3rd overall. On Sunday they did start a race, which got<br>abandoned when no one could get to the windward end within the<br>45-minute limit, but when the abandon signal was blown, we were just<br>behind the boat that placed 7th in the event. I suspect we were in<br>the top 15 at that moment. I'm left inspired to get better. Having<br>gotten to know a number of East coast Sonar sailors, I hope to crew<br>for one of them at an event next year and hopefully gain a better<br>understanding of how they move in and out of that lower gear for<br>acceleration in the chop and for punching out off the starting line.<br>MF<br><br>PS There's lot of team racing in Sonars out there. I'll be checking<br>into opportunities to play. I'll keep you posted. Hopefully a good<br>number of you would consider going to a team racing event out there.<br><br>--- On Tue, 10/6/09, markoch@gmail.com <markoch@gmail.com> wrote:<br><br>From: markoch@gmail.com <markoch@gmail.com><br>Subject: [Sonar]<br> Worlds<br>To: "sonar" <Sonar@lists.wyc.org><br>Date: Tuesday, October 6, 2009, 7:26 PM<br><br>Just a quick report from the Sonar Worlds in Noroton. Marty, Cheryl,<br>Bill, and I towed Surly Angel out to Connecticut after the Fall<br>Regatta. We stayed with the Morrisons about a quarter mile from the<br>yacht club and were able to walked over each morning. Our host Lee is<br>the class measurer and he and his wife took fifth in the regatta!<br><br>We had troubles with the starts and the chop and so ended up further<br>back (42nd). There is a good description of the racing here:<br>http://bymnews.com/news/newsDetails.php?id=61077.<br><br>We did go left in the race with the 30 degree wind shift and ended up<br>7th in that race. There were 9 boats that were with us in that shift.<br> This was a huge thrill and the high point of racing for us. We edged<br>out Nefarious and another boat at the finish. We had similar boat<br>speed to these other boats<br> that day (no chop).<br><br>The starting line was long and it was not a problem getting up on the<br>line if you chose to do so. However, many times we could not see<br>either end of the line and every race was raced with the I flag and Z<br>flag so you had to go around the ends and take a 20% scoring penalty<br>if you were over early. So what happened for the most part was that<br>we fell behind in the first 400 yards of the race and then never<br>recovered. Taking sterns did not work (I proved that!) since there<br>was always a wall of boats that forced us back to starboard before we<br>could escape the crush.<br><br>Getting a lane of clear air at the start was almost impossible for us.<br> Getting bow out was definitely not something we were able to do.<br>Watching the leaders move out in the first 400 yards was mystifying to<br>me and a marvel to watch. It was like they had a rope on their keels<br>dragging them past us.<br><br>After the starts we could do OK excepting the chop.<br> We slammed more upwind than others did I think. Downwind we did fine.<br><br>I had a great time and I think the others did too. I won the raffle<br>they held ($600 cash). Second prize was a spinnaker.<br><br>Our trailer tires disintegrated someplace in Ohio on the way home. We<br>noticed this when the tool box that was bolted to my trailer frame<br>broke loose at 4am and dropped down in front of the axle. It made<br>quite a racket as it slid along the concrete at 65MPH. Fortunately<br>there was no damage to the box, boat, or trailer. At this time we<br>noticed a third of the tread was missing from one tire and 5-10<br>percent from the other. After mounting the spare we drove cautiously<br>to town and I upgraded two tires from load range B to D at Tires Plus<br>in Toledo for only $109. (do this first when taking a long trip!) We<br>drove straight through both ways.<br><br>I hope to figure out the starts and chop and try this again sometime.<br>All the Sonarians out East are<br> great to talk to.<br><br>Mark<br>-----Inline Attachment Follows-----<br><br>_______________________________________________<br>Sonar mailing list<br>Sonar@lists.wyc.org<br>http://lists.wyc.org/mailman/listinfo/sonar<br><br><br><br><br>-- <br>Sent from my mobile device<br><br>Mark<br>_______________________________________________<br>Sonar mailing list<br>Sonar@lists.wyc.org<br>http://lists.wyc.org/mailman/listinfo/sonar</div></body></html>