2014 Nor'Easter Regatta

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2014 Nor'Easter Regatta

Postby Chuck Luscomb » Wed Mar 05, 2014 3:33 pm

Hi All,

The thaw is just around the corner which means we are nearly ready again to have the first event in our New England Cup Series. The Nor'Easter has been one of those events that always has something in the bag that you might not be ready for.

Last year, we saw winds in the high teens into the low 20's both days but from different directions. NNE on Saturday all day and ENE on Sunday going to SE. As an RD, it always concerns me when the breeze is up for a host of reasons but the main one, will skippers enjoy sailing enough to return next year. In 2013, with breeze blowing nearly at the top of the B rig, this was at the forefront of my mind simply because of the number of boats that experienced gear failures. We had more than a few new skippers to this event and although their boats might have been perfectly suited for pond sailing with an A rig, this was a whole nother chapter in EC12 Sailing. We had wind, waves, current and other boats. Lots going on all at the same time.

During the first couple of races on Saturday, as I saw the crash boat make trip after trip after trip to go and collect the fallen, what was really amazing was how many fixed what ever was wrong and came back out for more. They did this over and over as the day wore on. Only one boat withdrew because all he had was an A rig and after 3-4 trips out there, he just could not fix it again. No complaints about it being too rough to race or too windy and no suggestions to call racing. They just loved it. Crazy I know but I can kinda see their point.

Check this out...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PI3MLHoIg24

So as May is looming on the horizon and we look forward to warmer temps here in the North East, I would encourage you to join us for the Nor'Easter in Newport RI May 3rd and 4th and bring your B rig if you have one and a C rig if you have room in the car for it.
Chuck
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Re: 2014 Nor'Easter Regatta

Postby Chuck Luscomb » Thu Apr 10, 2014 11:43 am

The skippers list as of 4/30 We are less than a two weeks away so if your coming, now is the time to get your entries in.

Tim Stone VT Confirmed
JD Lang VT Confirmed
Chuck Luscomb CT Confirmed
Mark Reinhart MD Confirmed
David VanCleef RI Confirmed
David Ramos MD Confirmed
David Dellenbaugh CT Confirmed
Al Dion CT Confirmed
John Pelly CT Confirmed
Bob Shluger CT Confirmed
Brian Kerrigan CT Confirmed
David Branning MD Confirmed
Rodger Baldwin MD Confirmed
Victor Oberg MD Confirmed
David Hammett MD Confirmed
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Re: 2014 Nor'Easter Regatta

Postby Chuck Luscomb » Wed Apr 23, 2014 8:37 am

All,

We are nearing the dead line for entries for this event. At the moment, we have 15 boats which is a great number for this event. Yes, I get it, extreme sailing is not for the faint of heart.

Since this is the Region 1 Championships, we will be measuring boats and looking for measurement certificates from those whom have already complete measurement. If your able, please measure or get your boat measured before this event. We will be measuring boats Friday afternoon so if you have not completed this, please show up early Friday afternoon so we can get this out of the way before Saturday morning.

We have Dan Crowley who has agreed to be our RD for this event and those of you who know Dan, he comes from the IOM class and is excellent at keeping things rolling. With less than 20 boats, there will be plenty of sailing both days.

Really looking forward to this one as Newport never disappoints.
Chuck
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Re: 2014 Nor'Easter Regatta

Postby Chuck Luscomb » Wed May 07, 2014 9:29 am

The Nor'Easter is now in the books.

Saturday was most likely one of the best if not the best day we have ever had in Newport. We had a few new guys as well as a number of regulars. Six boats from MD, two boats from VT, Six from CT and one from RI made up our 15 boats. Cooler temps with S to SSW breeze 8-10 building a bit by the end of the day. The forecast for Sunday was for SW to W at 20-30kts so the plan was to push the racing on Saturday longer in hopes of making it to 18 races for the event. We sailed until 5pm and were able to complete 15 races so three short of our goal.
The fleet was tightly packed all day with the distance from first to last by at the finish not very far at all. Turns were done without pressing and there was not a single sour exchange all day. We had a number of spectators and a cheering section for Dave Brannings "Tomato" Boat. Lots of laughter and high fives between the top skippers. The crash boat went out a few times but not nearly as many times as last year and overall, the fleet handled gear failures quickly and within the holds.
As the day progressed, it looked to many like Dave VanCleef simply had the chops to stay in front in most every race posting 6 bullets for the day and a host of other low point finishes. The fight seemed to be for second as Ramos, Reinhart and Luscomb populated the slots from 2nd to 5th most of the day. Other notable mention needs to go to boats that appeared at the start for every race and finished every race. There were only a few that did not have a DNS or a DNF somewhere in the score sheet. Those were Mark Reinhart, JD Langdon and Al Dion. Al Dion lost his rig and some internal rigging when he hit the dock on the way back in from the last race before lunch. He indicated he was done for the day but when we looked his boat over, it did not look that bad… We changed rigs to his B and got his sheeting system repaired and he came out after lunch with some speed that no one else had. He was pretty happy he stayed.
Dinner was held at Coddingtons Brewery and I have to tell you that normally, in a 15 boat fleet like this, not everyone comes to the dinner so the reservation was made for 10. The head count at the skippers meeting was 11 confirmed and by mid day, that grew to 15 and by dinner, we had 18 all at the same table. What a great time.
Sunday, well... we all arrived at the site on time and got ready to sail with the breeze piping over the top of FT Adams. Wind gauges showed 8-10 with a few gusts to 15. This was 9 am. We decided to try to get our two races in at min and we began launching boats. By the time we had gotten our first start off, the gusts were closer together and higher. The fleet managed to make it around the first mark with VanCleef clear ahead by a 1/4 leg. By the time the fleet was all on the first run, a huge gust came and flattened the entire fleet in one shot. We are talking all boats on the course on their side and rounding up at the same time. A few narrow misses as they did that which caused a universal response which was "We are all done". With that, the fleet came in with no regrets and happy to still be afloat.
SO without getting the last three races, we only had two throw outs. The top four boats were very close in points and it came down to throw outs. Dave VanCleef sailed by far his best event with most races ending with a bullet. One or two mid fleets and a DNS which he could not toss pushed him out of the expected top spot. The other three were also close and what paid dividends were not bullets but consistency in staying near the top. After the scores were tabulated and checked, it came down to four boats with 8 points between them. Amazing.
The final points looked like this.
1 Chuck Luscomb 36pts
2 Dave Ramos 41pts
3 Mark Reinhart 42pts
4 Dave VanCleef 44pts
5 Al Dion 57pts
6 David Dellenbaugh 72pts
7 David Branning 80pts
8 JD Langdon 98pts
9 Tim Stone 130pts
10 Victor Oberg 143pts
11 Bob Shluger 144pts
12 Dave Hammett 148pts
13 Jon Pelly 169pts
14 Brian Kerrigan 174pts
15 Rodger Baldwin 185pts
IMG_00481.jpg
IMG_00481.jpg (78.18 KiB) Viewed 10122 times


From left to right. Dave VanCleef, Mark Reinhart, Dave Ramos, Chuck Luscomb, Tim Stone, Al Dion, JD Langdon and Bob Shluger.

Special thanks to Dan Crowley, our RD both days and Ron Rhault who assisted on Saturday. We would also like to thank Sail Newport and FT Adams State Park for their generosity in allowing us to use such an amazing site for our event.
See you next year,
Chuck Luscomb
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Re: 2014 Nor'Easter Regatta

Postby Dave_Branning » Wed May 07, 2014 1:14 pm

Thanks for the weekend: Always a great thrill to sail at Newport. The chop, the current, the wind are great ingredients we seldom see during the year of EC12 sailing. The northeast never fails to deliver excitement at Newport and Mystic. Then we have Stowe to keep us on our toes....Particularly enjoyed the fun and the laughs competing with everyone after a long winter. Thanks for the hospitality and a well oiled race committee. Now we need to see all of the New Englanders to come on down to Tilghman Island in September for some Chesapeake Oysters & Crabs and a good tune up before the Nationals.
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Re: 2014 Nor'Easter Regatta

Postby steve h » Wed May 07, 2014 1:54 pm

Congratulations on a well attended regatta.

Congratulations to JD on a solid finish. Was JD sailing his new boat that he got at the Nats?

You guys should head south next weekend and join us at Oak Hollow, for our yearly EC12 regatta.

Steve
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Re: 2014 Nor'Easter Regatta

Postby Chuck Luscomb » Thu May 08, 2014 6:45 pm

Yes Steve, JD was sailing his new boat. Like I said, only a few boats started and finished every race and JD was one of them. I am sure he will be back here next year.

One of the goals I strive for is to host events in places that will give us consistent wind direction and speed (As much as is possible). Newport is one of the best for this. We have had great luck here in producing an event that is as much like big boat racing as we can replicate in a scale setting. Dave Dellenbaugh's reaction to this weekend was a good barometer for how we did. He was all smiles and truly excited about how the sailing went. This is what I think draws people to Newport and Mystic.

Hope you have a great event down there.
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