2004 Laser Frostbite Results

Message from Cap'n Hof

Frostbite Week 1 (Sunday, Jan. 11)
(or, sailing can be extreme, on any given Sunday...)

It was a brilliant day, a clear, winter day.  When I drove over the hill at
10:15, a breeze was forming on the lake and little puffs trickled out of
Shutes Branch. We'd had a hard freeze, but the temp was expected to soar to
40, so the race was on. John Chapin agreed to be RC, and had last minute
help from a recovering Dennis Colby.  Lindsey and Elis Bohannon took the
little club Whaler, The RC flag flew from our 15 foot Whaler. The parking
lot was a scene. It took hot water to get the ice plugs out of the mast
steps. The harbor is a tough filter. It's peaceful behind the hill.
Unsuspecting sailors can be dunked by that quick puff that makes it over
the top. One such monster ripped Larissa's sail and sent her swimming. She
was rescued by the Bohannons. The view out the harbor was wet. The breeze
built to the bright, black "10-20" that strikes fear in the hearts of
sensible people. John and DC looked comfortable. The rest of us struggled
to find the right gear to get upwind. The WSW puffs were strong, and the
right hand swing had some kick, too.  The result was a choppy mess. Good
speed, flat boat means a wet boat. As the spray hits your hands, and the
sheet gets wet, the cold starts to numb your fingers. As this point it's a
bluffing game. Smile, and act like it doesn't hurt.  I mean, how miserable
can these conditions be? It's cold as hell, its blowing stink from all
directions, and Bruce Richards is to leeward, hiked out flat (almost)
singing a sea shanty, laughing at the cold and the wind and the wet.

The RC had slid to leeward favoring the pin start. I set up too early. When
it's blowing this hard, you have to keep the boat moving. Stalling out is
easy, and being in irons is slow. I sailed out and came back on port
looking for a hole. About halfway down the fleet I found one and headed out
on port. I was able to tack back below Cully who started at the boat. Sean
hit the pin and led Chip and David out to the left. The long tack was port,
and Dave and Chip pealed off easily crossing Cully and me.  Sean and I
tacked and the fleet was on port. Chip went back to the left, and when a
little right filtered in at the end of the beat I was able to cross him.
Sean and Dave were gone. As we rounded the weather mark, I loosened my vang
to power up and try and hold off Chip. That proved touchy, as the monster
puffs built and the downwind rock and roll commenced. Better not do that
again. Second race saw similar conditions, with more wind.  Cold fingers
and toes took their toll, and Lindsey and Tom bailed out. With the pin
heavily favored, I set up on top this time, and had good luck and speed as
the contested pin yielded a slow start for Sean and a foul on Chip. I was
inside of Dave and a little ahead, and able to pick my lane up the lake in
the "fresh" leftie. Sean had bailed early and was in toward the shore.
Alas, for your recorder  a great right hand shot bailed out Sean and he won
his second race of the day. Dave also had a hang tough series.

The brilliant winter day took its toll, however. Beth went down and stuck
it in the mud, and the club whaler was out of commission. After minutes in
the water, Beth was weak and breathless. Sean plucked her from the water
and sailed her in. Chip and the RC crew rescued the boat. Mike and I worked
on the whaler and got it going. And, still with our pride and senses, we
called it a day, a beautiful day.

Sunday, January 18
Message from Cap'n Hof

I love to sleep when it's raining.  It was hard to get up Sunday. You all
read the weather forecast, windy with rain changing to snow as the
temperatures plummet. The thought of facing last weekend's blustery
conditions with an even colder WNW-NW wind made most of you roll over, get
that extra hour, and enjoy a nice warm Sunday morning at home. I rolled
out, gathered my gear in a light rain, and headed out. The forecast high
was above 34, and I was going sailing. Mike showed up, the weather forecast
being too bad to take Kathy fishing, and Patrick Smith wandered in looking
for some action. The wind howled through the harbor and Mike searched for a
radial. I kept the bluff alive, and by one, Diamond Ted and Mike Wasner
joined the gang. We headed out to race in the harbor. The breeze was WNW
and really fluky at the head of the harbor, so we went to the lake. John
Chapin and Patrick's dad did the honors as the official RC. We set the
weather mark on the north side of the channel and started in Shute's Branch.

We should know by now that Old Hickory has it's own mind, it's own weather,
and it's own reality. The horrifying forecast never materialized. The first
race saw a 12 knot right hander at the start, but the breeze was down,
generally in the 6-12 range. The lake was flat without the fetch of last
weekend's WSWterly. All you lazy bones missed a fine day of sailing. Ted
had a good second race taking the pin on port in a leftie. There was a bit
of tide, which could be avoided on the right, but those sweet lefties
seemed to grow as the day wore on. You had to get right before the channel,
get left to the new puffs, and then tack in the puffs to continue right.
There was a nice little groove with the current on the lee bow on port tack
that lifted you right up the course. The weather mark was tough to get
around with the tide. Ted was the only downwind casualty.  So, get off your
duffs and come on out! We need a dozen boats not six.

The horror stories about the forecast began on Saturday. After a night of rain the forecasters seemed right, but Old Hickory continues to confound. Tom Gillingham showed up first. He had pledged to check it out regardless of the forecast. wise man. Everyone that was scared off missed a beautiful day. The sun came out. The breeze was in the 4-10 range. Dr. Cotton affably assumed Race Committee duties. He set the weather mark in Shute’s Branch and the start/finish line on the Hendersonville shore. After a couple of practice starts we were ready to roll.

The first race started in a bit of a left, and I found myself bailing from the left and following Mike to the right. Lucas was OCS at the pin and circled around. He and mom went deep left. A substantial right hander pick me and Mike up, Bruce tried hard to get across in the header, succeeded, then dug back left and got us at the mark, with Mandy sneaking in from the hard left. The second race Cotton advised DC to bang the right corner, which he did, to score a first. I went out with him, but couldn’t let the whole fleet go left, so I covered the middle at let Dennis have the right. Bruce showed well coming in from the left, but Mandy went farther and rounded third. Patience paid in race three. The pin start winners went left, and one by one baled out right. Bruce and I stayed with it and were rewarded with a nice left shift to easily cross the right hand boats. Again Mandy snuck in at the pin (from the left). In race four, I started in the middle of the line and went right, Bruce tacked right after a pin start and established a good two boat cover on me. As we diced it up the middle of the beat, I saw my family – coming again from the left – round one-two ahead of us. Lucas began to put the moves on mom, but turtled in the mud, letting Bruce and me past. DC lost a tiller extension and tanked his second good race of the day. A squall moved through with rain, the rain cleared and we planed about in boats before calling it a day. The sun came back out offering a warm sail home. What a great day. Lucas had good starts, Bruce won the day, and Mike had a solid fourth. Mucho thanks again to Bob Cotton for RC work.

LASER FROSTBITE SERIES #4 (SUNDAY, FEB. 1)
Report from Bruce Richards

Super Sunday! Sunshine, blue skies, 3 to 6 knot northeasterlies and enough current to make it interesting for ten sailors who had a delightful warm day of hot competition.

PRO Scott Trigg wasted no time in running six back-to-back races, setting a course and a starting line that placed a premium on winning the battle for the pin end at the beginning. Bruce did just that in race 1 while Mandy battled the mark itself, going wire-to-wire followed by Mike Osborne and Dennis with good speed. Matt Allen served notice that he would be a force to reckon with for the rest of the day, finishing fourth after a 720. There was an even bigger crowd at the pin for race 2, prompting Dennis to announce helpfully that "there’s going to be a problem down here"...and indeed there was for many but Sean started cleanly and never looked back. While the left side seemed to offer more pressure and less current much of the afternoon, Mike Wasner went right at the start of race 3, away from the fleet and into fresh air, leading Mike to the weather mark but chased hard by Matt who won a photo finish. Bruce and Mandy came off the line fast in race 4 and Mandy had the starboard tack advantage at the first cross, tacking to leeward as Bruce prepared to duck, with just enough loss of momentum to allow a bow-to-bow horse race to the starboard tack layline, where Matt was waiting, with speed again. Dave Young sailed a solid windward leg and finished fourth on Mandy’s heels. Mandy won the start of race 5, covered Bruce to protect the left side but in so doing allowed Bruce and Matt to gain a little leverage on the right. Matt charged down the run and overlapped Bruce at the finish but needed more race course to pass. Half the fleet pressed so hard at the start of race 6 that Scott hailed a general recall. Hof, Bruce, and Sean stacked up at the pin on the subsequent try, spat Bruce out the back and played a hip-shaking/hip-hugging game for the rest of the race during which Hof and Sean were never separated by more than half a boatlength. Hof led at the windward mark, but Sean bore off further to take the "lower road" and overlapped him to leeward. Some discussion ensued, but Sean’s parallel course proved a little faster. Mandy and Bruce overlapped them to windward and the four finished in that order.

Matt Allen won the day with five top four finishes, everyone had a slice of "humble pie" and the "plus two handicappers" (Hof, Bruce and Sean) amassed a whopping 122 points for the day. Mike Wasner and Alan Coulter had a great day; first and tenth were often separated by less than a minute and overlapped finishes throughout the fleet were the norm. This is one-design racing at its club level best; grab a club boat and join the game next Sunday!

LASER FROSTBITE SERIES #5 (SUNDAY, FEB. 8)

Report from Cap'n Hof
 

So much of laser sailing is about weight and where you put it. After the breeze in weeks 1 & 2, ye ole major Clydesdale and scribe enjoyed a healthy run of top three finishes. The waning breezes of succeeding weeks put me on a crash diet as Bruce, Mandy, Dennis, Matt and Mike began to show their stuff. It’s good for all of us. The featherweights learn to survive heavy air and excel on the runs, big boys like me hone “where to put it” in the subtle and fickle breezes. This Sunday was one of those days. The pool peaked at 448.85 Saturday, we hit it Sunday at just over 448. Where was all the water going? Let’s sail out and find out! We had the fearless Joe Ballard as PRO, with help from Wade Thweet and some friend of David’s (I forgot her name).  We met Andy Carson and Ted coming back in, both wide eyed at the tide. But, we forged ahead and set the course on the Hendersonville side of the lake.

It was apparent (after the first race) that being “up tide” on the beat was healthy. It was shifty in the SE-S condition. In the first race Sean beat right but fell to Mandy on the run. And this is where the part about weight comes in. We raced upwind with the tide, and downwind against the tide. Now in a Laser in light air, upwind is pretty fast. We got to the half mile distant weather mark in three minutes. After sailing downwind for a couple of minutes, I figure I had gained maybe thirty yards, and, I was in a puff! Killebrew had one great race going only to find a hole and get sucked off the race course. The master of light breezes, Bruce Richards, won the day. Mike, Sean, Mandy and Ted all had excellent races. I tried to get one of them to write this up because I was so contorted on the boat and so far back, I missed all the fun on the interminable runs. Thanks again to Joe and Wade.

LASER FROSTBITE SERIES #6 (SUNDAY, FEB. 15)

Report from Cap'n Hof

After five weeks of racing Bruce, Mike, Mandy and I were within 5 points, and the other regular racers still within striking distance. The forecast was for snow, but when have the forecasts been right? I went out early, as usual, to get the RC boats ready. I was standing on the dock when the white-out hit. It was blowing N-NW and the temperature was supposed too drop as the day wore on. I decided to wait it out and see if any other knuckleheads popped in for a sail. Low and behold, Bruce showed, delighted with the wind. Then Sean drove up, anxious to test his speed in a little breeze. Ted had on his ninja wetsuit. OK, launch the boats and let’s go! DC and Mandy opted for the Whaler to run the races. Mike O. put a wrap in, David and Bill saddled up, and we were off. I face the hard breeze with a little trepidation. You don’t want to get too wet before the races start when it’s so cold. I kind of luffed my way out of the harbor. Trimming brought a burst of speed, spray and wetness. Mike just did make it to the Hendersonville side of the lake. He chickened down the shore to get downwind, reached in and got Moon Pie. David also had a couple of dunkings on the way out and hung it up. The puffs were upwards of 20 kts. with a sustained stiff breeze. DC and Mandy managed to start a race. It’s real tricky to try and hold a position in that much breeze. Slow down too much and you get in irons and it takes for-ever to get going again. Trim in a touch and you’re on the other side of the lake. Sean and I started at the pin with him to leeward. We worked the long hard port tack, and I’ve never seen him sail better in breeze. He eked out a half a boat length, and I yelled that I’d let him pass on the tack to the mark. As he tacked, his legs gave in, and he went swimming. I figured he’d be back up and fighting for the lead on the run, but the cold was too much and Sean went in. The rest of the day was pure survival, trying to keep the boat moving upwind and on top of the water downwind. Too much fun! Thanks again to the RC’s this weekend and in those previous. Only two more Sundays left, come join us!

LASER FROSTBITE SERIES #7 (SUNDAY, FEB. 22)

Report from Cap'n Hof

No Report at this time.

LASER FROSTBITE SERIES #8 (SUNDAY, FEB. 29)

Report from Cap'n Hof

Sat. night was a bummer...Sunday was great!

2004 Laser Frostbite Series

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