81 replies to this topic

[MR.CLEAN]

It is just amazing how real Dark n' Stormies get inside my head and make me do stupid things. It's a wonder I'm alive.

Yesterday's weather displayed exactly why I live in Charleston for all of our out-of-town pals. 75 degrees, tiny puffy clouds in the distance, and a light northerly that gave way with a snap to our picture-perfect southerly seabreeze, blowing 12-15 knots over the spit of land between fort sumter and James Island.

Michael Miller from Pinnacle Sailing, a 501©(3) organization that promotes and fosters junior racers, gave an incredibly thorough tides/current lecture for both the inshore and offshore courses here - a response from the organizers to comments from racers last year that "it's frustrating to get beaten by slower boats with local knowledge." The currents here are so important - often running at 2-3 knots in places - that you have to follow certain rules, and Michael pointed those rules out, and showed where there's current relief, and where the land bends the wind, and so on. Big hit, but not as big as that magical mix of Barrett's Ginger Beer and Gosling's Black Seal that is the cause for my head's pounding right now.

Anyway, we'll be out all day. Be sure to check in, and feel free to post any info you have, or requests for video/pics of specific boats if you have them.

IMPORTANT: CHANGE YOUR BOARD SETTINGS TO ENSURE THAT YOU AND EVERYONE ELSE CAN READ THIS REPORT - AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, SO THAT I CAN POST WITHOUT A HUGE TIME LAG.

1) Click on "My Controls" at the top right of your screen.
2) Click on "Board Settings" at the bottom left of the next screen, under "Options"
3) Change the following settings to "No": View Avatars, View Signatures, View Images
4) Change "Number of posts per page" to 10.

Thanks again, folks. Please be sure to visit our sponsor, linked at the top of the page. One of the neatest sailing non-profits on the planet. Run by Around-alone winner Brad Van Liew, the SC Maritime foundation runs the Spirit of South Carolina Tall Ship - whose mission is to help give educational opportunities to the many underprivileged kids in SC's educational system. More on them later.

[_Vegas_]

Go get it Today Clean!!

[MR.CLEAN]

Here's the interview I did with Brad before Key West Race Week. As you may know, CRW was one of the sponsors of our Key West Report. Brad was happy with his sponsorship, and as a credit to the reach of SA, the event drew an amazing 57 entries from boats that had never-before done Charleston. Unfortunately, conflicts with Annapolis NOOD, next weekend, sucked up a good number of the usual CRW suspects, so instead of the 160 entries we projected and expected, we ended up with 145. This is down 6 from last year's high of 151.

Brad's hoping that next year's event is coordinated a bit better with both Annapolis and SORC's Lauderdale to Charleston race, which should be something of a feeder for CRW and then Annapolis. Working with SORC and Luiz Kahl, we expect to have a good IRC class here at CRW next year.

[MR.CLEAN]

Alright, I'm off to the marina. We'll be headed offshore to the J/105, PHRF stuff first, their warning is at 10:00, then we'll head back inside for the big OD stuff.

Tons of anarchists here, just tons. Hopefully we'll remember them all, and you can see how your pals are doing. Scratch sheets, entry list, SIs, etc. are posted at the CRW site.

[MR.CLEAN]

SIMON STRAUSS LOOKS TO DEFEND MELGES TITLE ON POSTCARD DAY

CHARLESTON, SC (April 18, 2008) – With a light Southwesterly breeze likely to offer up challenging conditions on day 1 of 2008 Charleston Race Week, Melges 24 owner/driver Simon Strauss is hoping to defend his title as winner of the hotly-contested class during last year's event. “We've really gotten to know the harbor well,” said the New York-based owner of 'Yoga'. “We've now sailed here half a dozen times for Race Week and class events, and the mix of conditions and currents takes some getting used to.” Strauss has the benefit of Atlantic Coast Champion and top International Moth competitor Bora Gulari as his tactician. “We've also picked up some great local sailors for the crew, and hopefully they'll help us find the fastest way around the course,” added Strauss.

TOP LOCAL TEAMS TO BATTLE FOR HANDICAP RACING TITLE

Charlestonians Will Hanckel and Robert Hibdon respectively own the J/120 “Emocean” and the SR-33 “Temptress,” which will race against eachother in PHRF B, the biggest handicap-racing class on the course. Both boats took top prizes at this year's Key West Race Week and are looking for good results here in Charleston, though their competition includes some seriously fast boats in a very competitive class. Temptress crew Will Schallor is excited to see how their team stacks up against some of the new boats. “We've always found Charleston to be one of the toughest regattas on our schedule,” says James Island's Schallor. “We haven't really matched up against some of the sporty boats in our class, so we'll just have to see how it goes.”

PICTURE PERFECT CONDITIONS LIKELY TODAY, GOOD BREEZE ALL WEEKEND

Friday's forecast shows light, shifty wind all morning, which should favor the locals with good knowledge of the conditions on both the inshore and offshore courses. By noon, the heating land should drive a typical southerly sea breeze onto all courses, equalizing the competition and providing fast rides for the racers en route to a likely three races for all classes on Friday. The afternoon breeze should also get all teams back to Patriot's Point with plenty of time to get ready for the day's awards and festivities in the beautiful Race Village hosted by Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina. The parties include live music, the lowcountry's finest food, and everyone's favorite Gosling's Rum offerings.

ABOUT CHARLESTON RACE WEEK
Charleston Race Week is an event of the South Carolina Maritime Foundation and the Charleston Ocean Racing Association (CORA). All profits from the event support educational programs aboard the Spirit of South Carolina, a classic tall ship serving South Carolina’s youth. Charleston Race Week is sponsored by Raymarine, Gosling’s Rum, Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina, Vineyard Vines, West Marine, Hall Marine Group, and Azalea Moving & Storage.

For up-to-the-minute race results, scratch sheets, entry list, and race instructions, check out www.charlestonraceweek.com.

# # #

If you'd like more information about Charleston Race Week, or to schedule an interview with Meaghan Van Liew, please call the South Carolina Maritime Foundation at 843/722.1030, or send an e-mail to mvanliew@scmaritime.org.

[MR.CLEAN]

We're on the water, it's about as pretty as can be, and there may be enough dying land breeze for a start here on Course 3, with J/105s (11 boats), PHRF A, B, and D.

The money class for this circle is PHRF B, with a FT10, 3 J/120s, SR-33, and the T-750, amongst others. Stay tuned, and tell your racing friends about OTW Anarchy today.

[Smurff]

Hey Clean,

Any Pics of Lola, the T750, would be appreciated! New boat for the guys out of Dahlgren--ROCK ON!

[MR.CLEAN]

Hey Clean,

Any Pics of Lola, the T750, would be appreciated! New boat for the guys out of Dahlgren--ROCK ON!

Will do, brother. The T is certainly a good friend of SA. Got some video of their start, posting now. Pics coming in a bit.

[MR.CLEAN]

Sadly, the owner of the 105 "Two Feathers" got his leg squashed between the dock and boat this morning, tore himself up good and was off to hospital for a stitchup. If he didn't do much tendon damage, they'll be out tomorrow.

Wind is light, tide is rippin'

[MR.CLEAN]

First boat is around the top mark, we'll tell you how everyone is doing when they get down here. Videos are loading VERY slowly with our offshore connection.

One cool thing that the Foundation have done for the RC is set up a powerful WiFi signal for the shore course, so we should be able to do some very fast, fun uploading once we get down there later today (when the breeze is on...)

[MR.CLEAN]

We're just too far offshore to get a reliable signal - my video uploads just got screwed nearly complete. We may have to head inshore to the other courses just to do a good job of our coverage. No worries, though - the racing is slow as dirt, with a long course and big tidal current, it's taken a half hour just for the boats to get to the top mark. The biggest of the A fleet, Sister Golden Hair, Yellow Jacket, etc. are just halfway down the run now.

[MR.CLEAN]

Wind is 270 degrees at 3.5 knots.

[MR.CLEAN]

If y'all have work to do, go do it. It's gonna be at least an hour before the seabreeze kicks in, and until then, this is like watching paint dry.

[JayP]

If y'all have work to do, go do it. It's gonna be at least an hour before the seabreeze kicks in, and until then, this is like watching paint dry.

The T750 should be smoking in 3.5 TWS

[MR.CLEAN]

Seabreeze is starting to fill in. WOohoo! We're going to have to head to the other course to get a better signal, but we'll bring you the action, promise! The Esse is smoking the fleet at the moment, well ahead of Lola. J/109 doing really well too - RUSH.

[MR.CLEAN]

We're headed to the dock to pick up a new aircard and drop off Jeremiah, one of Tim Wilkes' photogs. Then we'll head over to the Vipes and Melges course for some action as the seabreeze comes in. Hopefully we can get the video and stuff to you by then. Afternoon we'll be hanging with the little boats only, full of local media on our boat.

It's always a bit of an adventure sorting out the technical issues for each venue, but we should have really good vids and pics for you all weekend as soon as we can get the connection consistent.

[MR.CLEAN]

WIFI!!!

[MR.CLEAN]

Stil very light inshore, but they're racing for sure. We're stoked about this course - first off, to see the Vipers racing, which we haven't done before, and second, to check in on all our Melges pals in the biggest fleet of the event. 27 boats I think, with a list of Anarchists as long as your arm. Bgulari is calling tactics for our favorite Simon Strauss, our skipper for the past couple of years. also Napoleon Dynamite and pals are down, as well as Tiburon from Annapolis.

[MR.CLEAN]

Inshore under postponement. Going to find some pals to see how/if they got a first race done.

[FatGuyInLittleBoat]

Race 1 Results from the offshore courses

[MR.CLEAN]

So, just spoke to the inshore guys. They got a really slow race off, as we're now sitting in a hole in between the NW'ly and the new seabreeze. We can see it coming in fast, so things are looking up. Travis Weisleder, M24 US Class pres, won it with Scott Nixon on tactics. Strauss was 2nd all the way around until they tacked too early for the upwind finish and lost BrickHouse, (Kristin Lane) and I think Wireless.

[MR.CLEAN]

First video from offshore. Finally!

[MR.CLEAN]

Headed in to pick up the local press, then we'll be on station for the inshore boats for the rest of the afternoon. With 6 knots of seabreeze on the harbor, they're not far from their second start. Expect the breeze to build to 12 knots or so within the hour. Good fun, perfect chucktown rockin.

[BeerDidClam]

go Bluto (nee Accomplice, re-nee Dire Wolf) !!!

[bshores]

Clean, any chance on doing OTW reporting for the Annap. NOOD next week?

[MR.CLEAN]

Clean, any chance on doing OTW reporting for the Annap. NOOD next week?

Screw that - I'm racing!

Here's the second start vid from the offshore course:



And the third:

[bshores]

Nice videos, looks like some swell offshore. Clean, you sailing with Gill for Annap? I'll be with Othmar.

[MR.CLEAN]

Marks in the water - starts coming up, and more video and pics loading. Turning into a beautiful thing out here.

[MR.CLEAN]

Here's some pics, we are FIVE minutes from a Melges start. Good shit, 12 knots of sea breeze, hittin' it!

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[DaveK]

Please.... Viper video!

Thanks!!

[MR.CLEAN]

General recall - half the fleet over pushing the pin.

COuple more shots. Great Melges start, Blur was over early - a real favorite here, while Fu and Mustang went hard right just after the start. J/80s next.

No worries DaveK, we're going to shoot the Vipers then go up for roundings and the upwind finish. All good!

Big delay on videos because of the slow uploads, but they'll make it up sooner or later!

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[MR.CLEAN]

J/80s are gone - they've all gone round to the left, in contrast with the M24s. Bone Chillin with a great start, plus Geoff Perini, who I think has our pal Max Skelley calling tactics, was bow out (as he should be). Not sure why he didn't sail his Melges for this one.

Vipers 3 minutes to start.

Just seeing the kites at the top mark - Hoodlum maybe 4th, Strauss 5th, Fu 6th.

[bowgeezer]

Damn, my work productivity really sux during these on the water things...wait, my work productivity sux all the time..who am I kidding?

[MR.CLEAN]

Justin Scott with a great pin end start, bow nice and forward. Melges coming in to bottom mark while we head to the top.

[MR.CLEAN]

Wireless, with SAer OSAsailing on board, in first place. That's local knowledge there. Kristin lane on OutHouse in second, with GBR 592 in third.

bshores, we're racing with Simon in annapolis. Good times.

[MR.CLEAN]

Gettin' to top mark now.

[MR.CLEAN]

Man, great rounding. Justin out front of Slithering by a nose in the vipes, with Kay diving in really deep to get inside of both of them.
Melges came tearing through the Viper fleet, with Wireless holding the lead just ahead of Yoga. We owe Yoga some beers, we gave them a bit of a wake on our way up.

Lane in third, set and gybed away - a good move here in this breeze. Fu in fourth, Hoodlum fifth.

[_Vegas_]

Race 2 results

Race 3 results

[MR.CLEAN]

Don't even know what this video is, but I'm sure its good.

[MR.CLEAN]

J/24 Dr. Feelgood in first at the top mark.
Latte
Sea Plane

[MR.CLEAN]

Wireless wins the Melges class! Strauss in second, Lane in 3rd. GO brothers! Carloan in fourth, Hulsey 5th.

Interesting comparison between the Vipers and Melges. The top Viper hung pretty well with the middle M24s all the way back upwind. That's something of a surprise to me.

This is some great shit. I wish everyone was here!

[MR.CLEAN]

We have to make a quick run to shore, be back on course for race 3 shortly. Nice thing about the dock being only 5 minutes from the course.

[flaps15]

Wireless wins the Melges class! Strauss in second, Lane in 3rd. GO brothers! Carloan in fourth, Hulsey 5th.

Interesting comparison between the Vipers and Melges. The top Viper hung pretty well with the middle M24s all the way back upwind. That's something of a surprise to me.

This is some great shit. I wish everyone was here!

Ya' mean all fifteen of us?


Just funin' Clean, nice job.

[_Vegas_]

Cumulative Results Here

Including Inshore M24s

[mnlas]

go Max Power.
have a great regatta, keep it up !!

[MR.CLEAN]

I think this is a start video, but I'm not sure.

[MR.CLEAN]

Melges in sequence for Race 3!

[MR.CLEAN]

Wow - the top 2 boats last race - Yoga and Wireless - are the last two over the starting line this race. I can't tell whether they were over early or just late - our view to the pin end was obstructed.

Steve Kopf, Michael Miller on Blur definitely the best start of that race.

Pics are coming soon.

[flaps15]

Vipers????????

[MR.CLEAN]

J/24s piled up at the boat end, huge barging mess.

Start vid

[MR.CLEAN]

Just to explain if it isn't obvious - the videos are usually a half hour or so behind the action.

[MR.CLEAN]

Scott Nixon really doing a great job on Carloan for Travis Weisleder, at least ten boatlengths ahead at the leeward mark. Yoga battled back from DFL to come into the mark in 5th. Bora is on his game today, that's for sure. Hoodlum, Fu mixing it up at the mark in 6th and 7th. Wireless buried.

[MR.CLEAN]

More start vid

[MR.CLEAN]

J/24s at the bottom mark - amazing how fast they get down the course with the pole back in this medium breeze, just flying.

Bash
Tutakranaut
Orange Crush
Short Bus

[DaveK]

J24 vid in post 50 doesn't work and I can't find it under blocksail at youtube.

[MR.CLEAN]

J/80s:

Storck in the lead by 7 BLs
Outrageous
Bone Chillin'
Relentless
Game Plan
Raptor.

[MR.CLEAN]

Vid:



More:

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[MR.CLEAN]

Pics:



Looks like they finished the Melgi upwind, with the J/boats going that way as well. From where we can see, Carloan took the Melges race, with Yoga in third.

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[MR.CLEAN]

More

More.

Pics

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[MR.CLEAN]

Sweet rounding video:

[SkullEffer]

How many are they going to try n get off today?

[MR.CLEAN]

They're done for the day. Almost everyone got in 3 races, the results are just slow to update for some reason. YOu can bet your ass that L_Z is gonna fix it. We've got a load more video to upload, but otherwise, we're done for the day. Be sure to check in later for loads more pics and video.

[bshores]

All the vipers look slow on the hoist, what's the deal?

More

More.

Pics

[MR.CLEAN]

All the vipers look slow on the hoist, what's the deal?

I think that the vast majority of them are totally new to the boat, or at least that's how it seemed. Justin and a couple of boats were so far ahead of the rest of the class it was scary. They're all pretty damned passionate about their boats, so it shouldn't take too long...

[LateNite]

They're done for the day. Almost everyone got in 3 races, the results are just slow to update for some reason. YOu can bet your ass that L_Z is gonna fix it. We've got a load more video to upload, but otherwise, we're done for the day. Be sure to check in later for loads more pics and video.

I was just getting ready to ask. All the offshore results look current. When I first checked the inshore results about 30 minutes ago only the M/24 and 2 Vipers were listed as finishing race one and no J/80s. I now see complete results for Race One for Inshore OneDesign, but nothing for Race 2 or 3.

I'll be quiet now

[MR.CLEAN]

Video from last race:

[MR.CLEAN]

A few more coming as well.

[MR.CLEAN]

More vid:



And more from the final race:



And a bit more:

[MR.CLEAN]

This is the final video of the day. We'll get a bunch of pics up on our site later tonight, so check back. Plenty of shenanigans ahead, as the party just started.

Thanks for tuning in, we hope you all check in tomorrow, with a good breeze forecast. Should be some rain and maybe a thunderstorm or two as well. Good times.

[Fishwater]

Alan, Thanks for the reporting today. Thumbs Up !!

[L Z]

They're done for the day. Almost everyone got in 3 races, the results are just slow to update for some reason. YOu can bet your ass that L_Z is gonna fix it. We've got a load more video to upload, but otherwise, we're done for the day. Be sure to check in later for loads more pics and video.

Well, they didn't have a generator to run the laptop, left the laptop on which eat the battery juicy and when they plugged in and the boat's battery drain to 11.9v the inverter (I guess) shut down... little technical issues on Course 1.

Results had to be posted on shore as some one forgot to call us and let us/me know about all these issues during the day...

All being fixed for tomorrow so should be back to normal on the water scoring as we usually do it and got it done on Course 2 & 3 today.

Cheers. Time for some Gozlings...

LZ

[BeerDidClam]

great job you guys and thanks for posting all the vids and pix. not trying to be critical here but maybe a one stop ND
filter on the vids would be helpful as they truly blasted out.
but great stuff and I'll shut up and just be appreciative of yer efforts.

er...make that a 2 stop ND filt.

[Saltwater Cowboy]

Here's a quick report from the Viper fleet.

In the first race, the course was set to send us up into the mouth of the Ashley river and back. Plans was for a 3 legger with a windward finish, but the wind started to die off and the RC shortened to 2 legs with a downwind finish.

We got a third in this race with decent boat speed and reasonable tactics other than the first 1/2 of the upwind leg. We saw M24's and the J80's that went right pay off huge. We planned to do the same, but then saw that we were almost pointing to the mark on starboard and thought why tack away. Should have followed our original plan, as the current in the middle of the channel was punishing. We were still happy with the finish and managed to pick a few boats off to get to the third place finish. Major props to Gotwalt for a bullet in this first race, that was his first time driving a Viper in a race. You don't get to do that too often.

After a long wait for the sea breeze, the next race was a 5 legger. We had a great start at the favored pin end, right on the line at the start and about 2 Bl's windward of Justin the Mambo King. We pretty much kept clean lanes throught the race and had reasonable boat speed, but nothing to match Jusin. We got another 3rd in this race.

Overall it's hard not to be pleased with 2 thirds. This boat just came off of the ship from London 4 days ago, and pretty much got put together yesterday. Most of the little things are sorted out, and we are getting more and more pleased with the layout as we tweak things. We continue to play with the rig settings, and were probably a bit strapped down in the second race.

Here's to getting 3 in tomorrow.

[Mambo Kings]

Sadly, the owner of the 105 "Two Feathers" got his leg squashed between the dock and boat this morning, tore himself up good and was off to hospital for a stitchup. If he didn't do much tendon damage, they'll be out tomorrow.

Wind is light, tide is rippin'

Clean let me know how Mark has faired. good friend of the Vipes.

[MR.CLEAN]

Got some more pics coming now. Fucking head feels like a pinball.

[MR.CLEAN]

Sorry if any of these are duplicates, but there's lots of new ones.

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[MR.CLEAN]

.

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[MR.CLEAN]

.

Starting new thread now for Saturday. BIG BREEZE coming in this afternoon, should be awesome.

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[MER]

DAY TWO PICTURES

http://picasaweb.goo...NRACEWEEKDAYTWO

[Hollywood]

Nice work Clean Mer and others

Cheers

Missed ya

Happy Birthday Clean

[echo]

Screw that - I'm racing!

And the third:

<object width="425" height="350"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.c...v/18_6ZDuy6Oo"> </param> <embed src="http://www.youtube.c.../v/18_6ZDuy6Oo" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"> </embed> </object>

The "third" is actually PHRF D. Now who is 22763?

Tuff current... We hit the top mark TWICE !!

[class flag up]

The "third" is actually PHRF D. Now who is 22763?

Tuff current... We hit the top mark TWICE !!

Congrats Echo...two top marks grazed & still pulled out a bullet. Nicely done.