MR.CLEAN
Moderator
- Moderator
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From the front page, in an hour or so:
Clean Report
Rough Day at the Office
It was a rough start to a messy Day 1 of Key West Race Week – for the weather, the Race Committee, and for our On-The-Water Anarchy, presented by Quantum Sails.
Forecasts were for good breeze, but the first race started in 12-15 knots, just the kind of conditions that create uncomfortable chop without really letting the boats break free. On Circle 2 (M24, M32, J/105), an intense rain squall blew through the course about 20 minutes after the starts, reducing visibility to 20 feet for 5-10 minutes. The RC reset the marks to accommodate a big right shift, but somehow messed up the compass heading by more than 20 degrees, and at least one protest was filed to throw out the race. We tracked down Luigi, who agreed that it was a clear error, though he thought the remedy might be to score the boats in the position they were in at the previous mark. On the same course, Luigi's midline boat's anchor was hooked by a 32, which proceeded to sail upwind towing the line boat. The RC didn't earn any more praise with the 90-minute postponement they ran, either. All three circles ran only two races, and other than Division 2, the fleets were done before 3:00.
Bullets Galore
The battle we've been expecting between Vincenzo Onorato and James Richardson in the Farr 40 was pretty much as we expected – with Barking Mad and Mascalzone Latino neck and neck during both races and all over the other at each mark. The difference was Onorato's starts – always just a bit ahead at the gun, he was consistently able to put his bow down and sail where he wanted to go. That destination was snakeyes – a 1,1 for the multiple F40 World Champ. Joe Fly edged out Barking Mad when Hutch/Richardson got on the wrong side of a right shift in the second race, and leads BM by one point.
Another Italian team – one that knows Vincenzo well – put on a showcase in the Melges 24 fleet. Lorenzo Santini's World Champion Uka Uka Racing Team, with Jonathan McKee on tactics, walked away with two wins that looked easy despite having a new tactician. “Racing with Jonathan is wonderful,” said Federico Michetti, team manager and trimmer. And when Santini said, “we are just very lucky,” he knew that was a crock of shit. These guys are just way beyond 99% of the fleet, and as they proved in Porto Cervo, they're generally ahead 99.9%
The third double-bullet came from Jeff Ecklund's Melges 32 Star, recovering from their mediocre Gold Cup showing – a regatta that Ecklund organized. “We got forced somewhere we didn't want to go both races,” said tactician Harry Melges, “but it worked.” Gold Cup winner New Wave had a rougher time of it. “Judah and Alex couldn't make it,” said Scott Nixon. “We got great sailors to replace them, but it always takes a little time to come together.”
Four other classes saw double bullet winners, though unusually, the tricked-out naptown Beneteau L'Outrage didn't get the double win, losing both races to a Cape Fear 38, but in the one-design fleets, is this a reflection of how much more predictable and less competitive small fleets are, if only by virtue of their size. Whatever the reason, it is still a long week, and with only two races run, the PROs are signaling their belief that there will be enough breeze to run two more on each of the remaining 4 days. Given a pumping forecast of up to 30 knots tomorrow, we don't think a lack of breeze will be a problem either. And the sailmakers are going to be busy!
Our day was a rough one as well, though Mer reminded me that every Day 1 we do is a bitch. After a few drinks, I realized that our OTW Anarchy production is actually a lot like a regatta, and our team just like a race crew. Considering that we are all yacht racers, it makes sense – but the problem is that it ain't run like a top program. We don't have the budget or personnel to spend three days practicing before an event, so we end up having tough starts. It was still a fun report, with good shots and video, and if we'd done something like this three years ago, we would have been amazed – but the game has changed. And today was as bad for us as it was for New Wave. They had a couple of new crew, we had two new photographers, a new videographer, a new boat, a new driver, another new boat, and another new driver. They didn't have a lot of practice, we got here Sunday at 7 AM after driving all night, just a day after driving three thousand miles from California. They caught some rope around the keel, we found our boat leaking like a sieve, with the steering going out while surrounded by 5 press boats just three boatlengths from the top mark. They had bad starts, we had some idiot local volunteer driving the official press boat decide to impress his friends by gunning his engine to block our photographers from getting any shots.
As you can see, we make excuses just like a race team, too.
But as I've said, tomorrow will be another day. A warm, super-windy day with tons of carnage, MORE commentary, MORE videos, and MORE pics. So open the Obama inauguration in another window, and tune in to the one and only 2009 OTW Anarchy Key West presented by Quantum Sails. And thanks for watching! Here's the link to our Day 2 Coverage.
And please don't forget to show your support to those who make sure that OTW Anarchy continues to give you the best live regatta coverage there is. Check out Quantum Sails, Point Loma Outfitting, Santa Cruz Yachts, Latis Yachting Solutions, Melges Performance Sailboats, Flying Tiger Boats, Dax OneTouch Winch Handles, and HBI Boats.
Clean Report
Rough Day at the Office
It was a rough start to a messy Day 1 of Key West Race Week – for the weather, the Race Committee, and for our On-The-Water Anarchy, presented by Quantum Sails.
Forecasts were for good breeze, but the first race started in 12-15 knots, just the kind of conditions that create uncomfortable chop without really letting the boats break free. On Circle 2 (M24, M32, J/105), an intense rain squall blew through the course about 20 minutes after the starts, reducing visibility to 20 feet for 5-10 minutes. The RC reset the marks to accommodate a big right shift, but somehow messed up the compass heading by more than 20 degrees, and at least one protest was filed to throw out the race. We tracked down Luigi, who agreed that it was a clear error, though he thought the remedy might be to score the boats in the position they were in at the previous mark. On the same course, Luigi's midline boat's anchor was hooked by a 32, which proceeded to sail upwind towing the line boat. The RC didn't earn any more praise with the 90-minute postponement they ran, either. All three circles ran only two races, and other than Division 2, the fleets were done before 3:00.
Bullets Galore
The battle we've been expecting between Vincenzo Onorato and James Richardson in the Farr 40 was pretty much as we expected – with Barking Mad and Mascalzone Latino neck and neck during both races and all over the other at each mark. The difference was Onorato's starts – always just a bit ahead at the gun, he was consistently able to put his bow down and sail where he wanted to go. That destination was snakeyes – a 1,1 for the multiple F40 World Champ. Joe Fly edged out Barking Mad when Hutch/Richardson got on the wrong side of a right shift in the second race, and leads BM by one point.
Another Italian team – one that knows Vincenzo well – put on a showcase in the Melges 24 fleet. Lorenzo Santini's World Champion Uka Uka Racing Team, with Jonathan McKee on tactics, walked away with two wins that looked easy despite having a new tactician. “Racing with Jonathan is wonderful,” said Federico Michetti, team manager and trimmer. And when Santini said, “we are just very lucky,” he knew that was a crock of shit. These guys are just way beyond 99% of the fleet, and as they proved in Porto Cervo, they're generally ahead 99.9%
The third double-bullet came from Jeff Ecklund's Melges 32 Star, recovering from their mediocre Gold Cup showing – a regatta that Ecklund organized. “We got forced somewhere we didn't want to go both races,” said tactician Harry Melges, “but it worked.” Gold Cup winner New Wave had a rougher time of it. “Judah and Alex couldn't make it,” said Scott Nixon. “We got great sailors to replace them, but it always takes a little time to come together.”
Four other classes saw double bullet winners, though unusually, the tricked-out naptown Beneteau L'Outrage didn't get the double win, losing both races to a Cape Fear 38, but in the one-design fleets, is this a reflection of how much more predictable and less competitive small fleets are, if only by virtue of their size. Whatever the reason, it is still a long week, and with only two races run, the PROs are signaling their belief that there will be enough breeze to run two more on each of the remaining 4 days. Given a pumping forecast of up to 30 knots tomorrow, we don't think a lack of breeze will be a problem either. And the sailmakers are going to be busy!
Our day was a rough one as well, though Mer reminded me that every Day 1 we do is a bitch. After a few drinks, I realized that our OTW Anarchy production is actually a lot like a regatta, and our team just like a race crew. Considering that we are all yacht racers, it makes sense – but the problem is that it ain't run like a top program. We don't have the budget or personnel to spend three days practicing before an event, so we end up having tough starts. It was still a fun report, with good shots and video, and if we'd done something like this three years ago, we would have been amazed – but the game has changed. And today was as bad for us as it was for New Wave. They had a couple of new crew, we had two new photographers, a new videographer, a new boat, a new driver, another new boat, and another new driver. They didn't have a lot of practice, we got here Sunday at 7 AM after driving all night, just a day after driving three thousand miles from California. They caught some rope around the keel, we found our boat leaking like a sieve, with the steering going out while surrounded by 5 press boats just three boatlengths from the top mark. They had bad starts, we had some idiot local volunteer driving the official press boat decide to impress his friends by gunning his engine to block our photographers from getting any shots.
As you can see, we make excuses just like a race team, too.
But as I've said, tomorrow will be another day. A warm, super-windy day with tons of carnage, MORE commentary, MORE videos, and MORE pics. So open the Obama inauguration in another window, and tune in to the one and only 2009 OTW Anarchy Key West presented by Quantum Sails. And thanks for watching! Here's the link to our Day 2 Coverage.
And please don't forget to show your support to those who make sure that OTW Anarchy continues to give you the best live regatta coverage there is. Check out Quantum Sails, Point Loma Outfitting, Santa Cruz Yachts, Latis Yachting Solutions, Melges Performance Sailboats, Flying Tiger Boats, Dax OneTouch Winch Handles, and HBI Boats.
