SCYA Mid-Winters (ABYC) February 15/16

Weather: Santa Ana conditions with little or no wind in the mornings. Filling in from the North around noon, the westerly sea breeze filling in the early afternoon. The temperature was 70+? With slight marine layer haze and overcast skies. The first race placed the starting line in the vicinity of C mark which is traditionally the first windward mark. The committee boat was at the port end of the line, the pin end being favored because of an obstructed (by an island) port layline. Kurt Wiese, 1969 and 1972 Lido Jr. Champion, was sailing with the older of his two daughters, Evelyn. They set the tone immediately and launched a dozen or more boat lengths ahead and led the fleet all the way to the finish line. By the start of the second race, the wind had shifted into the westerly seabreeze. The second race started with the line in the middle of the bay with C as the first windward mark. This time John Papadopoulos and Stephanie Faillers took over. By the time they reached they rounded they windward mark, they too had set a lead that wasn't to be challenged. Making a bold showing was Lenore Collins, sailing boat number 6000, in her first major Lido regatta in years, having focussed on selling boats over the past few years for W.D. Schock Corp.

At the conclusion of day one, John lead with 5.75 points with Kurt at 7.5.

The conditions at the start of day two were down right ugly. Just a whisper of wind and a tantalizing puff or two. The committee set up for a race like race 1 however they postponed when the wind picked up and shifted to the sea breeze. The A's got a clean start with Papadopoulos and Faillers launching out by a wide margin, leading by many boat lengths after rounding the windward mark. The B fleet and the Sabots, both of which started immediately after the A's, did not fair so well. Apparently the wind had died at the start line, leading the committee to abandon all three fleets.

Race 4 was re-sailed after a break for lunch. This time, it was Kurt's turn to lead, which he did ably. John, reasonably distant from both Kurt and the pack behind, coasted to a comfortable 2^nd place. Scoring was now very tight with John leading by just one half point. With Gib Marshall nearly six points back from Kurt, it was very clear to who beat whom between Kurt and John would take home the gold. As it turns out, neither Kurt nor John made it to the windward mark in any great fashion, only to be blanketed and caught up in the fleet going down wind. But Kurt pressed on and maintained a few boat length lead over John, often with several boats in between. John waited patiently. On the last run, John had caught up to Kurt and was pressuring him from the rear quarter. Kurt decided to gybe into a new lane to establish a more comfortable inside position to the last leeward mark but in doing so lost just enough momentum and left open a clean lane for John to shoot past into a safe clear ahead position at the leeward mark. As is common in Alamitos Bay regattas, there are Sabots racing on the same waters, using the same marks. Ahead of John were several Sabots making their own roundings. John had to go wide to clear them to leeward, Kurt found a hole that brought him around cleanly. Kurt tacked onto Port (starboard mark rounding) for clean air. John tacked onto Port to cover, thus commencing a cover to protect his lead. Kurt came back onto a starboard tack and John attacked, leebowing him to force Kurt back onto port and further to the right of the course. This continued several more times, each time neither boat had gained any particular advantage. But alas, on John's last approach he had lost a few feet on Kurt and wasn't able to lee bow Kurt as closely and decisevly. Kurt decided to not tack. John wasn't able to sustain the leeward position, and Kurt blasted on past, leaving no doubt who would reach the line first. Race and Regatta to Kurt.