Daily Reports by Lainie Pardey Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Lay Day Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Final Results
Saturday,
April 8, 2000 - Day 1
Cool, cloudy weather delayed the sea breeze from filling in, just slightly.
We had 32 Lasers on the line. We're on
the same course with the Europes, and they got to start first in the first race,
so we were on the inner loop of the trapezoid course. The wind was moderate at
the start, around 7 knots with puffs and shifts, so only one loop of the
trapezoid course was sailed. By the end of the race it was blowing about 12
knots but still oscillating, towards the right more often than the left, though.
To get a Laser fleet of this quality off the start line on the first try is almost unheard-of, but it was done. There were 6 boats OCS, though, including Mark Mendelblatt, Greg Skidmore, Kurt Taulbee, Steve Bourdow, Mattia d'Errico and Vann Wilson. All were in a group at the pin end of the line. Meanwhile, John Myrdal started all alone at the boat end, sailed a short right hitch on port, tacked onto starboard and crossed the fleet. The pin end may have been favored a bit, but there's something to be said for clear air, I figure. Myrdal led by at least 100 yd. at the first windward mark and pulled out on the first run. On the second beat, however, a right shift caught him out, and Peter Hurley and Brett Davis got him. With only two reaches and another downwind leg left to sail, Hurley was impossible to catch and sailed impeccably to the win with Davis second and Myrdal a close third.
In the second race, the Lasers started first and sailed the outer loop of the trap course, with a double loop this time as the wind had increased to 15 - 18 knots with sun shining. The current had also increased, causing yet another clean start, this one with no OCS boats as well. By halfway up the first beat, Mark Mendelblatt was clearly ahead, and continued to stretch out a big lead all the way to the finish with an incredible turn of speed and immaculate tactics. Battling for second, within a boatlength of each other after the first run were Brett Davis, Bill Hardesty and John Torgerson, with Charles Meade and Peter Hurley hard on their heels. Note the top 7 after today's racing all scored single-digit finishes. Consistency pays bigtime in this close fleet. By Monday when hopefully a throwout will be counted, Mendelblatt will be back in the running for the top spot and it will get even more suspenseful. Really close, exciting racing going on for 3 more days, a lay day on Wednesday, then 4 more days of racing after that. Stay tuned!
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Lay Day Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8
Sunday,
April 9, 2000 - Day 2
Clear and sunshine today, so the sea breeze came in right on schedule. The RC
ran the Lasers first, so we had the outside trap, and we finished sooner than
the Europes (aka "Euro-trash"), so they started our second race
immediately, on the outer loop again. We amazingly had two starts, again,
with no recalls or OCS's. The current must be doing us the favor, although I'm
sure the guys will figure it out soon, that everyone's starting nearly a boat
length down from the line. I'm not going to be the one to tell them, you can be
sure. Of course, the fact that the tide changes to flood an hour later each day
might make a difference to their strategy, too. Anticipate we may see a few
recalls later in the week. At the first start, the wind was already about 12
knots and oscillating a little erratically but seemed to steady down. John
Torgerson got one of the worst starts of his recent career, third row at the
committee boat. He had to tack out onto starboard to clear his air, hit a great
little right shift, crossed the fleet and hardly looked back the whole race.
He's got great speed this regatta and once out in front, he sure made it look
easy. John Myrdal was the closest rival for most of the race with Mark
Mendelblatt working his way out of a bit of a hole for 3rd.
By the second start the wind had increased to at least 16 knots, along with the current which was running between 1 and 2 knots across the course, depending upon how deep the water was. Working the current seemed to be one of the biggest factors in this race. If you got it wrong, you lost bigtime. Usually it pays to go right on the upwind legs, but in this section of the Berkley Circle, down very close to the Berkley Pier area, the water depth made the opposite tactic the winner today on all but the very first leg. Andy Lovell got off the middle of the line looking golden, stretched out a small lead by the first mark, but he had a hard fight on his hands from John Myrdal, who had started at the pin, and Mendelblatt who had started closer to the Committee Boat. Nice even line, I'd say. Myrdal, Mendelblat and Ben Richardson were closely grouped in pursuit of Andy by the reach mark, and on the downwind leg, both Myrdal & Mendelblatt rolled Lovell. By the next weather leg, Ben squeaked inside Andy at the mark, and held him off going downwind. The real story of this race was John Torgerson, though. He started at the boat end of the line, went right and got killed, and was deep in the 20's at the first mark. By the first downwind leg, he took a flyer, gybed at the mark to head far left (into the deeper water and stronger current, maybe?) and picked off at least 12 boats on one leg. By the third windward mark, he had worked his way up to 7th, and was on fire to keep moving up, so much so that he flipped going downwind. Still ended up finishing an astonishing 10th. This was an amazing show to watch. Bill Hardesty had an inspired race, to overtake Lovell at the finish for a 4th. Tomorrow when the 5th race of the series is done, there will be a throwout, and the results will alter pretty drastically, with Mendelblatt currently in 7th counting an OCS, and Kurt Taulbee looking very solid with an 8,8,9 OCS. It's a talent show from beginning to end around here, folks. More of you should be here to watch. There's an impressive spectator fleet out there.
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Lay Day Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8
Monday,
April 10, 2000 - Day 3
Another typical, lovely sunny San Francisco day. Sea breeze came in on schedule,
tide was ebbing until @ 1pm. The Europes started first both races, so they were
on the outer loops of the trap, and we were on the inners. RC ran double-loop
trapezoids for both races. Europes had some trouble getting off the line in the
first race, initially having 2 recalls - probably due to the ebb tide. Then the
wind veered 10deg. right, causing a postponement for re-setting the line. First
Laser start was around noon, so the sea breeze was nicely established around 12
to 15 knots by the time we got a shot at using it. Off the first start the boats
at the Committee Boat tacking out to the right of the course, to get to the
deeper water and stronger current made out best. John Torgerson scored a
fabulous mid-line start and was poked out front bigtime, but didn't profit much
because he was later getting out to the right. John Myrdal was the prime target
for the whole race, getting a jump off a great start and tacking right away.
Much of the rest of the fleet caught on fairly quickly, and all 3 weather legs
turned into one-tack beats. Go right to the layline and tack . .. done deal. The
sorting for position mainly took place on the runs but nobody touched Myrdal
except on the very last reach, where Marc Jacobi made a spectacular end-run to
finish overlapped with John.
Second race, with the tide now changing, was a much different story, with Charles Meade getting off the line well, and leading most of the race, only to have Mark Mendelblatt catch him at the last leeward mark, with a bit too close a rounding, where they hit each other, causing Charles to take a 720, and lose at least 3 more boats. Then Charles had another encounter close to the finish line with John Torgerson, who was overlapped to windward, and squeezed in a little too abruptly at the bow of the finish boat. Torgerson flipped, right under the bow of the finish boat, and after sorting things out, protested Meade. Sorry to say at this time of writing we don't have a result of the protest, so Meade's and Torgerson's finishes are not sure yet.
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Lay Day Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8
Tuesday,
April 11, 2000 - Day 4
Cool and foggy morning greeted us
today. The fog and later haze lasted through the morning which delayed the onset
of the usual seabreeze. We had a postponement of about an hour before the thick
fog bank outside the Golden Gate began to move towards us, the Gate and the
city, as close as Alcatraz disappeared and the wind came. By the time the start
line and course were set, it was blowing a solid 15 knots, and with the tide
still ebbing, caused a substantial chop as the wind built to over 20 after the
start. Lasers started first on both starts today, so we were on the outer loop
of the trapezoid course for both races. We were also again on Circle 3, the race
area nearest the Berkeley Pier area, as the Finn fleet moved into Circle 2
(north & west of us) and the Stars kept to Circle 1 (south, closer to
Treasure Island) again. We had one General Recall, again possibly caused by the
ebb tide. Off the start, John Myrdal made another terrific escape, and led a
bunch out of the mid-to left side of the course to take a 5 boatlength lead over
Mark Mendelblatt. Across the top reach, Mendelblatt gained slightly, and barely
managed to catch John by the end of the first run. The two of them battled up
the second beat, but John just couldn't break out of Mark's close cover. Bill
Hardesty fought off Matt McQueen and Peter Hurley for a hard-won third place,
and Matt had his best finish of the series so far. With the biggest breeze so
far in this series, there were a few incidents and capsizes, especially at the
last leeward mark where a cluster of 3 boats made an interesting obstacle.
Second race started clean, with the tide now changing to flood, but still flowing in slightly varying currents across the course, because of some very shallow water in the race area. The wind also moderated slightly by the second start, and by the time the fleet reached the outer loop, had diminished to about 7 knots in spots. Seas flattened out as the flood tide increased so it was easier to surf going downwind, making for dramatic surges and lapses amongst various clumps of boats. On the first beat, the left side again paid off, and John Myrdal again chose correctly.He led Brett Davis at the windward mark, and as the wind died down, widened his lead on the top reach and first run. Mendelblatt had gone further right than he should have, and rounded in the low teens, having to work his way up through some very talented sailors to finally finish 4th. Andy Lovell had a good race, holding onto 3rd with Mendelblatt coming up, and Greg Skidmore also having one of his best days. The wind increased to about 12 knots by the final reach, and there was some excitement at the last leeward rounding with a cluster of 4 boats tangling,and flipping over to cause an interesting obstacle for the next group. I'm not naming any names.
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Lay Day Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8
Wednesday
April 12, 2000 - Lay Day - Yes, Lainie
even reports on a day off!
The sailors and officials scattered far and wide today to relax and
recuperate from the grueling racing we've had the last 4 days. Leisurely
breakfasts, massages, shopping, touring & eating at Fisherman's Wharf and
Ghirardelli Square, (which you can reach direct from Tiburon by a very fast and
convenient passenger ferry that saves traffic & parking hassles), and
excursions to wine country, and car racing territory (there was drag racing at
Sears Point tonight until the rain started) . . . it's really a tough place to
be situated <sigh>. So much to do, so little time between racing! What do
all of you think about San Francisco as a venue for the Laser Worlds in 2002?
(keep in mind it does blow harder in the summertime ) The weather changed
today, and was cloudy but rather warm and muggy. Tonight it is showering, with
bouts of heavy rain at intervals. Driving back down from the Sonoma Valley this
evening was a lot like some weather legs I've sailed up in the Pacific
Northwest. One of those where you start asking yourself about 15 minutes into
the race "what am I doing out here?". Think I'll take all my warm
clothes out on the water tomorrow. Anyway, this weather is forecast to continue
tomorrow at least, so sailing conditions could be very interesting, and
different from what we've seen up to now. The tide will be ebbing for most of
the racing as well, which makes for much more variety on the windward legs.
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Lay Day Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8
Thursday
April 13, 2000 - Day 5
It was indeed a cloudier day to start out with, although the
sun did come through for most of the day. There were thundercloud cells around
the race area off and on through the day making the wind slightly more
unpredictable. It was blowing from the West at about 12 knots when we got out to
the race area, thus we had the first race day without a postponement. Tide was
supposed to be slack, turning to ebb at around 10am, but as we passed the bell
buoy off Southampton Shoal there was already a good current running south,
probably at least 1/2 knot. This would naturally increase through the two races,
to over 2 knots, running from right to left across our trapezoid, as you faced
to windward. The Europes got to start first today, so they had the outer trap
and we had the inner, all of us doing two sausages on our respective sides. Race
Area #2, near Southampton Shoal seems to be a simpler tactical area than #3 down
near the Berkley Pier where the water is shallower, and the current runs in more
varied directions. Current is more of a consideration on #2, and wind seems to
be more important on #3. In the first race the Committee rightly anticipated
that everyone would want the right side of the course, so slanted the line to
favor the pin end quite nicely. In fact they did a nearly perfect job of
distributing the fleet along the line. There was a clump of about 5 boats near
the boat end and a couple more down the line further that were OCS, but due to a
mess-up the X flag was not raised in a timely fashion so some boats were
actually re-instated after a hearing later. Please note, everybody, it DOES pay
off to ask for redress in a situation like this - some sailors did not bother,
and so were not re-instated, including (I think) Peter Hurley, Andy Lovell, and
Steve Bourdow. Sorry to be unsure, but I didn't see the "official"
results after protest before we left the Club for dinner. Anyway, off the line,
John Torgerson and Kurt Taulbee did well at the pin end, being able to poke out
from the crowd and get over onto port tack immediately. Charles Meade, along
with Marc Jacobi, Brett Davis and Bill Hardesty started near the boat, and got
out to the right slightly before the others, but Taulbee led at the first mark,
with Torgerson hot on his heels. They may have hit the current a little sooner,
being slightly up to windward. Myrdal & Mendelblatt came in to the mark in
about 7th & 8th positions. It seemed to pay a lot to grab an end of the
start line. Going downwind, Torgerson passed Taulbee by keeping a little to the
right side, and coming in to the gate reaching on port in the weaker current at
the bottom of the course. Hardesty and Jacobi also went right together and
smoked Davis and Meade to arrive at the gate in a dead heat for 3rd. Several
people flipped going downwind on this leg, as the chop was very close together
and confused, due to the current going across the course at an increasing rate,
and the wind veering slightly to the left at times, against the current.
"The Stain of Shame" can be seen on at least 10 of the sail tops after
today - something you'd hardly expect in this expert fleet. That Berkley Circle
mud is black, and sticky stuff. This race was all John Torgerson from then on.
He pulled out a big lead by the end, with spectacular speed going downwind, and
the upwind tactics hardly changing through the race from "get out into the
current". Physical fitness is beginning to really show in the racing, with
those less fit seeming to "fade" a bit in the later going. Myrdal and
Mendelblatt both pulled up into the top bunch by the end but those in the lead
are really hard to make gains upon.
The second race was almost a repeat of the first, except that the start was "All Clear". Key players from start to finish were Myrdal and Torgerson, who battled it out hardly more than a couple of boat lengths apart all the way to the last mark, where they rounded almost together, and Torgerson lost his mainsheet for a second, to lose those critical few seconds. Bill Hardesty and Marc Jacobi were in 3rd and 4th going up the first windward leg when they had a slight mishap on a port/starboard that resulted in Jacobi, the starboard boat, having to do a 720 which dropped him from the top 10 for this race. Bill went on with Brett Davis to stave off the rush of Mark Mendelblatt. Today's two races put the total over the 10 required to count a second throwout, so the scores again shuffled quite a lot. Tomorrow's weather is predicted to be similar to today's with showers and squalls around, but the tide may be less of a factor for us as we will be in Race Area #3, which is sort of "between" the two main rivers of current that develop.
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Lay Day Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8
Friday,
April 14, 2000 - Day 6
Grey and raining when I woke up this morning, but it was already clearing by the
time I got to the Yacht Club. Still, thunderclouds were around all through the
racing, and the clouds over the land had an effect on the advent of the sea
breeze which never really came in as strongly as it has been on previous days.
Tide started ebbing at @ 10:45am, so it just got stronger as we continued to
race today. We were on the "inside" course, down near Berkeley Pier
again, but further east than we had been before. The current in this area is
MUCH less than it is on the #2 course out near Southampton Shoal so today wind
velocity and shifts were much more important than current considerations. What
current there was pretty well flowed directly west (upwind) towards the Golden
Gate, although the velocity did increase as we approached the windward marks. We
were the first start today again, so we also had the outer loops of the
trapezoid. A short postponement for wind shifts, which were oscillating around
20deg. because of a storm cell just east of us. Finally got the sequence off,
with a clean start in about 5 to 8 knots of breeze and Peter Hurley came off the
boat end of the line with Ben Richardson heading hard right. The fleet split
almost evenly right and left, with nobody going up the middle at all, quite
interesting actually, it almost looked choreographed. Both the series leaders,
Myrdal and Mendelblatt went with the left group and seemed to come out slightly
better. Mendelblatt rounded first with Brett Davis, Charles Meade and John
Torgerson chasing closely. At the reach mark, Brett had caught Mark and they
rounded right together, with Brett on the inside. John Torgerson has been on
fire all week going downwind, and Brett seemed a little off the pace as he lost
a little ground on each downwind leg of this race. Charles Meade, Andy Lovell
and John Myrdal rounded out the lead group which was able to pull out slightly
on the rest of the fleet. The whole fleet was VERY close in this race, rounding
each of the first 4 marks within 3 minutes from first to last. Torgerson caught
Davis by the second windward mark, and chased Mendelblatt with varying success
for the rest of the race. Brett, Charles and John Myrdal all were very close
together in a clump with Will Glenn, Andy Lovell, Bill Hardesty and Peter Hurley
all in a clump for some distance. By the last reach, Charles was battling to
stay ahead of Myrdal, but lost it in the last 100 yd. of the race as John put on
a surge to beat him by a nose. (bow?) Although slower this was an incredibly
exciting race! Special note should be made that the youngest sailor in the
fleet, Clay Johnson, finished 9th in this one. Guess we're looking for him in
'04!
A little delay was caused by a new thunderstorm over the South Bay area making for some dandy little right-hand shifts on the race course. We must give huge credit to the SFYC Committee for setting excellent start lines, because yet anOTHER start got off the line clean in about 8 knots of breeze. The pin end was very popular, with Peter Hurley getting out in golden shape, and Charles Meade being squeezed out to start agonizingly late. He did pull back up incredibly well later, mind you. Once again it was the Florida contingent getting to the mark first, with Mendelblatt and Davis in front of Torgerson, Hardesty, Hurley, Myrdal, and Lovell. On the top reach, Hurley and Myrdal had passed Hardesty and by the bottom mark, Torgerson had passed Davis for 2nd. Hurley and Myrdal battled really closely for most of this race. Torgerson and Mendelblatt pulled out away from the whole fleet, and had their own race, which was foregone by the last downwind leg. Once again Myrdal eked out a 4th place by passing Davis on the downwind leg.
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Lay Day Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8
Saturday
April 15, 2000 - Day 7
Today again threatened rain,
but never did actually precipitate on the race course. But the weather system
offshore did affect the wind to a great degree as storm cells went by both south
and north of us during the racing. The tide also changed from flood to ebb
during the first race, but despite quite a significant flow by the second race,
current had less effect on the placings in both races than the wind shifts and
velocity changes, which were subtle but telling. The Euro's started first, and
after a 1/2 hour delay waiting for the wind to settle down in one general
direction, they had a recall. Then on our first start we had a recall, too.
Tensions are getting high, and the high-strung fleet shows it. We were on the
inside loop of the trap again, so would do our windward-leewards first. Myrdal
and Mendelblatt started down near the pin, but Mendelblatt headed right early
with Peter Hurley. This turned out to be a mistake as there was more wind out on
the left. Andy Lovell coming out of the left, led at the first mark with John
Myrdal close behind, then Charles Meade, John Torgerson, Andrew Scrivan and
Kimball Hall. Brett Davis in 4th, flipped over to windward just before the mark
and lost a big bunch of boats. By the bottom mark Torgerson passed both Meade
and Myrdal, and rounded the gate right even with Andy, with Meade and Myrdal
rounding about a boatlength behind them, also right even. The gate marks were a
bit too close together to handle the extremely closely bunched fleet on this
rounding, and at least one sailor complained that he had boats on both sides of
him asking for room! He pulled his protest flag, but later did not protest as he
thought the RC would have to throw out the whole race if his protest was upheld.
At the second windward, more sorting had taken place with Lovell and Meade
leading Hurley, Myrdal & Torgerson. Mark Mendelblatt meanwhile had climbed
up to 9th after a dismal first beat, and Brett Davis making a spectacular
recovery was in 10th. Next downwind leg again sorted those who caught the puffs
out on the left side, with Charles Meade leading Torgerson, Hurley & Myrdal
by a nose, then Lovell, Bill Hardesty, and Jack Dreyfuss having a terrific leg.
Last beat put Myrdal out front, followed by Hurley & Torgerson. On the
reach, Torgerson passed Hurley, and on the last run, Myrdal pulled out a big
lead, to put the race away.
Second race saw us starting in about 12 knots of wind with puffs, and an increasing ebb across the course from right to left. The current got quite strong as we approached the weather mark, but later it would tell that the better breeze on the left side still made up for the "lift" from the current on the right. Off the line there were some OCS boats that all went back to clear, including John Torgerson and possibly John Myrdal as well although I wasn't able to confirm that. Myrdal certainly was very far back in the fleet at the beginning of the first beat, although he was ahead of Torgerson. At the first mark, Bill Hardesty led Peter Hurley and Clay Johnson, the youngest sailor in the fleet, having a terrific start and a good first beat. Kurt Taulbee, Andrew Scrivan and Chuck Tripp all had a good first leg, from the left side. The downwind leg proved fatal for Steve Bourdow, going from a solid top 10 position to dead last with two flips, the second one right at the gate. Positions at the front stayed fairly constant in the lead pack with Clay Johnson hanging on with the big dogs, and hiking hard going upwind. By the 2nd windward, Hurley had passed Hardesty for the lead with a little excitement when Greg Skidmore came in to the mark on port, and fouled both Brett Davis and Eric Faust trying to squeeze in. He did his 720's dutifully. We've seen a LOT of people being good about doing penalty turns in this regatta, in fact. By the last gate rounding, Mendelblatt and Davis were pushing up on the lead pack, from about 7th or 8th places. Brett had better speed than Mark today, it seemed, as he pulled up into 6th for the finish, passing Clay Johnson on the bottom reach. John Myrdal recovered in spectacular fashion from a bad start to end up 11th. Believe me, to be able to climb up through this talented fleet at all is a huge accomplishment, and John climbed about 20 positions! Still, all that work to climb up, and he still throws out that race. Incredibly exciting racing today, and looking for more of the same, only even more strategy involved tomorrow because of the closeness of the scores. The weather may be a big factor tomorrow as well with rain and big wind forecast. Myrdal leads Mendelblatt by 3 points, but the two of them are not far enough ahead of Davis and Hurley (both 13 points back) to be able to ignore them and match race each other. Mendelblatt's OCS in the first race is weighing a bit heavy on him right now, as Myrdal's throwouts are an 11 and a 6, while Mark's are an OCS and an 8th.
Top 10 Positions with one day remaining
| SKIPPER | # | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Drop 2 | POS | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JOHN MYRDAL | 03 | 3 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 11 | 14, 2 | 1 | 34 | |
| MARK MENDELBLATT | 14 | OCS | 1 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 8 | 1, 13 | 2 | 37 | |
| BRETT DAVIS | 22 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 9, 5 | 3 | 50 | |
| PETER HURLEY | 33 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 12 | 4 | 5 | 16 | RDG | 6 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 8, 5 | 4 | 50.2 | |
| BILL HARDESTY | 24 | 10 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | OCS | 3 | 11 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 6, 8 | 5 | 55 | |
| JOHN TORGERSON | 31 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 13 | 7, 8 | 6 | 66 | |
| CHARLES MEADE | 20 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 11 | 8 | 4 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 7, 12 | 7 | 67 | |
| KURT TAULBEE | 32 | OCS | 8 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 14 | 13 | 10 | 10 | 3 | 1, 10 | 8 | 100 | |
| BENJAMIN RICHARDSON | 18 | 17 | 12 | 12 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 14 | 10 | 10 | 15 | 14 | 19 | 12 | 13, 1 | 9 | 122 | |
| JACK DREYFUSS | 30 | 5 | 9 | 9 | 19 | 20 | 6 | 24 | 27 | 16 | 7 | 19 | 16 | 12 | 5 | 8, 7 | 10 | 143 | |
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Lay Day Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8
Sunday
April 16, 2000 - Day 8
We raced on Circle #1 today,
an area we had not previously inhabited, further east in the Bay, just south of
Richmond YC. The water is shalllower in this area and the tide was flooding
until halfway through the second race, so current was not a big consideration in
race strategy. Wind was a VERY unusual Southerly blowing at a good 15 knots from
the time we left the dock. The weather report had a big low pressure area right
off the coast threatening to come in and rain on our parade, but lucky for us,
it was hazy sunshine all through the racing, and just started raining when
everyone was getting in to the dock. It's been pouring and blowing ever since,
though. Anyway, we started first today and had the outer loop on the trapezoid.
Start was not delayed hardly at all, as the wind had a regular phase going about
15 deg. right and left so they set up the course for the middle of the phase,
and off we went. The pin end was popular, as opinions were widely agreed in the
"coaches' ghetto" out there to the right of the committee boat that
the current would be less, the wind would bend off the land and the chop would
also be easier on the left side of the course. As a result, almost everybody
headed strongly left off the start line. The wind increased during the first leg
to gusts in the 20 knot range. By the windward mark a familiar sorting had taken
place with (surprise,surprise!) Mark Mendelblatt leading John Myrdal by about a
boatlength, and Brett Davis in a firm third place close behind. By the third
mark, Myrdal had passed Mendelblatt going downwind to take the lead, as had
Davis. Steve Bourdow came on strong on the second beat to get into the fight,
with Charles Meade in his steady pursuit. At the third windward mark, Myrdal had
strung out a 12 boatlength lead and was in control of the race, as Mendelblatt
seemed to have lost his downwind edge just a bit, letting Brett, and Steve past
before the finish. A stunning performance from Marc Jacobi to recover from a
poor first beat where he rounded in the high 20's to finishing 7th. Climbing
through this fleet at all is a huge accomplishment, but to gain back nearly 20
places is almost unbelievable.
The second race went off almost immediately, with the fleet fairly evenly spread along the line, and yet ANOTHER clean start with nobody OCS. Again most people headed for the left side, except Brett Davis, who took a very uncharacteristic flyer to the right all by himself. All we could speculate was that he figured he had nothing to lose, and wanted to try for at least one bullet in this series. As the results came out, he should have received the Mr. Consistency award for having every finish in the top 10, but never winning a race. At the top mark, Mendelbatt led Peter Hurley by a couple of boatlengths, followed by Myrdal, Andy Lovell, Brett (who really didn't lost a whole lot on the right side) and Steve Bourdow who really seemed to be eating up the windy, choppy conditions and had a great last day. Myrdal seemed to be content to stay in third place, as this would give him the win, until, of course, he capsized on the second downwind leg! He said later he thought it was probably the fastest recovery from a flip he's ever made. Luckily he had enough of a lead on Brett by then that he didn't lose a place. Mendelblatt extended nicely out into the lead with Peter Hurley in hot pursuit, but the cheers and honking of horns were mainly reserved for John Myrdal who crossed the line in 3rd place to take the overall win, and the job of representing the US at the Olympics in Sydney in September.
| SKIPPER | # | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Drop 2 | Pos | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JOHN MYRDAL | 03 | 3 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 11 | 1 | 3 | 14, 2 | 1 | 38 |
| MARK MENDELBLATT | 14 | OCS | 1 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 1, 13 | 2 | 42 |
| BRETT DAVIS | 22 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 9, 5 | 3 | 57 |
| PETER HURLEY | 33 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 12 | 4 | 5 | 16 | RDG | 6 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 8, 5 | 4 | 57.1 |
| BILL HARDESTY | 24 | 10 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | OCS | 3 | 11 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 8 | 7 | 6, 8 | 5 | 70 |
| CHARLES MEADE | 20 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 11 | 8 | 4 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 7, 12 | 6 | 79 |
| JOHN TORGERSON | 31 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 13 | 9 | 10 | 7, 8 | 7 | 85 |
| KURT TAULBEE | 32 | OCS | 8 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 14 | 13 | 10 | 10 | 3 | 16 | 11 | 1, 15 | 8 | 125 |
| BENJAMIN RICHARDSON | 18 | 17 | 12 | 12 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 14 | 10 | 10 | 15 | 14 | 19 | 12 | 11 | 16 | 13, 1 | 9 | 149 |
| ANDY LOVELL | 04 | 15 | 11 | 10 | 5 | 27 | 16 | 20 | 3 | 25 | 32 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 19 | 10 | 8 | 10, 5 | 10 | 164 |
| JACK DREYFUSS | 30 | 5 | 9 | 9 | 19 | 20 | 6 | 24 | 27 | 16 | 7 | 19 | 16 | 12 | 5 | 13 | 9 | 8, 7 | 11 | 165 |
| STEVE BOURDOW | 09 | OCS | 13 | 17 | 13 | 9 | 11 | 6 | 18 | 8 | 11 | 20 | 11 | 22 | 31 | 2 | 5 | 1, 14 | 12 | 166 |
| GREGORY SKIDMORE | 29 | OCS | 14 | 13 | 14 | 8 | 23 | 14 | 5 | 14 | 9 | 17 | 8 | 16 | 16 | 19 | 19 | 1, 6 | 13 | 186 |
| MARC JACOBI | 27 | 16 | 10 | 20 | 23 | 2 | 8 | 18 | 30 | 7 | 13 | 24 | 12 | 18 | 23 | 7 | 18 | 8, 11 | 14 | 195 |
| MATT MC QUEEN | 34 | 9 | 20 | 11 | 12 | 25 | 18 | 4 | 13 | 11 | 21 | 12 | 17 | 21 | 14 | 26 | 17 | 15, 5 | 15 | 200 |
| WILL GLENN | 11 | 13 | 16 | 15 | 24 | 11 | 25 | 17 | 19 | 18 | 19 | 8 | 25 | 9 | 10 | 18 | 14 | 6, 12 | 16 | 211 |
| ANDREW SCRIVAN | 17 | 12 | 18 | 14 | 17 | 28 | 19 | 21 | 20 | 20 | 16 | 11 | 13 | 11 | 9 | 14 | 20 | 5, 7 | 17 | 214 |
| MATTIA D'ERRICO | 25 | OCS | 19 | 21 | 11 | 22 | 13 | 12 | 10 | 23 | 12 | 14 | 19 | 14 | 25 | 15 | 13 | 1, 14 | 18 | 218 |
| CLAY JOHNSON | 19 | 22 | 22 | 16 | 22 | 14 | 20 | 19 | 12 | 13 | 22 | 10 | 18 | 17 | 7 | 23 | 23 | 15, 16 | 19 | 234 |
| ERIC FAUST | 15 | 8 | 17 | 25 | 21 | 23 | 17 | 9 | 25 | 27 | 15 | 21 | 15 | 25 | 17 | 20 | 12 | 9, 3 | 20 | 245 |
| ANDREW LEWIS | 02 | 6 | 25 | 23 | 20 | 15 | 12 | 16 | 22 | 15 | 20 | 22 | 22 | 20 | 18 | 17 | 21 | 2, 3 | 21 | 246 |
| KIMBAL HALL | 23 | 25 | 26 | 18 | 15 | 16 | 10 | 13 | 23 | 17 | 23 | 16 | 21 | 23 | 29 | 12 | 15 | 14, 2 | 22 | 247 |
| STREETT SILVESTRI | 08 | 23 | 15 | 19 | 16 | 17 | 15 | 22 | 24 | 12 | 17 | 27 | 24 | 13 | 21 | 22 | 27 | 11, 16 | 23 | 260 |
| ZACH CONRAD | 28 | 21 | 24 | 22 | 18 | 19 | 21 | 23 | 9 | 19 | 18 | 23 | 20 | 24 | 22 | 21 | 22 | 2, 13 | 24 | 278 |
| ANDREW CAMPBELL | 13 | 18 | 21 | 26 | 25 | 18 | 26 | 25 | 17 | 21 | 24 | 18 | 23 | 15 | 24 | 25 | 24 | 3, 6 | 25 | 298 |
| CHUCK TRIPP | 06 | 11 | 23 | 27 | 27 | 24 | 24 | 26 | 6 | 28 | 26 | 28 | 27 | 28 | 20 | 24 | 25 | 9, 11 | 26 | 318 |
| CHAD WILSON | 26 | 20 | 29 | 28 | 28 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 26 | 22 | 25 | 26 | 28 | 26 | 15 | DNS | DNS | 15, 16 | 27 | 354 |
| VANN WILSON | 05 | OCS | 27 | 24 | 26 | 21 | 22 | 29 | 29 | 26 | 28 | 29 | 26 | 27 | 27 | 27 | 26 | 1, 7 | 28 | 365 |
| KEVIN MORGAN | 07 | 14 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 30 | 28 | 27 | 32 | 31 | 30 | 25 | 29 | 30 | 26 | 30 | 31 | 8, 9 | 29 | 387 |
| DAVE PERKOWSKI | 21 | 24 | 31 | 30 | 29 | 31 | 30 | 31 | 31 | 24 | 27 | 30 | 30 | 29 | 28 | 29 | 28 | 2, 5 | 30 | 400 |
| CHASE CULEMN BECKMAN | 12 | 19 | 30 | 31 | 31 | 29 | 29 | 32 | 28 | 30 | 29 | 32 | DNS | 31 | 30 | 28 | 30 | 12, 7 | 31 | 407 |
| BOB FALK | 16 | 26 | 32 | 32 | 32 | 32 | 31 | 30 | 21 | 29 | 31 | 31 | 31 | 32 | 32 | 31 | 29 | 2, 3 | 32 | 418 |