Full Social Calendar and Boatloads of Wind at ACCs Recap of regatta: October 24-26, 2008 Leave it to Oriental Dinghy Club’s Henry Fraser to come up with a series of contingent plans to solve every obstacle of human and natural challenge. Lack of website publicity before the event? No worries: send out e-mails to his fellow local fleet captains. Precipitous cancellations of registered entries in the last 10 days before the regatta? Not a problem: increase the fun factor. Cope with the lack of a hoist at the Resort? Easy: hire a crane operator and teach him how to haul boats. Keeping skippers and their crew happy when Mother Nature bombs the Neuse River and Pamlico Sound with an Aussie mini-buster, or a ‘bit of a blow’, on Friday and Saturday that exceeds the Class rules for starting races? What, Henry worry? No way: throw them a PigaCue (aka Pig Roast for us yanks) and lots of entertainment in lieu of the practice race on Friday. Then, when the troops are getting restless on Saturday to hit the water, throw in some short-course match racing in a lagoon (aka Grace Harbor) doubling as the marina, and see what these sailors are made of, as witnessed by crowds thronging the docks and shoreline and recorded by regional media, helicopters and photographers. Well, Oriental’s home-town-pleaser Jerry Fulp on 1299 and Annapolis’ Gary Gilbert on Annie (1238) each win a race on the tight course, and Toronto’s world champ Dirk Kneulman, sailing on the newest Cruel Jane (1381) with host Henry and longtime pointy-ender Mike Craig, trades wins with San Diego’s Kjeld Hestehave, Chuck Sewes and Cindy Alsop on 820 before knocking out Fulp in the playoff to win the day and share with Jerry the daily loot. In Gilbert’s race, he recovers from a blast-induced roundup before Marblehead’s Wade Edwards on Riva (1221), whose own roundup is followed by a blown kite douse, tasty shrimping and plenty of excitement at the dock. Showing true Southern hospitality, Henry and wife Beth roll out the social red carpet following the flirtation with bumper-boat-derby, plying the fleet with drinks, pool-hall competition, and a full-spread dinner, only to ring the gong for us to assemble en-masse again for a cozy breakfast Sunday morning. What does he do for an encore? Well, he rolls out a picture perfect day of bluebird skies, warming temps, 12-15 knots of breeze, and virtually zero current to delight some very eager sailors for the last day of the regatta. We must log two races in to constitute a regatta. Piece of cake, mission accomplished for the Race Committee, which sets and completes a well-designed pair of 4- and 5-leg windward/leeward races before the wind tails off to shut down the series. Enough for the prelims, you say? What happens on the water? In Race One, the pin end is favored, and the leaders launch to the left side of the course, playing the pressure to climb the ladder. Edwards, Kneulman, Hestehave and Gilbert round the top mark in tight succession, but Dirker makes Wade pay for an early gybe by taking the lead at the leeward mark, and then survives tacking and gybing duels with 1221 on the ensuing legs to win by two lengths, followed further back by 820 and 1238. The line is more square for Race Two, and Kjeld, Dirk and Wade charge off the middle of the line in a tight bunch before Wade splits to gain initial leverage on the right, and then shifts sides with Kjeld and Dirk to guard the left, which holds with more pressure and better angle into the windward mark. Leading around the offset, Wade and crewmates Colt Weatherston and Tim Platt stay on the starboard edge, while Kjeld and Dirk initially drive low into the middle. As in Race One, the edge pays, so 1221 widens the lead at the bottom mark. Kjeld passes Dirk on the second downhill run, and the race is on for the finish in leg five. Not surprisingly, 1381 and 820 take opposite tracks up the beat, making it hard for Wade to cover both. In the last third of the leg, with the pressure declining rapidly, Dirk veers hard right, and Kjeld splits left, leaving Wade’s multi-length lead in jeopardy without any clues from the clouds or the water which side will pay. 1221 must both beat 1381 and win the race to vie for the regatta and build on its Corinthian win in the NAs. So Wade covers the right, watching Kjeld make tracks to the opposite corner. Les jeux son fait, Edwards sails into more pressure, keeping Kneulman well in check for the bullet, while Dirk in turned crosses Hestehave to hold second.        So, lay the cards on the table, and see who holds the winning hand with low point scoring. Top five: Dirk-3, Wade-3, Kjeld -6, Rick Kaiser (on 1126)-9, and Gary-9. So we know third place, but what about first and second, and fourth and fifth? The tiebreaker rule in RRS Appendix A compares the number of firsts, seconds, etc., and awards a higher rank to a boat with the better score(s). But that still yields a tie between Kneulman and Edwards (each with 1/2), and Kaiser and Gilbert (each with 4/5). So then what? From the annals of history, the royalty of Count Back takes over: what’s the order of their scores in the last race? So, looking to the last race first, Wade wins on the countback, and is the ACC Champ, and Rick trumps Gary for fourth. No strangers to the podium but with a healthy thirst for gold, Dirker’s gilt-edged crew takes second, leaving Kjeld ’s star-studded team with the bronze. Would have been more satisfying if we had not had to unleash tiebreakers and countbacks, but rules inform both strategy and tactics as a tightly sailed regatta plays out to avoid ties and the unwelcome option of not crowning a champion. So many thanks to Henry and his legion of race and social committee volunteers for showing us a darn good time, making us glad that we trekked off the rhumb line on our way South for Fleet 20’s ever-popular Jag Series that launches on Biscayne Bay with the Piana Cup on December 13-14. So how does Henry improve on a fun-laden formula for the Class’ next trip through Oriental? For sure, better communication and publicity up front, with more information posted by the Class administrators on the North American website and outreach through the local fleets to improve the turnout and clarify the regatta duration. Also, local flavor and music add to the fun quotient of any festivities, whether at the favorite watering hole or hotspot, or imported to the resort grounds. Finally, store some of those blustery winds for the inevitable calm days down the track. A complete list of scores is online.

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