You like apples? Fleet 413’s favorite professor, Mark Bear won the day with 17 points. How you like them apples?
In a breeze that started at 210 degrees and on occasion went to 240 degrees, Mark Bear put on a seminar in how to sail consistently. Bear was pleasantly surprised. “Usually I have one or two good races. It’s not that often I have a good day,” he said.
As Professor Bear is a man of letters and speeches and even textbooks, more than a few fleet members have requested that he write some Words of Wisdom. You have your homework assignment, Mark.
Second place was Andy Pimental who overcame a broken vang tang to finish with 31 points. Dan Neri was third with 33 points, Ed Adams, who brought Bodie the happy Labrador had 33 and Ted Hood finished with 42.
There were 35 boats on the line and Moose McClintock the RC was pleased with the turnout. He ran some beautiful races, including a triangle course that featured some spirited reaches.
Gary Largess, who often wears a North Sails hat enjoyed the day. He said, “Good breeze, definitely shifty, then it died off at the end.” Gary’s starts have been improving and he is pleased to get off the line. The Newport Firefighter found the competition to get a good start to be a bit less ferocious this week than last.
Chad Atkins took a rare break from building iceboats for the DN class to spend the day sailing with fleet 413. His latest creation is a DN with a fuselage which weighs in at 48 pounds. Pretty good considering class minimum is 46 pounds and the boats must be built of wood. Atkins remarked that Andy Pimental was lucky he broke his vang when the breeze lightened up. Otherwise, it could have been quite spirited downwind.
Will Donaldson was in the Adirondacks and drove back to sail. He thought it was a great day for racing, as the skies were sunny, the temperature was above 50 degrees, and the breeze cooperated.
Oakley Jones broke out his patented zip code sail number, 02840. He did a lot of sailing on a Swan 42 last year and may be headed to Key West in January. There could be some J70 sailing in his future.
Oakley’s girlfriend Jenny Daudlin rigged up a Laser for the first time since 2001 and had a great time. After sailing, she brought her sweet Labrador retriever named Ella to the IYAC.
Nick Ewenson was back on the water for the first time this year. I did RC with Nick last season and he could call the shifts from the bottom of the motorboat while drinking a beer. Impressive. Nick said, “It’s great to be back sailing. The Laser is a full body workout. I had far too many footprints on my dagger board at the end of the day.”
Christine Neville was out in her new-to-her Laser named Damesfly. The craigslist boat came with the name and a Bob Marley sticker. Both are staying, as Neville believes it is good karma to keep the spirit of the boat intact. About the shifty day, Neville said, “It was hard to stay out of trouble today.”
As the newly appointed Fleet Scribe, my goal is to write a story for Fleet 413 every weekend to encourage participation and also spread the Fleet 413 word in publications like Laser Sailor, Wind Check magazine, and other media outlets. If you have an idea for a story, a project that is of interest to the fleet, or any other news that will make for good Fleet 413 copy, please email me at berkeley.joseph@gmail.com.
Keep in mind Words of Wisdom are always welcome and will be distributed as soon as they are written.
Hope to see you on the water next weekend.
-Joe Berkeley #170780