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Does Hot Sauce Make Eating Your Words Taste Better? 2010 E Scow Nationals Wrap-Up »
September 13, 2010
In my preview post leading up to the 2010 E-Scow Nationals, I was so confident in the conditions that Little Egg Harbor had to offer that I decided to go out on a limb and make a few bold predictions. Not only did I learn a few new things about this normally reliable venue, but I also learned that I will stay away from making predictions on future posts since I was basically wrong in every statement that I made regarding the type of regatta it would be, including which region the eventual winner would hail from.
Just to summarize, here are few of the predictions that I made leading up to the event, and the corresponding result:
“Steady, reliable breeze” – Wrong. The great seabreeze that Little Egg is known for never made an appearance as a strong front passed through on Thursday and left brisk temps that never allowed the land to heat up. We were left with a dying NWestrly breeze on Day 1 that challenged sailors with huge velocity and degree changes and left a lot of “contenders” with huge scores on the results sheet after day 1. After the front passed on day 2, we were left with 8-10 mph easterly that left sailors mentally exhausted after 3 challenging races.
“Drag racing and boatspeed conditions” – Wrong. While it was still important to have good speed, the Nationals was all about getting off the line cleanly, closing your eyes and hoping you were headed in the right direction. What looked like a certain thing in the pre-start often resulted in many of the top teams stranded on a side and scratching their heads. With the big velocity and direction changes on Day 1, it was not uncommon be leading the race by a mile, fully hiking, vang on and sailing fast with the entire fleet in your mainsail window one minute, and the next minute have a 30 degree header, everyone on the low side, and 30 boats getting ahead on the other side of the course.
“Strong thighs and strong hiking straps” – Wrong. The only time this statement could have been true was if a team decided to go out and practice on Thursday prior to the event when it was blowing 25-30. Otherwise the hiking straps were used sparingly on Day 1, and could have been removed on Day 2.
“Great Social Activities” – Ok, I got one thing correct. The post race kegs and soft pretzels, the parties, food and everything on-land were top notch and is reason enough to return to Little Egg in 5 years.
“The ILYA has won the NCESA National Championship for 16 straight years.” – Wrong. Several teams from the ECESA, WMYA and “At-Large” areas would make pushes for the title, but a team from the ECESA would claim the title for the first time since 1994.
So after seemingly to put a jinx on the entire event, from here on out, I will save the predictions for someone else. As for the report from the M-42, we found ourselves surviving the first day with results of 14, 2 and in fifth place overall. Jason Sutherland would be the clubhouse leader after the Day 1 with a 5, 5. This made sense since Jason’s home lake of Grand Lake, CO and its high mountains can cause some seriously crazy conditions similar to what the first 2 races provided and it looked like Jason and his team were the only ones to make sense of it. After looking at the results sheet, it appeared that many top teams would have a hard time recovering from finishes in the 20s or 30s, but Day 2 would have plenty of action.
As we we headed out for race 3, our goal for the day was to keep our 14th as our “throwout” race assuming we could get enough races in. Well, that disappeared pretty quickly when we found our selves OCS in the first race, and when we attempted to reround the boat end of the line after being in the middle bucking current the entire way, it was almost as if time stood still on our boat, while the rest of the fleet blasted off towards the windward mark. Once around the committee boat, the leaders sail numbers were not visible and we knew we were in for a long race. The only consolation is that our good friends on the M-3 were also OCS and it provided at least a little bit of levity to have some share the pain of battling it out in the back of the pack. We battled hard to get back to a 36th, but it was no doubt a tough start to Day 2. All was not lost however as a few of the leaders from Day 1 we close to us in this race. Jason Sutherland (GL-31), Peter Hurley (MA-11) and Jeff Bonnani (LE-73) were also going to have to use a new high sore as their throwout. Meanwhile, after a harsh first day, Brian Porter on his team on I-49 returned to form and took the bullet in race 3.
We managed to eek out two keeper finishes in races 4 and 5, and when we returned to LEHYC, it was anyones guess as to who was winning the event. Porter smoked everyone on Day 2 with a 1, 1, 5, but his 29, and 20 on the first day would be hard to battle back from. Bobby Koar and his team also had a great day 2 with a 15, 2, 1, but their 48th in race 2 would keep them out of the lead. Once the results were posted, it would be Peter Hurley on MA-11 who would lead with 54 pts and five boats right on his tail including Art Brereton who was tied for the lead and the only boat in the top ten to post all top 20 finishes. if one more race was to be completed however, the throwout would kick-in and the leaders would find themselves replaced by Bobby Koar and his team who would get to rid themselves of a 48 and have a small lead over Hurley, Porter, Rogers and Barkow.
With a 9am Harbor Signal on Day 3, it looked the RC was eager to get off 3 races on the final day which was a welcome sign to a lot of the teams praying for a 6th race. As teams prepped their boats, dark skies loomed on western shore, and after a quick look at the radar, a nice line of T-storms and rain would be approaching the area. After a 2 hr delay, the RC would make an attempt to get the boats on the race course, but a power outage would not allow for the cranes to operate and we once again would be in a holding pattern. Once the power resumed, the call was made to get out on the water and attempt to get off at least one race. With less than half of the 70 boat fleet making the effort to go out, the possibility of our team making a 7 pt comeback (with a throwout) was looking more and more bleak. As we attempted to get out of the harbor, it was clear the passing storms had swallowed any ounce of breeze and we were left with a glassy racing area that would not change in time for the 1pm race limit.
The results would remain unchanged from Day 2 and Peter Hurley and his team on MA-11 would take the NCESA title. Overall, a fun, crazy highly unpredictable event with plenty of lead changes and unexpected results. Congrats to Peter and his team. Results can be found here. Next year the NCESA heads to Torch Lake for its annual championship and while I have heard great things about this venue, I will be sure to keep my thoughts to myself.
A huge thank you goes out to Bob Donat and his team at LEHYC for an outstanding event. I dont think I have seen a regatta Chairman work as hard as Bob did throughout the event. And of course, a huge thank you to the team on the M-42 for a great season. Chrisy, Tony and Lynn all made huge sacrifices to attend the events this year and it was a total blast. You guys are the best!
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