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November 14, 2009 West Valley R/C Mariners 1-Meter Sport Regatta Mike Eades, Race Director
17 skippers, a 1 –meter sport event record, arrived in a dead calm. Mike conducted a skippers meeting explaining the system and restrictions to the five-minute hold rule and sailing by the rules, protests and taking penalties. Serious talk aside, everyone was reminded to have fun, the object of the exercise.
Racing started on the first zephyr of the day and continued on a steady pace as Mike strove to complete 12 races (24heats). The first few races had enough holes is the breeze to help keep the racing interesting. Unfortunately, the morning session consisted primarily of light southerly winds forcing a course of reaching legs, placing a premium on starting. The wind continued to build all morning making for fast races and few chances for recovery of any errors.
After lunch the wind lighten and then shifted to the West. The advent of the shifty westerly gave the competitors a windward leeward course. . The wind velocity remained variable and gradually built throughout the afternoon session presenting more opportunities for gains and losses. Everyone took the opportunity to do both.
Fourteen of the Seventeen skippers scored at least one bullet or a second including Kathy Enegren in her first regatta. The competitors gave her a hardy cheer as she crossed the line with her first bullet. That bullet also served as the tiebreaker as she edged out Brad for the regatta. Joining Kathy in the bullet club were Mike, Dennis Desprois, Peter Jennings, Al Stiewing, Steve Sherry, Dave Nydell, Rob Shaw, Jack Kimball, and Ralph Canfield.
Mike edged Dennis Desprois for 1st as Dennis stumbled in the last two races. Peter edged Al for third on the third tiebreaker with Steve Sherry only one point behind. Dave Nydell was a mere two points behind Steve for 6th just edging out Rob Shaw of Mesa. Dennis Poole, Les Sherry, Larry Riese, Jack Kimball, and Ralph Canfield rounded out the dirty dozen.
In the end, everyone followed Mike’s instructions and had fun.
West Valley R/C Mariners Annual Veteran’s Day Scale Event November 7, 2009 A beautiful, warm autumn day greeted the 16 participants in this annual event. As usual the emphasis was on mingling with friends and exchanging tips, the competition merely an excuse to gather. This year light winds helped the competitors power through the course without undue concern for set and drift. It unfortunately made for painfully slow sailing for the rag fleet with only Jay Barnes sailing and completing the course with his 36/600.
Jack David showed up late sailing his J from the far end of the pond when he was unable to park close to the western end where we were set up. The J dwarfed Chuck’s 12 Meter while Barbara’s Micro Magic looked like the J’s dingy as it sailed around the J.
Larry Riese won for fast pleasure with his PT 109. Jay Barnes won for motorized less than 3 feet. Dennis Crandall’s Calipso Research won the big boat category. It’s interesting to note only 16 seconds separated the three winning boats.
Chuck Goerke won Best in show for the sailing class. Tony Contrabasso’s won Best in show for the warship category. Rob Shaw’s Trumpy edged Rowland’s Cotton Blossom and Dennis Poole’s New Kathie Ann for Best in show, pleasure craft.
Our next scale event will be the February Presidents Day event. A special thanks to everyone for helping with the set up and tear down.
2009 MICRO MAGIC NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP by Mike Eades, Al Stiewing & Andy Rust The first ever Micro Magic Class US National Championship Regatta was held October 2nd – 4th, 2009 at Litchfield Park, Arizona, hosted by the West Valley RC Mariners club. The event attracted 23 entries from California (5), Washington, Nebraska, Kansas, Florida (1 each) and from across the home state of Arizona. All except two showed up for Friday boat weigh-in and inspection on a bright high-80 degree day with light shifty winds for practice. Class Secretary, Andy Rust was on hand to assist with inspection and collect some technical data on the class boats. Forecast for Saturday was winds 6-8 mph rising on Sunday to 15-25mph. Well, they were half right! Saturday morning skippers, including the last two to weigh-in, were greeted by a light breeze 0-3mph from the southeast. Opening remarks by WVRCM Commodore and Regatta Chairman, Mike Eades and Andy Rust were followed by a skipper’s briefing by Al Stiewing, Race Director. Racing got under way promptly at 10:00 am although the RD had a tough time deciding on a course as winds shifted and varied constantly. Mark Mason, Costa Mesa, CA and Mike Eades took bullets in the two seeding races after which the HMS 2007 promotion/relegation system came into play (4 up/4 down). Skippers struggled all day to cope with the changing winds as did the RD in trying to set courses. Many endured the agony of seeing a nice lead evaporate as a wind from a different quarter lifted every other boat. On the first day 9 races (2 discards) had been completed with Mark Mason, 19 points, showing excellent steady form with 4 bullets overall followed by local skippers Dennis Desprois 21 and Mike Eades 24. A trio of Californians, Larry Grant, Bob Smith and Jeff Weiss were hot on their heels filling the next three places. A Saturday evening highlight was a social get together hosted by George Kramer, WVRCM MM Fleet Captain and his wife Elaine at their Sun City home. Special recipe sloppy-joes, beans and potato salad followed by a special commemorative MM Class cake and cookies on a balmy Arizona evening, complete with a full moon, made for a memorable evening! Sunday morning, skippers arrived at the lake full of eagerness and anticipation as the promised wind began to fill in, mutterings about "B" or "C" rigs were heard and awnings were secured with tent pegs to withstand the promised onslaught. Proceedings began again promptly at 10:00 am and the "A" fleet skippers watched the "B" fleet closely to see how things were going to go and hurried rig changes were made. After the first set of heats with largely southeasterly wind direction, the expected shift towards the southwest set in as winds began increasing resulting in a course reversal. This day proceeded to provide as much excitement as any of us could handle, good sized chop with knock-down gusts made "A "rigs a handful. Close quarters racing on the ragged edge gave everyone all they could ask for. Mark Mason once again mastered the conditions, maintaining a steady string of high places. Jeff Weiss also excelled in the conditions capturing three bullets from the 7 races and finally, with the 16th race bringing in the third discard, shed the last of his first day poor finishes to claim second place over Mike Eades by 1 point. Larry Grant continued to produce steady high finishes to take 4th place while Dennis Desprois could never quite recapture Saturday’s form and slipped to 5th. Within the Arizona contingent, the results were as scrambled as the fleet by Sunday’s stronger winds. Chuck Goerke sailed well in the strong winds but slipped to 8th as Jay Barnes edged him for 7th with a strong performance, reversing Saturday’s standing. Dave Nydell sailed a steady regatta both days for 10th. Jack Kimball, Steve Sherry, Alan Metzger, and Dennis Poole, all putting in strong performances, struggled in the higher winds, perhaps playing good host, allowing Andy Rust to leapfrog them. George Kramer graciously surrendered his boat in the last two races to Chuck, allowing Chuck to continue his battle with Jay. Dave Steens experience in Yuma’s higher winds was evident on Sunday after struggling in Saturday’s light conditions. Tom Ruttledge launched his boat Saturday for the first time and scored a 3rd in his first race. Larry Riese also struggled in Sunday’s wind before finally surrendering to a mechanical problem which ended his day early. Race Director, Al Stiewing and his Committee, Janis Stiewing and Sheila Eades, scorers; Ralph Canfield John Allen and Donna Metzger, mark observers, did a fine job of keeping things moving and posting scores so that skippers could plot their strategies. AMYA Gold chevrons were presented to the top three and commemorative plaques to the top 5 skippers while the next 15 received laminated place certificates. Congratulations to Mark Mason, Micro Magic Class Champion!
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