10th Annual Alamo Classic OD39 Regatta

Last Updated July 01, 2008
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10th Annual Alamo Classic OD39 Regatta
April 8, 2006

You know how they say that “Even a blind squirrel can find a nut in the woods once in a while!”? Well this years OD39 Regatta is more like “Even a drunken Pirate can find the booty in the dark once in a while!” After 10 years of trying the infamous JK has finally won the event that has eluded him all these year……argh!

The day started out with a forecast of 10 -20mph out of the North with great temps in the 70’s. This made for a very nerve raking course set up with the course being completely turned around from what we are used to ľ of the year. But given our great venue set-up here at Woodlawn, Larry Ludwig , Race Director for the day, did a great job setting out 9 marks in a complete circle and was able to pick a from several weather and leeward marks at moments notice. And having two starting lines to pick for the best start for the moment. With all the conditioned monitored constantly from the dock with Larry’s weather station, it wasn’t hard to get a perfect course for all 12 races. Even changing weather and leeward legs for the races during the race whiles winds would shift up the 15 degrees with just a shout of a number, we all knew where to go. Great job Larry keeping up with the shifts!

Of course having all the skippers race at one time, with one start made things great for New club member David Finell who was photographing and video shooting from the windward shore. Little did we know till the end of the day that he had a wireless microphone on the starting line(dock) to catch all the colorful comments during the day. This should be an interesting CD to watch. Looks like we have our entertainment for the AGM meeting this December.

Also while all this was going on we had our usual land based crew getting all of lunch ready. Mama Seta and Charlotte Kahl of course doing food menu and set-up, Tony Seta doing BBQ honors. And the unique thing about having a NW wind is that the smell of lunch is traveling right down to the skippers on the dock the whole time. So you can imagine the comment of running 4 races back to back before lunch with the smell of BBQ Fajitas on the grill.

Racing was tight all day with all 11 boats starting and racing together on one line. Most time skippers were well mannered (well almost most of them!) and being all local skippers that usually sail together anyway, we all knew each other strength and weaknesses. Each Fleet, Gold and Silver, had a tight scoring pattern as the top three in each fleet had were all tied going into the final four races of the day. Check out the scores and notice that many folks had taken 1^st at some point. When it come to these boats being one-design, it’s a real testament to see that boats built back in the mid 90’s are still winning races as much as the one built in the 00’. Even with the two different types of sail materials, lighter “old style” sails still won this event in what we call moderate to heavy winds. Conditions that the newer sails are supposed to prevail, or so they say. It only proves that the numbers mean nothing. It comes down to the skipper and his skill. Lesson here – no substitution for tiller time! Also knowing when and how to stay out of trouble is always the key to good scores. Looking ahead and seeing a pile up at the mark about to form and planning ahead is also the key to good scores. And of course there is never an excuse for hanging on a mark anchor when 10 other boats got a round it. Also today was a day for watching the wind patterns up the lake and playing the shifts. If your fleet is only 5 or 6 boats, race those boat only and don’t worry about the other fleet. Play the shifts and make up to 3 boats on one leg by just being smart sometimes.

I can’t remember when we had such a great day of racing for the OD Classic. And being the 10^th annual it was special. The wall trophy in the clubhouse will finally have the name John “JK” Kuc and the top of Gold Fleet and Ben Eberle and the top of Silver Fleet. Again we want to thank the land based crew or Tony, David, Charlotte , Mama Seta and Larry for hanging out and having everything ready for us, the racers. We are a great club!

Report Submitted by: Ray Seta

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