Community Boating Tiller Club Racing

Summer Series 1 was, in a word, perfection. The temperature was that bliss found between spring and summer. There was enough sun for our vitamin D starved skin, but enough cloud cover to keep it from being too harsh. The breeze - despite the occasional lull - had, most of the time, just enough spice to keep it delicious. 11 boats jostled at the starting line for 4 races on this green-to-yellow day. It was a good thing we had one of our best RCs setting the course, because - and I know this is frequently said here - it was a VERY shifty day. But as pointed out, there are 30* shifty days, and there are 90* shifty days. Today was a relentless barrage of not only those, but several 180s! Put another way, our boat (Mark & Stacy) both tacked and gybed without any tiller involvement, in the span of about 2 minutes. We complain about wildly shifty days, but do we even mean it? Isn't the challenge that this presents what keeps us on our toes, and coming back for more?

There was a brief spell when the wind really kicked up for a moment, and of course right then a windsurfer appeared in the course, right behind the dude on the (hoverboard? What even is that)? We joked that we were missing the usual array of kayakers congregating at the windward mark, and that this could only be because they could not discern it from the leeward (fair, because neither could any of us in these shifts). Southwesterlies became Northeasterlies and back again, rinse, repeat. There was a boat sailing backwards, two minor collisions, at least one formal protest, at least 2 instances of penalty turns, two or more boats that got caught on a buoy or mark (including ours which drove straight between a doubled), & another inquiry (protest maybe?) debated back on the dock. And speaking of the dock, once back, I observed joyously as two lasers capsized. Good times had by all!

Congrats to our top 3 finishers:

1st place: K & Marsh , 9 pts
2nd place: Harrington & OG, tied for 2nd/3rd with 11 points, winning the point tiebreaker by having more better-place finishes
3rd place: & Fabio 11 points

And above all, a million thanks to Duncan, who RCd alone on a not-so-forgiving day, and somehow managed to do a fantastic job anyway (as judged by the rather tough to please Harrington) :heart: Thanks for coming out, everybody!

Next Week: The Single Handed Too!

Final Standings for the Warren Ruck Spring Series:
1st place: Niko K
2nd place: Giancarlo D.
3rd place (by a mere 0.06 pt split!) Terry D.