SCHOCK NATIONALS 2003

San Diego Yacht Club, September 5th – 7th, by Michael Ross, Kathmandu

NORTH SAILS RACE WEEK/SCHOCK 35 PACIFIC COAST CHAMPIONSHIP – Long Beach, June 27-29

By Chip Robertson, Kathmandu crew/Input from Dave Voss and Ron Baerwitz

This year saw eleven Schock 35's attend the popular three-day regatta in Long Beach.  Everyone saw their conditions in this regatta from as Friday turned out to be a rather windy, Saturday light and Sunday more moderate conditions.  The fleet was sent out to a new venue for this regatta just to the South of the harbor entrance for all three days.

Friday morning saw windy conditions building as the Schocks headed out to the racecourse prompting the decision to go with #3 head sails. By the time the first warning signal went off the wind was around 15kt’s, guaranteeing some exciting racing.  When all was said and done, Outlier had grabbed the first bullet of the regatta, followed by Piranha, Whiplash and Ripple.

The second race saw the wind gusting to 20kt’s causing more than a few over-powered moments.  Kathmandu tried the new ‘submerge your foredeck crew’ technique, which was surely not to their liking and gave an “I’m glad that was them and not me” feeling to the crews on the other boats close by.  Unfortunately no pictures have surfaced to prove the incident.  Outlier got the best start and was first to the weather mark.  They were leading by a good distance on the second downwind run of three when a spinnaker halyard broke and the spinnaker ended up around the keel.  Other big excitement saw Limerick running in second only to do a round down pirouette around the spinnaker pole – aka death roll.  Then on the third upwind, Piranha broke the jib halyard, but the crew had the sail down and back up on a spare halyard so quickly they only lost three boatlengths and held onto the lead.  The finish line saw Piranha take the gun followed by Ripple, Notorious and Outlier. 

The weary sailors headed back to the docks glad the day’s sailing was over, but looking forward to the always popular after race party.  The standings after day one saw Piranha leading with 3 points, followed by Outlier (5), Ripple (6) and Notorious (8).

Saturday morning was overcast but to the relief of everyone the winds stayed down around 10kt’s, which is much more favorable Schock conditions.  Kathmandu took advantage of the San Diego like conditions and was the second fastest boat of the day grabbing a fourth and two second place finishes which was an excellent result for the young crew.

The third race got off without incident in the light air and by the windward mark Perfect Circle was the first boat followed by Outlier and Ripple.  Fred was excited to have lead for a leg, this being his first year owning a Schock and stated “It was a watershed moment for his program to look back at the whole fleet for the first time”.  By the end Ripple made the most of the shifty conditions and took the first bullet for the day, their first of the regatta.   Piranha, Whiplash, Kathmandu and Perfect Circle rounded out the top five boats.

Limerick caught all the right puffs on the first leg of race four and reached the windward mark in first followed by Piranha.  By the end of the race Piranha jumped into first followed closely by Kathmandu who ran out of time, on the last downwind leg, to get by and grab their first bullet.  Ripple and Outlier followed rounding out the top four places.

Race five saw similar conditions to race four.  This time Outlier jumped out to a big lead over the fleet followed by Kathmandu and Piranha at the finish.  The race standings after day two saw Piranha leading with 6 points followed by Outlier (10) and Ripple (10) with one race discarded.

Day three saw more of the same light shifty conditions making it crucial to catch the wind shifts and puffs to do well.  Race six had everyone fighting for pin end of the start line with Piranha squeaking around the pin and out into a big initial lead.  The velocity on the right benefited those who went there early and by the windward mark Whiplash was first followed by Piranha and Outlier.  In the end Whiplash took the gun followed by Ripple, Outlier and Piranha.

The final race of the regatta saw the wind increase slightly but it was nowhere near Friday’s fury.  Piranha nailed the start again - this time at the RC end, covered Outlier and raced to the weather mark rounding first, followed closely by Outlier.  This was a battle for both the regatta and Season Championship.  In the end, Piranha was able to hold off the fleet taking yet another bullet in the regatta and securing their second straight season championship.  Congratulations to Dave and his crew on another excellent year of racing.

Next stop is back down in San Diego for the Schock 35 Nationals on September 5^th, 6^th and 7^th.  Hope to see you all there!

CAL RACE WEEK/JIMMY MORRIS MEMORIAL

Ten Schock 35's, from five different yacht clubs, attended this year’s race on a cool but sunny weekend in Marina Del Rey.  The mornings were overcast and grey but by the sun came out just in time for racing to start.  The Schocks were sent to course two with a swarm of J-105’s and three PHRF classes which included two Schock 40’s in class A.  With all these boats present we knew that the mark roundings were going to be exciting.

For race one, the race committee called for course E totaling 7.2NM.  The wind was around 9kts at 210˚.  With twenty J-105’s using the start line, there was plenty of room for the ten Schocks to get clean air for a good start.  Piranha, Outlier and Whiplash were the first three boats to the weather mark taking advantage of wind shifts to get ahead of the fleet.  By the second weather mark, Ripple had squeezed ahead of Whiplash to take third place and that’s how it stayed to the finish with Piranha grabbing the first bullet of the day, surely confident that they could take two more.  The remaining boats finished like this; White Fang, Limerick, Twister, Power Play, Notorious and Perfect Circle.

Now that everyone was warmed up and hopefully had the kinks worked out we were ready for race two and again the race committee called for course E.  The wind was still puffing around 9 – 10kts so no sail changes were in order.  With ample starting line room, everyone got away safely with Whiplash leading the way.  By the first windward mark Whiplash lead, followed by Limerick, White Fang and Twister holding back the usual group of leaders.  At the leeward mark the race committee signaled a course change due to a wind shift.  The second windward mark saw Whiplash was still holding onto their lead but Limerick had lost their second place to White Fang and Notorious had rolled past Twister grabbing fourth place.  Whiplash was still holding onto their first place at the third weather mark with White Fang and Limerick in toe but Outlier and Piranha and moved themselves up into fourth and fifth respectively.  On the downwind leg Piranha had edged by Outlier to claim fourth place at the finish.

Had Piranha’s confidence been affected, now tied with Whiplash for first place with Outlier nipping at their heels only two points back?  Race three would be yet another chance for someone to take control, who would it be?

Course D was chosen for the final race of the day totaling 6.2NM with winds gusting from 11 – 14kts, causing some skippers to evaluate their sail choices.  The first weather mark saw Ripple leading the way followed by Whiplash, Piranha, Power Play and Limerick.  By the second weather mark rounding Outlier had jumped to fourth, knocking Power Play down to fifth and that’s how it finished with Ripple taking their first bullet of the regatta showing they weren’t about to give up.

After a long day of racing (20.6NM’s total) everyone was looking forward to returning to the CYC for the Mexican buffet dinner, live music and of course the bar to drown their sorrows and heal their wounds.  The leader board after three of five races looked like this; Whiplash lead with seven points, followed closely by Piranha with eight, Ripple with ten thanks to their first place in race three and Outlier with eleven.  The top three boats had each one a race on the first day and with the points this close, an exciting day was upon us to see who could take home the gold on day two.

Sunday morning started with the same overcast and grey background as the sailors were greeted with on Saturday but once again the sun broke through in time for racing.  This was likely not to the relief of those that were fooled by the overcast morning on Saturday and didn’t put on sun block and were probably hoping not to see any sun today.  With only two races on tap for the day everyone had to put in their best efforts if there were to be any changes in the standings. 

Lighter winds of 7 – 8kts blew at the start of race four making catching the wind shifts all the more important.  Once again course E was chosen and White Fang jumped out to the lead rounding the first weather mark ahead of Outlier, Power Play, Piranha and Ripple.  The race committee signaled a course change at the first leeward mark due to another wind shift on the course.  By the third weather mark White Fang was still pulling out their lead with only Outlier making any gains on them.  Piranha and Ripple jumped ahead of Power Play followed closely by Whiplash who was trying to maintain their lead in the regatta.  The finish line saw White Fang grab their first bullet, followed by Outlier, Piranha, Ripple and Whiplash.  The top five boats were now only separated between 11 and 15 points.  The last race was sure to be tight.

The final race of the regatta saw 7 – 8kts of wind at the start again this time with the shorter course D chosen by the race committee.  Notorious got a good shift on the right side of the course helping them to round the first mark just behind Whiplash, followed by Piranha.  Whiplash stretched out their lead by the second weather mark taking advantage of every shift they could.  Piranha had edged into second and Outlier and Ripple had stepped up into third and fourth spots.  By the finish Whiplash had grabbed their second bullet of the regatta putting them into a tie with Piranha for first place overall at thirteen points a piece, followed by Outlier three points back with sixteen and Ripple at eighteen.

The overall season standings see Piranha ahead by one point over Outlier followed by Whiplash three points back with one regatta to go which is the three day North Sails Race Week in Long Beach.  Can Piranha hold onto their first place lead and win their second season championship in two years or will Outlier or Whiplash steel the spoils.  Make sure to tune in June 27 – 29 for all the Schock 35 action.

Chip Robertson

Shillelagh/Notorious crew.

32nd ANNUAL YACHTING CUP

San Diego Yacht Club, May 3/4, 2003 by Dave Stotler, Whiplash

San Diego offered some surprises during this year’s Yachting Cup – several hours of rain and wind gusts of 25 knots Saturday morning. Twelve Schock 35’s geared up on time and headed for the course area south of the Coronado Bridge- expecting an 11:30 start of racing.

Only the earliest boats reached the starting area – the rest learned through hand signals and radio contact that racing for the day had been abandoned on all three Yachting Cup courses. While winds of 18 to 25 knots appeared manageable to many on the protected south course, the race committees on the two ocean courses found a heavy swell more than they were willing to deal with. The rumor went around the fleet that SDYC’s bar manager had instigated the abandonment as a revenue boosting initiative. And from the look of the crowd there later the ruse worked - with lots of Bloody Mary’s taking the chill off and the Kentucky Derby on the monitors.

Meanwhile, an unlucky thirteenth boat, Ripple, had been delayed in departing Marina del Rey due to a collision on the preceding Wednesday night.  The delay put the delivery straight into the teeth of the storm front on its delivery South and by now it was headed back to Marina del Rey (thinking they couldn't make it on time for the Saturday start) leaving the team without a boat.  Upon finding out that racing would not start until Sunday, the owner, Jeff Janov initially tried to hire a helicopter to go out and turn the boat around to head to San Diego!  The helicopter was reportedly even warming up to take off when a better opportunity came up -- Jeff found out that he could charter local SD boat Shillelagh.  When Ripple got to MdR, the sails were hauled to San Diego and the unlucky thirteenth boat made it to the starting line Sunday morning.

Sunday racing was amended to start an hour earlier at 10:30. By 10:00 the breeze was at 10 knots and built to 13 ½ knots from 255 degrees by race time. The race committee posted a twice around course and on the first beat Outlier crossed ahead of the class on port to take a clean lead. Jeff Janov and his Ripple crew  showed a quick mastery of the new boat rounding in second, and then Whiplash which had crossed into the lineup just ahead of Notorious.

As the lead boats approached the leeward mark they found both a mark and a markset boat anchored and flying the “M” flag indicating that it was acting as a replacement mark. While the three leading boats rounded the market boat cleanly, the mark switch caused considerable confusion and some close right of way calls among the following boats many of whom rounded the mark or both.  Outlier, Shillelagh and Whiplash continued to lead the remainder of the second trip around and were followed by Super Gnat and Piranha at the finish.

After a wait for the two PHRF classes to finish, the RC called for another twice around course in 13 to 15 knots of breeze. Half the class chose #3 headsails. Outlier pulled out from the starting line in the lead, followed by Piranha, with Whiplash and Notorious neck and neck at the top mark. Stratagem was caught over the line early and returned to restart.

On the downwind leg Notorious passed Whiplash for third position but remained tight with Whiplash squeezing inside by the windward mark. But Whiplash’s position was slow and both Notorious and Limerick steamed past them toward the finish.

Race three brought out more #3’s and started in 15 knots of breeze – a trimmers relief and still fast in the flat water! The course was three times around and Outlier, Piranha and Whiplash led at the first mark followed by Power Play. Limerick broke its spinnaker pole and fell to last place. On the way to the second windward mark Outlier held the lead while Whiplash and Piranha traded leads several times. Piranha passed at the mark with Power play still in contention.

By the third windward mark the leading three boats had separated widely from the rest of the class. Heading into the final downwind, Whiplash got into a massive spinnaker wrap but was saved by the healthy gap to the #4 boat since the mainsail kept up decent boat speed in the hearty breeze. At the finish it was Ripple/Shillelagh and then Power Play in fourth and fifth position. Limerick recovered well from its broken pole, climbing back five places to finish eighth.

Before the start of race four the wind went light at 9 knots from 300 degrees. For a time it looked like the light #1, heavy #1 or #2 could have been called for. Super Gnat led at the windward mark. Power Play and Outlier moved into second and third by the leeward mark. Back to the second windward mark, and through the finish, Super Gnat and Power Play held the lead with Outlier holding third after taking an impressive three firsts in the first three races.

Leaving the course on the way back to SDYC it looked like Outlier in first with 6 points, with Whiplash and Piranha tied with 15 points with Piranha ahead on the tiebreaker followed by Ripple/Shillelagh with 17 points with Ripple ahead on the tiebreaker.

Back at the dock, a protest against the top three boats that rounded the replacement mark in race one got a lot of skippers buried in their rulebooks. In the end the protest committee never heard the protest, but the race committee acted on its own initiative to throw out the race, leaving the class with just three races scored for the weekend. While the new mark had been identified by the “M” flag, was at anchor, and was verbally identified as the new mark, its attendants failed to produce a regular sound signal to alert competitors. As a result Shillelagh lost its second for that race and Ripple lost its third so, for overall, the positions remained the same except for hard luck Ripple which fell to sixth after a three way tiebreaker with Super Gnat and Power Play.  Number 13 will continue to be superstitious!

All in all a surprising weekend for San Diego’s weather conditions and another solid turnout for the Schock 35 class.

Next stop…Cal Race Week in Marina Del Rey on May 31!