2005 OLD NEWS

Last revised 11/08/05

Yachting Cup

By L. Ajello

Photos By Bob Grieser

We saw contrasting conditions during San Diego’s yearly event which beckons the mighty Schock fleet from around Southern California. Saturday was definitely a work day with winds hovering at 15-16 knots and forcing crews to change from their heavy #1’s to the blade and back again throughout the afternoon.

We also welcomed back a couple of our wayward compatriots. Xylocaine (40 pts.) and Shillelagh (43 pts.) decided to join in the reindeer games for the first time this season. What’s the matter guys, wives had you mowing the lawn all spring? We won’t tease you…much. Glad to see you back where you belong. Are you gonna be allowed to play at Cal Race Week?

Ripple (8 pts.) continued their assault on the season championship by taking bullets in four out of the five races. That’s four straight wins for the Deadheads, but one has to wonder if it tastes as sweet without their longtime nemesis in the fleet. You know, the boat that begins with a “P” and is named after a ferocious fish. Whiplash (13 pts.) provided the most pressure, but couldn’t seem to keep up in the end. They did manage to steal the bullet away in the fourth race on Sunday, but they were embattled with Power Play (16 pts.) all weekend long. Sparkle’s crew has been so consistent one has to wonder what has changed. My network of spies has uncovered the startling truth. They don’t drink before or during the race anymore! Those beer cans are actually empties left over from last season. They now drink Brisk iced tea in those cans and pretend to be the party boat.

The party boat honors have passed onto Strategem (31 pts.) by default, despite Malibu Mark’s heinous taste in rum. They do have more fun than anyone else on the water. And Mark isn’t even a blonde. If Strategem is the Fun Bunch, BooYaa (38 pts.) is quickly becoming the redheaded stepchild of the fleet. Alex, you gotta FINISH a race before you can win a regatta. Alex celebrated his 30th birthday on shore with his crew by drinking their sorrows away.

Mako (24 pts.) and JoAnn (25 pts.) continue to go toe-to-toe. They’re in virtual dead heat overall and look to make it an exciting finish to the season over the last two regattas. JoAnn is picking up right where they left off last year, with solid boat handling and consistent tactics. Mako’s drastic improvement this season continues to impress. I was originally suspicious of them, but they are apparently motivated by bulletin board material provided by a somewhat mouthy bowman on Perfect Circle who bet a bottle of booze on each regatta with the equally capable, although much less glamorous, bowman on Mako. Perfect Circle (34 pts.) has struggled a bit once again. Rumor has it that flagging the chute is not the best way to pick up speed guys. Next time drop it in the water and fish it out. If the light #1 won’t sink, neither will the ½ ounce. If they aren’t careful, Fred Young’s crew is going to be overtaken by Outlier (26 pts.) in the overall standings. Richard Fish’s gang is only 3 points behind on the year. More drama in the middle of the fleet for the home stretch. Of course, Outlier’s tactics are being called by someone who isn’t American. Has anyone notified the Homeland Security Department? If Doug turns out to be an undocumented tactician do they have to forfeit?

I’ll keep everyone posted on his visa status in the next article after Cal Race Week next month. Yes, after the grueling stretch through April we all get a breather to finally clean out the garage, do the edging, or even take the significant others out on a date on a weekend night. That is if we give up the PHRF and Sunset racing during May. Yeah, right. Time to lick the wounds and rest up fellas. We have a month layoff before the High Point series resumes. Enjoy a well deserved rest!

2005 LEXUS Newport to Ensenada Race

Pre Race

By the time the Whiplash crew finished our Friday morning BYC Breakfast.... The Commanders Weather Report was in the trash and we could not find Dave Ullman. (He was hiding behind the Lasers). So we prayed to yet another weather god... the Dockmaster, and pressed him hard..."Come on Rafer...what's it gonna be?" ....says he with a sly grin: "an early morning wind from the south can die at noon, but because this one had a bit of west in it....it 'could' stick all day". Hummm, interesting. So we pushed off the dock with a small cold winter like cell moving over the top of Newport Bay. Will us weather heathens ever learn, that the weather gods will never disclose truth of this day?

The Start

S-35 Whiplash was at it again, this time with a coast to coast crew from 5 clubs: LBYC, DPYC, BYC, ABYC, and Star sailor Peter Costa of Cottage Park YC, Winthrop, MA. The trip out the jetty was exciting as ever....an annual reunion of hundreds and hundreds of game faced sailors. This must be a special race, because who in their right mind would go to their start line two hours before the gun? But, we do like the long ‘start lines’ in this race, and with 17 boats in PHRF E the outside pin end was getting lots of traffic minutes before the gun. With one minute to go, we were buried under many boats with no speed.

So we turned left and ran the line. Wow, we were launched!!....until we got that dreaded message. 87995 had started on the wrong side of the course for the second year in a row. However, as we went back to clear ourselves, we could gleefully see that the log jam at the pin was still reeking it's havoc. So we pulled away on starboard in light air with most of the pack stuffed up to weather of us. It was too early to get depressed about Slippery When Wet, when we saw her on a reach half a mile out in front everybody as the result of their great start. But it was J-35 Rival who was to be our nemesis this entire race and Slippery would wind up being theirs.

Wind Ghosts and Spirits

In the first few hours of the race we thought that maybe this one might turn out normal, because as the wind had shifted from the south to a light westerly and this put us on a close reach with a barber hauled light #1. But that did not last long. The air temp dropped and the wind continued to clock north. Rain? You gotta be kidding!, but there it was, fresh water pouring out the foot of the spinnaker. Some of us scrambled for foulies and others just sat there in disbelief and wondered if the wind ghosts would swirl a full 360 degrees around the fleet.

Sometime later in the afternoon, Rival made the first chess move by taking our stern as they headed inside under their big blue spinnaker. We toyed with that idea, but as long as we had some wind, we preferred rumb line. In the early evening the ghost wind left us drifting in less than one knot of wind. Preventer on? debatable., so the only productive thing we could do was flop back and forth, bask in warm sun and enjoy the sunset. We were afraid to go outside and we were afraid to go inside, so we literally did not go anywhere. By dinner time, the wind spirits were dropping a contagious DNF virus on the boats around us. And if you think that was real suffering, well, let me tell you, that was NOTHING compared to our discovery that no one had brought wine for out hot Italian dinner! Weather gods and wind ghosts? no problem, but thou shalt not take away a sailors grog. Luckily, we did find a half pint bottle of rum which was immediately rationed out eight ways to help kill that dangerous infectious virus.

Wind all night

To keep our helmsman fresh, we held watches in three hour increments with the first watch starting at 1000 hours @ 10-12 miles somewhere off Oceanside? By this time, the wind was coming off the land. As soon as the Spinnaker was set, the wind would go forward and we would have to go back to a headsail and as soon as that happened the wind would back, but eventually filling in on Port for a consistent spinnaker close reach. Around 9 pm we were 19 miles off the coast, tracking as high as 170 degrees and struggling to get back to 140. This starts the jibing angle conversations that can last well into the morning hours.

We did not want to be too far out, fearing that the land breeze would shut off. Of course, we did not want to be to far in, for the same reason. Strange that a land breeze would blow that far out, but it did, setting up perfect downwind sailing conditions: 9-13 knots of wind, a crystal clear sky, a brilliant full moon and rolling south swell. I guess the lesson coming out of this year is: if you clearly do not know which way to go, then stay in near middle and study, study and re-study the jibing angle?

Good Morning Rival

You think you can lose them at night, but the hungry ones come back to hunt you down in the morning. How could Rival possibly be this near us after she went inside last night? Answer: She did not go to the beach last night….and must have hung-in right behind us…….all night long. Damn. If we have to go anywhere near uphill, we were going to have big problems with a J-35….i.e.: S-35 ego problems, sailing rules problems, math problems…you name it.

Lucky for us the wind had not yet started another full circle and was coming 10-12 “out of the west with a bit of south in it” (thanks Rafer) so that we were downwind and just enough outside the envelope were a J can get us. (any J near our size, Mr. Johnstone, we beat every J-80, J-105, and J-109 on corrected time….and most all of the J-120’s…. So much for technology when the wind gets light.)

We were very fortunate to have finished first in our class and division, because we later found out that Slippery was hot on Rival’s transom. We knew that Rival and Slippery knew, that it’s not over until the fat lady sings. Had Slippery not followed Rival inside for that short time last night, then we would have had a Schock slugging contest to the very end.

SCHOCK 35, PARTY OF 60, YOU'RE TABLE'S READY!

Most people think that once the boats get in Ensenada, chaos reigns. Fish tacos and random shots of tequila are all that is happening. Well, they are wrong. For the second year in a row, a fancy sit down dinner was had by the Schock 35 sailors off six boats at El Charros Restaurant. Fred Young, group president presided over awards by commandeering a karaoke microphone. Whiplash was presented with the EL JEFE trophy for first Schock to finish, while the TAN GUAPO trophy went to Slippery. The Whiplash WHIP trophy went to the Boat BOOYAA for participation in spite of great adversity.

Race for Season Championship
Intensifies at Schock Memorial

By L. Ajello

The W. D. Schock Memorial Regatta is a unique and enjoyable event for our class every year, most notably because we don’t have to share the water with boats that sport the letter “J” in their name. This year was another entertaining event.

Newport Harbor Yacht Club was once again the host and did a remarkable job. They left nothing to guess at for participants and I am of the opinion they should be giving clinics, not to show how they run regattas, but rather to see how regattas should be run. We had fantastic conditions for racing Schocks, and instead of getting sick or otherwise mucking things up, they ran an extra race on Saturday! Additionally, they put out the usual fabulous spread of food on Saturday night. Boneless barbecued ribs, pasta with clam sauce (which wasn’t too bad for the West coast), mashed potatoes, and fruits and veggies for the health conscious. If you didn’t put on a few pounds you missed out.

Participation was down from last year, but the competition has heated up. After announcing to the fleet their intentions to run away with the season championship by sweeping Midwinters with 5 bullets, Ripple (9pts) was pushed hard by the determined crew and captain aboard Whiplash (9pts). The Deadheads won by virtue of having three bullets to Whiplash’s two.

Power Play (13pts) has stepped up their game by a notch or two this season. With their first bullet on Saturday they remain solidly in third. One can only speculate as to the reason for the seriousness with which Sparkle & Co. is now racing. Is it because Sparkle and Brooke are now part of the Schock 35 hierarchy? Have the corridors of Schock power turned them into “serious racers”? Perhaps. I think they’ve traded in their 3 cases of beer for water and Gatorade and finish sailing before they drink. You can’t claim to be the party boat anymore Power Play. Strategem (36pts) might have had a claim to the throne, but since Malibu Mark drinks those pineapple rums, the title is vacant. Anyone want it?

If MAKO (20pts) was still taking anyone by surprise they won’t be next time out. Their free agent acquisitions in the off-season continue to pay dividends. They sailed solidly…when they weren’t pretending to be a giant obstacle on the racecourse anyway. Until someone figures out how to make a Schock hurdle another boat you might want to avoid starting—or crossing—near these guys. They were in the thick of things in the middle of the pack until disaster struck and forced them and Outlier (35pts) to retire from the last two races on Saturday. It would seem Richard Fish’s crew was caught in the awkward position of being on the wrong side of a port-starboard crossing with MAKO. Like a deer in the headlights, Outlier could only wait as they were plowed into and punctured by MAKO. The hole wasn’t too bad. Duct tape got Outlier back out on the water on Sunday. MAKO snapped their spinnaker pole and rearranged their bow pulpit. They borrowed a pole from fleet president Fred Young to ensure their ability to compete on day two. Both captains met in “The Room” on Sunday morning. Outlier’s tactician, Doug Johnstone, borrowing some strategery from Neville Chamberlain, raised the white flag without a fight. So much for the famed British resilience. Without minimizing their otherwise impressive performance on the water, MAKO was given redress and awarded their average in what may be diplomatically described as “a favorable ruling”.

JoAnn (18pts) took a leap from Midwinters by scoring two 2nd place finishes. They are picking up where they left off last year and remain within reach of the podium. Perfect Circle (24pts) continues to build upon last year. They were first to the windward mark in several races displaying rocket-like speed upwind. Perfect Circle will improve further and challenge for a podium spot with the elimination of mistakes under rookie tactician Fred Welch. Keeping all their sails on board is an excellent start!

And last, but not least, BooYaa (40pts) had their coming out party in the Schock fleet. New owner Alex Perez had his crew racing around the course without any practices prior to the regatta. He’s only had the boat a week and they had a ball participating. They certainly have the best-dressed crew and were looking very G-Cuban out there. While they struggled some in gybes and mark roundings they showed grit and a desire to win by staying out of last in their first race ever as a team.

Alex also spearheaded an expedition to a local watering hole to foster intra-fleet camaraderie. There were representatives from four boats who descended upon an Irish pub. Fleet Prez Fred Young was there picking up chicks and making sure we didn’t’ wreck the place...even though a couple of his crewmembers tried to. An executive decision was reached to declare that for the rest of the season “Irish Car Bombs” are the official drink of the Schock fleet. In case you’ve never had the pleasure of one, an Irish Car Bomb is a shot of Bailey’s dropped into a pint of Guinness and then chugged as quickly as possible. Some people, who I won’t mention (the bowman on MAKO), complained about not being able to chug a drink. What kind of a world do we live in when a sailor can’t chug? For those who are equally disgusted please send a box of Huggies to Dan Shine, c/o MAKO.

2005 SCHEDULE ANNOUNCED

CLASS CHAMPIONSHIP REGATTAS

SCYA Midwinter's, MdR, February 19+20

WD Schock Memorial, Newport, March 5+6

Ahmanson, Newport, April 16+17

Yachting Cup, San Diego, April 30, May 1

Cal Race Week, MdR, June 4+5

Long Beach Race Week (PCC's), Long Beach, June 24-26

Schock 35 National Championships, Long Beach, August 26-28

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