Richardson Cup Recap from Steven Lowery
Practice Day:
Today we practiced against Lars, Don W. and several others. Buffalo is interesting in that all of Lake Erie is moving from SW to NE and up the Niagara River (to the falls)! Playing the current and "lake effect" rain is critical. All in all they have the same J22s that we have so it should be a fair regatta. By the luck of the draw we are in the group of 5 (versus 6). Since the top three from each group advance to the finals on Sunday we're already one up. We face several tough competitors tomorrow - Vantol from Bayview and Burns. Several others we don't know. We do know that several of the pre-regatta players are not in our group. These include Lars, Adam Hollerbach, Kevin Doyle and Bora.
Day One:
Day one is in the books here in Buffalo. I'd like to report that we're into the "Gold Fleet" but no competitor can say that. So far our course has only completed three of eight flights. The other course has completed a similar number. Therefore no one's fate is secure.
Match racing today proved very difficult given the 20+ knots of breeze and steep swell left over from last night's front. Here's the match recap:
Match 1 versus Vigrass - We entered from Port and were able to cross. We circled aggressively pre-start within the laylines to both the committee boat and starting pin. They broke off first and we established a position to weather and slightly behind - both of us clawing our way to the line. The gun sounded, several quick tacks to solidify our starboard advantage and we round the weather mark leading by 3 boat lengths. We maintained the lead, extending downwind, to win the race. 1-0.
Match 2 versus Burns - We entered from Starboard and forced a classic dial-up. We both engaged hard but no one established a clear advantage. Again we found ourselves to the right clawing to the line. Unlike Match 1, Burns did a very good job of protecting his lee-bow position. We tacked away several times but were never able to establish a strong starboard advantage. They eventually lead us around the mark by 3 boat lengths. From there is was a parade as he extended down and back up. 1-1.
Day one is in the books here in Buffalo. I'd like to report that we're into the "Gold Fleet" but no competitor can say that. So far our course has only completed three of eight flights. The other course has completed a similar number. Therefore no one's fate is secure.
Match racing today proved very difficult given the 20+ knots of breeze and steep swell left over from last night's front. Here's the match recap:
Match 1 versus Vigrass - We entered from Port and were able to cross. We circled aggressively pre-start within the laylines to both the committee boat and starting pin. They broke off first and we established a position to weather and slightly behind - both of us clawing our way to the line. The gun sounded, several quick tacks to solidify our starboard advantage and we round the weather mark leading by 3 boat lengths. We maintained the lead, extending downwind, to win the race. 1-0.
Match 2 versus Burns - We entered from Starboard and forced a classic dial-up. We both engaged hard but no one established a clear advantage. Again we found ourselves to the right clawing to the line. Unlike Match 1, Burns did a very good job of protecting his lee-bow position. We tacked away several times but were never able to establish a strong starboard advantage. They eventually lead us around the mark by 3 boat lengths. From there is was a parade as he extended down and back up. 1-1.
Match 3 versus Jordan - We entered form Starboard, he was late, we kept him out of the start, he copped a penalty, lost a crew member of the side, etc. Game over. 2-1.
Our draw was lucky in that we sailed all three flights today. Lucky because the race committee abandoned racing for the day due to heavy wind. Some competitors like Vantol never even raced today. Due to the serious loss of racing the organizing authority has reduced the racing to completing this round robin and then only sending the top boat from each course into a best-of-three finals. In order for us to make the two-boat finals we need to beat Vantol tomorrow morning and then have him beat Burns.
Final day - Sunday
The final day for the Lowery/Lewis/Reig team was fairly uneventful (unfortunately). At the end of Day 1 the Race Committee had amended their decision from taking only one team from each course into the finals to taking two teams in semi finals. This put us in the position of if we beat Vantol we had a very good chance of making the semi-finals.
Unfortunately, we could not accomplish that goal. Despite leading Vantol off the start in a very strong position he was able to out tack us in a tacking duel up the first and only weather leg. By 2/3 of the way up the leg his lee bow from port was enough to concede the weather mark. In an effort to maximize the number of races the RC had reduced the normal four leg races to two. Since we were now behind by three boat lengths we tried to our boat speed him downwind. We were closing but not sufficiently before he crossed the line <10 seconds ahead. Both Vantol and Burns moved into the Semis form our course.
In the end we finished with records of 3 wins and 2 loses. One of those wins came because of a bye against a no-show team. Overall we probably finished 6th for the event. We can take one major consolation from the event - both of the guys we lost to on our course made it to the finals (Burns and Vantol). Adam Burns from Buffalo won the event. Looks like we did have the strongest course after all. Next year we need to hold our leads!!!
All the best,
Steve, Rory, Derrick
