2007 Coconut Grove Classic Final Results

    
Sail  Helm               Nat  R1  R2  R3  R4  R5  R6 TOTAL Rank
---------------------------------------------------------------
232   Lars Guck          USA   1   1   1  -2   1   1    5   1st
69    Pete Melvin        USA   7   4   3   1  -9   5   20   2nd
22    Kristian Mattsson  SWE   3   5   4 OCS   3   7   22   3rd
27    Eric Andersson     SWE   6   3   2  -7   7   6   24   4th
209   Woody Cope         USA   9   9   5   4 -14   3   30   5th
2     Teo DiBattista     USA   5   6 -17  13   8   2   34   6th
235   Bob Webbon         USA   4   8 -21  11   4   9   36   7th
956   Thomas Persson     SWE   8   2   6 -18  11  10   37   8th
1     Goran Marstrom     SWE  12  12 -23   9   6   4   43   9th
230   Bob Hodges         USA  DNS 11   9   6  10  13   49   10th
102   Steve Hansen       USA  10   7   7  17  12 OCS   53   11th
200   Jim Godbey         USA  17  10  10   8  22 -25   67   12th
123   Skip Elliott       USA  18  13  16  10 -20  11   68   13th
213   Ian Lindahl        USA  13  16  13 -31  17  14   73   14th
150   Andy Kolb          USA  11  17   8 -38  26  17   79   15th
180   Jay Glaser         USA  20 -35  15  16  13  18   82   16th
99    Ben Hall           USA   2 DNF DNC  12   5   8   84   17th
195   Ian Storer         USA -25  20  11  14  18  21   84   18th
240   Pease Glaser       USA  28  18  29   5  15 DNC   95   19th
199   Davi Ottenheimer   USA  21 -28  14  24  16  26  101   20th
11    Malin              SWE  30  23  12  22  19 DNF  106   21st
79    Jeremy Laundergan  USA  19  26  26  23 -29  12  106   22nd
205   Mike Gruber        USA DNF  24  24  25  25  16  114   23rd
135   Tracy Oliver       USA  23  30  22  20 -35  23  118   24th
122   John Schiefer      USA  24  19  20  32  24 DNF  119   25th
170   Clive Mayo         USA  16  14  19 -36  36  35  120   26th
231   Rush Bird          USA  15  15  30 -34  32  31  123   27th
169   Ward Cromwell      USA -31  21  18  28  28  30  125   28th
121   Carla Schiefer     USA  33  25  27  21 -42  22  128   29th
236   Matt McDonald      USA  27  32  28  27 -43  15  129   30th
204   Dave Penfield      USA  29  33 -38  15  38  20  135   31st
184   Michael Egan       USA  14 DNC DNC  19  23  27  140   32nd
147   Jennifer Lindsay   USA  32  29  25 DNF  30  24  140   33rd
3065  Peter Block        USA DNS  27  31  35  31  19  143   34th
134   Mark Bellermann    USA  22  22 DNF  26  27 DNF  154   35th
3     Martin Hamilton    USA -41  31 RDG  30  39  29  154   36th
1     Roberto Casadei    ITA DNF DNC DNC   3   2 OCS  176   37th
212   Kevin Grice        USA  34  40  33  29  47 DNC  183   38th
137   John Simpkins      USA  36  41  37 -43  33  38  185   39th
227   David Nees         USA  37  38  35  41 -46  34  185   40th
198   John Vincze        USA  39  36  34  40 -41  39  188   41st
22    Leandro Spina      USA  40 DNF DNC  39  21  32  189   42nd
214   Bill Erkelens      USA  38  34 DNC  37  44  37  190   43rd
194   Tim Llewellyn      USA  26  37 DNC OCS  40  33  193   44th
172   Chris Cordes       USA DNF DNF DNC  33  34  28  209   45th
51    Fred Smith         CAN  43  43  40  45 -51  41  212   46th
841   Patrick Burger     AUS  42  42  39  48 -50  42  213   47th
823   David Taylor       AUS  35  39  32 DNC DNC DNC  220   48th
30    Andrew Burdett     USA  44  44  41 DNF  52  45  226   49th
154   Gordon Isco        USA DNF DNC DNC  46  37  36  233   50th
160   Steve Levine       USA  45 DNF  42  49  53  46  235   51st
223   Mark Skeels        USA DNC DNC DNC  42  45  40  241   52nd
179   Sterling Mehring   USA DNC DNF DNC  44  48  44  250   53rd
108   Bob Orr            USA DNC DNF DNF  47  49  43  253   54th
799   Tom Siders         USA DNC DNC DNC DNF DNC DNC  285   55th
215   George Saunders    USA DNF DNC DNC DNC DNC DNC  285   55th
================================================================
DNC Did not come to the starting area (57)
DNF Did not finish the race (57) 
DNS Did not start the race (57)
DSQ Was disqualified (57)
RDG Redress Given - Points set by protest hearing
  - Race 3, 25 set for USA3 Martin Hamilton

Well it is 10:30 AM here is Islamorada. The race committee has just put up the postpone flag. Apparently there are bands of thunder storms due in the area shortly, followed by a big shift and big breeze. It is humid as hell at the moment and with a nice 10 knot breeze out of the south. The forecast is for thunderstorms, then 15-20 out of the north. Several people are tying their boats to palm trees or taking their masts down. Not sure i have ever heard so many stories of breaking masts, getting blown out to sea, or how scary A-Cats are in breeze. I sort of figure that 15-20 is a normal long beach afternoon, so i just want the breeze to come in and lets get on with it. I suppose in fairness, the collective anxiety is impacting me at some level. I don’t feel like eating and am keeping my eyes glued to the storm clouds. But time has shown me that when i get out in big breeze, i calm down, pull in the downhaul and hang on. Usually nothing breaks and if you enjoy pain, a little fear and adrenaline, it can be a blast. You just need to embrace the idea that shit happens in breeze. Usually it is bad shit, but last time i checked not too many people have died on an A Cat, so let’s get going.

what a day!? 8-10 knot breeze. warm water..... all fun. three races were sailed today with 55 boats on the line. i will post the complete results but the upshot was that the lower wind range saw much closer racing with even small mistakes costing lots of boats. the upwind legs were fairly straight forward. the us guys, ben, lars, jay, pete, yours truly banged the left corner and flopped to port near the port tack layline. there seemed to be a left shift and slightly more pressure left. the swedes near the comittee boat, working the right side of the course.

in the first race there were two general recalls, so i suppose everyone had figured out didn't pay to be in the second row. the line was a little tight and it made for some very close quarters and a few sharp words.

Lars consistently was first to the top mark and seems to have superior upwind speed in the moderate wind ranges. downwind, is where the races got pretty interesting. we were in that "do i go wild or not?" range with the marstrom boats seldom going wild, the light guys like pete, flying a hull with little difficulty and slackers like me trying to figure out how to minimize the damage on the downwind legs.

lars won the first and third race with pete taking the second race. pete chased down lars from behind and used superior downwind speed to grab the victory at the finish line. the upshot of this week is that pete, lars, ben and the top sailors have a clear indication of relative speed and strenghts. jay and pease have new ideas about sails for this venue, ben with new mast ideas and the rest of us walking around with new ideas, questions and in some cases fears.

it is amazing when you consider how much energy and preparation most of the sailors here have put into this event and it shows. spirits are high, but the more serious sailors are sharing information, patiently answering questions, offering observations. it seems that everyone understands that the big event is in november and only if we work together can we all raise our collective game. people are really clear that when the aussies and europeans show up, the bar will be raised yet again and there is much work to do.

oh yeah, for the record i had pretty good upwind pace today, being 4th at the top mark on the first work, and 2nd at the top mark in the second race. was consistently losing boats downwind so quite frustrating for me. and that brings us to the title of this post....

sailing for me, at least for the moment is like triathlon. in 2005 i completed an ironman triathlon. one of the main reasons i struggle with triathlon is that on the ironman run i damaged my achillees tendon. the short story is that i was up with the slower professional athletes after a 2.4 mile swim and 112 mile bike race. when my tendon went, i was forced to hobble through a marathon getting passed by athlete after athlete, ultimately finishing in about 12 hours. while still a very good time, the run almost killed me. not for the logical reasons though. it wasn't physical exhaustion, or pain, it was the emotionl frustration of being passed by other athletes. i hated every second of it and to this day, my blood boils when i think of it. that was today on the downwind legs of the racecourse. but unlike triathlon, where i was forced to wait three months to hear an injury, i will go home and practice. because i am just not inclined to let that happen again.

my downwind speed dropped me back a bit from 7th to 11th overall, but i was still quite pleased with my result overall. i know what i need to work on, and these sailors are very, very good. i set out to be top 20 and have gotten there. it is a good week to be steve. one final personal note... OCS!! (On the Course Side of the start = over early). apparently the race committee concluded that i was over the starting line early in the final race. i heard the horn but decided it couldn't possibly be for me. apparently i was wrong. i guess the moral of the story is that in a competitive fleet you need to be on the line and take chances. guess i got one wrong. no worries though, got 5 of them right.

ps, the forecast is for 15-20 today so things could get very, very interesting.....

Sailed:3, Discards:0, To count:3, Entries:55
----------------------------------------------------
Sail Helm Nat R1 R2 R3 Total Rank
232 Lars Guck USA 1 1 1 3 1st
27 Eric Andersson SWE 6 3 2 11 2nd
22 Kristian Mattsson SWE 3 5 4 12 3rd
69 Pete Melvin USA 7 4 3 14 4th
956 Thomas Persson SWE 8 2 6 16 5th
209 Woody Cope USA 9 9 5 23 6th
102 Steve Hansen USA 10 7 7 24 7th
2 Teo DiBattista USA 5 6 17 28 8th
235 Bob Webbon USA 4 8 21 33 9th
150 Andy Kolb USA 11 17 8 36 10th
200 Jim Godbey USA 17 10 10 37 11th
213 Ian Lindahl USA 13 16 13 42 12th
1 Goran Marstrom SWE 12 12 23 47 13th
123 Skip Elliott USA 18 13 16 47 14th
170 Clive Mayo USA 16 14 19 49 15th
195 Ian Storer USA 25 20 11 56 16th
231 Rush Bird USA 15 15 30 60 17th
199 Davi Ottenheimer USA 21 28 14 63 18th
122 John Schiefer USA 24 19 20 63 19th
12 Malin SWE 30 23 12 65 20tj