W
| the 43rd Mayor's Cup Report by Jim Cook ... |
|
The 43rd Mayor's Cup regatta was
hosted by Lake Townsend YC on Sept. 26-27, 2020.
Lake Townsend is a small reservoir just outside of
Greensboro, NC. The lake has very little
development along the shore line, with a golf course
on one side and trees on the other, which makes it a
gorgeous place to sail. It also helps keep the
boat traffic down, so sailing in lighter winds is
actually possible. Entries for the regatta were
restricted by the rules of the public boat ramp, but
we still had 3 good fleets of boats with 7 Wayfarers,
9 Flying Scots,
and 6 youth 420s.
 Jim and Nora Cook
Over the summer,
I purchased a beautiful mark IV named Black
Skimmer (sail #10873) from Richard and
Michele. I have received so many compliments on
the boat, one of them even before I drove away from
the parking lot where we did the hand-off. I
feel honored to be able to sail such a beloved
boat. My daughter, Nora, also noticed and
magically has a renewed interest in sailing with me,
even racing. I've learned that if you want
to get your family to sail with you then you should
get a nice boat.
Nora was a true
pleasure to have on the boat and kept me entertained
the whole weekend. A simple question about
import/export laws turned into a giggling discussion
about mutant worms the size of dogs, wearing backpacks
full of carrots, that tunnel underground to deliver
carrots from China to North Korea.
The Mayor's Cup
was our second regatta in the new boat and our first
with other mark IVs, so I was eager to see how our
boat speed compared. The entire regatta was very well
organized, and the PRO did an excellent job with the
difficult light wind conditions. All the members
of LTYC are considerate and helpful. For example, they
gave priority at the docks to visitors and helped tow
boats out to the race course to get the races started
on time.
Saturday's race
1 was started in light winds, but was easily
manageable, as it was on a course without boat wakes
to contend with. We
were in the lead at the first mark. Halfway down the first leeward leg, the
wind shifted 90°, and flying spinnakers was no longer
possible. The remaining windward and leeward
legs were reaches, which didn't leave many
opportunities for passing, and we led the parade
across the finish line. Richard Johnson and Michele
sailed their re-conditioned wooden classic W560 Cushie
Butterfield to 2nd place ahead of Uwe Heine and
wife, Nancy, who were the top-placed Lake Townsend YC
Wayfarer.
The RC moved to
a new position and waited for the wind direction to
settle in, but the wind died instead. Racing was
canceled for the day, which was a good decision.
There were no gatherings planned, so everyone split to
spend the rest of the day at their leisure.
Sunday started
out with very light winds that built slightly up to
the first start. The Flying Scots started first,
and I could see the pin end of the line was heavily
favored, but port tack also seemed favored. We
had to decide whether to start at the favored end, but
risk getting pinned on the unfavored tack, or start at
the unfavored end, but be able to tack onto port
immediately. I opted to start at the pin end of
the line. The pin end of the line remained
favored throughout the day, as did the left side of
the beat. So after the first race, I decided to
protect the left side of the course, and the committee
boat end was no longer an attractive option. We sailed
relatively short courses in light wind. I
believe good starts were key to getting out of traffic
and being able to adjust to the wind shifts.
With a couple exceptions, the finishes in all races were the same: 1 Jim Cook / Nora Cook  Sailing W560 Cushie Butterfield were the Johnsons, Richard and Michele. Up the windward leg to the finish, we tried to stay with Uwe and Nancy, sailing to windward and slightly behind them. My goal was to stay close enough to keep them from tacking, so that I could push them out past the lay line and be the first to tack toward the finish. Meanwhile, Richard & Michele were steadily gaining ground on both of us. We fell back into Uwe and Nancy's bad air and had to tack away. As luck would have it, we caught a little lift and cleared Uwe and Nancy on the next crossing, but it wasn't enough to clear Richard and Michele who were now speeding to the finish line on starboard tack. We tacked to leeward of Richard and Michele, and all three of us urged our boats across the finish line. We managed to finish 1st. The finish between Uwe and Nancy and Richard and Michele was too close to tell on the water. Results would later show that Uwe and Nancy had finished 2nd. I asked Nora for
her input on the weekend. She told me it was a
good weekend, because she didn't get hit with a golf
ball (It's hard to get valuable information out of a
14-year-old). Anyway, we want to thank LTYC for
giving us the opportunity to have fun racing and for a
well run regatta.
|