| the 2015
Down the Chester River Race Chester River Yacht & Country Club to Rock Hall YC Friday 19 June report by Uncle Al |
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Marc
and Julie Bennett win Wayfarer bragging rights
in 2015 Chester River Race Wayfarers made up
one third of the 31 entries in this year's Chester River Race which was
sailed in idyllic conditions: warm sunshine and breezes mostly in the
range of eight to twelve knots. With winds starting from the north and
gradually backing into the west, the race was nothing but reaches and
runs for the 12 n. miles to the mouth of the Chester River followed by
a mini-beat to the finish. This favoured the catamarans, most of whom
finished in under an hour and a half, and without some upwind work to
slow them down, this translated five of the top six places on corrected
time. The only monohull to hit the top six on corrected time were our
Rebel friends, Neil Robb and Nick Tanis, from Clark Lake, Michigan.
Well sailed Rebels and Wayfarers are beautifully evenly matched in
races as we have seen on a number of occasions at Rock Hall when we
started together. But the Rebel US Portsmouth number used was 96.9
whereas the same-speed Wayfarers worked with 91.6. This erased the
five-and-a-half minutes of lead Marc Bennett and his wife, Julie, had
amassed and made it into a deficit of 72 seconds. For what it's worth.
 In a very healthy
fleet of ten Wayfarers, one third of the 31-boat fleet, Marc and Julie
fought off continuous challenges from another husband/wife duo,
Canadians, Mike and Marg Duncan from the Mississauga SC before pulling
away to a two-minute edge during the final short beat into Langford
Creek to the finish.
 Monohull leaders,
Marc Bennett (3rd from left) and Mike Duncan (5th from left)
approach the close-reach section of the race. Uncle Al photo. Crossing the
finish line 40 seconds later was Tony Krauss, sailing his
brand-new Mark IV, W11044, single-handed and in fine style.
Just over a minute after Tony, came Uncle Al in trusty old SHADES a.k.a. Glory Days, sailing with Dan Ryan, a beautifully light crew who had been lined up for Al by RHYC web master, Connie Ranney. Though Dan lives on a Nonsuch in the Rock Hall Marina, he was a dinghy novice. Just how much became evident just after the River Race start when I looked up from picture-taking just after hearing Neil Robb to leeward inviting us to keep clear. "Board down!" I suggested to Dan. Puzzlement from Dan. Clunk. We did a Two-Turns Penalty (later saw that the SI's had changed it to a One-turn penalty - ah, the benefits of reading the "destructions"!!) Turns out that Dan had had a brief stint in a Windmill with its dagger board, so a brief lesson ensued. How to trim the jib was next. We decided to leave spinnaker training for another time. Dan said he had learned a lot and had fun. We even did a quick rescue drill - a 270° turn to rescue Dan's hat. We took a lot of pictures
with the water-proof camera which was hard to use in the bright, hot
sunlight. By the time, not long after
the photo above, the wind settled into
a more or less westerly direction, putting us onto a close reach, we
were behind almost all of the Wayfarers.
 Dan Ryan limbers up before the River Race We began to pay
better attention to staying in the channel as buoyed (red left
leaving?) in a conscious attempt to let deeper water's stronger current
give us more of a push since we were well into ebbing tide all race
long. Before long, we reached the point on Quaker Neck that marks the
end of the Chester River. Thinking ahead to the mini-beat to the
finish, we shaved the flat point more closely than several boats in
front of us. A slight starboard header/knock reminded me I should stay
in the shallowest possible water because we would now be fighting the
tide exiting Langford Creek. We lucked in. Not only does the evidence
suggest we were fighting less current, but we also sailed into better
pressure, overlaid the finish line an appropriate amount and shocked
ourselves pleasantly when we found we had passed both Rebels and four
or five Wayfarers that had been anywhere from a hundred yards to far,
far ahead. And we had regained good viewing contact with the three
leaders. Encouraging!!
Exactly one minute later, Detroit's Nick and Mary Seraphinoff crossed the line in 5th. Nick and Mary were especially pleased with how well Mary sailed after a decades-long absence from dinghy racing. Nick also commented admiringly on Mary's unflaggingly competitive spirit and eagerness to everything just right.  As expected, Linda Heffernan gave Ken Butler great spinnaker work. Here they cruise past Lake Townsend YC club mates, AnnMarie Covington with Matthew Stalnaker. About three minutes after Nick, Ken Butler with super crew, Linda Heffernan, finished in 6th place, only 6 seconds ahead of 14-year-old Christiana Scheibner who was making her Wayfarer helming debut with her dad, Doug, as crew (below). Christiana and Doug were giving Tony a good run for his 3rd-place "money" by playing the SE shore but got stuck over there when the race required up-current work and fell all the way to 7th. While I did not exactly feel guilt-wracked by taking 4th from a "baby", I did sympathize, having lost a similarly vast amount in exactly the same conditions a few years back. Live and learn.  Unfortunately, this was to be the Scheibners' last sailing of the weekend as Doug was struck by severe abdominal and chest pains. Doug was taken to hospital in Annapolis and kept for observation for two days. At last report, Doug, his wife and Christiana were driving back home to Detroit.  AnnMarie with Matthew (pink spinnaker) pursue Ken and Linda.  Seen in the light of his heavily reefed main, Jim and Claire's performance is little short of amazing. Here they are passing Uncle Al (camera duty) and chasing Nick and Mary. A rare combination on a W: reefed main and spinny Two more Lake Townsend teams were next across the line: AnnMarie Covington sailed W276 with Matthew Stalnaker and benefitted hugely when Jim Heffernan with grand-daughter, Claire, went way past the point before tacking to port. Not only did Jim not "stay between his nearest opponent and the next mark" but he also ended up having to fight a much stronger adverse current. In the end, grampa and Claire fell to 9th. A day on which to stress the positive: It was indeed a glorious sailing day, and Jim got to race for 30 seconds longer than AnnMarie!!  Part of the
Heffernan clan relaxes pool side after the Race: Claire, Linda, Jim
 Mike and Cathy in the boat park across from the Chester River Yacht & Country Club Delaware's Mike and Cathy Babowicz (above) who bought Richard Watterson's Abbott Mk III finally "came out of the woodwork" and made their racing debut in their cruise-rigged boat. They now sail out of Rock Hall. After sitting up to their necks with Uncle Al in the refreshing RHYC pool while waiting for wind on the Saturday, they went out and buoyancy tested W10423 which passed with flying colours. We talked at refreshing length about self-rescue in a boat with a buoyant floor, until the RC signalled the end of our racing's postponement. Oakville, Ontario's David and Anne Pugh had hoped to get down in time for the River Race but were delayed due to car problems which fortunately struck while they were still close to home. They did make up for that loss though, by winning the regatta and US Nationals in great style. More River-Race-related snap shots:  Early Thursday
afternoon at CRYCC: With the launch ramp blocked by a padlocked chain,
and the water level high, Uncle Al decided to think outside the
proverbial box. With Marc having placed a convenient brick behind the
left trailer wheel and now holding a long painter on the dock at right,
Al chickens out and adds control by means of ...
 ... the winch strap. Another time we'll do without the
restraining strap which only served to keep the boat's paint in touch
with its trailer. Otherwise a very nice launch, if a touch
nerve-wracking. With the boat launched, I had hoped to avoid a
post-race trip back to the CRYCC to retrieve the trailer which I moved
to the RHYC that afternoon. Of course, I was forgetting about having to
retrieve my car regardless. Still, that turned out to be fun: I had
just begun a nice, refreshing Dark and Stormy when Scott Ranney
announced he was driving John Macielag's Yukon and a load of passenger
on a retrieval mission to CRYCC. "Rats!" I muttered, "I'll have to
abandon this drink." "Not at all," responded John who happened to be
standing near me. "It's my car and you're to bring your drink."
Civilization at its best.
 Three of those lovely Chesapeake 20s also arrived by tow as usual on the Thursday afternoon.  Friday morning: the CRYCC boat park, freshly washed by overnight rain  To give you an idea why the monohulls were left in the dust on this day more than ever.  Christiana gets a taste of the spinnaker before taking the helm from Doug.  Mid-race: Al and Dan were well placed to get lovely fleet shots from astern.  Jim and Claire pass Uncle Al to leeward.  Lovely winds and scenery More of the same.  Past the last big bend, our race became a close reach on starboard.  the beach at Rock Hall with Wayfarer winner ...  ... Marc Bennett
getting a well earned and lubricated rest.
 Because the
Wayfarers were so numerous in the River Race, Marc and Julie were
awarded a prize as first W.
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... and
Connie Ranney sheds even more light on the subject:
 Typical River Race
melee at the start off the Chester River Yacht & Country Club. I do
believe that here was the location of our "Board down!" missed
communication. We (3854) bumped the leeward boat (4162) who was being
pushed up by the A Cat. We did turns - even though only one turn turned
out to be required for this race.
 While Tony Krauss (l) does his Joshua Slocum imitation, Mary Seraphinoff has the W10978 spinny flying as though she had never been away. Nick and Mary were the 1985 Wayfarer North American champions.  Later on, the wind was from further forward, and the sailing became harder work for Tony.  Those racing monohulls never get to see how the multihulls look in a breeze as they ...  ... get close to the ...  ... finish ...  ... line.  The end is in sight.  Aha! A picture of Uncle Al with his new crew, Dan Ryan.  On a hot, humid day like this one was, sailing towards the wind is a god-send. AnnMarie and Matt. |