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Thirty-four S-2 7.9s left the Racine Harbor on Thursday, July 31st, to determine the 1997 InternationalChampion. There was a light NE breeze with plenty of shifts. The Race Committee set all races asWindward/Leeward/Windward.
1st RaceGetting a clean start near the pin end, Dan Cheresh and his crew on Spot, from Holland MI, picked out the shifts, stayed in the middle of the course, led at every mark and won the first race. Mike Elliott, sailing Bernoulli rounded the first mark 4th, stayed to the west side of the course on the run, rounded the leeward mark 2nd, and went on to finish in this position. Brian Keith and Gary Shoemaker of Crime Scene rounded the 1st mark in 2nd place, dropped to 3rd and finished 3rd, while Class president Dave Grover rounded 5th and moved up to finish 4th. Spike Boston, sailing John Musa's Private Reserve finished 5th. 2nd RaceIn race two, with the wind still NE, Spike Boston started at the committee boat , while Mike Elliott, DanCheresh, and Dave Grover started in the middle of the line. These four boats went east the quickest, and if it weren't for the fact that Boston went too far right, he would have been with the three leaders at the first mark; instead he rounded 10th. Crime Scene started at the pin, stayed clean, worked the shifts on the left side of the course, and ended up 4th at the windward mark. The bad luck boat of the race was Second Wind with Don andJean Bergman of Holland. They fouled at the committee boat end of the starting line, did a 720, went all the way left, and fouled again at the windward mark after they had worked their way back up the fleet to 5th. Bob McGrath on Wave Length then rounded 5th, with Tom Moore, from Indiana, sailing Past Tense, right behind him, and K2 from Holland, with Jeff and Doug Padnos, moving in to 7th.On the run, the leaders again went west, with Elliott and Cheresh holding on to nice leads in 1st and 2nd place. Dave Grover went too far left, and dropped to 4th. The Padnos team moved up to 5th. At the finish Grover went right and took 3rd, while K2 took 4th. Crime Scene tried a port tack 5th place finish, fouled and dropped to 10th. McGrath took 5th, while Spike Boston moved up for a 6th, and the Moore team finished 7th. Race three was postponed till Friday because the wind was getting very light. 3rd RaceOn Friday, race three was started in a light SW breeze with one mile legs. Dan Van Dyke of Schnell from Holland, the Padnos brothers, Cheresh, Jim Grant sailing Hard Drive from Indiana, and Elliott, all started at the pin end. Brian Keith, McGrath, and the Wilcox team driving Bebop from Milwaukee, started in the middle of the line, with Keith being the first to go right. Spike Boston started at the committee boat and looked slow; he and Bob McGrath went to port for a few minutes, tacked back to starboard and got a great lift. First Cheresh, and then Padnos, tacked and played left of middle, and when they tacked back to starboard near the first mark, Jeff and Doug Padnos were in the lead. Elliott stayed left, and when he and Spike Boston came back, they were in good shape. At the first mark, K2 led, followed by Cheresh, Grant, Van Dyke, Spike Boston, Elliott, McGrath, Wilcox and Keith. Dave Grover, who had gone way right, got around 10th. Around the offset mark, it was Padnos, Cheresh and Van Dyke. With a fantastic spinnaker jibe at the offsetmark, Bebop moved to 4th. On the run Padnos and Cheresh played the middle, while Grant went far right, andVan Dyke went left. At the leeward mark Cheresh moved into 1st place, Padnos 2nd, and Boston 3rd. Elliott moved into 4th, while Van Dyke dropped to 5th. On the last windward leg, it paid to stay left; those who stayed right were hurt. At the finish it was Cheresh, Padnos, Boston, Elliott, Wilcox, Grover, Moore, Bob Brogein Spike, and a fast closing Don and Jean Bergman. 4th RaceIn race four Spot and Crime Scene started in the sagging middle of the line, had room to tack to port after the start, cleared the fleet, and left the rest of the competitors behind. The pack at the pin end, which included McGrath, Broge, Van Dyke, Boston, Grover, and Jim Oosterhof in Exit, tacked to port a few minutes after the start, and came out well at the first mark. Elliott and Wilcox were at the committee boat end of the line and got burned. Wilcox was protested here, and did not know it, so he didn't contest the protest after the race and was disqualified. The only boats that did well going left were Boston, Broge, and Van Dyke, all of whom were up front at the first mark. At the first mark it was Cheresh, Keith, Broge, McGrath, Van Dyke, the Peterson team on Sadie Hawkins, Padnos and Boston. Grover was 13th. Van Dyke stayed on the west side of the course and moved up to 4th at the leeward mark. The last beat to the finish started out as a reach, and ended with a couple of short tacks at the finish. Cheresh won, followed by Keith who flew his chute for half the leg, Broge, Van Dyke and Boston. A hard-driving Grover came in 6th, and Jimmy Oosterhof, who moved up from 10th place, finished 7th. 5th RaceIn the last race, the pin end was heavily favored, and those at the pin end got a big header at the start, flopped on to port, and had clear air. Of these boats, the ones which kept taking short hitches to the left really did well.Dan Cheresh played the shifts, and was the first at the weather mark, followed by Boston, McGrath, Padnos,Wilcox, the team of Rooke/Waugh in Tsuname, the Schmidt team in QED from Racine, Mike Kiss from Holland in Twolips, Elliott and Grover. On the last windward leg, the left-hand side of the course turned out to be the worst side, and several boats which had moved up into the top ten at this point got hurt. Cheresh stayed in the middle of the course, and at the finish it was Cheresh, Boston, McGrath, Wilcox, Elliott, Padnos, Broge,Schmidt, Moore and Grover. On Saturday, the race committee chased the wind for two hours before canceling the sixth race, leaving the fleet with five races and no throw-outs. The awards dinner was great, and Gary Hendricksen, who did a GREAT job as Regatta Chairman, presented the awards. |
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JK 08/20/1999
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