Go For The Gold Regatta Report

 

June 3 & 4, 2006

 

by Jim Mackey

 

10 Lidos sailed in the 2006 - 25^th annual - “Go For The Gold” Regatta at Scotts Flat Lake in the gold country June 2-3^rd.  Over 60 boats participated across all classes with starts for Ultimate 20, Catalina 22, Coronado 15, Buccaneer, Byte, Open Keel and Open Centerboard.   Sailors from Grass Valley/Nevada City, Sacramento, and the Bay Area came together sailing Lidos ranging from over 40 years old to practically new (hull numbers in the 200s to 6253), for a terrific regatta in a magnificent setting.  One participant was sailing a Lido for the first time, with 4 people aboard – 2 kids 2 dads and was chasing the fleet pretty well for how low the boat was riding in the water.

 

Saturday’s winds were light 3-7 mph and squirrelly, while Sunday was pretty steady at 9-12 mph, so there was something for everyone.  The RC got the racing off without postponement with two windward-leeward courses followed by a double W-L on Saturday and two triangle courses on Sunday.  Despite the large number of boats, the fleets spread out very well across the mile diameter course with clean starts thanks to the RC’s restricting the starting zone to only those who’s flag was up.  Separate start and finish lines also helped.

 

Local knowledge seemed to work against skippers in the first day’s races, as most of the local Lido sailors went far to one side of the course or the other – seeking wind off the trees I learned later.  But they found a less than those sailing the middle of the lake and tacking on shifts.  Nick and I stayed together in the middle and got a decent lead by the first mark.  In the first two races, the leaders changed spots several times downwind as a puff, brought those in back, up to cover the sails of those in front, and skippers jockeyed for position covering each others sails, getting inside, gibing to starboard for right of way – all the fun stuff.  It was whisker poles out, weight forward, with windward heel, all while looking for puffs that occasionally took the downwind legs from sailing before the wind, to reaches (port and starboard), to nearly close hauled at various points in the mile run to the leeward mark.   Up wind my daughter Sarah and I seemed to gain ground, as she really helped in calling lifts and headers to keep us right on the edge, pointing a little better than other boats.  I think our roll tacks also gave us a little more acceleration in the light air.

 

In the 3^rd race the wind seemed to shift enough that I thought one couldn’t cross the starting line on starboard tack, so I positioned at the pin for a port start.  Then the wind shifted back and I was a few seconds late to the line.  Richard was at the committee boat end moving with good speed on a starboard tack, close-hauled, pointing just a couple of degrees above the line.  It wasn’t looking good.  If I tacked quickly, I probably would loose what speed I had, not make the pin, and get run over by the fleet coming on starboard.  I hoped to dip Richard and get through, but he wasn’t coming quite fast enough to get behind him.  Sarah told me “tack now!”, but I hesitated too long, didn’t quite complete my tack in time, and Richard and I touched, rub rails.  So not only did I get to do a 720 on the line in front of everybody, but got several “I told you so’s” from my crew. J  Now we had to dig our way out from last place.  I was surprised to again see the leaders sail to port and starboard lay lines, and miraculously we found ourselves first around the ½ mile upwind mark.  We had a couple boat lengths on the next 3 boats who were tightly clustered, messing up each other’s wind and our lead opened up.  Sarah drove the boat from the second windward mark on, and we finished almost 5 minutes before the next 4 lidos who were seconds apart.

 

In one of Saturday’s races there was a port-starboard collision with light damage to the port Lido, but it was handled without incident or protest – testament to understanding, maturity, and the good nature of the skippers.  Between races, several of us (who had kids as crew packing water guns) went at it in a Naval battle for some cool-off fun.  After the last race of the day, a couple sailors went back out on the water to jump in and be towed behind the boats in an activity that gave new meaning to “drag race”.  With crystal clear water, at about 68 degrees, after a sunny light air day in the mid-80s, in a setting surrounded by miles of pine trees – this was the embodiment of the word “refreshing”.

 

We retired to dine on deliciously seasoned steaks, with a live band, and great company to discuss the day’s events.  Later hanging out by the boats we discussed sail trim, and boat improvement recommendations.  Our campsite was right on the water, just a short walk from the boat ramp, with other sailors in the campsites all around us.  Several Lido skippers & crew joined our campfire in the evening to share wine, stories, and s’mores. 

 

The next morning the wind was “on” when we woke up, so we knew we’d have a different kind of day, and wondered how the boats would stack up in a breeze.  With no throw-outs we wanted to sail conservatively (also known as “don’t screw up”).  There was a little unfortunate excitement as one Lido went over, and Rodney, graciously abandoned the race to come to her aid – the RC offered redress.  Then Richard’s chain plate screws sheared off at the jibe mark, bringing down the mast, and he was towed in by the safety boat.  It wasn’t extreme wind, but more a case of hidden corrosion choosing a bad time to fail.  We finished 1^st with Nick, John, & Jeremy grouped closely, a couple minutes behind. 

 

In the last race, watching the fleet ahead come to a dead stop at the windward mark #8 – near shore by a hill, we chose to overshoot the port lay line a bit to approach the mark from the windy side with reaching speed.  This “insurance” showed it’s value as Nick who had stayed closest to us in every race, went a little more to the right and found a personal wind hole and stopped for 3 minutes.  Looking back we wondered if something was wrong as boats passed him to right and left before he got the air to get around the mark.  John took second this time followed by Jeremy.

 

The full results are below.  This was certainly our best finish in any regatta – we seemed to have the good fortune to avoid mistakes and have the wind shifts help us out when we needed it.  Regatta photos from the on-water photographer should be posted soon.  We were thrilled to bring a chest of real sierra gold to Fleet 62 and will show it off at our next Fremont Sailing Club regatta – in the hopes of inspiring more of our fleet to drive only 3 hours for some excellent camping, fine sailing, and an overall great time.  We are making campsite reservations for next year NOW – call me if you want opinions on the best sites.  Perhaps Lido sailors in Morro Bay or other fleets would like to join us to make this an even bigger Lido event next year.

 

We look forward to hosting all of you in Fremont (Lake Elizabeth) for the District II Championship Sept 16-17.

 

 

Rodney placed ahead of Richard as redress for assisting capsize in race #4

More details here: http://www.nccn.net/~gcyc/2006FleetD.html

or here http://www.nccn.net/~gcyc/

 

THANK YOU to the GCYC, all those who helped make this possible, and the race committee and all the Lidos who drove up to make this fun!