Saturday Series Soling on 10/23/2021
Western Reserve Model Yacht Club Saturday October 23, 2021 - at SPIRE: Steger, and Sieloff win
Saturday, October 23 was the next-to-last Saturday event for 2021. Again the weather forecast was dreadful- it was supposed to rain and rain steadily all day. But again, WRMYC was lucky. Starting with the Micro Magics at 10 AM, there were at times almost un-noticed light sprinkles. But one competitor called to see IF we were racing, since it was “pouring” where he lived, in Painesville Township. We assured him we were racing.
But again, the Club’s unwritten rule prevailed: “Come to the pond, more often than not, we sail.” For the rest of the day, we had just very sporadic sprinkles, allowing us to get in all 9 races for each Class. (It was a different story on the way home after about 2 PM. RAIN! And a lot of it.)
The Soling 1 Meter program started promptly at noon, again in very light air and rarely some light sprinkles.
It was critical to do three things (as always after a good Start): - keep the boat moving in the light air by careful boat tuning and good tacks; - stay on the tack which led you closest to the weather Mark right up to the end of the leg, so you sail on the favored tack most of the race, (“sail the long tack first”) and; - sail the offwind legs based on the course that allowed you to have your jib out “wing on wing”- even if that course was not a direct line to the Mark. This keeps boats speed up off the wind- you can always make the correction at the last few feet of the leg to round the Mark. RD Wyatt kept the program moving offering coaching and sometimes post-race analysis to help the newer sailors.
After all nine races it was David Steger in First, Rick Lawler Second, and Doug Rieger in First.
In the Soling 1 Meter Silver Fleet, we had just two sailors competing. Showing the whole grid of races will illustrate the dramatically closer competition between Ron Sieloff (the Season Silver Fleet leader), and Bob Kalman who is in Second for 2021:
Sieloff and Kalman were separated by a single racing point only because Sieloff had one more win. That’s why we should always sail an odd number of races. But, Bob K. has made very strong progress, especially the last half of the season.
All in all, a good day!!
Saturday, October 23 was the next-to-last Saturday event for 2021. Again the weather forecast was dreadful- it was supposed to rain and rain steadily all day. But again, WRMYC was lucky. Starting with the Micro Magics at 10 AM, there were at times almost un-noticed light sprinkles. But one competitor called to see IF we were racing, since it was “pouring” where he lived, in Painesville Township. We assured him we were racing.
But again, the Club’s unwritten rule prevailed: “Come to the pond, more often than not, we sail.” For the rest of the day, we had just very sporadic sprinkles, allowing us to get in all 9 races for each Class. (It was a different story on the way home after about 2 PM. RAIN! And a lot of it.)
The Soling 1 Meter program started promptly at noon, again in very light air and rarely some light sprinkles.
It was critical to do three things (as always after a good Start): - keep the boat moving in the light air by careful boat tuning and good tacks; - stay on the tack which led you closest to the weather Mark right up to the end of the leg, so you sail on the favored tack most of the race, (“sail the long tack first”) and; - sail the offwind legs based on the course that allowed you to have your jib out “wing on wing”- even if that course was not a direct line to the Mark. This keeps boats speed up off the wind- you can always make the correction at the last few feet of the leg to round the Mark. RD Wyatt kept the program moving offering coaching and sometimes post-race analysis to help the newer sailors.
After all nine races it was David Steger in First, Rick Lawler Second, and Doug Rieger in First.
In the Soling 1 Meter Silver Fleet, we had just two sailors competing. Showing the whole grid of races will illustrate the dramatically closer competition between Ron Sieloff (the Season Silver Fleet leader), and Bob Kalman who is in Second for 2021:
Sieloff and Kalman were separated by a single racing point only because Sieloff had one more win. That’s why we should always sail an odd number of races. But, Bob K. has made very strong progress, especially the last half of the season.
All in all, a good day!!