Block Island Race Week

So, Team Savasana is off to Block Island this week http://www.blockislandraceweek.com/. It will be the first time I have skipped this regatta in 4 years, but I am happy to be here with the mommy-to-be. Savasana is the defending champion of Block Island Race week as we won the event last year by a nice margin of 11pts. The crew on this year's boat is a little different than in the past. We have two new-comers Marykate Moniz from Marion, MA (my old crew from high school sailing) and Harcourt's brother-in-law, Brad Taylor from Charleston, SC. The rest of the crew are regulars Brian Keane (Marion/Weston, MA), Harcourt Schutz (Guilford, CT), Mike Danish (Corpus Christi, TX) and Jon Colarusso (Charleston, SC).

A view of the party tent at BIRW

Days 1 and 2

There are 24 J105's at this year's BIRW and 183 boats total. After 3 races "Savasana" currently sits in first with 6pts (1,3,2 finishes) with a comfortable lead over second place "Arbitrage" with 13pts (7,5,1 finishes). Yesterday was the "Around the Island Race" where all 183 boats race around Block Island (14.831 nautical miles). Savasana has won the last two around the island races ('05 & '06) and just missed the three-peat yesterday as they were edged out by "Arbitrage" by just a few seconds on a shortened course. The team is confident that if they race was not shortened, they would have had the win no problem...woulda coulda shoulda!

J105 start for the around the island Race

I pirated this shot from the Schutz's blog who pirated it from Tim WIlkes wesbite http://www.timwilkes.com/

Another Tim Wilkes photo. From front to back: Marykate, Jon, Harcourt, Brad, Mike and Brian.

Day 3

There are still 6 races to go over the next 3 days. This morning's report from Harcourt said that it's "windy, foggy, and cold"....that's the June weather on Block Island that we all know . best.

Looks like Brad got stuck with the tiller up on deck in the rain. Is he praying to the rain God's to make it stop?

While Brad's up on deck in the rain, Jon and Harc are nice and dry below waiting for the racing to begin for the day.

The team won the first race by quite a distance on this rainy and cold day giving them a total of 7 points after four races still in first place over one of our regular rivals "Eclipse" who is tied with "Morning Glory" and "Andiamo" and "Arbitrage" with 21 points each after 4 races.

The second race proved to be a real challenge as the team crossed the line with an 8th. However, the fleet was very scattered and even some of the other top boats (Eclipse did not finish, Morning Glory finished 20th) had much worse scores. As bad as the 8th place finish sounds, Savasana still "won the day" with the scors 1, 8 by one point over "Andiamo" (7,3) who wins the tie breaker with more 3rds over "Woody"( 5, 5). Apparently they were in 3rd to last around the first windward mark after a tough start and having to exonerate themselves (by completing a 720 degree turn) after fouling another boat in a Port/Starboard situation. Still, they managed to pass 16 boats in the race to get 8th.

Savasana now leads the pack with 15 pts. over second place "Andiamo" who has 24pts and third place "Woody" 27pts.

After the first race tomorrow (the 6th race) everyone will be allowed to drop their worst score, so things will REALLY get jumbled up. However, as long as Savasana stays around the top 10, they should still be on top.

Day 4

Well, it's the first day of summer and if the weather in Boston is in any way indicative of the weather on Block Island then it's perfectly clear, beautiful and breezy. I haven't heard from the team yet, but I did get some photos from last night. They are clearly having a good time.

Savasana heading out the cut of the Salt Pond for Day 4

Just got this picture above from the team. Looks like a beautiful day. Maybe they'll actually get some races off on time for once. Apparently the wind has been very shifty.

OUCH! So, they finished 13th in the first race (6th race total) of day four. Looks like they'll have to keep that 8th they got yesterday. Not sure what happened this race, but it was reported that the winds were light again, so it appears that they missed a shift or got caught on the wrong side of the course.

Brian was quoted in this morning's BIRW Press Release as saying "We're moving quick; just can't make the big mistake". Well, not a big mistake, but the regatta is definitely much closer. With a drop accounted for Savasana sits in first with 15pts and close behind in 2nd is Kinscem with 18pts (finished 1,1 in the last two races) and then "Andiamo" with 20pts. Just confirmed....they were caught on the wrong side of a huge shift that put them from 4th to 13th.

Thaaaat's better. Savasana finished 1st in race #7 . In second was "Kinscem" followed by our friend's from Annapolis on "Tenacious". So, Savasana still leads the event with 16pts after the drop, but after a solid day by last year's second place boat "Kinscem" (1, 2 on the day), the margin is cut to 4 pts as "Kinscem" sit in second place again with 20pts. In third place is "Andiamo" with 27pts. Two more races tomorrow (we think) and with a big fleet and shift breeze it's still anyone's race.

Day 5

Another beautiful day here in Boston. It's very breezy, I am wondering if they're getting the same thing down on Block Island. It's about 1030 EST right now and their frist start, if on time, is usually around 11. I just got an email from Harcourt that read "Is it bad when the water is coming in faster than you can bail?". Apparently when they got to the boat this morning (late as usual) they opened up the cabin top and looked in to find everything, including the dehumidifier floating. They took on a TON of water over night and had to bail it all out just to get the engine started. They finally did get it started and got out to the race course. They figured out that the seal around the shaft for the prop was broken and was letting in quite a bit of water. According to Mike, they were about 3 threads away from losing the shaft/prop entirely...not sure how something like that happens on it's own...

Photo from Tim WIlkes Photography http://www.timwilkes.com/

The first, and come to find out the only, race of Day 5 was a 5 legged 10 mile race that they started with about 22kts of breeze. Savasana got off the start but could not keep pace the first upwind leg and ended up 10th around the first mark with "Kinscem" (the boat that is only 4pts back) in fifth. If things were to stay that way, Kinscem would take the regatta by a point. However, on the downwind leg the wind kicked up to about 26kts. Because the team has been sailing J105's together for years now, we know that 26kts is a magical number. Time to take the "High Road" or "Do the Dance" as we call it. The "low road" is the most direct angle to the leeward mark, but once the wind kicks up around 26+ the high road is much faster and becomes more adventageous than trying to sail the closest angle to the mark. The high road is a little riskier as it is very easy to crash and burn, but the team knows they have solid boat handling. So, they took the high road and passed 5 boats on the downwind leg rounding the leeward mark in fifth. Kinscem passed two boats and rounded in third. The team did their best to keep Kinscem as close as possible holding onto their fifth while Kinscem could not crawl any higher than 3rd. That was it! Savasana wins the 2007 Block Island Race Week! Two years in a row!!!

L to R: Harcourt, Jon, Brad, Marykate, Mike

Congrats to the team...I wish I were there to celebrate with you all!

To learn a big more about the J105 Class, you can go to http://www.j105.org/

Charleston - National Champs Again!

My alma mater, the College of Charleston, just one the National Collegiate Sailing Championships held at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD for the SECOND YEAR IN A ROW edging out Dartmouth in the final race.

An article from the CofC sport webpage is quoted below. Congrats to the team and especially to Russ O'Reilly for taking the A-Division by storm.

"The College of Charleston Sailing Team used a first and second in the final two races in the A-Division to take home the 2007 ICSA/Gill Coed Dinghy Championship, the second in a row for the Cougars. CofC came back from third after the first day to win the regatta, held this week at the U.S. Naval Academy. Charleston finished with 225 points, with Dartmouth placing second with 234. With the win the Cougars take home the Fowle Trophy, the highest honor for a college sailing team.

The win was the 13th national title for the Cougars, having won two earlier this fall.

The duo of Russ O’Reilly and Megan Riddle, who sailed in the A-Division last season to lead the Cougars to the 2006 Dinghy Championship, posted 75 points in this year’s A-Division races, 36 points ahead of second-place Hobart/William Smith. Of the 18 races in this division, the Cougars placed in the top five in 13 of them. Three of those were wins, including the second to last race of the day.

“I am really proud of our team for being able to repeat as champions, especially in an away venue, and one that we knew would be tough,” said Head Sailing coach Ward Cromwell. “I am especially excited for Russ (O’Reilly) and Megan (Riddle) who probably sailed the best of their careers this week. I knew it would come down to the last race, and it did. Our team excelled at the end and came through with the win.”

The team of Brendan Healy, Britney Haas and Julia Southworth sailed in the B-Division, placing 10th with 150 points, just 19 points out of the top five. They placed in the top 10 in all but six races, winning the sixth race and placing third in the first and 13 races.

The Cougars took home the Fowle Trophy for the fourth time, and first since 1997-98. The winner of the Fowle Trophy, the highest honor a college sailing team can receive, is determined based upon the best cumulative performance in the six North American Championships – the six are the Men’s Singlehandeds, the Women’s Singlehandeds, Sloops, Women’s Dinghies, Team Race and Coed Dinghies. Charleston won the Women’s Singlehandeds, the Sloops and the Coed Dinghies, while placing second in the Women’s Dinghies and sixth in the Team Race.

“I am also excited for the team having won the Fowle Trophy. It is a testament to the dedication and effort our team has put forth this season.”"

Charleston Race Week

We'd be remiss if we didn't add at least something in our blog about sailing. Eric recently travelled to the city of his alma mater Charleston, SC for "Charleston Race Week". Race week in Charleston is an annual event that usually takes place towards the middle - end of April....a great time to to visit one of the most beautiful cities on the East Coast.

Eric has sailed on a J105 (sloop rigged 33.5' boat) named "Savasana" on a regular basis for the past four years. He put his name on an "available crew" list for Key West Race Week back in Jan. '03, met the owner Brian Keane and has been sailing every event with Brian and the team since.

The racing in Charleston was sure to be very competitive. There was a total of 14 boats in the fleet, including the top four boats from Key West Race Week '07 as well as a new boat on the scene with a group of excellent sailors that Eric went to school with at Charleston. The Savasana crew consisted of the owner and driver, Brain Keane; regular team member and tactician for the event, Harcourt Schutz; Harcourt's long time friend and sailing buddy, Peter Ginz; and two recent alums of the College of Charleston's National Championship winning Woman's Sailing Team, Susan Lintern and Kelley Bowers.

The racing over the first day (Friday) was very tight and Savasana came in tied for 3rd overall. Not bad for going from 1st to 7th on the last leg of the first race! Thankfully, this regatta allowed for a "drop race" (drop your worst score) after six races. The team was hoping to get rid of that 7th by the end of the regatta. The race committee got everyone into shore very late on Friday after 3 races...which was a telltale sign that they were listening to the nasty forecasts for Sunday and quite possibly trying to get as much racing in as they could on Friday and Saturday.

Saturday was a great day...the team finished with a 1, 4, 3, which means the race committee got six races in! So, the team dropped the 7th and Savasana sat in first place by 1 point with (7), 5, 1, 1, 4, 3 as their scores.

Sunday...the team woke up and celebrated their victory as racing was cancelled for the day. The Sunday storm they spoke of came in and it brought some serious breeze. While Eric and the team love to go sailing...going out in a sustained 40.7kts (about 46mph) of breeze just isn't that much fun.

Eric had to miss the awards ceremony in order to try to catch any flight home that he could. However, Brian was there and was happy to receive not only the first place trophy for their fleet, but the team also received the a perpetual trophy called the "Charleston Race Week Cup" for the best overall One Design performance.

Eric is taking a little hiatus from sailing on the Savasana team this summer to spend time with Marin and the baby...he doesn't want to be anywhere too far away when baby Knight decides to arrive! However, he will still be very much involved with coordinating the team and helping Brian out when he can. He is every excited to go out on a good note with a win at Charleston Race Week (2 years in a row!).