Results

For 2002 Results Archive, click the link

10/4/03 Sail for Hope. Honking wind, foul weather. Very shorthanded, we decided that discretion is the better part of valor, so we watched everyone else get beat to crap from Rob's kitchen. Given all the carnage in that race and the unpleasant conditions, I think the unamimous agreement was that we did the right thing staying home.

9/12/03 - Sail for Others. Weird race. Some guests on board, allegedly to help with sail trim. Mostly they were talented rail meat, since with the prevailing winds we never got above (or below) a close reach and were in no danger of actually flying a spinnaker in this there-and-back-again pursuit race. We did have an exciting photo finish with Eric Goetz's boat, but over all we did not fare well.

8/27/03 - EGYC Race #10. Coming in to this race, a few of us had already calculated that we needed at least two, maybe three boats to sink while fouling other boats in order for us to finish in the money for the summer. So what we said, and we went out and raced like hell anyway. Took a 2nd which is not too bad a way to finish the EGYC season, all things considered.

8/23/04 & 8/24/04 - NBYA Weekend #4. Ugly. Very breezy. I was writing my initials all over the bay. We located and clearly marked the missing spreader patch location on the number two. Fortunately they were able to fix that. After collecting a pair of not fast 6th place finishes, we decided that More of The Same on Sunday did not sound like much fun, so we bagged it.

8/20/03 - EGYC Race #9. Dinghy sailing. Or sort of, at least sailing without instruments. One of our better races, we pull of a 2nd place with you-know-who driving against us.

8/13/03 - EGYC Race #8. Lightning race. Very short handed (5 sailors plus one guest), we raced anyway. Coming into the last mark we were second. Unfortunately we were late taking the spinnaker down and let two boats get in for a 4th. But it was better than a DNS. However, on the way back a WICKED squall blew through. The wind clocked 180 degrees and jumped from almost dead to 40 knots in moments. Of course this was just as we were putting the main away. And the rain started too. Blinding sheets of rain. And the lightning. Worst of all, when we got in we tied up at the end of a dock to secure the boat. As we were working a nearby boat took a lightning hit, which jumped to Shadowfax and cooked most of the electronics.

8/6/03 - EGYC Race #7. This was a weird race. Two boats protested the Race Committee for messing up the start signal. Coconut restarted, Puff kept going in spite of being called over early. We finished second, but with the Redress given at a later date, I think Morning Dance and Puff got 1st, and we got 2nd with Coconut, although the web site does note reflect that adjustment correctly. I got a 2nd place glass for the night anyway.

7/30/03 - EGYC Ladies Race. We failed to defend our Class A title this year. Shelley drove and did a fine job, but we ended with a 5th place finish. We also arrived at the conclusion that there is not reason to have a non-spinnaker Ladies race.

7/23/03 - EGYC Race #6. We had some technical difficulties here in this race, not pretty. Wish we hadn't burned two of our throwouts...6th place.

7/19/03 - NBYA Regatta #3, See "Wheel Fell Off" note from 7/16/03. Still not fixed.

7/16/03 - Hornpipe. Wheel fell of the boat on Block Island when I was out with the family. So the boat spent a week or so on the Island awaiting parts and repair. This race got missed.

7/9/03 - EGYC Race #5. A very good race for us, 2nd place by :26 behind Puff. The details are a it...fuzzy. I really should ty and update this right after the races.

6/23/03 - 6/27/03: BLOCK ISLAND RACE WEEK. This gets a box of it's own.

In summary, we did far better at our first BIRW than I expected. We faced some stiff competition, but we came home with some good trophies and memories, and we learned a lot. And we had a really good time, but I suspect most of those pictures will end up in the "Crew Only" section...

3rd place in class isn't first, but we'll take it. This time.

Official Results - We're White Fleet, Class 4
Day One

Light wind, one race in the morning. The crew of Shadowfax is stunned when we win our first BIRW race ever. 3:00+ on raw time against the next 40.7 to cross. We weren't quite sure what to make of it.

Class Standing: 1st Place
Day Two

Light wind. One race. Payback for Monday. Wretched start, slow boat speed. Sixth place finish. At this point we were rather hoping we'd get enough races in for the throwout becuse this one was a stinker.

Class Standing: 3rd Place
Day Three

Wind! Three races, all done well.

Race 1: Third place. We weren't unhappy, our worst of the day though.
Race 2: Great race for us, another bullet. Some tight roundings and a close finish.
Race 3: Second place, more close and tight racing.

Class Standing (w/ Throwout): 3rd (1st)

At this point we know that barring a complete lack of wind on one day, we should have throwout coming.
Day Four

More light wind, one race only. We weren't thrilled without our sailing, and take a third.

Class Standing (w/ TO): 3rd (2nd)
Day Five

Only one race was expected for the day. We come into this day knowing several things:

1) We MUST beat Down Time outright to tie them, and we lose the tiebreaker even if we get first.
2) We MUST beat Down Time by two places to win the week.

Race 1: The good news as that we beat Down Time, but not by enough to break the tie. The REALLY bad news is that one of the 36.7's slipped into second place on adjusted time, allowing Dame Blanche beat us by two places, not one. This then leaves a three way tie for first in the division

We were surprised to be sent for a second race, but thrilled, since by then we'd realized the three way tie situation and also figured out that we came out the worst in the tiebreaker, with fewer firsts than Down Time and fewer seconds than Dame Blanche. Race 2 is fairly vivid in my memory, since it was kind of painful.

Race 2: Start sequence is down to about 1:20 or so, and suddenly and inexplicibly the R/C puts up the A/P flag and kills our sequence. We don't know if this is the end of the racing for the day or what, but our momentum took a hit as we sailed about the comitte boat awaiting our fate. . We were then resequenced after a few minutes, and the fun began. For the first time ever, we were over early. Then it took us three (3) dips under the line to convince the R/C that we'd actually started. By this point, we were behind the whole fleet. We sailed hard, and clawed back to fifth, but it was not enough since Dame Blanche took another bullent, and Down Time had a 4th. We finished bow to bow with Down Time, but we owed them time.

Final Class Standing: 3rd place

6/18/03 & 6/25/03 - We miss two EGYC series races, blowing two of our throwouts. The first one, the boat was on the hard getting our bottom fixed, the second we were at Block Island Race Week.

6/14/03 - NBYA Race #2. Alas, again no new spinnaker. We are 4th by :35 seconds, not quite catching Craig's boss. We think we found those seconds though...ugly last rounding. Official Results.

6/11/03 EGYC Race #2. Fun w/ Mirage. B.J's out of town, Craig's drivin', still no new chute. Some enthusiastic shouting and a rough and tumble start take us to the protest room. Complete confusion and mayhem ensue, but the protest is thrown out, thereby preserving our sixth place finish. Official Results.

6/4/03 - EGYC Race #1. New chute still in the shop, although we're paying the 4s penalty. Near collision at the start, we almost get to pile Puff right into the committe boat. They were wrong, we had to do a crash tack and gybe to avoid the collision. Neil does the gracious thing and withdraws so we don't have to protest him, although that didn't do much for our poor start. We end up missing 3rd place by :01 on adjusted to Morning Dance. Official Results.

5/31/03 - Liberty Regatta. I guess we were third. Only three PHRF boats. We didn't beat any of them. Blew off Sunday because, well, it looked too miserable to do for what we'd get out of it. A good time in spite of the wind delay. No spinnakers destroyed, so I consider that a plus. We actually got a nifty trophy for this one, but it feels more like a Certificate of Participation, given the circumstances.

5/28/03 - EGYC Tune-up Regatta. Interesting night. We were second, after the general recall for Class A we started last. We were quick, passed every boat and got cross the line first. But we were beaten by Coconut on adjusted. And of course we whacked the new spinnaker for the second straight time, and lost a key crew member from the team for good after the race. Sort of killed the afterglow of a second place finish. Official Results.

5/24/03 - FIGAWI. 4th in class, 2nd in the team race. Good job. I'm certain no drunken debauchery followed in the victory celebration.

5/18/03 - Pret Gladding. 6th of about 28 boats. Non spinnaker pursuit race. We did pretty well until we got too close to Prudence (twice). First time there was a distinct lack of wind and we got passed by the guys in the middle. The second time we found a rock on the south end. Oops.

5/17/03 - NBYA #1. The good news is that we carry a 3rd place finish into the full series. Unfortunately there were only three boats in the class. And the brand spanking new chute got trashed. At least it was at the end of the downwind leg. We were pretty quick though.

5/13/03 - AHYC Spring Race #4. 5th of 8, but at least we crossed the line in about the right order (2nd, after Timberwolf).

5/6/03 - AHYC Spring Race #3. Painful race. We were very fast until the wind completely died. We withdrew in order to beat everyone else back to the bar. Good thing the tide was going in instead of out or no one would have finished.

4/29/03 - AHYC Spring Race #2. A race of sublime ugliness - and that's not just the Cat in the Hat spinnaker I'm talking about. 1st time out for the season, no practices. "Not Fast" is a charitable description. At least Relentless wandered off into the sunset instead of finishing so we avoided the dreaded DFL.