Leukemia/Presidents Cup Results

9/08-09/2001

Regatta Report

Submitted by Jon Guth

This year's version of the National Capital Area Leukemia Cup and
President's Cup was by far the most fun for us out of any of the four
years we've been doing this event.  And not just because we ended up
winning, although that certainly helped.  We had the best weather and
sailing conditions that I can recall with sunny skies, temperatures
in the low-mid 80's, a nice southerly breeze, and high-tides most of
both days.  And I can't stress enough how nice it was to have those
high tides as they all but eliminated what I'll call the "Hydrilla-
factor."  If you've sailed this regatta any of the last 2-3 years you
know what I'm talking about, but for those who haven't, imagine
trying to sail through a river of over-cooked spinach with little or
no wind, constantly having to raise your board to escape from it's
grasp. Only there's no avoiding it when there's a light-moderate
Southerly since you have to sail across the main patch of it in order
to get over to the heavily-favored right side near the Airport sea-
wall.  I don't know whether the industrial facilities are refraining
from dumping their nutrients in the Potomac or if the summer just
wasn't as hot or if it was the high-tide, but fortunately there
didn't seem to be as much Hydrilla this year as in past.

This was also one of the most well attended Leukemia/President's Cup
in recent memory with 21 boats. Several came from Annapolis, several
from Solomon's and of course the majority of boats were from the fast-
growing DC fleet.

Most of the credit for us winning this year should go to my crew. 
This year, as in the last four, I had Peter Rich in the middle
calling tactics and trimming the chute, with whom I've been sailing
for five years on his J-24 and on my Lightning.  Peter is a great
sailor from whom I've learned a lot and I always have full confidence
in him to make the right calls.  Jen Millar was in the front and did
another superb job just as she did when we sailed together at this
year's NA's.  Peter and I have finished something like 2nd, 3rd, and
4th in this event over the last three years so it was nice to finally
pull it off.

As far as the races, on Saturday we headed out in a building
Southerly and just before the first race saw the breeze out of 185 at
about 8-10 knots.  We were thinking about heading left into what we
thought was more pressure, started near the middle of the line with
an I-flag up right off the bat, and came dangerously close to being
over early.  There was some real uncertainty on the boat when the
Ind. Recall flag remained up even after Jamie Brickell went back, but
I was pretty certain we were well hidden under Carl Muska and a bunch
of others so we kept sailing.  The puffs and lifts on the left worked
out pretty well (one of the few times all weekend), and I think we
rounded second or third, dropped down low out of the rounding as the
chute filled and made immediate gains on the 1 or 2 in front of us. 
After getting in front, I believe we covered the rest of the way
around and as we approached what we thought was the finish, Peter
noticed another mark on the other side of the RC boat. After some
frantic discussion and quickly checking the SI's we headed up,
crossed the actual finish line, held our breath and received a gun,
confirming that we were not OCS.  A nice start to the regatta.  Jamie
with Team Brickell had come back like gangbusters from being over
early to finish third behind Carl Muska (who was unfortunately scored
OCS).

The next race we figured we'd go with what worked but this time
started further down the line a bit.  After a decent start we headed
left again and began to realize that the pressure was dropping.  Our
first attempt to get back across the middle was looking bleak and
after a hitch or two back out trying to seek the old breeze, we
rounded the weather mark about mid-fleet.  As the breeze had shifted
right 15 or so degrees on the way uphill, we did a quick jibe and
immediately gained on a pack of boats that were bunched up and
blanketing each other down the other side.  We continued to focus,
managed to get inside position at the left gate on a couple boats and
eventually ground our way back to third, closely covering a couple
boats up the favored right side. Team Brickell won the race easily by
immediately getting over to the right and Frank Gallagher was
second. 

After two W-L 4 leg courses, the last race of Saturday was a W-L 5
legger with an upwind finish.  We now realized that the right side
along the Airport sea wall seemed to be paying so we planned to start
near the boat to be able to tack quickly.  I managed to work us into
a good spot on the line and we got off cleanly at the boat. We tacked
off and got over to the right first and mostly short-tacked up the
sea wall, rounding right on Carl Muska's transom, who must have found
some nice puffs in the left-middle.  We had a good set and sailed
low, gybed on a little lift and got to the leeward mark just ahead of
Carl. On the final beat to the finish, Carl closed the distance on us
and engaged us in a tacking dual to try to get leverage to the
right.  We covered him tightly never letting him get much to the
right of us and held on to win.  Great job by Carl though who kept
coming after us and made us work hard for the bullet in that race.

The National Area Leukemia Cup Regatta (Saturday-only) was, as
always, a huge success in raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma
Societies and many nice awards were given to the top fundraising
boats (There was also a bigger-boat regatta going on down river). 
Lots of good live music, steamed mussels, one-dollar beers, and a big
silent auction on the banks of the Potomac were the highlights of
that evening's big party.  As a side note, they also gave the regatta
winners some nice trophies and we were proud to be a part of the
whole affair. 

Sunday brought overcast skies and lighter winds but a good forecast
for late morning/early afternoon. The RC did a great job to get us in
three more races, one Olympic, a short, triangle once around, and a
final longer triangle with an upwind finish.  The formula of starting
near the boat and heading right seemed to be the thing to do in the 5-
7 knot south-southwesterly breeze so we mostly played that out
successfully with the exception of the last race where I got us
buried down the line a bit and we had to fight our way back through
the fleet.  With the throw out coming after the sixth race, we were
mainly trying to not foul anyone and get around the course cleanly.

I'd like to thank Lightning Fleet 50, PRSA, and Washington Sailing
Marina for running a great event, and my crew of Peter Rich and Jen
Millar for getting us around the course and stellar boat handling. 
We'll be there again next year to return the Norman Schaller Trophy,
which they discovered we actually won after mistakenly awarding it to
the winner of another fleet.  We appreciate the correction.  I keep
coming back to this regatta not only because it supports such a great
cause, but also for the very interesting and different sailing
conditions we encounter on the tidal Potomac River.  I highly
recommend it!