Tag Fleet Captain

From the Fleet Captain, Heather Fahle

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From the Fleet Captain, April 2017

It’s finally spring again and things are really heating up on the race course!  Our Winter Series was a big success, with some pretty nice weather dealt to us. We are looking forward to a busy season!

The annual Valentine’s Day Race was a blast with seven “couples” crewing the race boats. Honors for the day went to Tim Kraft and Pauline Chetelet on Noble Savage and David Patterson and Dagny Boaz on Enjoy By II. Awards were towels embroidered with the DCYC burgee and the winners’ names on their towels. If you haven’t checked out the pictures of the day on the blog yet, please do so, as Marie did a beautiful job with the pics, as usual! She got quite a few kissy face pictures as well. Thank you Tonja for once again hosting a great race. We all missed Kelly out there, but I’ll bet that he was proud of you!

The Winter Series wrapped up with a total of nine boats on the line, and competition was fierce in the ranks.  When the dust settled, Matt Harden, Peter Brigatis, and Tim Kraft on When in Rome (known to many of you as simply, “Viper”) took the top spot, with bullets in five of the six races that they competed in. Dick Peters and his all girl crew came in second, and as a reward, and in a successful play to keep them happy, Dick has fitted Yoda with “facilities.” Jim Ryon, with first mate Dolores, edged the Fahles out for third. Next time, Jim Ryon, next time.

We’ve got a full calendar and a lot of fun races coming up this spring! You can find the full list on the DCYC website. In addition to the Spring Series, which starts on March 8, we have a variety of other races planned this year. We’ll several restaurant pursuit races, a couple of long distance races, some fat boat races, and a “Steeplechase Regatta” on Kentucky Derby day. Register and come race with us.

Racing at DCYC is not just about the time on the water. It is also a social experience. After each race, you will find the group hanging out by the grills, discussing the race, telling tales, laughing, and enjoying grilled foods and beer.

If you don’t want to race your own boat, or if you don’t have a sailboat, come aboard and crew. All experience levels are okay, including experience level zero. We always have skippers looking for crew. They’ll be happy to teach you what you need to do, and it’s a great way to learn. We’ll do our best to match you with like-minded racers.

See you on the water!

Race One of the Fall Series

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With fair winds and somewhat balmy temperatures (okay, it was hotter than heck out there), the fleet kicked off the fall series yesterday with some beautiful racing. The day also held its share of adventures and misadventures!

With fifteen minutes before the start of the first race, Dan Wolf on Scoots had a spinnaker halyard malfunction. While Dan was discussing the merits of the various ways to race without a spin halyard, Pauline Chetelet talked him into hoisting her up the mast to retrieve the wayward halyard. “Send you up the mast after the halyard? Sure, that would be great”, says Dan, rather unconvincingly, “except that I have no bosun’s chair. Sorry” Nevertheless, crew member Mike Barone quickly devised a harness from sail ties and up she went. While she was aloft, the hail flag was raised and it was time to check in. Scoots headed for the committee boat. “Is it legal to check in with a crew member up the mast?” Apparently, it is; although Scoots didn’t have to test that rule. Pauline, with spin halyard successfully in hand, was back on the deck before check-in.

The first race got off pretty much without a hitch except for a couple of over early starts. The second race was a little more eventful. With two protests at the start, it was shaping up to be a little more exciting. As the winds picked up and the race heated up, Matt Harden and crew on Fang found their wind. Fang was really moving. On the wrong course. Oops. Apparently, they had fun regardless of the DQ.

All told, it was yet another day of successful racing! 

— Heather Fahle, Fleet Captain