Sunday (05/27/07) Sorry teammates there are a lot of holes in this logbook that mus be shored-up to make it complete. Anyhow, just got a text message from Coach Rick that Tim and Pete representing the Rough Riders came in 6th at Figawi 420 Invitational Championship on Nantiucket Island today! Nice going guys!
Friday - (05/11/07) Normal break day the team gathers after school to refit the sailing shack and make tiller repairs. Where is BMc's flag?
Thursday - (05/10/07) Harwich 3, Nantucket 1
Fun Facts! Race delayed as oil barge is towed to dock at the Boat Basin. Thick Fog abated and 15 knot breeze moderated as Harwich controled Nantucket led by Pete Sawyer to find its third win on the season. Tim Adams with Max Dowgiallo, and then Brittany Hannon as the wind lightened, repeated his efforts in the middle of the pack to leverage teamates Gillian Smith with "Code Man" DeGroff, Kristen Walther and Leanne Veary from the back of pack while Pete Sawyer and Glenn sailed on to anchor Harwich at the top. At one point in the forth heat Gillian and Leanne shot from last to first on the reaching legs only to be rolled in a misplayed trap attempt. All neat, thrilling, unstable wins against a determined bunch of Whalers led by Annie Sager kept both benches glued to the racing as it unfolded. Consolation heat was skippered by Kristin with Madison Bennett, Janelle Veary with Tim, and Gillian with Sami Sawyer. This was Harwich's third consecutive win. Many thanks to Coach Nick Judon's hospitality and cookout for both teams after the race at his waterfront home. We race Nantucket at home Monday.
Tuesday (05/08/07) Practice cancelled. Too much wind! Coach Rick Paulus has determined that Peter Sawyer is deserving of being Co-Captain with Gillian Smith and has appointed him to this important post. Congratulations Pete!
Friday (5/4/07) Holy smacks Batman! We beat Falmouth. We are awaiting details from Coach Paulus.
Thurday (5/3/07) A good team racing practice with enough people. Tim, Pete, Gillian, Kristen, Glenn and Coach Rick driving with Janelle, Brittany, Leanne, Code Man, Sami and Coach Leach crewing. Wind is Nw 5-10 water temp 52F air temp 65F. A great afternoon we work on covering opponents and weather sheeting. Also, working in traffic close to the line before the start.
Wednesday (5/2/07) Practice
Tuesday (5/1/07) - EAST SANDWICH - Blue Knights Stave Off Rough Riders. Sandwich sailors finished 1-2 in the first,second and fifth races, fending off Harwich squad enroute to a 3-2 victory in the face of shifting winds on Lawrence Pond. Skipper Rob Gallagher teamed with Chris Monte to lead the Blue Knights in the opening race while Dan Marshall and Mike Watt keyed the second win. Harwich won the third and fourth races, but Marshall and Nikki Favret led Sandwich to victory in the deciding race.
Monday (4/30/07) Nauset 3, Harwich 0. - The Warriors sailed to a 4-2 record with a sweep of the Rough Riders yesterday at Town Cove, where teams were met with a 6-10 knot breeze out of the South-Southeast. Pete Sawyer and Janelle Veary were a strong pair for Harwich. Nauset had strong performances from Matt Haas and Nick Riggiere, Neal Drake and Tess McCarthy, as well as Amanda Schuermann and Tom Bruemmer.
Wednesday (4/25/07) Good weather and a good rival make for interesting sailing against Nauset. We lose 1-3 but not without a fight. Good effort by Gillian and Glenn and Pete and Britany almost staive off the Warriors.
Tuesday (4/24/07) Rick reports back race against Chatham at Stage Harbor is canceled and must be resailed due to a broken boat. Their fleet was busted up by the norr'easter over the weekend. Thank God we secured our boats. Still we practiced 2 on 2 against them and coach says we looked good with Tim and Pete on fire! Nauset today at home, let's "come out fight'in".
Monday (4/23/07) Back on the practice circuit and readying ourselves for racing the Blue Devils tomorrow all systems are go. Good steady southwest breezes and finally a decent outer harbor practice. First of all kudos to Max and Codie who stuck out a bad capsize and showed "when the going gets tough the tuff get going". They stayed with the down wind drifting rudderless 420 managing eventually to right the vessel and make it back to the line. Good starts showed team getting their act in gear skippers were Gillian, Peter, Tim, Max, Josh crewing janelle, Sami, Brittany, Josh, Glenn. Coaches Rick and Tom filled out gaps and coach from the ways. Felt good to be back on the water. Water temperature this afternoon has finally busted 50°F, currently 56°F. Team is itching to doff dry suits. What a difference a couple weeks make in Springtime. After racing, Sami, janelle and cody put on a swimming demonstration being towed back to the dock after practice. Cute but not productive. Coach Leach's new logo for the Rough Rider team is "Come out Fighting". Something he read about a WWII army tank battalion.
Thursday (4/12/07) We are swept heavily by DY sailors, but not without going down hard against a well groomed team. Shifting winds in the first race set up a follow the leader race with Pet Sawyer and crew managing a second finish. The next two races DY went straight 1-2-3 finish. This video is of the first heat before we reset the marks.
Wednesday (4/11/07) Yikes! We actually get a decent practice day in the first this Spring. Wind Southwest at 10 knots, temp 50F. Boats are sized up: Tim/Sami, Pete/Leanne, Tom/madison, Gillian/Cody, Josh/ Janelle, Max/Brittany. Coach Rick shifts team vessels between starts. We sail eight good heats with Gillian and Josh showing staedy improvement throughout the afternoon closing a noticeable gap. Skippers are warned of sailing in wind shadows and finding clear air. Several mark traps at the top also pay off. Get ready we sail Nauset at Town Cove tomorrow and it is suppose to blow!
Tuesday (4/10/07) Hard sailing against a tough team in medium air. DY High was able to control us from the start and on the first leg. However, Tim and Janelle unleashed in the second race rounding first at the weather and jibe marks. With Pete and Glenn in fourth position Tim attempted a trap to spring them but this fell apart. Good idea. We lose 0-3.
Monday (4/9/07) Yet another blowy day foiling our practice we are forced into Wychmere Harbor. Josh and Captain Gillian are honing their skippering skills in these brisk westerly. Pete and Max take a dunking!
Friday (4/6/07). Good Friday no school but we have to practice.
The small craft warning is down, but could it have been blowing any harder? My hat is off to the team members. Without intrepidation we mustered up and sailed on an adventure from Saquatucket to nearby Wychmere Harbor in 18-25 Knots W-NW puffs. Max and Glenn
very sharp. Tim you're the man and what can I say Leanne, Sami, Madison, Cody, Janelle... You guys all showed Rick and I you have the Right Stuff!
it may be hard to understand why this was important now, however, this kind of day is what tempers a team. Nice going! You guys Rock.
Thursday (4/5/07) Race called off with Nantucket due to Gale Warniungs.
Wednesday (4/4/07) Wind southeast and blowing 25 knots outside harbor temp 38F and waves capping. Tom Leach calls off practice. We race Nantucket tomorrow!
Tuesday (4/3/07) Our season 0-3 opener against excellent Martha's Vineyard at Home was very interesting and we came away with some satisfaction that we are not too far off the mark. The wind had moderated from the brisk southeaster on Monday but was still a steady 15-18 knots (temp 43F) out of the northeast and oscillating over 15 degrees every one to three minutes making it not so easy to not get on the wrong side of the shift, if you weren’t reading the phase. First heat, MV won the start and owing to our running light crews (Tim/Gillian, Pete/Janelle, and Max/Leanne) some of our boats were overpowered in puffs versus the MV all boy team and we finished 4-5-6. Second race, we changed out two boats and crews and solidified a much better situation with Tim/Gillian squirting out at the committee boat and Pete/Glenn at the middle line both boats in position 1-2. However, both boats dropped position due to either dead spot in the course or holding a veering tack too long. Josh/Madison was up wind of the start line after the 1-minute whistle and had a late start and seemed out-of-phase with the shifts in the first leg. By the jibe mark Tim and Pete had reeled in MV and enjoyed close racing at the leeward pin and should be happy with their close finish immediately behind the Vineyard 1-2 boats. The last heat showed Tim/Gillian off to a great start and Pete/Glen stuffing three MV port-tackers! Wow! Max/Cody late started. Tim led at the top mark as the easterly winds came on again and attempted a mark trap at the jibe mark in an attempt to leverage teammate Pete’s boat that was in fourth position, but this good idea failed and we were now running 4-5-6 to the finish but close on their tail. All in all, we came away from this loss with a lot to be happy about. We see we can stay at least in the hunt with a top team and considering the crummy weather so far at every practice our incremental improvements are obvious. Sailboat racing is among all things challenging and that’s what makes it exciting.
Monday (4/2/07) Another outstanding practice with 6 complete boat crews foiled by high wind and a tempestuous sea. Unable to find a decent lee in the E-SE breeze Coach Paulus attempts setting a triangle east of the main channel in capping seas. It is immediately obvious after Josh and Gillian capsize and roll the LEXINGTON four times then lose the rudder things are not going well. Meanwhile, Kristin and Brittany suffer nearly the same fate but keep on top (nice going girls). The decision is made to bailout the race still Peter/Glenn and Tim/Sami keep things very interesting and show true skill in screech planing conditions. Max/Janelle also maintained control in the breeze. Josh is pulled out of the water into Coach Leach/Cody's 420 while Gillian takes the boat to the east jetty. Later Mr. Leach sends Josh in with Cody then he and stranded Gillian clear the LEXINGTON to the beach by Carney House. Peter, Brittany, and Glenn get the dolly from the Harbormaster shed and secure the LEX reporting back that vessel is only scratched and serviceable. What fun!?
Saturday (3/31/07) A skeleton crew practice both today and Friday due to comitments of most many team mebers to the Class play Fame. Still we are managing to get some sailing and Pedte and Tim are shopwing well as being on the line and covering. First race is Tuesday against MV so we really need a full court - full team practice Tuesday.
Tuesday (3/27/07) Coach Rick reports another breezy day so he keeps boats inside the turning basin. He is pleaseed that students are sailing well and there were no capsizes. We need to start team racing asap. First race next week.
Monday (3/26/07) Coach Rick and Tom hold first day of practice and 5 boats and there crews are on the water in a 18knot breeze which kept us in the harbor. Skippering were Gillian, Josh, Pete, Tim and Kristen! teams quickly dusted off the rust and got down to some decent sailing with little hitches. Only one capsize the whole aftrernoon. Please, dry suits on everyone for now.
Thursday (3/22/07) Most of team musters to kget the masts up in 20 knots of cool moist breeze. We are missing some parts like kicking straps, clevis pins and tangs. However, minor set backs as we move forward. Wool hats, cloves and wool socks will be the order of the day. Also, team members have their drysuits but they have to provide their own life vest.
Wednesday (3/21/07) Team musters to launch 8 boats after school on a brisk afternoon. Tomorrow we shall step masts booms and maybbe , just maybe, attempt to sail. Freshmen enthusiatic!
Monday (3/19/07) OK the push is on. Quite a cold day,
Coach Paulus called the first meeting at the workshop to pull out the boats and issue dry suits. Tom T. has done an amazing job restoring six 420's so far. 12 sailors shuffled six boats outside and we halled another three from the front racks back into the back shop for Tom's careful assessment. Only two weeks to our first race so we need to get a moveon. We will have to deal with a myriad of small items like replacing traveler lines, hiking strap tie-backs and, scupper shock cords and tennis balls. A couple baots need new spreaders but all and all it looks like we're in good shape. Rick has measured for the new vessel names which are already proving of interest. We will muster again on Wednesday to try and get the float set-up and the first 420 dinghies to the harbor. See photos on Today Photos
Friday (3/16/07) Back from Costa Rica and looked in on the progress Tom T has made on the boats at the shop. He has done a great job reworking the broken transoms and gunwale issues on 6 boats . The gelcoat will be sanded and buffed out next. So we should have some sweet looking boats to start off. This snow storm upon us today may delay getting on the water, but that may be to be expected. Ordered 45' of new rubrail for the 420's this PM so they can be shipshape. TEL
Thursday - (3/1/07) Tom Telesmanick effects first fiberglass repairs on one of the 420's at the Harbormasters Shop. Tom Leach meets with our new coach Rick Paulus to go over details of repairs on some of the boats. Items discussed were naming vessels instead of confusing hull numbers, posibbly with the names of US presidents or Cape Cod names. Juniors Pete Sawyer and Glenn Mallory stopped by the shop to see what's up. Pete is enthusiastic about the upcoming season having had a successful summer sailing at Stone Horse. He wants us to encorporate some coaching ideas they used.
Friday - (3/2/07) Website updated with some new rule stuff. Also the Guest book has been improved.