(Chicago, IL)- The second day of the International J/111 class's first
North American Championships dawned with no breeze, a spectacularly
sunny, cool day and lots of on-shore activity keeping the crews
entertained. Why? Because Friday is practice day for the famous
Chicago Air & Water Show that takes place Saturday and Sunday and
attracts well over one million people to the spectacular Chicago
waterfront to watch all sorts of insane human pyramids going six levels
on water skis and innumerable aerobatics displays by fighter jets,
bi-planes and simply crazy helicopter stunts doing barrel-rolls and
inverted fly-overs!
With a harbor postponement that lasted until 12pm, the CYC PRO wisely
waited for the classic summer sea-breeze to develop from the ESE. By
1300 hrs the first race was off in a building SE breeze of 5-6 kts. The
wind shifted dramatically a number of times with breeze lanes forming
in both corners of the course. As the breeze clocked further left to
115 degrees (a bit unusual, but not unlikely) the fleet was having to
contend with dynamic fleet scenarios that saw many boats going deep into
corners only never to be seen again. As a result, there were some
substantial changes in the standings after the results of day two on the
water.
Moving into first place by virtue of an outstanding day on the water was
Richard Lehmann's "wind wizards" on the mighty WINDCZAR from Little
Traverse YC in Harbor Springs, Michigan. Their 2-1-5 record was added
to their 1-3 on day one to put them 8 pts clear in first place with 12
pts total. Having a less "smokin hot" day was Len Siegal's LUCKY
DUBIE. While sailing a brilliant last race of the day, the first two
races were simply forgettable. After posting a 9-7-1, the Lucky
Dubsters dropped into second with 20 pts total. Third is now the famous
red boat called MENTAL piloted by Paul Stahlberg and gang from
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Their very consistent 5-2-6 pulled them into
third overall with 28 pts.
The forecast for Saturday's racing will be most interesting-- first
because of Chicago's festivities. While the J/111 crews were on the
water, the CYC PRO announced to everyone that Saturday's starting line
would be at least 4 nm further east into Lake Michigan and, if we went
far enough, might have to bring our passports for Canadian customs and
immigration control! Just kidding. But, the simple reason for the
announcement was that with a million people on the waterfront of Chicago
and another quarter million party-crazy boaters watching the Chicago
Air & Water Show from the water in all manners of floating things
like inner tubes, kayaks, inflatable swimming pools, inflatable
king-sized air-mattresses, a few million SeaRays and Bayliners plus 200
ft mega yachts and every in between, it was probably best to steer clear
of them all!With regards to the weather conditions, theoretically the forecast shows easterlies blowing on-shore in the morning at 4-7 kts, building and backing to the ENE by late afternoon. In short, local knowledge has clearly shown that it hasn't helped in the last two days. So, perhaps throwing all caution to the winds, we may see some locals simply hit the left corner hard to see if it pays off! One wonders.
The one interesting statistic that pops up again after the second day of racing is how close and how competitive the sailing has been amongst the fourteen boats. Now, ten of fourteen boats have posted finishes in the top five! That's simply unheard of in ANY one-design fleet. More fun and games for the crews tomorrow.
Sailing photo credits- Meredith Block @ Blocksail.com
Social media credits- Alan Block @ Blocksail.com
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