Re: [505-usa-west-coast] Elvstrom Zellerbach report
505 American Section Webmaster
--Great weekend and a great report Rich, thanks for coming down!
As Tim said, Santa Cruz next, will be a good one, get your entry in here please: https://scyc.org/regatta/DFDiUYEoIm
From: <505-usa-w...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Tim Murphy <tmurp...@gmail.com>
Reply-To: "505-usa-w...@googlegroups.com" <505-usa-w...@googlegroups.com>
Date: Tuesday, May 17, 2022 at 7:57 PM
To: "505-usa-w...@googlegroups.com" <505-usa-w...@googlegroups.com>
Cc: Dave Kirkpatrick <da...@usa505.org>
Subject: Re: [505-usa-west-coast] Elvstrom Zellerbach report
So loquacious and eloquent. For a hoser! Kidding of course ( now I’m apologizing like a Canadian). One of the most memorable recaps Rich. Normally I’d say never let the truth get in the way of a perfectly good story, but this one needed no exaggeration. Great to see the awesome turnout, enthusiasm, and fantastic individuals who make the Class what it is. See you in SC.
Tim
On Tue, May 17, 2022 at 7:30 PM Richard Mundell <rsmu...@gmail.com> wrote:
Elvstrom Zellerbach 2022 - St. Francis Yacht Club - May 14-15, 2022
Last time I was asked to write one of these regatta reports it was all about memory issues. This one is about excuses.
We all have them. Well...except maybe for the first place boat in any regatta.
In this case, after five ever increasingly windier races over two days out on StFYC‘s picturesque, sunny, windy, and relatively warm racetrack, the team with no need for excuses was MikeH and RobW. They had a pretty convincing performance all-round; particularly in the windiest of races. Congratulations guys! It was impressive sailing. That's assuming you actually went around all the marks in both races on Sunday. Nobody I asked is actually sure as you were often too far in front to confirm! But, assuming you did round them, great job and thanks for all the input and advice you share all the time. Congratulations! We’ll keep chasing!
That all said, I think most of the rest of us had some pretty solid excuses for not beating Mike and Rob.
Starting with the runners up…
Despite being one of the four boats within 3 points of each other after Saturday’s three races Howie and Jeff had to settle for second. Their excuse for not winning? It was gusting over 25knots in the last race on Sunday and not much less than that in the race before. Despite that wind, they never placed lower than 4th in any race! Whether Howie likes it or not, I’m giving them the excuse that Howie is on the ++++ side of 65 and still kicking all our asses (but one) in a really windy, tricky regatta. Sure, Jeff’s an OK crew but come on, you’re a god and inspiration for all of us Howie! Great job you guys!
Tied for second but losing the breaker to Howie and Jeff were Mike and Caleb. Actually they have a pretty legit excuse as they pulled their vang out of their mast and missed the last race as a result (aren’t you an engineer Mike?). Noted, however, is that even with the rest of their results being in the top three and the plausible chance they may have gained a bullet instead of a retirement in that last race, Mike and Rob still would have had them. You need some more excuses Mike and Caleb! 😊
Fourth place went to Nick and Eric. Highly practiced, blazing fast, with a combined age that’s less than a number of the weekend’s individual sailors, the only excuse I can think of is the very tail end of puberty driven hormonal imbalances or something. But seriously, you guys are going to be a force for a long while in the class. Just don’t have any kids (see AJ and Blaine’s excuses below!). Awesome sailors who are completely dedicated, methodical, detailed…and with spectacular wipeouts downwind! That one you had while passing us will be talked about for a while. 😉
In fifth was Mike Punnett and Don Smith. Another ageism oriented excuse here in that their combined age is over 125 years!! I don’t even think there are scotches that old are there? Despite this excuse, they were super fast and high in all conditions - not so much when they were upside down mind you, but upright they were blazing! Even with a number of aggressive weed checks they still ended up in fifth and almost seemed to enjoy the capsizes…you could tell by the way Don just lay on the ground after coming in - presumably reminiscing the great times on…and in…the water.
In sixth place was Ted and Reeve. The only excuses I can think of for these talented dudes is that they’ve spread themselves too thin. Ted must have been distracted thinking about all the great skiing, mountain biking, flying, house projects and who knows what else was on his mind. Reeve’s no better as he tries to keep track of his own skiing, riding, kiting, and multiple 505 skippers he’s keeping happy. Focus guys! Focus!
In seventh was Bruce and I, and we have all kinds of excuses. Holtie will say it’s because I’m Canadian. Actually, there’s a few of you where that probably first came to mind. My response to you all is, "Take off you hosers! All of you!" One legit excuse is certainly having mud on the top of our mast. No idea how it got there (ahem!) but it must have created quite a bit of drag for the remainder of the racing. One more excuse. On the first day Aaron put a GoPro on our ram. It didn’t come to us at the time as our vanity was peaked by the opportunity to be famous in video but in hindsight it’s clear now that Aaron put it there to weigh down our bow. That’s two excuses (three if you’re a hoser counting the CDN factor!) Need I offer more?
Eighth went to Tim Murphy and, new to the 505 crew but still weighing no more than a 470 crew, Josh Goldberg. As for excuses, a pretty good one is that their combined weight was about 320lb (I’m guessing. Maybe Tim’s more solid than I think). Beyond that it’s clear that Tim’s focus is predominantly on his kids who managed first AND second in the 420 class. BTW, he’s looking to adopt a third so that they can go after a Murphy family podium sweep at next year’s 420 worlds so if anyone has a talented teenager to sell, he’s buying. If the kid complains or threatens to report you for it, tell them about Tim’s Porsche and his new Ocean Rodeo A-Series kite gear that’s 40% lighter than dacron air-framed kites and wings (please excuse the shameless plug and free advertising by me!)!
Ok. Getting close and my flight home only has an hour to go.
In ninth place was Ryan Nelson and Mike Bishop. These guys are really on the up curve in their overall performance. They are continuously getting better, faster, and are more consistently in the hunt all the time. So, for that reason they don’t really need an excuse. That and also it was nothing but excuses from Ryan when we were in Bellingham so I think he may have just exhausted himself with the excuses there! Ha ha, kidding Ryan! Your boat problems there were real - but you are a professional rigger after all so if anyone could have McGyver’d them…. 🧐😉
Next was Ian O’Leary and Matt Merchant. Their excuses are easy to identify. Matt will need to confirm but I’ll bet that Ian never, ever stopped talking about how excited he is about his new boat and the fact that the worlds are in his home town (or county at least) this summer. Ian’s buzz about this 505 season is highly infectious and likely causing issues with the seismic monitors throughout the Bay Area. I doubt there was any conversation on the boat the entire weekend that wasn’t about Ireland or the new boat. Matt was probably suggesting tacks and Ian’s response was ‘YES! Yes! I’m going to tack all over the place in Ireland! I’ll show you my tacks, my favourite pub, my summer home, my sheep, my beloved fricken homeland!! God I love this boat! What did you say?!”
Matt’s other excuse was he was day dreaming places to leave all his gear behind at STFYC. 😉Hope you got it back Matt!
In eleventh we had AJ and Blaine. The race results for AJ and Blaine don't tell the real story. The sixth place they had in the 2nd race of day one is much more indicative of where they were at multiple times throughout the event but alas, here come the excuses. Both of their excuses are that they have kids - lots of kids. Not just lots of kids, but very young, very active, boys! I hereby submit that they will both be excused 100% for the next 6-7 years. By that point, they’ll finally move closer to Tim Murphy’s excuses which are not quite as solid but still acceptable. There will come a time when all five boys combined will start to dominate the youth sailing scene themselves and AJ’s and Blaine’s kid excuses will become more occasional…maybe. It depends whether the kids go straight into 505s and the Conrad/Pedlow teams are then owning, transporting and rigging 4 or 5 boats at each event instead of only two. BTW, the reason Ted doesn’t have the same excuse as AJ (I’m presuming) is because he’s kiting, biking, skiing or flying most of the time! 😜 One other excuse was that AJ was driving a borrowed boat in the big breeze (fast and high the many times we were chasing behind them). This was with purchase systems designed for MikeM and Reeve who now owns the boat, not AJ. I think it’s even a skipper hoist/douse boat, isn’t it? An impressive feat by any measure but especially in those conditions. The new boat waiting for AJ in the UK should be a dream but don’t worry AJ, you’ll still have that 'kids' excuse whenever needed for the next 6-7 years! Use it!
And finally Aaron and Rob. It was great to see you two again after such a long time. Rob it was awesome to see you out and enjoying the boats that we all love again. We’ve all been through a lot the last few years but not like what I can only imagine you’ve dealt with. I hope you don’t mind me bringing it up here but I really feel that it’s something when one of the 505 family is thrown a wrench and then gets back into the boat at the earliest opportunity. There are others who’ve done so in similar ways too. This fortitude that you and others have exhibited is a testament to the class, the fleet, you and Aaron as a team, the friendships we all share. A heartfelt "Welcome back Rob!". Here’s to a continued strong recovery. Looking forward to seeing it on display in both SC in June and especially in Cork this summer!
Of course Aaron’s excuse will be that the GoPro cameras he tried to weigh everybody down with weren’t heavy enough!
It was a fun one. Good to see you all and hoping to see you all again soon!Rich
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Tim Murphy
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