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We view the success of WONDER WAGON at Block Island Race Week as a team effort. I would firstly like to address the crew situation, as I strongly believe that this was the key element to our success:
Our crew is simply made up of best friends. My mainsail trimmer, Chris Day, started sailing on my J-40, probably nine years ago. Since our days together he has traveled afar to many sailing adventures to hone his skills. Since buying Flame, he has excelled tremendously at learning this specific job and its impact. The helmsman and the mainsail trimmer need to steer the boat together. Robert Garraty is my jib and spinnaker trimmer. He did the same for years on my J-40. His progressive sail trim talents downwind, peaked in the swell at Block Island. I believe we had one boat pass us downwind the entire week!! Chris Neal is another long-term friend that I have raced with over 15 years from J-24s to other J-105s. Organizationally, he does bow/mast. But by far, his greatest asset to any crew is his ability to recognize conditions up the course and navigate. Tim Hotchkiss and I have sailed together, and for each other, in several Key West and South Florida campaigns. He joined us for the very first race on the J-105 in October, where we swept a PHRF fleet, and then several races thereafter. At this regatta, for the first time, we all agreed that Tim should keep his head out of the boat, 110%!! With Chris Day and I in the engine room, and otherwise perfect crew work on board, Tim was able to challenge even himself with confidence.
Secret # 1 - Flawless Campaign Managment. With the astute and thorough preparation of my mainsail trimmer and the land crew, ALL aspects of this campaign aside from showing up and raising the sails were handled way beyond expectations.
Secret #2 - Charter a boat from Robert Taylor. Wonder Wagon was presented in impeccable condition. The bottom is faster than FLAME and the program itself was nothing short of convenient. Bob, sign me up for next year!
Secret # 3 - Heavy Metal and Diapers. Cassette tape on the shrouds at chest level greatly helped downwind steering, in both light and moderate conditions. Does not work in fog!! Also, the Hotchimin Diaper (a 16' long, 18" wide strip of Neoprene(?)) was used on 3 out of 5 days to clean 2/3s of the bottom, saving great expense and time.
Secret #4 - Power Up!! I am confident that our rig was tuned lighter than any other J-105. We had neighboring crews laughing at us in the morning because of the lowers swaying in the wind. But we were always seeking power in the rig. On Saturday, we moved the mast step to just less than 10" forward of the bulkhead. On Monday, afternoon we were given the backstay toggle by Bob Johnston, and added 6" of headstay sag. On Tuesday morning, we won the first race! With the limitation this class presents, you MUST play with rig tune and SHARE INFORMATION. We learned this from Andy Skibo and I personally believe this to be one of the greatest assets of our class. Our uppers never topped 52 on the Loos, our intermediates only showed 2-4 on Wednesday afternoon, otherwise no register! We did not tune to numbers, but to look and feel. Aside from searching for tide rips, the prestart was spent adjusting headstay sag, upper fall off, and intermediate mast pumping (no more than 3").
Last Secret - "Just sail the boat, dumbass!" (T. Hotchkiss) The reason for the expletive is that I am always searching for improvement. Especially with rig tune and sail trim. The intent is to concentrate my attention solely on boat speed and helming. It worked. I truly believe that for OD success, you must have complete confidence in your crew, and distinct segregation of duties. They will know when we are not pointing as high as we need, or that we are being headed into the crossing bows, I do not need to tell them. We are, where we are; keep looking forward and deal with the next ten boat lengths. Micro manage during pre-start, and then have fun!!! After FridayÕs race in which we passed over 15 boats to reach 4th place, believe me, this phrase is engrained in my brain.
-- Jim Doane, skipper of WONDER WAGON, owner of FLAME
It would be easy to read too much into the following. Please don't! About all you can tell from this list is that, among the owners in this regatta,the better sailors chose Ullmans, North has the most sails but less than half of the J/105 business, seven boats have split inventories, and there are a total of ten sailmakers represented. The brand new sails seem to be spread evenly throughout the standings. But I guess that nobody could deny that Dave Ullman gets bragging rights with the top three positions in the regatta.
MAIN JIB KITE
281 Wonder Wagon Ullman/99 Ullman/99 Ullman/99
83263 Plum Crazy Ullman/Skelley/98 Ullman/Skelley/00 Ullman/Skelley/00
350 Tern V Ullman/00 Ullman/99 Ullman/99
324 Kincsem Doyle/00 Doyle/00 Doyle/00
189 Iliad Shore/00 Shore/00 Shore/00
64 Revelation North/00 North/00 North/00
333 Ragtime North/00 North/00 North/00
50 Eclipse Doyle/99 Doyle/00 Doyle/99
17 Masquerade Quantum/99 Quantum/99 Quantum/99
315 PFM2 Doyle/00 Doyle/00 Doyle/00
51012 Wet Paint North/00 North/00 North/00
307 Wet Leopard Banks/99 Banks/99 North/99
43955 Phenix North/00 North/99 North/97
73 Tern Banks/97 Banks/97 North/00
239 Cyan UK/99 Banks/00 Banks/00
165 If Only North/00 North/00 North/00
50554 Odyssey Banks/98 Banks/98 Banks/98
300 Kima Banks/00 Banks/00 Quantum/00
256 The Cat Came Back North/99 North/99 North/99
44105 Rigadoon Bank/99 North/00 Banks/99
43937 All Right Hallsey/Lidgard/98 Hallsey/Lidgard/99 Hallsey/Lidgard/00
130 Headhunter North/00 North/00 North/00
50702 Capricorn 3 Bank/99 Doyle/98 Doyle/98
332 Cloud 9 Shore/00 Shore/00 Shore/00
337 Rainmaker North/99 North/99 North/96
240 Peekaboo North/99 North/99 North/99
170 Winged Victory North/99 North/99 Doyle/99
212 Last Tango Hathaway,R&R/00 Hathaway,R&R/00 Hathaway,R&R/00
50938 Ketchupless North/98 Quantum/99 Quantum/00
51328 Sovereign UK/00 UK/00 UK/00
CLASS E - J/105
FOR ALL RACES UP TO JUNE 23, 2000
281 Wonder Wagon James Doane 1 6 2 6 8 4 27 1
83263 Plum Crazy Andrew Skibo 6 5 12 1 4 1 29 2
350 Tern V Robert Johnstone 11 7 4 7 3 3 35 3
324 Kincsem Joerg Esdorn 2 14 6 19 1 8 50 4
189 Iliad G Moore/D Brodsky 8 2 19 10 5 6 50 5
64 Revelation Bryan Dougherty 17 4 3 4 24 5 57 6
333 Ragtime Rod Johnstone 24 11 18 2 2 2 59 7
50 Eclipse Damian Emery 4 1 20 14 14 7 60 8
17 Masquerade Tom Coates 13 25 1 3 9 15 66 9
315 PFM2 Ryan E. Minth 5 12 17 12 10 10 66 10
51012 Wet Paint Don Priestly 19 9 22 9 6 17 82 11
307 Wet Leopard Jim Sorensen 26 3 9 20 13 12 83 12
43955 Phenix Bob Swirbalus 10 13 11 24 7 18 83 13
73 Tern John Coffey 3 8 21 8 27 19 86 14
239 Cyan William Baldwin 23 23 7 5 15 16 89 15
165 If Only Harvey Howalt 12 15 13 15 12 21 91 16
50554 Odyssey Dimitris Spentzos 7 20 8 21 22 14 92 17
300 Kima Nelson Weiderman 9 17 16 11 29 11 93 18
256 The Cat Came Back W.L. Mossop III 22 29 5 13 21 13 103 19
44105 Rigadoon Wm & Dave Riggs 15 31 10 17 11 20 104 20
43937 All Right Hugh McLean 27 18 15 22 18 9 109 21
130 Headhunter Bob Leaver 25 10 26 23 20 21 126 23
50702 Capricorn 3 William Hausner 18 27 25 16 17 22 126 24
332 Cloud 9 Brendan Kelley 14 19 24 18 23 DSQ 129 22
337 Rainmaker Stephen Tedeschi 16 22 28 25 19 23 133 26
240 Peekaboo Marvin Pozefsky 21 16 14 27 25 RET 134 25
170 Winged Victory Terry Laughren 20 21 23 28 26 26 144 27
212 Last Tango John Peterson 28 26 27 29 16 25 151 28
50938 Ketchupless Donald McCluskey 29 24 DSQ 26 28 27 165 29
51328 Sovereign S Schwoetzopfel 30 30 29 30 DNF 28 178 30
The week ended on a high note in terms of weather. Beautiful sunny skies and medium winds graced the race course. The RC set a six leg course at 1.4 miles to the west north west. The fleet got off to a shaky start with five boats called over the line early. The boats at the starboard end tacked over to the favored right side early and Andy Skibo in PLUM CRAZY legged out to leeward and never looked back. The RC continued to struggle with the offset mark and boats on the layline for the weather mark found that they had to go further to windward to make it to the offset. It was a wire-to-wire win for Andy, and Rod Johnstone took RAGTIME to his third consecutive second place finish and third consecutive finish ahead of brother Bob who finished third. Bob claimed family bragging rights for the regatta overall, however.
At week's end, all but three owners could say that they finished at least one race ahead of the J/105 class designer and the competition was very close overall. Jim Doane's winning total of 27 points over six races showed that the racing was dominated by no single boat. He was the only owner who stayed in the top ten for all the races. Despite some shaky weather, the venue continued to be one that owners will not want to miss in the J/105 sailing season. Could we get 40 boats for 2001???
After six races:
Today they ran the Around-the-Island race in thick fog. It was a test of navigators to find the marks and more than one boat sailed the course without finding them. The last class to start, the IMS class was sent back to New Harbor without racing when the fog was so thick that they could not see from committee boat to the pin to identify early starters. In the J/105 class there were about 8 boats called over the line early. The RC set a weather mark at 235 degrees at 2 miles followed by the turning marks around the island, which included two inflatable standoff marks. Visibility ranged from a few hundred yards around the bottom to a mile or two on the east side and then closed in again on the final turn to the finish. There was great debate about whether the inflatable marks were set at the positions stated by the RC. The boats with the best navigators turned out to be Joerg Esdorn's KINCSEM, Rod Johnstone's RAGTIME, and Roberst Johstone's TERN V. For the regatta, the standings are:
After five races:
Wednesday's breeze was finally solid at 16+ knots and the fleet got two excellent races under their belts. A solid southwest wind blew from 220 degrees. The first was a four legger at 1.7 miles and the second was at 2.0 miles. For some unexplained reason the RC set a line with three RC boats which was half as long as the ones they set for light air. ECLIPSE, the regatta leader was deep in both races and fell off the leader board. Jim Doane's WONDER WAGON pulled into first with a 2-6 and Andy Skibo's PLUM CRAZY had a 12-1 for second. Brian Dougherty was a consistent 3-4 for third in the regatta. A total of 10 boats have been in the money in the four races through Wednesday with four different winners.
The trick of Wednesday was avoiding the adverse rip currents that were crossing the racecourse. In the first race the boats that went right seemed to avoid them the best and had the advantage. The rips were often several hundred yards wide and ran through the course at 1-2 knots faster than the larger mass of current. The rips were very apparent on the water and the boats to spot them earliest were advantaged. Tom Coates' MASQUERADE loved the heavier air and won the first race followed by WONDER WAGON and REVELATION. In the second race the left was more favored more by the current. At the finish Andy Skibo jibed their main only to get starboard advantage to nip Rod Johnstone's RAGTIME at the line. MASQUERADE finished third and moved up to sixth in the overall standings.
After four races:
The J/105 fleet got in two races today, but it wasn't easy. The RC started the sequence on time at 11 a.m. in almost no wind and kept the starts rolling. They set a four leg 1.2 mile course to the west southwest. The starting area extended 100 yards in all directions and the fleet was prevented from entering until their preparatory signal. Most of the fleet kept their engines going until the last seconds and drifted up to the starting line. Fortunately, the breeze filled in several minutes after the start and maintained 5-7 knots for the duration of the race, with gusts to perhaps 10. The right payed off in the first leg of the four leg race. At the first leeward mark two boats coming with speed at the mark peeled off and needed to round behind their rivals. The race was won by Jim Doane in WONDER WAGON, with Joerg Esdorn's KINCSEM second and John Coffey was third in TERN.
The second race started in light air as well, with the current ripping down the line and the wind shifting to the left before the start. Much of the fleet immediately tacked to port on the starting gun. Three boats were called back early. There was a south-to-north stream of current that had to be passed through quickly going upwind in order to preserve positions. This race was clearly controlled by Damian Emery's ECLIPSE who gained and then extended the lead at every mark. New owners David Brodsky and Geoff Moore worked their way up the ladder in ILIAD to gain second and veteran Jim Sorensen gained third in WET LEOPARD. The wind lightened on the last leg to mix up many positions, but Damian was clear by several hundred yards. Damian's 4-1 was good enough to lead for the regatta. The fleet was on good behavior with several incidents resolved with 720 degree turns.
At the briefing for the around-the-island race, it was announced by race director Peter Craig that they would try to get two around-the-buoy's races on Wednesday and postpone the around-the-island race until Thursday.
Not only did the 20 knot breeze fail to appear, but there was not enough breeze to get off a complete race. So instead of a race report we'll give you the non-race report. The RC started Division I right on time at 11 a.m. in light, but sailable air. They set a 1.3 mile four legger at 60 degrees. The 30 105's had ample room on the three committee boat starting line. All but two of the 105 took the right half of the line, looking to get over to the right side of the course near Block Island where the earlier seemed to be doing well. For awhile Rod Johnstone in RAGTIME and Nelson Weiderman on KIMA looked good on the left with breeze, while the boats on the right were parked. When the breeze filled in it came from the right and pushed the rightmost boats into the lead. Foremost among them was AYC Series winner Joerg Esdorn in KINCSEM who led around the weather mark and then found more breeze toward the island again going downwind. Joerg attributed his good luck to his "birthday boy." Going downwind was very painful for the entire fleet and many dropped their spinnakers in favor of a jib when the heavy current brough the apparent wind even further forward. At the bottom mark, the RC decided that enough was enough and abandoned the racing for classes B, C, D, and E. Anreas Josenhans was out taking video for the panel he moderated at 5 p.m. with Andy Skibo, Rod, and Bob Johnstone.
Andreas said he initially saw the right as the best side, but changed his mind five times during the beat. Bob said that "pressure was the name of the game and there was no shadow of a doubt that the guys on the edges did better." Rod said that the current was better on the left and that he did only two tacks to the mark. He was steering by apparent wind (32 degrees apparent) in the light pressure. In response to a question about tacking Andy said they release the jib a little late in the light air and Rod noted that roll tacking does not work the same as it does in dinghy's. "Because of the weight of the boat, you cannot roll tack quick enough to do any good." At the start there were 10-12 boats clustered at the right committee boat. Dimitri Spentzos in ODYSSEY had to peel off twice. Damian Emery tried a dip start in the north-to-south current and had Terry Laughren's WINGED VICTORY and Andy's PLUM CRAZY below him. Bob Johnstone in TERN V was worked over by Eclipse and tacked to port to take the lift of a number of starboard tackers. Andreas complemented Joerg for banging the right, in hindsight, but mentioned that it was done at a very high risk. At one point in the beat there was more separation between the boats banging the right and left than the length of the beat. He said "the boats on the left were 200 yards below the weather mark at the same time that KINCEM was 800 yards from the mark."
Other tidbits: KINCEM's shroud settings on the Loos Gague: Uppers: 45, Intermediates: 22, Lowers: 0, max headstay, 1" of prepend for sails. PLUM CRAZY's equivalent numbers 47-17-0+, max, zero prebend. We're all praying for breeze tomorrow, but the weather report is not encouraging.
The fleet practiced in light and variable conditions in Block Island Sound, but the weather report for Monday calls for 20 knots. Owners met for an introductory session and agreed to the 360 penalty for the new rules on bowsprit deployment and helmsman seating. A small band headed by Jeff Johnstone measured more than 30 spinnakers outside the registration tent. Competitors who were fasting to make weight finally got to have a decent meal. The competitors were raring for action.
For the up-to-date results go directly to the Premiere Racing Results Page (we're Division I).
For daily press release go directly to Premiere Press Releases.
