City League Racing, May 17, 2017

Written by Greg Mejlaender
Photos by Andrew Jacobs (to be posted)
Scoring by Rick Martin (to be posted)

Ok... City League #3 DID happen... 5 races were run!!
We had a GREAT fleet with 10 racers, "thanks to all that could make it". We missed a couple regulars and couple newer sailors... if they had been there, it would've really been an epic night for participation.
The wind was sail-able, but was not epic. As my late morning update suggested, the Des Moines evening wind forecast was dropping. So we did not even get 5-10 mph wind. We did have an evening of approx. 3-6 mph breezes, lottsa 4-5 stuff. So there was less hooked-in and leaning-back sailing... and a bit more pumping (hey, it's good exercise :)
Anyway, the evening weather was decent enough... no rain, not cold, mostly cloudy but with a bit of sun poking through at times.

The 10 there for CL #3 were...

• Glenn, Equipe and 11.7m sail
• Darius, Phantom and 11.7m sail
• Jay, F2 Phoenix and 9.5m sail 
• Giovanni, Phantom and 11m sail
• DanO, Kona One and 11m sail
• Bari, Bic Lambada and 7.5m sail
• Jonathan, MegaCat and 11.7m sail
• Andrew, Kona One and 9m sail
• Plamen, Prodigy and 10m sail
• Greg, Kona One and 11m sail.

We didn't have a Race Committee... so we did a modified timed countdown, and I handi-capped the fleet based on sail size and sailing experience. My goal was to start the folks who were newer, and or, had smaller sails FIRST to give them a "head start". Then the main fleet would start, the goal being to have a big group of sailors together, for a longer section of the race compared to what happens in a normal race start. And again THIS was successful... for example Bari has the least experience, and has the smallest sail... yet she was right in the thick of things, in many of the races. This is more fun for her, cause she gets to be in the main pack for a while, observing what those with more experience are doing. And it's fun for the experienced group, as they try to catch her!!

Greg :)