Denver Sailing Association 

Cherry Creek Reservoir, Denver CO

September 17 – 18, 2011

 

Team On Y Va - Fred Wolf and Crew – winners of the 2011 Governor’s Cup

 

 

 

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Racing Recap

Final Results Here

Photos by Francine Hoffman Photography

Day 1 – Saturday, September 17 – We awoke to partly cloudy skies and light easterly breezes, and during registration, breakfast, and the skippers meeting, the clouds burned off and the breeze filled in a bit.  On both the keelboat and the dinghy courses the PROs (Bill Darling, keelboats, and Paul Kresge, dinghies) started the races on time at 12:00 Noon.

Keelboat Start – Photo Credit Francine Hoffman

 

After two races the breezes turned light again, and after the Lightnings and OOAKs on the 2 – 4 dinghy course finished their third race, the wind died completely.  So Paul raised the N over H flags, abandoning the Laser and OOAK-2 races in mid course, then rounding up the dinghies for a tow in.

MC Scows on the dinghy course – Photo Credit Francine Hoffman

Then, while under tow, the gathering dark clouds beyond the dam rolled in over the lake and started dumping heavy rain, soon followed by gusty strong winds, making for a challenging end to the tow-in as several boats dropped their tow lines inside the harbor, only to be swept back out again by the strong westerly winds.  Another round-up by the committee boats got them all in, and the dripping and soaked skippers and crew gathered in the shelter of the clubhouse, joined then by their keelboat colleagues, to wait out the balance of the storm.

Gathering dark clouds — Photo Credit – Barb Thompson

 

For the keelboats the first course set was a 1-5-1-5. The light and shifty winds made it difficult to move around the course. As the fleets finished the dark clouds rolled in and racing was abandoned until the lightning subsided.

After an hour the storm clouds were gone, the sun came out, and RC sent boats out on the water for another race.

After the storm – Photo Credit – Francine Hoffman

Winds had in the meantime shifted to a southeasterly direction and had gotten light, but on the dinghy course all 4 classes got started and headed for the windward mark; rounded; and headed for the leeward mark at the # 5 buoy. However, dark clouds again appeared beyond the dam, and tension mounted as they rolled southeast towards the race course.  All dinghies finished and headed for the marina when the second rainstorm and gusty wind event of the day hit the lake.  All dinghies made it back to the harbor unassisted, except for Jacob Vargish on his Lighting, who wisely dropped sails and accepted a tow-in, with three small children on board, and David Corrao on his FJ, who had to deal with a broken rudder, and headed for the southern shore, near the shooting range, steering with sails alone.  David waited out the storm there, then walked back to the marina where he arranged a tow.

For the keelboats the second race for the day was set as a 2-7-2-7, and as each fleet was started the winds slowly decreased in velocity.  RC decided to shorten the course by setting a weather mark half way to #2, and change the course, at  # 7, to a W-7.  The next storm moved in, bringing gusty westerly winds, as the last of the J-22 and the Santana 20 Fleets rounded mark #7, making for an exciting run down the course to the former windward mark  and a struggle to keep upright for the upwind trip back to # 7, then around and down to the finish line and  then to the marina.

Finally the skies cleared for a second time and dinner was served — Famous Dave’s BBQ, and Dry Dock Beer, lightening our spirits after a very damp afternoon.

Kudos to  skipper Phillip Ryan who sailed his Swift Solo back to the marina in strong gusty winds, unassisted, not once but twice!  What a great display of seamanship!

Day 2 – Sunday, September 18 – Sunday was a crisp late summer day of brilliant sunshine and temperatures in the mid-70s, with no rain clouds anywhere in sight.  And it was also a day of very light air.  On the dinghy side RC set a 2 – L course on the east side of the lake and got off one very slow race with winds ranging from dead calm to at most 5 MPH.  All dinghies that started eventually made it across the finish line; and while it looked like perhaps the wind would pick up for a second race, that too eventually died.  So RC headed over to the west side of the lake in search of better wind, but never found it, and at 2:30 PM hoisted the N over A flag to end our frustration.  We headed in, secured our boats, and enjoyed the post-race pizza-and-beer party and the awards ceremony.

On the keelboat side, RC tried several time to get a race started but each time the wind died before the 5 minute start sequence had finished, and several times the AP flag was flown to wait for a little bit more wind. We finally got enough wind to set a W-7-W-7 course for each fleet. The left and the middle of the course was favored while any boat that ventured to the right found little or no wind.  With a faltering wind the course was shortened and finished at the weather mark after the second trip up the course.  After floating around for what seemed like hours the RC abandoned racing for the remainder of the day, to the cheers of the Keel boat fleets.

Flat Water Keelboats – Photo Credit – Des Runyan

 

Notice of Race

Location and Directions

Cherry Creek Reservoir is accessed through the west entrance of Cherry Creek State park, 4800 S Dayton St, Greenwood Village, CO. Entering vehicles must display a State Park entrance decal or pay a day use fee of $6.00. From the intersection of I-25 and Belleview Ave, proceed east on Belleview to Dayton; then north on Dayton to the park entrance; enter the park and drive to the marina.

Schedule of Events

Friday, September 16

Registration, Crane & Ramp Launch 1700 – 2000

Saturday, September 17

On-Site Registration, Breakfast, Boat Launch  0830 – 1030

Competitor’s Meeting 1100 – 1130

First Warning Signal 1200; subsequent signals and races to follow

Dinner, Drinks, and Social Activities 1800 – 2200

Sunday, September 18

Breakfast 0900 – 1030

First warning signal 1100; subsequent signals and races to follow

No race warning after 1500

Awards Presentation and Pizza 1600.

Weather Forecast

(As of 9/18/2011) Today’s NOAA Forecast for  Today calls for mostly sunny skies, with a high near 74. North northwest wind between 5 and 8 mph. Sounds good!

Water Temperature

The water temperature is estimated to be 65 degrees, as calculated from an algorithm and posted on the FishingNotes.com website.

On-line Registration Information

On-line registration is now closed.  Please register in person at the marina this morning.

A hardcopy registration form and instructions are on the last page of the NOR.

For more information, contact Regatta Chair Curtis Rist.

See Who is Coming

35 boats have pre-registered, as of 9/16/2011

Mutineer 15 # 4752 – Scott Queen, Windsor, Colorado

Laser # 197602 – Simeon Thomas, Salida, Colorado

Lightning # 15228 – David Thompson, Highlands Ranch, Colorado

Santana 20 # 92 – Vern Bybee, Littleton, Colorado

J/22 # 282 – Roy Burley, Greenwood Village, Colorado

Coronado 15 # 3662 – Stephen Saunders, Parker, Colorado

Ultimate 20 # 63 – Brad Lawson, Denver, Colorado

Santana 20 # 354 – Kyle Cascioli, Aurora, Colorado

Ultimate 20 # 26 -Mark Allen, Boulder, Colorado

Santana 20 # 539 – Tim Gormley, Boulder, Colorado

Finn # 55 – Joe Chinburg, Arvada, Colorado

J/22 # 134 – Bob Malouff, Edgewater Colorado

Lightning # 15315 – Bill Cabrall, Centennial, Colorado

Ultimate 20 # 19 – Jim Ulatowski, Littleton, Colorado

Santana 20 # 359 – Ray McCleery, Denver, Colorado

J/22 # 329 – Mark DeDionisio, Centennial, Colorado

Santana 20 # 713 – Mike McKeever, Boulder, Colorado

Santana 20 # 607 – David Gillespie, Littleton, Colorado

Laser # 156664 – Mark Tasker, Greenwood Village, Colorado

S-2 7.9 # 67 – Glenn Hackemer, Englewood, Colorado

Lightning # 14041 – Jacob Vargish, Castle Rock, Colorado

Ultimate 20 # 126 – Clifford Begnaud, Erie, Colorado

Santana 20 # 50 – Toby Hamer, Centennial, Colorado

J/24 # 2170 – Tom Sweeney, Denver, Colorado

Buccaneer 18 #5218 – Sue Swisher, Lakewood, Colorado

Lightning  # 12871 – Lucas Armstrong, Golden, Colorado

Laser # 150919 – Kurt Robinson, Cherry Hills Village, Colorado

Laser # 10881 – Kent Robinson, Cherry Hills Village, Colorado

Ultimate 20 # 78 – Marty May, Denver, Colorado

J/22 # 627 – Michael Kline, Denver, Colorado

J/24 # 2355 – Jay Leidal, Denver, Colorado

J/22 # 500 – Bill Padget, Loveland, Colorado

FJ # 3515 – David Corrao, Denver, Colorado

MC Scow # 1798 – Woody Woodruff, Minturn, Colorado

MC Scow # 2384 – Phil Ecklund, Boulder Colorado