2007 San Diego NOODS

Where to start?

First, I want to say that we missed Clifton. He injured his knee
right before the SD NOOD and found that he couldn't get around the
cockpit and had to drop out - though with much angst as he tried
everywhich way to sort out how to make it. We look forward to seeing
Clifton later this year after the docs get his knee sorted out.

Everyone seemed to be at Coronado YC (which graciously hosted the
U20, bucaneer, 29er and Flying Dutchman fleets racing in the SD NOOD
this year) around 5pm on Thursday in various stages of set up.

Steve was able to secure a dinner for all of us though it became
clear that the group wasn't going to be ready for dinner till all of
us felt like our boats were together and pretty much ready to go. So
Steve worked it out with the resturant around the corner and we
arrived maybe 2 hours after the original planned time. We had a good
dinner and some good laughs, talked about sails with the Glasers and
how to best promote the SD NOOD in the U20 fleet for future events.

I wasn't able to stick around long I had to pick up my rockstar crew
at the airport. I had also found out that my other rockstar crew a
pilot had, had his bags either stolen or lost during a previous
flight. The rough part was that one of this bags had his work stuff
so he didn't even have the items he needed to hop a flight back down
to SD.

UFO Sailed double handed on Friday and we did pretty well, Huw my
sole crew sailed hard on Friday. It was pretty clear from the start
that Steve on Unicorn and Pease on the Red Viking where going to be
going mono-a-mono all weekend with UFO providing the occasional
challenge. 3 races on Friday the conditions were fairly normal South
bay 10-12knots flat water, though the wind seemed more to the right
than I remember in years past which I think created a few shifty
spots across the center and upper section of the course. This had
all of us scratching our heads and all of us trying the occasional
split from the group to see if we could find a lift to put us out
front. Red Viking, Unicorn and UFO were all crossing each other
pretty close with MR Bo Tangles nipping at us from the rear ready to
pounce on a mistake. Too Tuff was also double handed on Friday and
in true Too Tuff form they went for it and were not shy about
getting the kite up - Rosanne was pretty busy.

Ron Johnston's "Mr Bo Tangles" was hot on our tail the whole weekend
with a few close crossings and occasional lead changes keeping
things fun, with Mark and Rosanne's Too Tough getting right in there
at the starts and showing better speed each race.

Saturday UFO found Capt Jim from the crew board at SDYC. Turns out
Capt Jim is from the SF area - runs the Tahoe Sailing Charters on
his SC52. Had an Express 27 for many years. He fit right in and we
started off Saturday by putting a little more pressure on Steve and
Pease. Too Tuff's 3rd crew (Tom) arrived for the weekend so Too Tuff
was planning to be faster also. The wind was 10-12 most of the time
and more out of a normal direction further to the left so the
windward mark was farther away from the bridge and Navy base
resulting in a little more consistancy across the course wind wise.

The racing was closer. UFO, Red Viking and Unicorn had a number of
lead changes and crowded roundings with Mr Bo Tangles and Too Tuff
not far behind. Down wind tactics were clearly a much larger factor
on Saturday, go to high and your out of the game, gybe to early and
your out of the game low and fast seemed to be everyone's objective
to either gain or hold their position. Windward heel and weight
forward just about all the lead U20's had the same look and crew
positioning.

The main battle was with Red Viking and Unicorn on Saturday the pre
start at times looked like an America's cup team racing between the
two jockying for the best spot and trying to force the other into a
bad spot. UFO did our best to just pick a good lane since that
seemed to be the biggest factor on the course. In the last race on
Saturday UFO got a good start and were in a good spot vs Red Viking
and Unicorn. The up wind legs all three of us were battling it out
pretty hard all the way to the mark. UFO and Unicorn were side by
side and in a drag race up wind you could hear both of us trimming
the main constantly trying to find a little edge over the other. At
one point UFO climbed over Unicorn only later Unicorn did the same
to us with Red Viking taking a higher line betting on less of a
header at the mark. In the end all three of us were side by side on
the final gybe heading for the finish, pretty classic U20 racing.
Unicorn was trying to sort out how to tie things up or possibly get
one point on Red Viking who was the farthest left with Unicorn under
them and UFO under Unicorn. I think? I was pretty focused on moving
us as fast and low as possible to get some seperation. Unicorn took
Red Viking up to battle for points and we managed to squirt away for
the 1st. Steve on Unicorn managed to get an edge on Red Viking and
took a very close 2nd with RedViking working hard to try to steal
the 2nd spot back.

Dinner at SDYC we gathered for a short time ate some pretty good
NOOD food and just BS'ed.

Sunday we had a cold front blowing in which really played havoc with
the Course switching the wind direction from North (normal
direction) to South (storm direction). The race comittee had a
really tough time the wind kept veering right and really throwing
off the square course. As a result we only got one race in on Sunday
and the boats that established a clean run on the very left side of
the course had a clear advantage.

On the way back to the club we all discovered the very low tide and
managed to bump across the shoal that has formed right at the corner
of the Navy Base which extends out a pretty good distance. Of course
the big cruiser that appeared to be stuck near the bridge was really
stuck! Everyone eyeballed their keel after getting in, it didn't
look like anyone had damage of any kind just a raised heart rate
from bumping along the bottom for a bit till we found the channel.

By Trent Watkins