CLUB SPECIAL REGATTA  28 JUNE 08

            As a result of Ron Rhault’s suggestion, the club brought out their STARs to practice for the Nationals at Mystic Seaport. Along with three STARs, Ron brought out his US12 boats to play and compare with the STARs. He lent one US12 to Dick Laffrague to sail and Ron sailed his older boat (I think I have the assignment right). The weather was not nice early on, hot, hazy, little wind. While the boats did not spend much examining their navels while resting in the water, what little wind there was, was used to maximum efficiency by the US12 boats. They weigh 16 lbs compared to 12 for the stars and have 800 sq inch sails compared to about 1000 for the stars, however the skippers were able to move better under very light conditions than the STARs. In addition to light wind advantage the absence of weed grabbing keels also came into advantage for the US12s. Our site has not had much problem with weeds in the past, however at this regatta a big batch was present in the middle of the upwind area. I demonstrated my famous ability to find weeds in each of the first four heats. In some cases I was barely able to limp back to shore. I was on the verge of giving up, but once I realized were the weed patch was, I generally avoided them for the rest of the day. I believe that Bob was the next sufferer of weed infestation. Fran was able to generally avoid the weeds.

    After lunch, the winds gradually increased and the air temps moderated slightly. You can see by the spreadsheet at heat 8 the tide had turned and the STARs were faster than the US12s. By that point the results were already sealed; with Ron and Dick taking the top spots. We were all surprised that the US12s were competitive with the STARs, but the lack of keels and bulbs must really reduce the drag on the body of the US12 boats. Now the 12s just need a modern design of the sail rig to be even faster. The advantage of no weed catching junk under their hulls makes the design even more attractive.

NEXT REGATTA  -  MANSFIELD HOLLOW SITE  - 12 JULY

We did not discuss what we would sail at the next event, however the success of mixing STARs and 12s was evident. I have my US12 waiting in the basement for someone to say, “bring it and I will sail it”. I will keep you all up to date on our plans.

August 10^th   Housatonic club   members only STAR regatta at Hopbrook Park