Community Boating Tiller Club Racing

Hello Tiller Club! There is no racing this Sunday but there is the CBI Sail-a-thon starting Saturday at 10 am and ending 24 hours later! You can see a list of all the teams sailing here:

https://go.rallyup.com/sailathon/Campaign/Details

We have formed a Friends of Tiller Club team:

https://go.rallyup.com/7a7daf/t/tillerclub/Team/Details

(sailing in a Sonar-- 24 hours in a merc seemed a bit much!). We would love to have your support, if you are able (Donate through the links).

Community Boating's 80th Anniversary 24 hour Sail-a-Thon Join me in supporting Community Boating Inc: https://go.rallyup.com/sailathon

Here are the Summer Series current standings: we take a break for the Sailathon and Women's Regatta, then the Summer series is back in July: Days 3, 4 and 5 are July 12, July 19, and August 2.

Oscar: It was a beautiful and tricky day out on the Charles. We had a little bit of everything, from some patches of 5knots to a last race of consistent 20. We had a dedicated mark boat that was very helpful dealing with wind that was shifting back and forth over the day. I definitely learned/relearned a lot today. keeping the boat super flat upwind (pinching temporarily if necessary), really strong roll tacks with crew fully hiking out to windward.

Terry: A big thank you to our RC Nick B and RC Assist James W for setting a square course and adjusting it throughout the day.

Congrats to our top 3 finishers for Summer Series II:
1st: Oscar and Harry
2nd: Janne and Carolyn G d’A
3rd: Betsy and Terry

No TC racing next Sunday due to the Sail-a-thon (join a team or come down to support fellow sailors!). We’ll be back the following Sunday for the Women’s Regatta - women skippers, anyone can crew.

This Sunday we're back to the Summer Series with Day 2! Pair up using the crew-finder channel. No racing June 21 - support your Sailathon teams!

The Singlehanded Too Regatta! This was the windiest Singlehanded Too I've seen in 11 years - the graph doesn't really do it justice. Steady strong sustained winds from the west with higher gusts made the upwinds challenging and had the Mercs trying to plane on the downwind. Thanks to our wonderful RC's Carolyn and Nick for getting off 3 races in challenging conditions. Congrats to Max Kraft in first and all 3 racers who went out - Tiller Club has some great heavy wind sailors!

Summer Series 1 was, in a word, perfection. The temperature was that bliss found between spring and summer. There was enough sun for our vitamin D starved skin, but enough cloud cover to keep it from being too harsh. The breeze - despite the occasional lull - had, most of the time, just enough spice to keep it delicious. 11 boats jostled at the starting line for 4 races on this green-to-yellow day. It was a good thing we had one of our best RCs setting the course, because - and I know this is frequently said here - it was a VERY shifty day. But as pointed out, there are 30* shifty days, and there are 90* shifty days. Today was a relentless barrage of not only those, but several 180s! Put another way, our boat (Mark & Stacy) both tacked and gybed without any tiller involvement, in the span of about 2 minutes. We complain about wildly shifty days, but do we even mean it? Isn't the challenge that this presents what keeps us on our toes, and coming back for more?

There was a brief spell when the wind really kicked up for a moment, and of course right then a windsurfer appeared in the course, right behind the dude on the (hoverboard? What even is that)? We joked that we were missing the usual array of kayakers congregating at the windward mark, and that this could only be because they could not discern it from the leeward (fair, because neither could any of us in these shifts). Southwesterlies became Northeasterlies and back again, rinse, repeat. There was a boat sailing backwards, two minor collisions, at least one formal protest, at least 2 instances of penalty turns, two or more boats that got caught on a buoy or mark (including ours which drove straight between a doubled), & another inquiry (protest maybe?) debated back on the dock. And speaking of the dock, once back, I observed joyously as two lasers capsized. Good times had by all!

Congrats to our top 3 finishers:

1st place: K & Marsh , 9 pts
2nd place: Harrington & OG, tied for 2nd/3rd with 11 points, winning the point tiebreaker by having more better-place finishes
3rd place: & Fabio 11 points

And above all, a million thanks to Duncan, who RCd alone on a not-so-forgiving day, and somehow managed to do a fantastic job anyway (as judged by the rather tough to please Harrington) :heart: Thanks for coming out, everybody!

Next Week: The Single Handed Too!

No racing this holiday weekend! Summer Series starts the following Sunday, May 31.

A couple of favorite regattas coming up:

June 7 Single-handed Too! Single-handing in Mercuries on a standard course.

June 28 Women's Regatta! Women skippers only, anyone can crew.

A 10-boat turnout graced the Mel Carlson regatta on this humid 87* day. We raced 3 races, went in for a boat rotation, & headed back out. What had started as some rather delightful and manageable breeze built gradually into something a bit vicious at times. Another 3 races were had before RC called for another rotation, managing to fit in 2 more races thereafter. Having more than 6 races means each boat gets to toss out its worst score. The lyingest yellow flag ever observed flew high above the chaos. As is the norm on wilder days, there were a few collisions, multiple protests and penalty turns, and 4 capsizes - one of which went on to win first place anyway! 2 boats went in early because it was getting too wild out there. The wind was coming from ... well ... pretty much everywhere. The downwind mark was the upwind by the time we got there on our first race, & I can't recall the rest, because survival!

A wealth of gratitude to our RCs Niko & Robin, who killed it today! And congrats to our top 3 finishers:

Harry Mattison & Mina Cezairli, 12 pts
Alex Mattern and Morgane Treaton, 13pts (note the 1pt difference!)
Erik Wile & Carolyn Marsh, 23 pts

We're off next Sunday for Memorial Day weekend, but expect you there May 31st for Summer Series 1, with Terry as our RC, who can set up a pretty dope course.

Also - if you don't already know - there's a fantastic Women's Racing & Social Sailing group! Reach out for details.

Looking great for the Mel Carlson Regatta today! Don’t forget to bring your water bottle. It’ll be very hot and humid, and we’re gonna get a workout. I recommend Terry’s trick of using a carabiner to secure it in the boat.