Regatta Notebook

Crew: Richard Alonso. Finishing Place: 9th out of 24 boats with a DNF.  ( Results here ) This is only second time racing with new crew member Richard Alonso from CLSA.  He did an amazing job at the Radioactive Race #1 and we were going to see how we fared against the competition at Carlyle at the Egyptian Cup.    We experienced a regatta killer tragedy on the first race while competing for the lead with Lynn and Bill Bruss and this disaster would carry into race 2 and 3.  We rounded the first upwind mark in first place (I love it when that happens) and rounding the first downwind mark with Lynn and Bill Bruss, Richard pulled the main sheet from inside the block and tangled it up in a way that cannot be explained by the laws of physics.  It would result in a DNF in the first race and screw up our 2nd and 3rd races because we were limping around the course with a dysfunctional mainsheet.   On the second day we would be back to form.  We rounded...

  Crew: Ben Williams. Finishing Place: 4th out of 8 boats The local CLSA Thistle Fleet 66 is an up-and-coming racing fleet and I see potential with this group.   I borrowed a high-end Thistle a few years ago and recruited experienced thistle crew and dominated the local Hike Out Regatta event.  It's not much fun when a regatta lacks competitive racers who can challenge you, but the fleet and the events are now showing much promise.  Kelly Chang is a local grad student and Thistle racer from New York who has friends with high-caliber racers on the East Coast and she has been successful in recruiting them to race at some CLSA thistle events.   Kevin Arrow and Mike Gillian are competitive regional racers and are now showing up more consistently to CLSA thistle regattas.   Gerry Christman is the local thistle Fleet Captain and he has been traveling to regattas and is improving his game.  Last but certainly not least, a few newer racers inclu...