Montemar Race 1999
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Philippines. Visit http://www.sailphi.org.ph
Text by George Hackett/ not really edited by Peter Capotosto
photos courtesy of Peter Capotosto
"it was great to be back at montemar.
the place has really gotten a lot
better which made for a great place to end a race. "gh
hey hey,
what a weekend. a sprint race, a beach, food, drinks,
war stories, and
friends.
what more could you ask for?! and what a fleet? 16, yes
count them, 16 boats showed up for the start friday night.
that is the
largest fleet i have seen since 92. can it be done
again?
i am sure that a lot of the war stories were produced
thanks to our race
committee setting a short line. plus the fact that
a reaching start
always makes the windward end highly favored. not
to mention that port
tack was the tack of choice for 15 boats. for those
that missed it.
one boat came in on starboard at the pin. this move,
though legal,
truly proves why Ed Baird (top 5 Omega Ranked, America's
Cup Skipper)
named chris cheng, "High Risk Chris".
kiri got the worst of this move as she had no way out
and was forced to
keep on going forward and was over early. jai-san
with her kite up just
wind to open the door.
i think there are some lesson to learn from this.
one could be that, if
the southerly/south east is blowing, we should start at
silahis and beat
up to plaza before heading out of the bay. have
longer lines. write
our own rule governing starboard tack starts on an obviously
port tack
favored starting line!? and last but not least.
no matter how right
you still need to give other boats ample opportunity to
avoid a
collision.
immediately setting a blistering pace out of the starting
blocks were
lethal viper, triple v centennial, subic centennial, jai-san,
and
irumiren. as best as i can tell since i am blind
as a bat at night,
ruby tuesday, and vivaldi were in constant sight of each
other. it also
looked as if rapparreeII had a good start. looks
like the crew training
is paying off.
irumiren i am sure, led at san nicholas followed by subic
centennial,
lethal viper, and then triple v centennial. lethal
weapon closely
followed by jai-san were next. then ruby tuesday
and vivaldi followed.
the same lead positions held at fort drum.
it wasn't till we got to luzon point that things got rather
interesting
to say the least. as i gathered later, irmiren parked
for about 45
minutes. in the mean time, ruby tuesday which had
been about 15 minutes
behind jai-san at fort drum, caught and passed her.
immediately,
jai-san put on her right hand turning indicator, went
to
windward behind ruby and found a private wind line inshore
and took
off. she caught and passed lethal weapon that was
then 3 minutes ahead
of her and then caught triple v centennial which was probably
15
minutes ahead of her.
the only boat that escaped was lethal viper. she
managed to hang in
2 seconds to take first place in chs. in
third was triple v centennial with vivaldi nipping at
their heels. by
the way, this was vivaldi first race in almost a year.
welcome back
guys.
slipping in by 35 seconds for fifth was rags, which left
subic
centennial in sixth by a mere 16 seconds ahead of kiri.
rapparree II
held onto 8th followed by young once, irumiren, and then
lethal weapon.
in pys, the results were dramatically diferent.
Kirk took the honors
while jai-san held on to second. in third was mighty
maru in serena II
followed by vivaldi. young once in 5th slayed lethal
viper while
rapparree II kept ruby tuesday in 8th. this time,
rags came in 9th
keeping triple v centennial and subic centennial at bay.
after finding
the valet parking attendant, irumiren held off margarita,
griffon,
infinity and lethal weapon.
on sunday, an unofficial race was held in where irumiren
exacted revenge
on the fleet. she placed first in both chs and pys.
in fact, the start
of that race was so painful to some that i will not dwell
on it.
jai-san again was the bridesmaid with second in both rating
band giving
her the unofficial weekend title.
young once took 3rd in chs and 4th in pys. lethal
viper took 4th in chs
and 6th in pys. and griffon took 5th in pys.
it was great to be back at montemar. the place has
really gotten a lot
better which made for a great place to end a race.
our next off-shore
will be punta fuego at the end of february.
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