Keeping the streak alive

Six Moth Boats, covering all three divisions (one Gen II, one Vintage and 4 Gen I boats) raced this past Saturday for the “makeup 2015 Carl Patterson Memorial Regatta", thereby maintaining an unbroken streak for the event.  Last October’s regatta was cancelled due to bad weather and, yes, weather permitting, there will be a 2016 edition of this event this coming October.  Of the six boats participating, one was brand new (Bill Boyle’s recently finished cedar strip Europe), one was the subject of an extensive restoration (Joe Courter’s ex-Griff) and one was David White’s ex-Joe Courter Maser sporting new roll tank decks.  Bob Patterson sailed his familiar Shelley and Mike Parsons sailed his Mistral.  Victor Stango sailed his plywood Lindenberg.

The wind was out of the SE and ranged between 0 and maybe 5 knots.  Additionally, when Bill and I arrived at the club, the Chester River was right at high tide (~3 feet above normal) and was busily in the process of emptying all that water back to the Chesapeake Bay.  This meant that the usual strong current which Chestertown is well known for was even stronger and remained so throughout the regatta.  The course was set such that the up wind legs were with the current.

We launched at 11am and squeezed in four races around a short, single triangle course which featured an upwind start and finish.  Mike Parsons arrived late and was DNS for the first race.  I found myself 4 minutes on the “on course” side of the starting line when the RC decided to blow the 3 minute warning for that heat!  Not good considering that I was sailing the slow Vintage boat.  I was a good minute behind the fleet once I recrossed the line, but I did manage recover enough to pick off poor David White, who was having main sheet problems, just before the end of that race.  The first race saw Bill Boyle score his best placing of the day, coming in second after Bob Patterson.  Mike joined us for the remaining 3 races and the fleet settled down to very consistent and predictable finishes as seen in the table below.  By being courteous enough to miss the first race, Mike finally allowed Bob to get his name on the Patterson trophy!

Skipper	Sail Nr	R-1	R-2	R-3	R-4	Pts	Remarks
Patterson, B	217	1	2	2	2	7	Overall winner, Gen I 1st
Parsons, M	79	DNS	1	1	1	9	Gen II 1st
Stango, V	109	3	3	3	3	12	2nd Gen I
Albaugh, G	69	4	4	4	4	16	1st Vintage
Boyle, B	1603	2	5	5	DNF	18	3rd Gen I
White, D	40	5	6	6	6	23	4th Gen I

Bill had various teething problems with his new boat, but she showed moments of good performance and no doubt will be more highly placed at future events.  Likewise, David White has a few issues to resolve on his Maser but I’m sure with guidance from Victor and Bob, he will be much improved at the next event.  The newly rehabbed Griff also proved quick and it will be interesting to race Griff again at BYC in the presence of other Vintage Division boats.  Victor Stango has made several changes to his Lindenberg Moth and again it will be interesting to see how he stacks up in a larger group of Gen I boats.

Bill's new cedar strip Europe design.  My ride for the day (green Vintage hull) in the background.

Zooming in on the Europe.  Note that the cedar strips near the gunwale run fore and aft while the strips for the remainder of the hull run on a diagonal.  Bill started off installing strips at the 'wales but quickly learned that due to the shape of the molds he couldn't continue with that orientation.  If he builds a second one, all the strips would be laid out diagonally from the keel.

Bow shot.  Pretty boat.

Bill made his own retractable rudder stock from wood.

Bob Patterson's Shelley sported a new paint job.

New roll tank decks on David White's Maser.

My yacht for the day looked very much inclined to the bad habit of hooking the main sheet around the corners of the transom.  In practice the rudder and tiller helped prevent that.

A better look at Griff . 

Griff was built in 1947 for a member of the old Evening Star Yacht Club (Atlantic City).  After a brief spell with that club she was purchased by long term owners and moved to the Browns Mills Yacht Club, up on Mirror Lake, New Jersey.  Joe Courter bought her in the early 1990s and sailed her for several years.  Bill Boyle recently restored her back to racing condition.