Masters Report from Magnus
One good reason to look forward to turning fifty is to be able to skipper a boat in the Star Masters. The regatta is a thrill and a joy and definitely one of the highlights on my racing calendar for the year. The skipper, who needs to have turned fifty by the time the regatta starts, can choose a crew of any age. Many of the class legends come here to participate. Some of the past winner includes names like Ding Schoonmaker, Bill Buchan, Dennis Connor, Stig Wennerstrom and Hans Fogh.
Our own Frank Zagarino initiated the event in the mid eighties. Only seven boats showed up to race that time, but the number of participants has grown ever since. A typical year has forty-some boats on the line, even though this years entries were down, slightly.
To me the regatta is extra special because of the participants themselves. To race against the above mentioned and legends like Sir Durward Knowles, Pelle Peterson and all the others, is thrilling. To learn from them, listen to their "battle stories" and one day be able to tell my successors about it, is what it is all about for me. It is not so much about winning as it is to have a good time. Don't get me wrong, we wanted to win and gave it all we had, but I'm just as happy to see Brooks and Austin Sperry claim the overall victory and Howard Shiebler coach his father Larry, to a "bullet" in the first race, and see Pelle Petterson take the gun in the second race.
One can usually find some of the top skippers in the class, crewing at this event. This year was no exception. The German Olympic representative and the recent MOCR winner, Marc Pickel, crewed for fellow German, Michael Unkel Bach and Mark Reynolds sailed with Harry Walker.
Some of the top crews showed up as well. Hal Haenel crewed for Pelle Petterson, George Iverson hiked out for Hans Fogh, Rick Peters teamed up with Sir Durward and Andrew Higgs stuck to his regular partner, the 2000 Masters Champion, Jimmie Lowe.
I teamed up with Trig Liljestrand this year. Trig was a three-time Snipe champion, back in the old country, when I grew up. He now lives in San Francisco, where running his furniture business takes up most of his time. Despite his lack of sailing the past few years, he showed great concentration and an excellent feel for driving the boat. He single-handedly took us out of a serious bind, in the last race, by moving us up from 25th at the beginning of the last beat to a tenth at the finish. Well done Trig!
First race:
Wind speed: 2-8 knots
Wind direction: 205 degrees
Course: W4
We started right at the pin end. The Shiebler team were over early, in front of us and and to re-start, Lowe/Higgs (BAH) were right on our hip as we sailed away on a starboard tack. After a few minutes in to the race, the entire fleet were on port, with the exception of Lowe/Higgs and us. They eventually tacked, but by now, we were lifted about 10 degrees. Not good, but we had to tack anyway. A late lefty saved our beat, even though we by no means were leading the race. We tacked to leeward of a bunch of boats approaching from the right and then quickly closed in on the left lay line. There was no room to tack. We had to wait for every one else and ended up over standing the weather mark pretty big. Now came time to duck all the starboard tackers and the loss was huge. Petterson/Haenel sailed very smartly. I saw them cross our transom, by a fair margin about 150 yards before the mark. They went on out to the right lay line, played it safe and rounded well ahead of us.
I could hear Coach Adams whisper in my ear, as we rounded the mark, " do you see that cloud? Sail to it!" He wasn't on the race course, but we had talked about the scenario many times. A black, monstrous, cloud formation was approaching from them left. The decision to gybe right away, was not a difficult one. We mad a major gain on the run. The breeze dropped towards the end of leg and turned right about 35 degrees. We squeezed around the left gate marker, and held a port tack, just long enough to clear our air on Vanderhoff/Perkins.
The second beat became a one tack deal. Trig was pointing the "beak" just a little to the right of the weather mark as he struggled to keep the speed in the extremely challenging conditions of a serious chop and very little wind. However, he did a good job and we rounded top ten at the weather mark.
The Race committee had changed the bearing to the finish (55 degrees). It remained very light. Many of the boats behind us sailed real high on port, trying to find new breeze. Others sailed low, hoping that sail the shorter distance would pay off. We kept our air clean and did an in-between job, eventually gaining a few boats to finish the race in sixth.
The Shiebler team did better then everyone. Their re-start procedure had sent them off on a port tack and a first place finish, in the opening race.
Notable finish was the one of Robert Bryant, who was sailing in a Star for the first time. Jim Freeman, who normally teams up with his son, Matthew, had given Robert the opportunity to drive. Their second place finish in the race was very good.
Top three:
1. Shiebler/Shiebler
2. Bryant/ Freeman
3. Miller/Newhall
Second race:
Wind speed: 6-10 knots
Wind direction: 205 degrees
Course: W3
One start at the pin, the next at the committee boat, why not? We wanted to go right and we did. A few boats beat us and we had to settle for third row, but we were able to tack right away. I was praying for a right shift, but it didn't happen. We did tack short of the starboard lay line but as we approached the mark, we made one hitch to the right, went to far and lost even more to the leaders. We rounded in about 15th place.
We gybed to port, right away, on the first run. Lowe/Higgs joined us. We made a small gain, but nothing significant. For some reason we wanted the right again on the second beat. We had a pretty good rounding around the left gate marker. Rumsey/Kolhas were straight in front of us and little to leeward. We had to try to live there. There were no lanes available to the right, should we have to tack. A tack would have but us in the middle or left side of the race course. I insisted on the potential of a right shift. We barely managed to hang on. However, we knew that we had a weight advantage on the leeward boat and chances were that it would pay off, and it did. By now, we "owned" the right. There was wind on he water in front of us. Would it be a header? Yes, a 10-15 degree knock. It put us in fifth, around the weather mark.
The boats ahead of us started out on a starboard run. We sailed right past one boat who didn't keep is wind clear, about half way down the leg. Once we were clear ahead of him he tried to do what we did, and as result , we gybed to port, heading straight for the gate. Port was now the long gybe. We beat Miller/ Newhall, both going around the left gate. The wind had gone further right. We managed to tack right before the they did and we soon realized that we were laying the finish.
Petterson/Haenel and Sperry /Sperry had battled for the lead during most of the race. Pelle, once again found himself "draw the long straw" edging out the father and son team to the finish. Another father and son team did a great job. McCarthy/McCarthy had rounded the right gate marker and laid the finish form there.
Top three:
1. Petterson/Haenel
2. Sperry/Sperry
3. McCarthy/McCarthy
Frank and Louan Zagarino hosted a dinner on Saturday night at their home. Most of the participants along with their wife's, girlfriends and boyfriends showed up. The food was very good and so was the company. Thank you for a great evening.
Third race:
Wind speed: 12-15 knots
Wind direction: 345 degrees
Course: W3
Most everything went wrong for us during the final race of the series. Brooks/Brooks were leading the regatta (7 points), Shiebler/Shiebler were in second (9 points) and Trig and I were in third, three points behind the leader. We did have a chance for the title, but there was also plenty of room to do worse.
We had a miserable start on the middle of he line. We sailed poorly and used poor tactics (is there another word for that?). We ended up both beats on the left side, well above the lay line. The point standing was ambitiously scribbled on to the deck. We knew which sail numbers we had to beat and by how much. The bad news was that most of those numbers were all doing well in the race and, all of a sudden, we were clinging on to a top ten finish, over all.
At the beginning of the final beat, Trig said, "let's go right this time!" It didn't make to much sense to follow the pack in 25th place. We went for the ultimate separation - all the way right. The righty, about 15 degrees, occurred as we were running out of time. It was sweet. We crossed the line in 10th.
The Sperry's kicked butt in the race. They had started at the pin end and gone left. I remember seeing them to leeward and in front and also them crossing us on a port tack. They did manage to get to the weather mark in fourth, the first time around, and then claim the lead on the first run. It must be a nice feeling to lead the regatta before the last race and then go out there and just "smoke" everyone. Congratulations to Brooks and Austin Sperry for a well sailed regatta.
Top three:
1. Sperry/Sperry
2. Zambella/Lanza
3. Lowe/Higgs
Final standings:
1. Sperry/Sperry
2. Miller/Newhall
3. Shiebler/Shiebler
4. Liljestrand/Liljedahl
5. Lowe/Higgs
