It's ok to toot your own horn...at least your tooting is based on fact...

"DSK" wrote in message
.. .
This appeared in the Sarasota newspaper and a couple of newsletters,
including the Johnson 18 class. I hesitated to publish it here, I hope it
is not seen as bragging.

Johnson 18 1998 Midwinters, Sarasota Florida
by Doug King

The Sarasota Sailing Squadron hosts an annual Midwinter One-Design
regatta. This year about 109 boats from eight classes met there. My wife
Kathie usually crews for me, and is capable and enthusiastic. However she
had a medical seminar to attend, so I asked Pete Thorn who is an excellent
sailor in another class and a great guy. The Johnson 18 class had nine
boats, a bit down from last year. There were two practice races on Friday
in balmy conditions with about eight knots of wind and threatening
thunderstorms. We missed them, although conditions were so different the
next day it didn’t matter!

A cold front passed that night. Saturday morning was crystal clear, with
25-30 knots blowing down the bay. A lot of the other boats were delaying
at the dock, but we maneuvered past them and got underway like a shot from
a cannon. My goal was to not get tired out on the forty-five minute beat
to our course. The conditions seemed envigorating to us, but other boats
found them trying: only one E-Scow came out to race and they flipped and
swamped right to windward of the starting line. The only other class to
complete races on our course was the Vipers.

The long beat was good practice steering through the chop, and when we got
to our start we got down to business- windward/leeward course, pin end
favored, wind shifted slightly left: Bang!

Pointing is not the Johnson 18’s strong suite. I footed off even more than
usual for power through the chop. Traveler down, hike like crazy... We got
plenty wet, but it was worth it when we took a long port tack clean in
front of the fleet. By the windward mark, we had a good lead, and took off
down a nice deep & easy spinnaker run. I looked back, checking Matt
Michaud in second-place often. They headed up onto a tighter reach, and
came rocketing towards us, spinnaker straining. “Let’s head up for speed,
Pete,” I said. Boy did we ever! A five degree change in course gave us a
fifteen-degree shift in apparent wind and we took off like we had
afterburners. Pete later said it was like being in a Road Runner cartoon.

Matt had made a large gain, but pushed it a bit too much at the leeward
mark. Of course, when closing on the mark at 20+ knots it's hard to judge
time & distance accurately. I did not see all the details since we were
busy with our own boat, but it looked like they accidentally rounded up
during the spinnaker take-down, and capsized.

We held our lead for the rest of the race, covering loosely. David Keane
held on for a second place finish, followed by Shelley Cerf, John Weiss,
and Charlie Kilandor.

The second race was even tougher as the wind and chop built. We led
briefly, then Matt Michaud passed us just before the windward mark when we
busted a jib sheet. We caught up right at the leeward mark, and regained
the lead as we both sailed right past the mark getting the spinnakers
under control! On the next downwind run, we capsized gybing and Matt took
a well-earned first. Waving off assistance from a powerboat, Pete tucked
the spinnaker back into it’s bag before we pulled the boat upright and
jogged around the course for a third. We were both dog-tired!

Sunday things were a bit calmer. It was sunny, with wind about twelve to
fifteen knots from the same direction. The chop had calmed down a bit,
too. The first start saw a recall flag- we circled back, although I was
fairly sure we were safe. It’s cheap insurance, Pete and I told each other
as we took everybody’s transom. This put us a bit farther back in the
fleet, but at the first leeward mark several boats pulled up and hove-to
next to the Race Committee boat. They were the ones the recall flag was
for! Suddenly we were in third place.

Right about then, John Weiss from White Bear Lake and his crew Cara came
zooming up on a hot reach, and we were fending off a challenger from
astern. The next windward leg saw us through an exciting tacking duel
including some false tacks. Up ahead, Charlie Kilandor was getting a
bullet, closely followed by Herman Sorin in his new boat crewing for Jason
from Johnson Boat Works. We finished third which still gave us a solid
lead for the regatta.

The next race saw me botch a start, but at least we were at the favored
end and not over early. The first leeward leg we caught a nice gust and
planed cleanly past most of the crowd in front of us. Right ahead, Jason
read the shifts well and could outpoint us by just enough to keep clear
ahead. We gained on him on the next downwind leg, but couldn’t get close
enough to threaten for the all-important inside overlap at the mark. We
took a second in that race, followed by David Keane, Charlie Kilandor,
Matt Michaud, John Weiss, Shelley Cerf, and Gregg Graton. By my figures we
had it locked up. So I asked Pete if he wanted to drive in the last race-
“Sure!”

Pete got us our best start of the regatta, and we sailed conservatively.
We had one wild scramble, planing in hot to the leeward mark with a crowd
on the outside, and although I couldn’t see anything while kneeling in the
front of the boat wrestling the spinnaker, Pete shot us through like a
pro. A little covering, and we were following Jason and Charlie across the
finish line with another clean third place and the Johnson 18 Midwinter
Championship.

Skippers Crew Sail # Finishes Score
Douglas King Pete Thorn 140 1-3-3-2-3 12
Charlie Kilandor 183 5-DNF-1-4-2 22
David Keane 0 2-2-DNS-3-5 22
Herman Sorin Jason Brown 173 DNF-DNF-2-1-1 24
Matt Michaud 151 DNF-1-DNS-5-4 30
John Weiss Cara Weiss 148 4-DNF-4-6-6 30
Shelley Cerf 138 3-DNF-DNS-7-7 37
Gregg Graton Eileen Graton 152 DNF-DNF-5-8-8 41
Brian Malone, Bahamas 147 DNF- - - - 50