Star Class North American Championship at Tred Avon Yacht Club

Star Class North American Championship at Tred Avon Yacht Club - Day 2

by Laura Beigel 10 Oct 2014 14:28 BST 8-11 October 2014

Schofield brothers on fire

The Star sailors arrived at the Tred Avon Yacht Club eager to get back out on the water, some for another chance to take on the elements, but most to complete Races 4 and 5 so the drop race would take effect, removing their worst race finish from their overall series score. Race Day 2 was another tough day on the water for the fleet as it presented nearly identical conditions to the previous day and while many of the sailors added one good race to the score sheet, few teams were able to post two consistent results. With 5 races scored and the throw-out calculated into the overall points, USA 8000 Anosov/Caesar still lead the regatta by a comfortable 7 points with 3 races left in the series, despite their Black Flag penalty in Race 5.

After a short postponement on the water, the Race Committee began the sequence for Race 4 in a 4 – 6 knot westerly breeze. The Star fleet took to the line with angst and consequently drew a General Recall. A second starting sequence resulted in the same outcome, so for their third attempt to start Race 4 the Race Committee posted the Black Flag in hopes it would force the sailors to dial back the aggression on the line enough to get a clean start. When the signal for the start sounded, all boats were clear and the fleet was finally on its way upwind on the first leg of Race 4.

To take advantage of the left phase, the fleet worked toward the left side of the course early before tacking to port for a long haul to the weather mark. 2000 District 2 Blue Star Champions, brothers, and former Olympic Campaign teammates in the Star for the 2003 trials, Doug and Bob Schofield (USA 8264) nailed the tacking angles on the first beat and rounded the weather mark in the lead. Paul Cayard and Brian Terhaar (USA 8460) rounded shortly after in 2nd place followed closely by Alberto Zanetti and Federico Calegari (ARG 8278) in 3rd, Jack Rickard and San Eadie (USA 8036) in 4th, and Tomas Hornos and Josh Revkin (USA 8177) in 5th. USA 8264 Schofield/Schofield extended their lead downwind, making use of a 15 degrees left shift and rounded the leeward gate 50 yards ahead of 2nd place USA 8460 Cayard/Terhaar. USA 8177 Hornos/Revkin moved into 3rd place in the last quarter of the downwind leg and rounded just ahead of 4th place John MacCausland and Rick Burgess (USA 8490) and 5th place Tom Londrigan and Steve Cutting (USA 8361).

The weather mark for the next beat was adjusted to keep the race course square with the breeze as it continued to shift left. USA 8490 MacCausland/Burgess managed to gain the left side advantage and sneak into 1st place around the weather mark. USA 8460 Cayard/Terhaar rounded second with Arthur Anosov and Dave Caesar (USA 8000) right on their hip in 3rd but due to the current hit the weather mark and went on to do a 360 before rounding the offset mark. USA 8264 Schofield/Schofield rounded the weather mark in 4th and USA 8177 Hornos/Revkin had moved back up to 5th. At the finish, it was Will Swigart and Brian Fatih (USA 8291) who got the gun after coming in fast with pressure and overtaking 2nd place USA 8000 Anosov/Caesar, 3rd place USA 8460 Cayard/Terhaar, 4th place USA 8264 Schofield/Schofield, and 5th place USA 8490 MacCausland/Burgess in the last one hundred yards of the race.

Race 5 began with a single start however, anticipating pressure on the starting line from the sailors again, the Race Committee had posted the Black Flag during the sequence and two boats were called OCS. As expected, the fleet set up right against the line and were stacked so close there was nowhere to go but forward, so as they began to accelerate both USA 8000 Anosov/Caesar and ARG 8278 Zanetti/Calegari crossed the line early and received Black Flag penalties for Race 5. For the remainder of the race, USA 8264 Schofield/Schofield dominated the course and led the fleet around every mark. On the first beat, USA 8177 Hornos/Revkin worked up the middle with USA 8264 Schofield/Schofield protecting the favored left side and as the two teams approached the first windward mark they were bow-to-bow even. The pair rounded the weather mark followed by William Watson and Roger Sharp (USA 8367), Erich Mones Ruiz and Diego Peisajovich (ARG 8285) in 4th and USA 8361 Londrigan/Cutting in 5th.

These top 5 teams maintained their same positions all the way downwind and round the leeward gate but half way up the second beat, Torben Grael and Guilherme Almeida (BRA 8210) caught a small right shift, tacked away early, and shortly after secured 2nd place for the remainder of the leg. At the weather mark, USA 8264 Schofield/Schofield rounded in first again, BRA 8210 Grael/Almeida rounded in 2nd, USA 8361 Londrigan/Cutting in 3rd, USA 8177 Hornos/Revkin in 4th, and ARG 8367 Monez Ruiz/Peisajovich in 5th. USA 8264 Schofield/Schofield continued on downwind defending their lead into the finish line and won Race 5! BRA 8210 Grael/Almeida finished 2nd, USA 8361 Londrigan/Cutting 3rd, USA 8177 Hornos/Revkin 4th, and ARG 8367 Monez Ruiz/Peisajovich 5th.

In contrast to the fleet wide struggle for consistency in yesterday's conditions, 3 teams managed to earn 2 top ten finishes in Race 1 and 2: USA 8490 MacCausland/Burgess with a 5th and an 8th, USA 8177 Hornos/Revkin with a 6th and a 4th, and finally USA 8264 Schofield/Schofield who unquestionably won the day with a 4th and a 1st. Doug and Bob Schofield are no strangers to these waters, in fact Bob claims Oxford, and the Chesapeake in general, as his "very favourite place to sail," and their success today in these particular conditions does not come as a surprise.

Quotes of the Day:

Bob Schofield, USA 8264: "It has been 10 years since Doug was in a Star last, and 7 years for me so this event feels kind of like we're returning to the frat house for alumni weekend. We sailed against most of these guys back in the day and they're all very even speed, very fast. So for us knowing about what the current was doing out there was crucial. It was mostly significant upwind when picking our positions on the course because the variations in speed and direction across the board were huge."

Tomas Hornos, USA 8177: "The two most important things to us today were having clean starts in the front row near the middle of the line, and being able to have one foot on either side of the course. We knew it would probably be hard to win a race without committing to a single side but overall consistency in our scores was the goal, and having the option to play on both sides of the course was key to making that happen."

Results after Day 2:

Pos	Helm	Crew	Sail No	Fleet	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Pts
1	Arthur Anosov	David Caesar	USA 8000	SL	3	10	2	2	[42 BFD]	17
2	Torben Grael	Guilherme Almeida	BRA 8210	Gua	4	4	[25 RDG]	14	2	24
3	Tomas Hornos	Josh Revkin	USA 8177	BH	10	8	[20]	6	4	28
4	Paul Cayard	Brian Terhaar	USA 8460	WSFB	2	[21]	15	3	11	31
5	Larry Whipple	Mike Wolfs	USA 8484	BisB	5	7	12	[17]	7	31
6	Will Swigart	Brian Fatih	USA 8291	CLIS	7	[18]	14	1	14	36
7	Jack Jennings	Jesse Fielding	USA 8464	LS	9	[19]	4	7	17	37
8	Mark Passmore	Simon Van Wonderen	CAN 8235	WLOC	16	6	3	[22]	13	38
9	John Maccausland	Rick Burgess	USA 8490	CR	1	25	[42 OCS]	5	8	39
10	William Watson	Roger Sharp	USA 8367	CLIS	[19]	3	10	18	10	41
11	Doug Schofield	Bob Schofield	USA 8264	ES	8	29	[42 OCS]	4	1	42
12	Erich Mones Ruiz	Diego Peisajovich	ARG 8285	BisB	6	[27]	8	24	5	43
13	Tom Londrigan Jr	Steve Cutting	USA 8361	LS	17	15	[42 OCS]	11	3	46
14	Keith Donald	Kevin Elterman	USA 8087	AN	14	1	DG	21	[28]	52
15	Mark Holowesko	Myles Pritchard	BAH 8406	N	21	16	11	[42 DSQ]	9	57
16	Mike Hecky	Arnis Baltins	USA 8395	CR	13	2	24	20	[32]	59
17	Jack Rickard	Sam Eadie	USA 8036	WH	25	14	13	9	[30]	61
18	Bob Lippincott	Michael Zuschnitt	USA 7512	ES	[24]	12	21	13	15	61
19	Derek Decouteau	Jamie Stewart	USA 8083	BI	12	23	[28]	23	6	64
20	Steve Braverman	Kevin Hetherington‑Young	USA 8052	BH	20	[33]	23	10	16	69
21	R J Cooper	Brian Boyd	USA 8024	ES	29	17	5	[34]	19	70
22	Jerry Wendt	Ezra Culver	CAN 8389	WLOC	15	20	18	[26]	18	71
23	Claude Bonanni	Manolo Bunge	USA 8279	TaB	22	22	7	[29]	21	72
24	Bert Collins	Jake Doyle	USA 8063	AN	18	[31]	9	25	20	72
25	Carroll McCallum	Jock Kohlhas	USA 8420	CLIS	[42 DNS]	26	1	16	34	77
26	Rick Rundle	Kyle McVane	USA 7078	CHiH	[35]	5	16	27	33	81
27	Barbara Beigel‑Vosbury	Guy Avellon	USA 7986	AN	26	24	6	[32]	27	83
28	Alberto Zanetti	Federico Calegari	ARG 8278	OL	11	13	[42 OCS]	19	FD	85
29	John Chiarella	Bob Carlson	USA 8215	Sun	30	11	17	28	[31]	86
30	Schuyler Benson	Andrew Parish	USA 8067	ES	23	[34]	30	12	22	87
31	Alan Campbell	Steve Rollo	USA 8045	ES	28	9	22	[42 DNF]	NS	101
32	Ben Sternberg	Valentin Veytsman	USA 8358	CLIS	[42 DNF]	NS	NS	8	12	104
33	Will Murdoch	Tim Paris	USA 7713	MES	31	[36]	26	33	26	116
34	Tom White	Isao Toyama	USA 8157	SL	[42 DNS]	NS	DG	31	23	123
35	Eugenio Cingolani	Celia Cingolani	ARG 8268	SMB	[42 DNF]	NS	DG	30	24	123
36	Sandy McAllister	Spencer McAllister	USA 7828	ES	32	35	27	[36]	29	123
37	Douglas Smith	Chris Rogers	USA 8072	SBC	[42 ]	NC	NC	15	25	124
38	Steve Kling	Mike Lovellette	USA 8131	AN	33	30	29	[35]	35	127
39	Daniel Della Torre	Ed Morey	ARG 8286	OL	27	[42 DNF]	19	NC	NS	130
40	Richard Sears	Ken Sears	USA 7902	CD	36	28	31	[37]	37	132
41	Joe Pro	Nicolaus Pro	USA 8153	NCB	34	32	[42 DNS]	38	36	140