Midwinter Championships, Sf. Petersburg, Florida, January 6 -8, 1995

Mike Loeb and Guido Bertocci gave the fleet a sailing lesson with run of straight bullets on the waters of Tampa Bay.

Winds varied from a steady twelve to eight with holes to one race that ended in just two knots.  It didn't matter as #410 started well and led at nearly every mark (See Tech Talk) St. Petersburg Yacht Club runs around twenty major championships a year, so the RC work was excellent. FD's sailed on the same course as the 505s and the One Design 14 classes, starting between the two. The I-l4s sailed a somewhat shorter course inside or our modified Olympic. Dave Ellis teaming with Star skipper Doug Weatherby showed their lack of time in the boat together at times, but sailed well enough to tie the well practiced team of Bob Tausinger and Lin Robson. Star sailors steer upwind differently than FD sailors. But on the reaches and runs Ellis/Weatherby always passed boats. The results reflect the closeness of the racing after the Champ. Note Dave Fagen (the Elder) / Joe Frohock grabbing two second places in a row as did the Gorbolds. Yet it was consistency that wins. You can't get more consistent than straight firsts.

Skipper/crew  race1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9  total Loeb/Bertocci     1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    6 Ellis/Weatherby   2    4    2    3    5    2    5    5   (7)   28 Tausinger/Robsen  3    2    3    5    4    4    4   (7)   3    28 Gorbold/Gorbold   5    6    4    4   (8)   8    2    2    6    37 Cole/DeVries      7    3  (DNC) 10    3    7    3    3    2    38 Wren/Wren        (9)   7    8    6    7    6    8    4    4    50 Hinkel/Eich       4    5    5    7   10    5    9    6   (DNF) 51 Fagen/Frohock    11  (DNF) DNC   2    2    3    7    8   DNC   57 Hyatt/Hyatt       8   (9)   6    9    6    9    6    9    5    58 Kolb/Kresge      10    8    7  (DNF) DNF  DNC  l0   10    8    77 Braun/Nault       6  (DNS) DNC    8   9   DNC  DNC  DNC  DNC   83

TECH TALK
Some observations from the Midwinters on what was fast: Mike Loeb sailed Guido's #410. It was set up in the usual way of today. There were no secret gadgets. He just seemed to be playing the rig much more than the rest of the fleet. The draft in his Diamond main was well aft down low, about 55 -60% aft. Upper draft was an arc, not draft forward. Lower main was relatively flat, using lots of outhaul, flatter in the light stuff, fuller in medium breezes. He kept a straighter leach to his genoa than what we've seen, and the jib seemed to be cut straighter on the leach. This is the trend in many dinghies, incidentally.

On the reaches it always paid to go high at first. Three sail reaching with the big chute still sometimes works, but seemingly not as often as with the smaller spinnaker. Ellis' North 505-cut flat chute was significantly faster than any other to the tune of tens of boatlengths on the reaches. Downwind a flat chute needs to be twinged down to induce curl for vortex generation to make flow. A flatter chute needs careful trimming; it collapses when you look away. The Midwinters was not a boatspeed contest this year.



MIDWINTERS, 1995 WINNERS MICHAEL LOEB AND GUIDO BERTOCCI AS THEY CROSS THE LINE IN FIRST AGAIN. NOTE THAT MIKE IS STILL ADJUSTING THE RIG EVEN AS THEY ARE FINISHING!


FROM: US FLYING DUTCHMAN
    CLASS ASSOCIATION
    TRAPEZE EDITOR
    250 -SECOND AVE SE
    ST. PETERSBURG, FL
    33701