April

Fleet 12 April Newsletter – Post Race Round-up

• Pacific Sail Expo
• Fleet Regatta 1 Recap
• Scoring Problems for non-registered members
• Class Rules Update
• The Fleet 12 Etchells Forum
• Beer Can Racing
• Actor’s Studio

Pacific Sail Expo

We need both leadership and volunteers to help represent our class and introduce sailors to the fleet and the racing. I will help with getting folks together, but would like one other volunteer to help me with the on the water coordination. Ashley Perrin and Ed Kriese are manning the Etchells / Ocean Racing booth and will take guest racer reservations for both days. These events are great fun for fleet members and guests alike.

On Saturday and Sunday, the fleet has committed to have 10 boats out racing around the buoys in the Alameda estuary. We’ve got two boats committed, so we need 8 more boats. Skippers / Owners: Sign up with me now! For you seasoned Etchellers, please come out and tell other folks what has kept you sailing in this fleet. This would be also be a great chance for those of you new to fleet as you’ll have the chance to do tons of practice in all sorts of situations with all sorts of crew. Please send me a note (epbrooks@yahoo.com) this week to let me know you’ll be there.

The current plan is to tow down (Bob and Kers will tow from Richmond – need volunteer from SFYC) to Alameda Saturday morning, race from 12-4 with RC by Bob and Kers, and put the boats away at Oakland YC. If you need it (I know I will) we’ll help you arrange transportation back to your local YC to get your car. On Sunday we’ll pick up the boats, and race them in the estuary from 12-4 again, and then tow or sail home.

Ask Kers one day about his sail home in the sunset from this event last year. He’ll tell you it was one of his best days ever on an Etchells.

A few logistical notes: Every boat on the tow must have at least 2 people on board entering and leaving the estuary. Please try to bring extra PFDs for your visiting crew. There will also be passes available for Etchells fleet members at the Sail Expo entry point.

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Fleet Regatta 1 Scoring/Registration

You will find results posted shortly at: http://www.sfetchells.org/fleet/results.cfm?flow=3&ID=1

A bit of bad news:

There were 5 boats on the water this week who have not yet registered with the fleet. As you saw in the NORs and SIs, these boats will not be scored. In order to be scored for your 4/3 race, you must submit your registration no later than April 15th. Please go here right now and send in your registration: http://www.sfetchells.org/fleet/docs/registration.doc

Last minute registrations should be sent to

Jeff Holder
425 Warren Drive
San Francisco, CA 94131-1074

instead of to Scott. He will be out of town for two weeks starting Easter Sunday.

New boats to the fleet have 30 days to do this. Those of you who are not new, please add in the $25 late fee to your registration. I don’t feel like the bad guy anymore because I already warned y’all about this!

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New Etchells Class Rules:

A reminder about class rules – there have been some changes this year including the requirement of two paddles and two buckets in the boat. Some electronics are also permitted. You’ll find all of the rules here: http://www.etchells.org/ClassRules.pdf with changes noted in Red.

Also this in from Bunny Wyatt, Etchells Class Executive Secretary:

From: "Bunny Wayt"
Subject: Re: digital compass
Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2004 10:14:18 -0400

There was an article posted to the news section of the etchells.org
website on December 12th
and is still there. http://etchells.org/news.php?id_site=1&id_news=115

The tacktick micro is legal, the RaceMaster is not. There may be other
compasses that have only the features of the Micro or fewer. If so, they
too would be legal.

Regards,
Bunny

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San Francisco Fleet 12 Etchells Forum:

Only 5 of you (besides me) are registered in the forum – take a look now at the interesting exchanges. From Jim Gregory:

“Please see http://www.sfetchells.org/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=1

Let’s get some people to post their stories of destruction!!!

-Jim”

Beer Can Season is around the corner!

Come out and enjoy the fun at Richmond YC every other Wednesday night beginning in May. Click here for the details.

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Actor’s Studio:

Greg Fretz

For those that haven’t met Greg, he’s just sold of the much-coveted 966, continues as crew in the Etchells fleet and is an avid pilot. Greg helped out the fleet this weekend on RC with Kers. Thanks Greg!

1. How long have you been sailing? How/where did you learn? I have only been sailing since 2003. I came into this sport after many years in aviation and since it was getting too expensive I thought the air and the foils of sail boats would be the next challenge.

2. When did you first hear about Etchells? I first heard about Etchells in my "boat search" when I began sailing. At the time I was looking to buy a boat and researched every interesting boat on the web.

3. How long have you sailed this boat? I would like to say my first sail was at the 2003 Boat show at Jack London Square but the weather was so bad that year the fleet wimped out on Friday, the only day I could attend. So my next sail was with Kers Clausen and Bob Brandstad in a Richmond Beer Can race. It was the most exciting boat I had yet been on...and still is.

4. Do you do any other sailing besides Etchells? Besides Etchells, I sail a J-24 for pleasure mostly, and last year raced in a Merit 25 with Jim Fair, as well as in the ocean series on Axel Hyst with Jim Wallis.

5. Tell us about your family situation. What do they do while you're sailing? My family consists of my wife, Anne and our two cats. Anne tends the garden and "cooks up a storm" so that I have lots of "comfort food" when I get home. She has been know to do Race Committee boat; no wimp, she comes from a herring fishing family who were doing that in the Bristol Channel, England before W.W.II. The cats sleep until I get home.

6. Tell us about your crew. How long have you sailed with them? My crew is an ever-changing smorgasbord of delights. Whoever it is, we always seem to have a good time out there whether it’s practice or a race. I have had the pleasure of sailing with some really fine sailors who taught me a lot in a short space of time.

7. Tell us about your best race. Where was it/ what happened? Since I have only raced one season thus far my experiences are limited but the best race is the Richmond Beer can I won. For some reason the other Etchells went the "other way". We took a direct line out to Southampton Shoal, made a good rounding, passing a few other types of boats, set our spinnaker and sailed back and crossed the finish line first Etchells and about second or third of all the boats
participating, and that's from starting last !!! When things go right it so easy!!!

The ocean races were memorable as well, not one in particular but because their length and being out on the sea for a good days sail with good camaraderie on a beautiful boat.

8. Tell us about your worst crash. Who did you hit/ get hit by? I have not had a "worst crash", knock on wood, but there have been some close calls. While rounding a mark once we pushed the envelope and got a little close to another boat. I hate it when they yell at you. So, I learned a few lessons that way.

While not a crash, one day after I first got my boat, we were out by Angel island and it was blowing its summer usual, we were down wind and going well when the windward spinnaker sheet broke. It wrapped itself around the backstay from the inside out, or so it seemed. We had a dickens of a time getting it free. Meanwhile I am in a slight panic as I can see the "new to me" spinnaker going up in smoke. Just what I needed after just purchasing the boat. It turned out to have a long tear that was easily repaired and I learned to make and splice my own spinnaker sheets from that incident. So, again, it was a good learning experience in more than one way.

Lastly, last summer there was the Newport, RI regatta that Kers invited me to.. That was an experience I will never forget. Absolutely perfect weather, with blue skies and puffy clouds and a good breeze and mild sea. A large fleet of 42 boats going across the start line; it was all new to me. There was Dennis Connors sailing right along side us at one point. A couple of tacks later he was well in front of us; how do they do that?

9. What is your favorite curse word? I have a rather small curse word vocabulary but I always try to make it as colorful as I can the madder I get. I worked on Greek ships and they are notorious especially because they think most people don't understand their language. Needless to say, I became fluent in Greek !!!

10. & 11. Finish this sentence "The other boats in this fleet sail _> too much." Anything else you want to tell the other crews? I don't know that I can comment on the other boats I this fleet and how they sail, except that there are a lot of them that are always out in front of me. I would add that the competition that is coming for the Worlds in 2005 is going to be pretty stiff. Its important to mount an organised program and to get a stable crew and to practice a lot if we are to do well and get the most out of the experience. The fleet will be big, lots of boats. Its important to know the rules.

If you are interested in being added to the email list, have an updated email address, or want to tell me your latest greatest etchells story, please send a note to me at: epbrooks@yahoo.com Same goes if you want to be removed. If you want to commiserate, ask crazy rules questions, or wonder where the best place is for a certain type of gear, try posting your question to the SF etchells forum.