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Cat44 32nd Annual Commodores Cup 2004 |
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The Turnout |
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Another Cat44 Commodores Cup Race has came and gone. The main storyline is that Bill and Colleen once gain proved why their names appear on the trophy more than any other. The back storyline is all about the resurgence of interest in the fleet and the appearance of bright new crisp boats and sails. This year there were 5 new boats on the start line - Danny, Hunter, Tom, Dick and Doug, and Steve Maffetone bought new sails just prior to the race The fleet turned out in great numbers and it was pleasing to see a bunch of new faces and new competitors, and even more pleasing to note the turnout of friends and supporters. Brett Moss provided much humor at the start with an excellent poem on the contenders - see Brett's ode to Cat44 below Ron Kern also organized the 2nd annual Inlet to Inlet race and his windsurfers helped to swell the ranks on the water - see the I-I Windsurf report below. Many thanks to Kim and Wolf for helping with the photography. Great job to both of you. And to all you sailors out there, make sure you thank them the next time you see them. |
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Sally |
Don Balthaser |
Steve Maffetone |
Scott Corson |
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Chris Summers |
Hunter Fry |
Sebastian and James |
Bob Shell |
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Jen McMahon |
Quan Le |
Hunter Fry |
Mark Jones |
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Wolf Serrer |
Bill Clark |
Terry Lusk |
Willie Stolberg |
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Dick and Hawk get snapped as they prepare to head out |
Doug and Debbie Russell head out in their bright new boat. |
Brett and Mark share a humorous moment |
Brett heads out in his Marstrom A-Class |
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CAT 44 32ND COMMODORES CUP 2004
TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE THE CUP AND ALL THROUGH THE LAND CAT 44 SAILORS WERE UP TRYING TO DEVISE A GRAND PLAN
FIRST THERE IS WILLY WHO HOPES IT BLOWS LIGHT AS UNDER WEIGHT AS HE IS THIS WILL BE ALL RIGHT
THEN THERE IS MARK WHO HOPES IT BLOWS HARD SO HO HO HO HE CAN USE ALL THAT LARD
AT THE HOUSE OF RUSSELL THEY ARE ALL A BUSSELL TWEAKING NEW BOATS THESE TWO HAVE MY VOTE
AND MOTHER RUSSELL WITH SUCH A LARGE HEART WONDERS OUT LOUD “WHY,WHY CAN’T RICHARD GET A GOOD START”
THEN THERE IS DANNY BOY, CAN HE MAKE THAT HOBIE SKIP IF ONLY , ONLY THE BOY DOES NOT FLIP
NOW COMES HUNTER CONFIDANT AND QUIET IF HE WINS HE WILL HAVE A PERSONAL RIOT
THE MAFF MAN HAS SUPREME POWER IF ONLY THE BOAT WILL STAY TOGETHER FOR MORE THAN AN HOUR
THEY CALL BIG BOB MELLOW THE LURE OF THE CUP FUELS THIS FELLOW HE MAY GO LIKE A BAT OUT OF HELL AND THE NAME ON THE CUP WILL BE SHELL
THE HAWK WILL WHIP ON RUSSSEL FOR SPEED SO SHE CAN GET TO THE BEACH AND THE JUICE THAT SHE NEEDS
CLASH HAS A NEW BOAT, MUST HAVE CUT OPEN THE SOCK IT MAY BE TIME FOR THIS DARK HORSE TO ROCK
ONE IF BY LAND TWO IF BY SEA IF THE BRITISH DRANK TO MUCH RUM THEY WILL HAVE TO STOP AND PEE
DON DOES NOT NEED TO RACE AS THIS GAME IS NO LONGER HIS PACE HE IS MORE CONTENT TO SIT ON THE BEACH WITH A FULL COOLER WITHIN EASY REACH
CHRIS WILL HAVE TO CARRY ON THE FIGHT HOPE THE YOUNG LAD WAS NOT OUT ALL LAST NIGHT
BUT WAIT SAID SCOTT , OUR COMMODORE THIS RACE IS NAMED FOR ME LET’S SLEEP IN AND START IT AT THREE Brett Moss 2004 |
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The Skippers their crew and their boats |
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Bill and Colleen Stolberg |
Hunter Fry and Jen McMahon |
Scott and Tracee Corson |
Steve Maffetone with new crew Quan Le |
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Doug and Debbie Russell |
Danny Steyn and Stacey Serrer |
Chris Summers and Dave Martin |
Dick Russell and Jane Hawkins |
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Mark Jones and Kerry Geiger |
Sebastian Lewis and James Martin |
Tom Klash and Cynthia |
Brett and Mikey Moss |
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The Start |
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Throughout the week the weather forecast ranged from NE 5-10 to SE 5-10. Race day started off dark and gloomy with low lying storm clouds that strengthened the wind in the early morning and created considerable chop. As the day heated up the sun burned off the clouds and the wind started to lighten up, but the chop remained and would play a significant part in the race. This years course had an tight reaching/upwind start to the Whistle Buoy (A mark), then a long reach to the B mark at the Lighthouse Can, and then a very broad reach/downwind run to the finish at Fort Lauderdale Beach. With 13 boats on the line, the start was pretty hectic, and a couple of starboard starters really put the cat amongst the pigeons.
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The Race |
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Scott and Tracee sailed into an early lead on the upwind leg with Hunter in close contention, but Dick and Hawk were the first around the mark, closely followed by Scott, Doug, Hunter, Mark and Danny. Dick fluffed his tack allowing several to pass, and the whole fleet was quite tightly bunched at the A mark. Scott sailed off in to the early lead on the long leg to the A mark, but this is where the race got really interesting. The strong chop and varying wind strength played havoc with all the skippers. At times you would be flying, perfectly setup in the groove, and seconds later you would be parked, bouncing in the chop while the rest of the fleet passed you by. This race had the most lead changes in recent Commodores Cup history. Scott was the early leader, then Dick, then Scott, then Doug, then Mark, then Hunter, then Doug again. All the while Willie was making excellent speed recovering from a tough start. Bye the time the Fleet hit the B mark at Hillsboro light house, Willie had sailed into 2nd behind Doug, followed by Danny, Mark, Scott and Hunter. On the long light and bouncy return leg, Willie was the class of the field sailing away from everyone to very well-deserved victory. The rest of us remained fairly close all the way to the finish line, as the photos will show. Tom Klash had a great day, apart from finishing 11th ahead of Bob, Tom was hot on the heels of the fleet for most of the race. Nice to see the new boat paying off so handsomely Tom! Bob Shell picked up the last place finish winning the traditional six pack of Old Milwaukee in the process Note: Brett Moss on his Marstrom A Cat won line honors despite having to make a repair to his tiller during the race |
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Willie and Colleen Stolberg get the Commodores Cup AGAIN |
Danny and Stacey in 2nd place ahead of Mark Jones and Doug Russell |
Danny and Stacey finishing 2nd |
Doug And Mark duke it out in a race for 3rd place followed by Scott and Hunter |
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Doug and Debbie finishing 3rd |
Mark ahead of Scott |
Hunter and Jen sailing into 6th place |
This shows just how tight the finish was - Dick Russell ahead of Chris, Seb, Steve and Tom |
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Chris and Dave hold off Tom and Cynthia |
Dick and hawk sailing into 7th place after leading to the weather mark |
Seb and James hold off Steve and Quan |
Brett Moss takes Line Honors |
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Post Race Photos |
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2004 Commodores Cup Results |
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This year's i To i Distance Race,
(Inlet to Inlet), started in light wind and finished in even
lighter. The race grew to 8 entries this year with a geographically
diverse group from around FL, Quebec, and MD. Racers arrived around 9:00
a.m. and were rigging big for the 9 mph average being reported in Pompano
near the Hillsboro Inlet. A bit more wind was being reported at the race
starting area, but mostly 12.5's were rigged.
We had a pleasant day with warm ocean and
air temps. It seemed like rig loans were the call for the day with Brian
Barr loaning sails to both Don Wagner and Ron Kern. Don didn't have
anything he liked bigger than 9.8 and Ron had rigging issues with his 12.5
and borrowed Brian's spare 12.5. Joan-Pere had rigging problems with his
11m and borrowed Ron's 10.7. It's a good thing there was a friendly
exchange as it would have been a shame to beach 3 of the 8 competitors!
The Hobie fleet started the Commodore's
Cup promptly at 11:00 and the windsurfers were still putting final
touches on the borrowed gear. There were a few changes to the race
instructions which gave motivation to keep the race going, but to give an
option in case things got ugly by allowing several shortened course
options to be picked on the fly by the competitors. The official course
was 23.2 miles as the crow flies. Several closer marks allowed the choice
to round that mark with scoring priority given to those that rounded
further marks. A 4½ hour maximum to complete the race was announced.
The race started at 11:26. Don Wagner and
Ron Kern had a close race to the first mark. Don was close on Ron's heels
for about a mile and hit a hole and disappeared. Don had planed again but
a bit further up the course ripped a foot strap insert out of the board and
headed for the beach. Joan-Pere Aquilo was having difficulty on Ron's
borrowed rig and the light winds and called it quits. A bit later Mike
Rayl was not getting anywhere quickly with his 12.0 and retired. The race
was down to 5.
Ron carried a GPS and he rounded the first
mark 2.5 miles offshore at Port Everglades channel at 11:40 and made the
Hillsboro Inlet marker at 12:38. The upwind run to the Hillsboro mark was
planing the whole way for both Ron & Van. The wind was getting lighter
and planing was difficult at times on the run back to the finish. The
last 3 miles were planing about 10% of the time. Ron finished at 1:57p.m.
and Van next about 10 minutes behind. Brian Barr opted for the shortened
course and came in third about 10 minutes behind Van. Nobody else was
visible on the water.
Out of the blue came Germain Bisson on his
longboard a bit behind Brian. Gemain had tossed in an extra leg rounding
the outside channel marker at Port Everglades for good measure adding
about 4 extra miles to his track but completed the whole course, (and then
some!). Brian was now in fourth.
Quite a bit of time passed and a few
minutes before 4 p.m. Al Bernau was finishing up. He said he was spotty
planing to weather and never planed coming back. He went the distance but
said it got quite lonely out there by himself. Like Tom Hanks in
Survivor he was looking for companionship and named his water bottle
Wilson. Wilson and Al were getting along fine until he dropped the bottle
and it was getting away. Al dropped the rig and dove in "saving" Wilson.
Awards and prizes followed. Each
competitor received a Neil Pryde ball cap, a Neil Pryde pin and stocking
cap from the Miami Formula Challenge.
Final Results:
1st Place prize $50 gift certificate
from Water-Play, www.water-play.com,
to Ron Kern
2nd Place prize Neil Pryde harness to Gary
Van Dyke
3rd Place prize Neil Pryde harness to
Germain Bisson
L-R: Brian, Germain, Van, Joan-Pere,
Mike, Ron, Al & Wilson (Not pictured Don).
Thanks to Water-Play and Adventure Sports
for the prizes and handouts. Thanks to Brian for picking up the prize
bundle from Adventure Sports and for the sail loan! Thanks to the
enthusiasm everyone brought to the event.
Hope to see everybody back next year as
well as some new faces to the I to I Distance Race.
Ron
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