Cat44 33rd Annual Commodores Cup 2005

The Turnout

Another Cat44 Commodores Cup Race has come and gone. And once again Bill and Colleen Stolberg rained supreme - adding their names to the infamous Commodores Cup Trophy yet again. It was extremely gratifying to see the best turnout in the past 10 years with sixteen Hobie 16's taking the start. Victor was also there with his ORCA, but wasn't part of the official race which is limited to Hobie 16's.

The heavyweights were hoping for the typical blustery Commodores Cup squalls but this year they were denied. Sunday morning December 4th 2005 was very still, with the winds only starting to kick in from the ESE at around 10am. The forecast for the entire race was light wind less than 10 knots, and it wasn't looking good for the heavy boys - the light weights were hot favorites.

Sunday December 4th 2005 - Weather Archive

The course was the typical Commodores Cup race with the start just offshore from the beach, an upwind leg to the whistle buoy, a long downwind run to the outside channel marker at Hillsboro Inlet, and then a fairly tight reach all the way back around the start buoy, and ending through the finish line.

The start line was easily visible from the beach and there was much jockeying at the start. Mark Jones headed up Stewart Barcalow and they seemed to cross the line before the start of the race. Danny Steyn thought he had a fairly good start, but later the the start line camera would show him over early. Doug Russell was asleep at the skipper's meeting as he started on the wrong start line. Not that any of this mattered - none of the sailors on the water knew of their infractions and everyone felt they were off to a good start, and were totally committed to bringing home the trophy.

Hunter Fry and a couple of other boats pointed really high on the first upwind leg and made really good time to weather. Others went for the boastpeed and footed off a bit. Scott Corson was the only boat to start on port and seemed to know something nobody else did. Finally after heading out a long way on starboard, everyone tacked over onto port and headed towards the channel. Danny was the only one who seemed to sense the header and quickly flopped back over onto starboard to catch the lift, while the entire fleet continued on port.

At the end of the first leg, despite the light wind, Danny was well clear of the fleet, followed by a tight bunch including Don Balthaser, Mark Jones, Doug Russell and Willie Stolberg. Scott's early tactical move hadn't paid off and those that stayed on port too long paid the price.

The long downwind run was on with everyone chasing Danny. Don was the first to lose some distance, with Mark Jones also dropping back. The real race was upfront between Danny, Doug and Willie who were putting a lot of distance between them and the rest of the fleet. Out on the horizon, Scott took the high road with several boats following his line, but unfortunately for them that didn't pay off earlier. It was really unusual not to see Scott at the front of the fleet, especially in the light air.

For most of the downwind leg, the gap up front remained the same, until the choppy water on the outer reef started to come into play. Willie started gaining on Danny and then Doug came storming by. Debbie was holding the boom out with all her strength, stopping it from banging around in the chop. This was working like a charm and eventually Danny figured it out too and started making good speed again. Willie also passed Danny, but was then passed again.

Doug sailed around the Hillsboro channel marker in a clear first place, followed by Danny and Willie who both made contact and got tied up at the mark allowing Doug to pull away. Doug then made a tactical error by flopping over onto starboard and heading out to sea, negating much of the margin he had worked so hard to achieve. By the time he realized his mistake, Willie and Danny were hot on his heels.

For most of the homeward leg, Doug led Danny and Willie. At times the gaps would grow and then shrink as the fluky wind and heavy chop played havoc. The first three boats were well ahead of the chasing fleet; Hunter was having a good run and had passed Mark Jones, followed by Steve Maffetone. Don Balthaser had lost a bit of ground, and Sebastian Lewis had made up some. Tom Klash was having a field day in the light conditions, running in the top half of the fleet. Light wind favorite Stewart Barcalow was unusually buried mid pack as was Scott Corson, and Barry Haley was running exceptionally well. Dick Russell had dropped back and was fighting amongst Bob Shell, Jim Jesse and Steve Voeller.

In the final mile, despite having a clear lead, Doug forgot about rounding the start line buoy and was sailing too low, allowing Danny to overtake him. He quickly recovered to hold off Willie. The race was still very close with Danny crossing the finish line first, 30 seconds ahead of Doug with Willie in third. Hunter finished fourth with Mark Jones in hot pursuit.

And then the controversy started. Terri had been assigned the job of keeping everyone honest on the start line, and her photo was used to disqualify Stewart Barcalow, Mark Jones and Danny Steyn.

The final official results were as follows

2005 Commodores Cup Results
Position	Skipper / Crew
1	Bill & Colleen
2	Hunter & Jan
3	Steve M & Zol
4	Tom & Cynthia
5	Don & Cheryl
6	Seb & Sally
7	Scot & Tracee
8	Frieda & Barry
9	Bob & Crew
10	Dick & Jane
11	Steve Voeller
DSQ	Danny & Stacey
DSQ	Stewart and Crew
DSQ	Mark and Crew
DNS	Doug & Debbie
DNF	Tom W and Crew

Ron Kern also organized the 3rd annual Inlet to Inlet race and his windsurfers helped to swell the ranks on the water - see but the light winds cut short their race. Many thanks to Kim, Wolf and Eric for helping with the photography. Great job guys - great photos - many thanks for your hard work. And to all you sailors out there, make sure you thank them the next time you see them.