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| Camellia Cup Regatta at Folsom Lake CA | April 18 - 19 |
| Story |
| Today concluded the 49th annual Camellia Cup, which in the 70's had 300 boats.... Today we had 60 plus.... Sailing is suffering in the water denied central valley of California. Sadly, not only are there fewer, but most of the fleet skipper's were receiving (and reading) the monthly AARP newsletter....
Scott Rovanpera and I sailed SeaAlice in the event. The sailing community in NorCal knows Scott because of his decades long commitment to supporting and participating in dinghy sailing. In the Bay Area, he is a legend... I met Scott on the Brown's Ravine ramp in 2002-3 era on Folsom Lake, when young Jennie and Scott were taking out Jonathan Livingston Seagull, the family Windmill built by Scott and dad in 1970. Scott and I have been together ever since, in some loosely arranged relationship that has survived trips across country, and various regattas and events on the West Coast.... Today, SeaAlice was awarded "first" in open high performance centerboard, first in the overall centerboard, and FIRST in the OVERALL Camellia Cup. This whole award goes to Scott, who loves sailing in anything. And likes staying after the moment, and the next, and the next. This is what it takes to win light air, worthless weather conditions (zero to nothing, with gusts to nothing). We had a very slow regatta, and only were able to stay in the competitive zone because we never let the seconds tick away from staying focused on the next second.... Congratulations to Scott, Micheal and Darrell, to Ethan and North Sails, to the many in the Butte Sailing Club (Wade Hough, my sailing mentor) and the chance to be on a Camellia Cup winner in 2009 (Raven, Quicksilver, skipper Wade), the whole Windmill Class that Scott and I have sailed against and with, and Sarah Strohl, who thinks I can still sail.... As we walked to the truck, Scott said "this is a big thing...." At least to us, and the Windmill Class. Maybe not to the rest of the local sailing community, and maybe not to the universe.....but to us.... it was... We are glad we could put the Windmill on the Camellia Cup trophy, which hasn't seen Windmill's since the 1970's. What was nicest to me, was a young lady (45 +/-) coming up to me, and saying " We were so glad to see you and the Windmill class win. You've been coming here a long time, and I remember when you were the only one who sailed the Windmill for years, and now you won it"..... To our larger Windmill family, We CAN compete in open centerboard, and WE CAN WIN! dave, 5150 =================================== From the Crew's Point of View, After sailing for 45 years in my Windmill, competing at least 10 times in the Camellia Cup, I never thought that a Windmill could win in the Open Centerboard class. Our Portsmouth Number is not very kind to us in light airs and there is always some higher DPN class, like Sunfish, that will beat us no matter how well we sailed. But Dave and I sailed to our optimal DPN this weekend, proving that we were the fastest sailors in practically no wind! We have all sailed in drifters and it isn't much fun. But when the RC gives your class a start, you go racing, no matter how light the winds become. It is true that the winds never exceeded 4 mph on either day, and most of the time it was only 2 mph. But it's a race and everyone is stuck in the same winds. What made Dave and I go fast were very simple tactics: 1) Be somewhere on the starting line at the gun and have the boat going upwind - or at least pointed toward the first mark; 2) All weight forward and to leeward, allowing the sails to naturally shape to the wind; 3) Stay calm, don't move around in the boat, and sail to the jib yarns; 4) Always place the boat into clear air, whether upwind or downwind; and 5) Don't get discouraged - it's going to be a very long race. We started in the third fleet and to our surprise, we apparently drift very fast. We caught up to the Santana 20's that started 5 minutes ahead and often finished with the sport boats that started first. We beat a very well-sailed Thistle to the weather mark in every race, beating him 3 out of 4 races, only finishing 2 minutes behind him after 60 minutes of sailing. We couldn't trust the masthead spar fly in the uber-light winds, so instead, we focused on the yarns, kept the foil shape on the jib by playing the jib sheet at the clew, and stayed out of trouble at all costs. We constantly assessed what we were doing and what would work best. Windmill sailing is a team effort, so it's important to listen to each other's ideas, advice, and bad jokes. Attached are some photos from on-the-water and at the prize-giving. Winning the Open Centerboard Division was satisfaction enough. Winning the Camellia Cup against 60 other boats was unbelievable. The lesson learned is when you put 300 years of dinghy racing experience in a light boat with great sails, good things will happen. The other lesson learned is that a well-sailed Windmill can sail to its DPN in drifting conditions and beat any other boat on the course, including the durable Thistle. To close, we can claim that the Windmill has won the One-Design Heavy Air Regatta and now, the Every-Design No Wind Regatta! Scott Rovanpera Windmill 3481 ============== Last note. Short Daggerboard, Blade rudder, and I rocked the noodle mast forward two holes from the North tuning guide recommendations, because Michael Johnson ran away from me like a bandit last time we sailed in light air... I've had some luck in the past with a loose rig that moves forward.... Kept the main pretty flat the whole time, except when the huge 3 mph puffs rolled through... waxed hull. Scott was using DOG YEARS when he said 300 years. |
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