2014 US Nationals – Day 1

Okoboji, July 28, 2014. Report by Carol Cronin

Day 1 of US Nationals, Okoboji Yacht Club, Iowa:

The US Nationals began today and continues through Friday. 3 races were completed of the 10 race series, in anticipation of lighter air later in the week. The predicted 10-15 knots never materialized, however, and the max we saw was about 8 knots. That seemed like a hurricane when it followed on the heels of a significant no-wind period. 

It was a tricky day of sailing with irrational puffs, cornfield-sized holes, and angles that were drastically different for boats sailing side by side. Raul Rios/Henry Dumke made it look pretty easy with a 1,3,1.

After sailing we were treated to Iowa pork chops, corn on the cob, coleslaw, and potatoes. With full bellies, we are now hopeful that the forecast will be wrong in the opposite direction tomorrow and beyond.

…

 

Report from SCIRA USA

Fleet completes three races under grey skies and light winds.

(Okoboji Iowa, July 28) – The first day of racing for the 2014 SCIRA USA National Championship has wrapped up and once again Raul Rios is sitting atop the leader board. The forecast was calling for 12-15kts, however the fleet never saw more than 8kts, and sometimes saw zero kts, never the less the race committee led by PRO Phil Petersen was able to complete the three scheduled races in plenty of time for the evening entertainment.

San Diegan Kate Sheahan, sailing for Ernesto Rodriguez from the Miami Snipe fleet commented that the sailing was “tricky, the heavy motor boat wakes from pleasure boats combined with the puffy and inconsistent winds made it hard to keep moving. Raul (Rios) was able to have great starts and extend his lead but the rest of the fleet struggled off the line and there were several instances of near inversion on the down wind legs.”

For the spectators on shore it was frustrating to watch the fleet stall on the race course only to see the back of the pack get their own gust of wind and nearly catch the leaders.

Two more races are scheduled for tomorrow to conclude the Crosby series. If conditions are favorable the fleet will start the Heinzerling Series tomorrow as well to try and get ahead of schedule while they can.

Full results and report on snipeusa.com

Top ten results after Day 1

Place	#	Country		Skipper & Crew	Division	Fleet	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Total
1	29841		PUR	Raul Rios & Henry Dumke	Junior	591	1	3	1	5
2	29941		USA	Doug Hart & Ryan Hopps	Master	495	2	4	3	9
3	30473		USA	Ernesto Rodriguez & Kate Sheahan	Senior	7	4	1	5	10
4	30288		USA	Augie Diaz & Aine McLean	Master	7	3	5	2	10
5	30860		USA	Carol Cronin & Kim Couranz	Master	17	5	8	4	17
6	29778		USA	Roberto Guaragna & Andre Guaragna	Master	7	7	6	6	19
7	30904		USA	Lee Griffith & Hillary Noble	Master	256	14	2	8	24
8	30089		USA	Andrew Klein & Jessica Claflin	Master	77	6	9	10	25
9	30088		USA	Will Crary & Lara Dallman-Weiss	Junior	309	9	10	14	33
10	30618		USA	Don Bedford & Eric Heim	Senior	495	16	7	11	34