Thistle Midwinters East

March 12, 2012

The final day of the Thistle MW East was set to be a huge show down.  The top 4 boats were within 3 points, which set up basically a winner take all final day.  The RC knew the forecast for wind was not spectacular, so the start time was pushed up 30 minutes in hopes of getting a race in during the early morning breeze.  A race was started and unfortunately the wind died just before boats got to the first mark and the race and day were ultimately abandoned.  This left the results after racing on Thursday to be final.

After the fleet was towed in, everyone started to pack up their boats and get ready for the evening awards banquet.  The banquet was a fun time for all those who attended.  Before the awards, the past class presidents were honored for being in attendance, and a special moment was held to honor Carole Bardes, as this was her final year as the Midwinters PRO.  The party was a good time and a perfect ending to what was a fun Midwinters.  If you missed this year, you should plan to go next year, as this is the BEST regatta the class has.  The racing is good and there is plenty of fun to be had off the water.

On a personal note, my team and I were very excited to win the event.  It was a hard fought regatta, and were happy to come out on top.  Not only was this my first time winning the event, this is the first time that I have ever won an event without winning a race.  This really reinforced to me the importance of being consistent and using conservative tactics in regattas that have many races and no drops.

Final Results | Photos

I hope everyone enjoyed the daily updates and we will see you all at the Orange Peel and through out the season!

Thanks
Allan

March 9, 2012

There were smiles all around after another great day of sailing in St. Pete.  2 races were sailed in warm, clear skies and some fun chop. The first race was in 12-15 knots with some nice waves, which made for some fun wave surfing downwind.  Race 2 of the day was sailed in 6-10 with some left over slop. The better pressure was on the left, but the breeze was slightly shifting right, and when you combine that with a cross current, it made for some challenging racing. 

Skip Dieball won the day with two firsts, and the leader board changed and got very condensed.

Going into tomorrow the top 4 are separated by 3 points, which will make for an epic last day.

1. Allan Terhune - 29 pts
2. Paul Abdullah - 30 pts
3. Skip Dieball - 31 pts
4. Greg Griffin - 32 pts

There was a great session of Coach TCA again after sailing. Tom Hubbell lead the conversation recapping todays sailing talking with Ched Proctor, Greg Griffin, Skip Dieball and Allan Terhune.  It was informative and well received.  This is by far, one of the best things the class does to help everyone enjoy their sailing more and improve their game.

There is a night off for everyone to enjoy St Pete. Teams are scattered and enjoying the best that St Pete has to offer.

Tomorrow is the last day of the event, and the RC has posted an earlier start time due to the forecast of light winds. They are hoping to get some races in tomorrow to decide the winner.  Hopefully the winds cooperate and we end what has been a great week with two more amazing races.

For all of you who missed the regatta this year, we hope you plan to makie it next year.

Photos courtesy Karl Felger

Learn more about North's fast Thistle designs. Don't hesitate to contact the North Thistle experts if you have any questions about the boat or the sails.

March 8, 2012

There is only one word to describe today.  AWESOME.  One of the best days of sailing in a long time.  For all of those of you who were not here, you missed one of the best days St. Pete has to offer!  We sailed 3 fun races today.  Race 1 was sailed in a 14-18 knot easterly , Race 2 10-14 knots and Race 3 6-10.   The sky was clear, the water warm and the air even warmer.  There were more people smiling on shore today than I have seen in a long time, and that is what this is all about.

The race winners today were Skip Dieball, Paul Abdullah and Ched Proctor.  Each race had its own set of challenges and that is what made the day so fun. 

After everyone spent some time putting away the boats, having beers and talking about their fun day before heading to SPYC for the Wednesday night Thistle dinner upstairs at SPYC.   There were many folks at the bar after dinner, relaxing and listening to the club band “Dazzler” play some music. Others are hitting the town, going out to a few bars/club and enjoying the St. Pete night life.  The perfect end to a great day!

There are great regattas of the on the water action at www.photoboat.com

Thursday looks to be another Chamber of Commerce day in St Pete. With warm clear skies and 8-12 knots from the East.  Can’t wait.

Learn more about North's fast Thistle designs. Don't hesitate to contact the North Thistle experts if you have any questions about the boat or the sails.




March 7, 2012

Day 2 of the Thistle MWE was definitely a bummer. It was a beautiful warm sunny and breezy day.  Unfortunately the wind was a little too high and the waves a little too big to race today.  But just because there was not racing, doesn’t mean that things were not happening in St Pete.

The Day started with a few TCA Coach sessions, ranging from sailing in big breeze, to a discussion on how to make the class stonger and ending with folks in the parking lot talking tuning and tactics.

There were a few folks who did venture out in their Thistles to try their hand at big wave/wind sailing and to get some fun downwind rides.

I saw the team from Delaware having a knot tying contest.

Skip Dieball had his new VX One Design out and they were blasting around the harbor.

There were Thistlers all over St Pete for evening festivities. There were folks at all the following places

• Canada/Netherlands Baseball nextdoor to the club
• Some were at the 4th Street Shrimp Factory
• Quite a few were at the SPYC bar enjoying “DAZZLER” perform
• There were also some sailors at the Tampa Bay Lightning Hockey Team

The end result is people are here having a blast!

The outlook for Wednesday is for 12-15 from the East. Should be a great day of sailing and everyone is looking forward to it!

Learn more about North's fast Thistle designs. Don't hesitate to contact the North Thistle experts if you have any questions about the boat or the sails.

March 6, 2012

What a day we had for the first day of Midwinters East!  Sunny, 70 degrees and a nice 5-10 Northerly wind, what more could you ask for!  The racing was tricky, big shifts, puffy and lots of current, but it was FUN.  There were lots of lead changes, boats moving up the fleet, boats moving back in the fleet, everything you could ask for.  Paul Abdulllah had a great day to take an early lead after 2 races, with hopefully another races to go.  The keys for the day were to get on the tack which pointed you at the mark, do your best to stay in the bands of pressure and to most importantly, stay patient! Things were changing so much, you could pass or lose 10 boats at any time.  The key was to always keep working and clawing at it and it would pay off. 

There was some chop in the early races, so keeping the boat powered up and no too heeled were the keys to good boat speed.  The teams that worked in unison were pretty quick, and those what didn’t, were not.  Managing your weight was just as important as managing your sails to get good speed.  Skippers had to constantly work the mainsheet and steer to keep the boat in the smooth water.  Crews worked hard to keep the boat flat once the boat was up to speed.

After sailing, Tom Hubbell hosting another TCA session with a recap of todays racing and talk of trim and prep for tomorrows races.

The day was capped off with a party at the Cha Cha Coconuts, which is on the top floor of the St Pete Pier. Beautiful views of the bay, plenty of beer and hot wings made for a fun event!

Some  Monday info:

• 

  8 out of the 41 boats are Woodies!  That is a much higher percentage than normal and the boats look awesome.

• There is a bet between two teams that shall remain nameless (for now).   The team has a bet that if they can eat 300 hot wings as a team before Friday, they will get their entire bar tab for Friday night paid.  That is an average of 20 wings per person for the next five days!

• There are tons of little kids at the event, which leads me to believe the future of the Thistle class is here!

• There were 3 OCS’s in the two races.  Considering there was .8 knots of current pushing everyone over the line, this is actually not that bad of a number.

Everyone seemed to have a great time and we are just at the beginning of the regatta with 4 more days of fun to go.

Tuesdays out looks is for a fairly stiff 12-20 out of the east.  Combine that with an incoming tide and there could be some chop to go along with it!  I know crews are going to bed tonight dreaming of hiking tomorrow and feeling the burn after a long winter off!  Hopefully the downwind rides will be just as fun!

Results after Day 1:

Learn more about North's fast Thistle designs. Don't hesitate to contact the North Thistle experts if you have any questions about the boat or the sails.

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March 5, 2012

ARRIVING IN ST. PETE!

By Allan Terhune

After 18 hours of driving we arrived in S.t Pete. for the Thistle MWE. Pulling into SPYC is like pulling into an old friends house for a visit.. you know you are going to have a great time! It’s comfortable and everything is just how it should be. To me this event stes the beginning of the season and the end of winter, not a better feeling in the world! Everyone has the look of excitement as they stumble out of the car from their trips and start to unpack their boats. There is something special about midwinter regattas!

This is the weekend that everyone uses to see their old friends, get their boats back into shape, and get ready for the regatta. There was supposed to be a practice race Sunday, BUT there was too much wind. This was the big story of the weekend, as both Saturday and Sunday it blew 25+ the entire time. This made for some good quality boat park time, and while everyone was anxious to sail, they were more excited to be in warm weather with friends.

Here is some of the “dock talk” from the weekend, and the info that those of you at home would want to know!

• There are 41 boats at this years MWE, which is the 57th MWE at St Pete YC.
• TCA – Tom Hubbell again has organized an awesome schedule for this years TCA class. We had two good sessions over the weekend with I am sure more to come..
• At the skippers meeting, long time PRO Carol Bardes announced this would be her last year as PRO for the Thistle MWE. While everyone is sad she is stepping down, we know she will still be around every year and continue to be a big supporter of the Thistle Class. Thank you Carol for all you have done!.
• LYC Racing is here with their new Thistle. They are a new builder of Thistles and they are based in Jacksonville. The boat looks awesome and is definitely something the folks are chatting about in the parking lot..

Here is what is on tap for Monday. It looks like there should be a nice NW breeze around 10 knots and the RC hopes to get 3 races in. After racing, there will be some free beer at SPYC and a coaching session before the entire group heads to the St. Pete Pier for a social at Cha Cha Coconuts.

Keep tuned for daily updates!

Feel free to contact Allan, Nick or Ched during the event if you need any assistance with your program! Sail fast!

Learn more about North's fast Thistle designs.

Don't hesitate to contact the North Thistle experts if you have any questions about the boat or the sails.