The Return of the Masters
What a Masters Mids! For three days, 60-plus sailors were treated to some of the best weather Florida could possibly offer. The first two days were sunny and high seventies with light winds, and the third day was a screamer, with sun and winds in the 20s and temps in the low 80s. The best Canadian of the first two days was Joe Van Rossem, who compiled an 8,15,2,32,13,15 score to put him in the top ten. I, the only other Canadian, was a very poor 20th by the end of day two.
The conditions were tricky, with wind streaking down the course at about 8 knots with plenty of holes in between of 0-3 knots. The shifts covered about 30 degrees. My starts were golden, and my first tack usually put me in the top 10, but it was the second decision on the first upwind legs that cost me. If it was blowing from the left, I would go right, and vice versa.
Joe on the other hand, sailed very well the first two days, with his second place coming on the first day. Even with the 30 year old boat and wooden blades, Joe ’ÄúAwesome’Äù Van Rossem was truly brilliant around the course.
The third day was a gear buster, and the one where I thought I would do my worst, as I am just a little over 155lbs. In a full rig at 20 knots, that usually spells disaster. As it turned out, I had my best day, and moved from 20th to 17th overall. It was truly a painful day. After two races, I was quietly begging the race committee to relent and send us in. Halfway through the third race, I had nothing in the tank after been about a foot over the line at the start and restarting and crossing every transom in the fleet and battling back to the middle of the fleet. The only thing that kept me going was saying over and over, ’Äúeveryone else is hurting, too, everyone else is hurting, too.’Äù
The winner of the Mids and the overall winner of King of the Masters was John MacCausland, a star sailor from New Jersey. He was the most consistent over the regattas, but was challenged all the way by Mike Matan of Cedar Point Yacht Club in Connecticut, Ryan Minth of Gannesville, Florida, and Ari Barshi of the Dominican Republic.
In the mean time, Andy Roy from Peterborough is racing in the World Masters Championships in Terrigal Australia. You can follow his exploits at http://aus08.laserinternational.org/
Rob Koci