S20 Nationals: Day 2 (an Australian hairdresser’s nightmare)

SANTANARAMA 2008: Day 2 Report by Snapper via Sailing Anarchy.

With the prospect of a light air day the R/C postponed racing until early afternoon and sent the fleet out around 1230. Once again the conditions were trying with breeze on both sides of the course and lots of holes to deal with. This event has certainly been one of the most challenging Class Championships I can remember and the high scores can attest to that.
Going into today, yesterday’s leader Paul Stephens, was comfortably in the lead by six points over Jim Martinez’s ‘Loose Nuts’ team with last year’s runner up Eric Kownacki in third five points back and trying to recover from a deep place (15th) in the first race. Britt Williams from OKC was in fourth place, seven points behind adrift of third. Britt has truly been on of the stalwarts of the class and has hooked up his boat ‘Fayest’ and driven to many of the West Coast events. His enthusiasm and Corinthian spirit is one of the reasons the class has remained active outside of the West Coast and everyone appreciates his commitment to the class and to Oklahoma sailing in general.

So, race one today was another mixed bag with big shifts and picking the correct leeward gate for the next round of pressure. Kownacki and crew sailed a textbook race and worked their way through the fleet to score an important bullet. Bruce Golison and crew Andrew Kerr and Blair Wallace finally got going with a second and Gordon Mattatal, after leading most of the race took third. Gordon’s boat is one of those classic Santana 20’s that looks like an Australian hairdresser’s nightmare – yellow with brown stripes!

After a short delay race two got underway in a nice Southwesterly and once again the fleet split on the beat. The shifts were big and frequent and if you weren’t on top of them you were toast. Local yokel and overall good guy, Niccoli Lenn picked his way though to score a well earned bullet. Paul Stephens rolled on the run and took second with Golison in third. Once again the points were getting interesting.
One thing to note in race two was the performance of the team from Valle de Bravo Mexico, Jorge Murrieta and crew sailing S-20 hull #1 (not carbon fiber, carbon dated), sailed a great first two legs then took the left gate and headed West. They hit the far right side and came rolling back to round second ending up seventh after the run. Jorge was sailing an old boat with old sails and made it work.

Your scribe, Snapper, was not pleased after the first two races having been in contention only to get shot out the back like a melon seed. I tracked down my friend Shannon Clune who is skippering ‘The Reverand Big Bad Bob’ and seeking salvation and benevolence from the good reverend I asked for deliverance and a consignment of beer or ‘thought cylinders’ to get me through race three.
Apparently this worked as after a battle with Bay Area Express 27 sailor Jason Crowson, we finally took a first in race three with Crowson in second followed by Golison. Golly put together a solid 2,3,3 day but is reeling from a 17th and 33rd on day one.

Going into tomorrow we have the Loose Nuts team in first with 37 points - they have quietly been consistent and sailed a really good series. Kownacki is two points behind and Stephens is now twelve points adrift in third. It has been an epic event and knowing that the overall winner will end up having a score approaching forty points shows how competitive it was. The event management has been top shelf and the race committee has been fantastic.

Only one race is scheduled for tomorrow and based on what we have seen thus far anything can happen! -Snap

With stronger winds for day 2, we had better results -- all single digit finishes (3, 6, 6). That puts us in a tie for 5th with Sea Bear. We've got one more race to seal our final position.

S20 Nationals: Day 1

SantanaRama 2008: Day 1 Report by Snapper via Sailing Anarchy.

The Sailing Anarchy mantra is ‘where the status quo blows’, which was very fitting for day one of the 30th anniversary Santana 20 Class Championships
39 boats were on the line for race one, held in light to medium winds. The ‘status quo’ would have seen pre-regatta favorites Bruce Golison, Eric Kownacki and Chris Winnard (your scribe A.K.A Snapper) duking it out up front but at the first mark they were nowhere to be seen! In fact all three were buried on the wrong side of the course and ended up lucky to get 15, 16 and 17! The race was won by the Sacramento team aboard ‘Fusion’ with locals Ron Fish and two time champ Paul Stephens rounding out the top three.
The R/C decided to send everyone in to wait for the afternoon breeze and the keg was tapped. After an hour or so we were sent out for the remaining two scheduled races in what were challenging conditions to say the least! I have raced here for many years but have never encountered such tricky conditions. However, one team managed to sail to complete a solid day of sailing – Paul Stephens and crew aboard ‘Aquila’ turned in a great day posting finishes of 3,5,1 ending the day in a commanding lead. The ‘Loose Nuts’ crew sailed well and are in second with Eric Kownacki rounding out the top three with two good finishes races 2 and 3. otherwise known as Santanarama ’08.

One of the nice things about the class, unlike so many others, is that everyone is really friendly and willing to share any tips to help everyone get up to speed. I’m sure there are plenty of people reading this who are saying ‘oh yeah, Tuna 20’s, what a hack class’… well, there is plenty of well known talent here and they are deep! It’s not the J-24 fleet, where you can get protested for smiling too much or smelling of foreign food, it’s a class that has survived the course of time with all the usual ups and downs but is still a viable entity with a loyal following. Tomorrow looks to be light with racing probably to be held later in the afternoon.

-Snap

Certainly, tied for 15th wasn't what we were shooting for but the conditions were difficult ("the wind was just psycho") and not ideal (on the light side) for us. We'll see what tomorrow brings. It's interesting how mixed up the results are from what might have been expected -- even the "pros" had some bad races.

Nationals Preview: A Pone Free Zone

SantanaRama 2008: 30 Years of Tuna Sailing

A preview by Snapper via Sailing Anarchy.

The Santana 20 celebrates thirty years of class racing with the ’08 Nationals being held in Eugene Oregon starting tomorrow through Friday. At last count 37 boats were signed up with several of the perennial class heavy hitters in attendance.

Over the years many of the West Coast’s finest sailors have cut their teeth on this class. Bill Herrschaft, Tim Hogan, Bruce Golison, Harry Pattison, Tom and Jane Schock, Charlie Ogletree among others have racked up class championship wins and the class continues to be a fun competitive group and this event is a prime example of that. Eugene Yacht Club provides a great venue with on site camping, evening social activities to local Vineyards and brew pubs, and lots of family oriented things to do.

One of the nice things about the Santana 20 Class is that with a few exceptions, you don’t have to deal with the P.A.S. (Pone Ass Syndrome). As you may recall in my ’03 Melges 24 Worlds ‘Frumby’ report, and those who aren’t familiar with the Poners, they are the guys usually wearing Farr 40 or TP 52 gear making sure everyone can read the boat name in 300 pt font and talking really loudly on their cell phone to the last of the lobotomized hip toggles they refer to as their friends. The ‘pone’ is the penguin-like waddle with cell phone to ear with the signature hand raised to let everyone know how important they are. You won’t find those people At the SantanaRama as they are all on the East Coast this time of year (Espo).

Practice races were run today providing an opportunity to test new sails and speed test (or sandbag) with the competition. Racing starts tomorrow. Let the fun begin. -Snapper

SantanaRama 2008

It's almost here. SantanaRama 2008 starts next week. This is not some tribute tour to Carlos Santana... It's the 2008 Santana 20 Class Championships hosted by Fleet 19 and the Eugene Yacht Club. Since the championships in 1996, this is the third attempt to bring the "Nationals" back to Fern Ridge. Early in the season, there was a lot of complaining about the lake level and the dumping of water in February. Well, fortunately the lake filled and we should have a great week of racing and fun! So far there are 30 boats registered and the wind have been great (mostly) all summer. We'll see if we can improve on our fifth place finish at the Cascade Locks on 2005.

Wordle Up

Great Wall of China II

Although vegetation occasionally cause problems for our local racing, it's nothing like the problems in Qingdao. Fortunately China has been busy (well, their "volunteers" have been busy) cleaning up the sailing venue. "The sailing event [...] will not be threatened by the algae," said Wang Wei, vice president of the sailing committee for the Beijing Olympic organising committee. According to this article, they have constructed barriers totaling more that 40 km in length to hold the menacing weed at bay. The barriers will be patrolled and any algae caught trying to cross the barriers will be "immediately cleared"... in the Olympic spirit of course.
Now... what to do about the smell of "rotting broccoli or cauliflower"....

Did you know that Qingdao means "Green Island"?

Emerald Wrapped Up in Green

Well the Emerald Cup was more like sailing in Qingdao than Giddy Up would have liked... They started the fifth race on Sunday with what seemed like an insurmountable lead (half as many points as the second place boat). Somewhere around the penultimate leg of the race they picked up a pile of salad on their keel... No one races salad... It's slow!

We had a mediocre regatta (we missed you Don) but managed to do something right on the last race and pulled off a bullet. Looking back down the course we couldn't believe how far back Giddy Up was... and dropping fast. They almost tripled their point total with their 11th place finish. Congrats to Mark and "Q".