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COLLABORATION SWEEPS MAYOR DALEY REGATTA

(Sunday, July 6, 2008) Bob Vickery's Collaboration won both races today and took 1^st place at the Mayor Daley Regatta sponsored by Columbia Yacht Club in Chicago. The two-race regatta was held on southern Lake Michigan about three miles offshore of downtown Chicago. 2^nd place was awarded to Tom Weber's La Tempete with consistent finishes of 2^nd and 2^nd. Ron Buzil's Vayu took 3^rd place with finishes of 4^th and 3^rd. 

Weather conditions for the event were near perfect with steady southeast breezes of 10-14 knots, mostly flat seas, and sunny skies. Both races courses were windward/leeward with consisting of four legs.

Collaboration jumped to a quick lead on both races, taking the first windward mark twice. In fact, she led the fleet at all marks in both races! Interestingly, La Tempete was in 2^nd place at all of the marks and Vayu was in 3^rd place at all of the marks (except Vayu fell behind Das Boot on the last downwind leg of the first race and finished 4th). Also of interest is that the 6^th, 7^th, 8^th and 9^th place boats overall were in the same places in each race: Excalibur, Cancan, Mojo, and Rhumb Runner.

After the race we asked winner Bob Vickery for some of his observations:

40.7: You took the lead right out of the box on both races and beat La Tempete to the finish lines by about a full minute each time.

BV: "We did have two good starts, with full speed and clean air that launched us on our way, but again the equality of these boats is apparent. Off the first start we were being held by Excaliber with both speed and height on starboard and only got an opportunity to tack and cross them with the aid of a 10 degree knock."

40.7: Bob, It looked like you really began covering La Tempete on the 2nd beat of each race. How closely were you trying to cover and when?

BV: "I usually don't cover on the first beat, but rather concentrate on going as fast as possible with our pre-race strategy, then hopefully that will find us with the leaders at the weather pin. The second beat is where we start covering and influencing boats to go to the side we want. A lot of people think that when they are in the lead they should slam their competitors as hard and as often as possible. I don't think this is true. Rather you should loosely cover if they are going to the side of the race course you prefer and tack on their wind if they are going the other direction. This way you can influence them to go they way you want and stay in contact with them. Worst possible option is to slam your competitor and have them tack away from you. That always opens the possibility that they find a favorable shift out of the other side of the course and beat you to the mark.

"The second beat of the first race was favored by 25 degrees, so there wasn't much thinking on that leg, just basic strategy of staying between your nearest competitor and the next mark. The second beat of the second race was the classic situation of which boat do you cover. With LaTempete and Vayu in a close second and third place at the leeward mark, we were forced to choose which side of the race course we wanted to protect. La Tempete tacked to starboard and Vayu stayed on port tack. We chose to go

on starboard tack and work the left side of the course because the wind seemed stronger on that side, however we had a crew member exclusively watching Vayu's progress on the right side. Thankfully Vayu didn't find a big right shift or else the results would have had Vayu winning the race."

Heinz-Peter Schmidt, owner of Turning Point, was spotted aboard his boat for the event. We were also able to get a few comment's from Turning Point's co-skipper, Dave Hardy:

"Yes, Heinz-Peter was with us on Sunday. He insisted that Bill and I still did most of the driving, so he helped with tactics and main trim. It was great to have him aboard and interesting to talk about some of the differences between TP and his German boat, Silva-Hispaniola.

"We were, of course, disappointed we couldn't show him a better performance, but there always seemed to be th

is boat with a big yellow chute in front of us ;). We were also still struggling with rig and sail trim -- couldn't seem to get the two sails balanced f

or speed, point and helm stability. Just goes to show you, no matter how experienced you think you might be, there is still a lot you can learn."

Considering Turning Point's awesome performance at the NOOD just three weeks ago, Dave's comments are, well...humbling.

Ed Krstolich, Excalibur's tactician had this to say about the second race: "We had a good start two-thirds of the way down the line toward the pin. Cancan was over early."

This event counts in the Area III Buoy Boat of the year season series.

For photos of the Mayor Daley Regatta 2008 go to:

Photos.

Final Results of the Mayor Daley Regatta 2008: