TSUNAMI SAILS TO VICTORY AT VERVE CUP

WINS 2 RACES AND BEATS 2^ND PLACE VAYU BY 1 POINT

ALL RACES ABANDONED ON SUNDAY

(Chicago, Sunday, August 19, 2007) Coming out of the gate and letting everyone in the 11-boat Beneteau 40.7 section know that they were intent on winning, Don Hayes and his crew took Tsunami all the way to victory by winning the first two races and following that performance in the subsequent races with respectable finishes of 5^th and 3^rd.

In the past eight years, since the Beneteau 40.7's have been racing one-design, at the two major three-day regattas held annually here in Chicago (the NOOD and the Verve Cup), this is the first time that Tsunami has taken 1^st place or even placed in the top three at the Verve. They have taken 2^nd place at the NOOD three times.

Don's tactician is his son-in-law, Tory Enerson. Keeping the afterguard in the family, his driver is his son, Bryan Hayes. Don, himself, trims mainsail. Also aboard for the fun was Don's daughter, Wendy Enerson (Tory's wife) as spinnaker trimmer, trimmers Earle Attwater, Rick Ericson, Ed Harrison, John O'conner, and Sandy Lee, mastman Bruce Kennsington, bowman Mike Kaspar, and Ben Kramer at pit.

Ron Buzil's Vayu finished in second place, one point behind Tsunami, with finishes of 3-3-3-2. "At our pre-regatta briefing on Friday morning, I asked the crew to sail consistently. I guess they did", said Ron, commenting about their final scores. Since 40.7 one-design racing began at the Verve Cup Regatta in 2001, Vayu has finished in 1^st place once (2001), and 2^nd place twice before (2003 and 2006). The rest of Vayu's regular team present for the regatta consisted of Scott Reich ("DS") at mainsail trim, Joe Spataro at pit, jib trimmer Steve Zorn, spinnaker trimmer Matt Nakoneczny, and Ed Radzikowski on the foredeck, Also on the team were Tracey Schroeder, Jason Fiorelli, Colleen Feeny, Tracy Hixon, and Jenna Herhold.

The regatta consisted of three buoy races on Friday and one long-course buoy race on Saturday. Additional buoy racing was scheduled for Sunday but the day began with a postponement due to heavy chop and light winds in the morning and thunderstorms and heavy rain predicted for the afternoon. Finally, at 11:15 AM, to much cheering, regatta chairman Tom Merlin announced that all races were abandoned, that the final standings would be as of the end of racing on Saturday, and that the awards ceremony would commence at two o'clock.

This year saw a repeat of the long-course buoy race, which was initiated last year as an alternative to the strictly windward/leeward course type of regatta. This was the only race held on Saturday and consisted of eight legs ranging in distance from approximately 2.5 miles to 8 miles and totaling about 33 miles. Given the light wind that prevailed on the second leg, the total race time for the 40.7 fleet was about six hours, which prompted some grumbling from skippers and crew, even those on winning boats. After that race, regatta chairman Tom Merlin acknowledged that next year the 40.7's should be considered for the 24-mile short, especially seeing as how the 40.7's were the slowest boats doing the long-course this year and it took them so long to finish.

On that long-course race, Bob Vickery's Collaboration 2 took an early lead by banging the left corner on the first leg, a 4.5 miles upwind beat.

When asked about his move to the left, Bob explained: "There was too much commotion to the west - too many boats. There was not a big advantage going to the right. We wanted to sail in clean air. There seemed to be a little left shift but not much of a left shift."

Collaboration led the section around every mark.

The top half of the fleet rounding the first windward mark after Collaboration was Dave Tarson's Excalibur, Jay Muller's Das Boot, Vayu, La Tempete, and then Tsunami.

Tsunami was in about 3^rd place, when closing on the windward mark, their jib halyard broke, allowing at least a couple of boats to temporarily get ahead of them. Don and his crew quickly raised the jib on a spare halyard and were back in business.

The second leg, going downwind, saw the initial breeze of about 10 knots diminish to 4 to 5 knots as the section struggled to maintain clear air amongst the scores of bigger, faster boats ahead and passing from behind. Excalibur and Das Boot were among the early ones to gybe and go to the right. The diminishing breeze saw the emergence of light air VMG spinnakers. The order of rounding of the first six 40.7's at the second mark was Collaboration (way ahead of everyone else), Excalibur, Das Boot, Tsunami, La Tempete and then Vayu.

The afternoon wore on and the fifth leg turned into a reach as the wind began to build to 16-18 knots and gusts into the low 20's. Assymetric spinnakers (a-sails) appeared on some of the boats. Passed by Vayu under a-sail, Tsunami put up their VMG spinnaker. Don tells the story of the mark rounding at the end of that leg: "Tory almost went overboard. He was on by his fingertips. It was a tight reach. We went to the number three. I yelled ‘DROP IT NOW!, DROP IT NOW!'. Mike had a hard time feeding the luff groove. Finally Tory yelled for them to drop it but by that time we were so close it was a panic mark and I had to veer away from the mark. I saw his feet -- his knees even with the lifeline. He grabbed the lifeline. He got himself back, his center of gravity came back into the boat. But I had to keep heading down. Just so, if I would've kept heading up there was no way they could get the chute in. We lost about three or four boats at that point. All in all, I was real pleased with that race."

Tsunami's tactician, Tory Enerson, when asked about Saturday's racing commented that it was very beneficial to be able to use both of their drivers, Don and Bryan, during the day.

Bryan Hayes, Tsunami's driver had this to say about the regatta and the race: "I thought the regatta was awesome. The distance race was one of the best races of the year, even though I'm not so sure i would want to do another one. I'm sure every boat had some sort of adversity they had to overcome. I guess the thing that stood out to me the most in that race is to be ready and positive and keep going as hard as you can. A few times we were in the back and found ways to get ahead by being patient and positive. We passed two boats at the finish line after something like 39 miles sailed! Not likely but possible if you're ready and think you can. As for the rest, I think we have great fleet. The racing was tight and competitive and fair. I'm not sure but I don't think there was a single protest that went to the room. Is that a first for a major regatta in the 40.7 fleet? Also it's great becoming better friends with everyone in the fleet. It's fun racing against people you know and like. That's the best part for me."

Jim McDonnell's Spanker did not compete on Saturday after discovering a mechanical problem with their mast.

After racing on Friday, a fleet party was hosted aboard Tsunami where as many as sixty fleet sailors participated representing at least ten of the eleven participating boats of the fleet.

Lou Sandoval, Jack Buascio and Karma Yachts generously provided crystal plaques for the Verve winners. The Chicago Beneteau 40.7 Fleet is very grateful for Karma's continued interest in the fleet's prosperity.

This year's Verve Cup Regatta saw some changes in the overall season standings of the Lake Michigan Sail Racing Federation's (LMSRF) Best Beneteau 40.7 on Lake Michigan. All races at the Verve count for this season-long series. Tsunami moved from 2^nd and is now in 1^st place leading Vayu and Collaboration by 8 points each with the tie-breaker going to Vayu. Vayu moved up from 4^th to 2^nd. Collaboration moved from 5^th to 3^rd. Turning Point is now in 4^th place, down from 1^st, and Das Boot fell from 3^rd to 5^th.

Final Verve Cup Results for 40.7 Section

Updated standings for the 40.7 Fleet are at: 40.7 Standings

Photos of the 40.7 Fleet at the Verve Cup: 40.7 Verve Photos