First 40.7

IT'S COLLABORATION'S TURN AGAIN AT THE ZUKASKY REGATTA

(Saturday, August 9, 2008) There have been four Area III regattas for the 40.7 fleet this year (Olympic, Daley, COL Commodore, and Zukasky), each consisting of two races on a single day. Of these eight races, Bob Vickery's Collaboration 2 has dominated the section by winning five of them. Turning Point, skippered by Bill Bartz and Dave Hardy, has won two, and Tsunami, skippered by Don Hayes, has won one. Today, at the Kathy Zukasky Memorial Regatta, Mr. Vickery won both races to solidify his lead in the Area III Buoy Boat of the Year season long series.

Racing began today in about 14 knots of wind out of the west. Seas were moderate at 1-2 feet. The first race was called at a course of 280° at a distance of 2.5 nautical miles, and four legs. After the starting gun, Collaboration protected the right side of the course and was first around the weather mark followed by Tom Weber's La Tempete and then by Clem Boltz' Cancan. Collaboration was then first around the next two marks, with La Tempete in 2^nd place at each mark. Cancan was again in 3^rd place at the leeward mark supplanted by Ron Buzil's Vayu in 3^rd at the second weather mark.

For the second race of the day the course was exactly the same as the first. Again, Collaboration led at all of the marks followed by Vayu and La Tempete at the first weather mark and at the leeward mark. At the leeward mark, three boats were overlapped going into the rounding: Vayu on the inside, Das Boot on the outside, and La Tempete in the middle. As this pack exited from the turn, Vayu stalled, almost in irons, and La Tempete and Das Boot surged ahead.

Now the fun began. The wind began dying. The pack of boats on the right, Das Boot, Excalibur, and Vayu seemed to have the hardest time of it with the lead between them changing several times as the wind slowly shifted from west to northwest all the way around to east and east-southeast. What had been a beat to the second weather mark became a spinnaker reach.

At the third mark, trailing Collaboration, it was Turning Point in 2^nd place and La Tempete in 3^rd place.

The races in this event counted for both of the season series, the LMSRF Best 40.7 on Lake Michigan series and the Area III Buoy Boat of the Year.

With the season just about two-thirds complete, Turning Point holds the lead in the LMSRF series with 22 points over 2^nd place Collaboration with 30 points and 3^rd place La Tempete with 33 points. Two throwouts have now been allowed for this series.

In the Area III series it is Collaboration in 1^st place with 7 points, followed by La Tempete in 2^nd with 12 points and Turning Point in 3^rd with 16 points. There have now been two throwouts in this series. After the throwouts, Collaboration has scores of 2,1,1,1,1,1 and La Temepte has scores of 2,2,2,2,2,2.

Sailflow wind graph for the race day:

For photos of the Zukasky 2008 go to: Photos.

(the photos contain an interesting sequence of the start of the second race)

For current fleet standings go to: Standings

Final Results of the Zukasky Regatta 2008: