Thoughts on Camellia Cup
Despite the constant rain, the wind was fairly steady, eliminating the usual crapshoot conditions that occur at Folsom. Five short track races put a premium on boathandling, and our team was up for the challenge. We dealt with a few early snafus quickly and even did some hurry up jury rigging when a block in our trapeze system failed.
We raked the mast back as much as possible, and were still trying to find the upwind groove at regatta‘s end. Naim Shah‘s boat seemed to be slightly faster upwind in the breeze.
Down wind Naim used the big E Kite, while we used the standard Raven running spinnaker. On the runs the E Kite was faster, but not enough to overcome the handicap hit for the extra sail area. The E Kite is much faster on reaches, but we only had 2 reaching legs the whole regatta. Most courses were W-L, just beats and runs.
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Link to a newspaper interview with Wade |
We only had 3 Ravens on the water, which was disappointing. However, that put us in the open centerboard handicap class, which we dominated, enabling us to capture the overall regatta trophy. Thanks to our determined teamwork the final outcome was quite satisfying. Bettie Ann, Paul Melcon, and dave neilsen were simply awesome in the boat. That was the main factor in our success. We almost made it look easy, but it was certainly not easy.
The next regatta is Whiskeytown on Memorial Day weekend. Seaberg is committed, Melcon is probable, and Neilsen is possible, so Raven 263 will be there. Doug Campbell from Folsom is bringing his Raven to W‘town as well.
The next local sailing day on Lake Oroville is possibly Sunday May 16th if we can muster a crew. Meanwhile I‘ll do some minor rerigging, savor our recent success, and let this 66 year old body rest a bit. That Camellia Cup trophy sure is big. Probably take a quart of silver polish to keep it all pretty before returning it to Folsom Lake next year. I have been sailing off and on at Folsom for nearly 30 years. I don‘t remember ever winning anything of significance there before. In either the Thistle or Raven. Thanks to our team, this old dog had a great day. And the Folsom curse is ended. Whiskeytown, here we come.
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