July, 2017

By James Bland

#2021 – SPIRIT

 

The Ensign fleet was busy in June, finishing up the Summer Series Races, socializing in the Beer Can Friday nights, starting the Dog Days Series, and anticipating the Independence Cup

 

The BIG event for Ensigns in June is hosting the Chaparral Del Mar Senior Skippers regatta.  The Senior AYC Skippers compete for honor and glory in the sponsored Ensign Fleet boats. 10 Ensigns assembled at the line for this year’s start.  The long distance course ran about two hours, 7 plus miles.

 

The results:

 

> Senior Winner (ages 75 and up):  Tom Romberg sailing Eagle

> Junior Winner (ages 70-74) :  Dave Gamble sailing Gravy

> Oldest Skipper:  Clift Price (93) Sailing Dos Locos

> Competing Skippers include:  Elliott Bray with Deke Dekeyser crew, Brad Davis, Doug Laws, Keith Renard, Loren Stell, Barry Thornton and Bob Warters with his wife Sue Warters. [Sue Warters was the only Old Salt wife to crew! ]

> Boats and Sponsors:  #578 Tom Groll, #588 George & Franz Dahmen, #739 David & Anne Morley, #773 Hap Arnold/Anne Lancaster, #929 Clift/Lewis Price,  #972 Fred Ford, #1167 David Gamble, #1358 Danny Lien, #1414 Bill Hawk, #1609 Carl Wiseman, #2021 Spirit James Bland.

> Regatta Chairs - Danny Lien and Fred Ford

 

Clift Price at 93, was the oldest skipper this year. Sailing in Dos Locos, Clift finished 5th overall and 4th for his age group. He can't switch sides on tacks, so he helmed from Starboard the entire race.  Ensign 929, Dos Locos, was purchased in 1970 and has been in the family ever since. It was one of the first Ensigns on Lake Travis.  He was also one of the "founder's" of the current AYC back in late 60's.  He and some other members helped arrange the financial deal that purchased the property where AYC is located.

 

The race day weather was near perfect with intense sunshine.   Elliot Bray aboard Ensign #2021, won the start by a big margin and sprinted to the first tack in the lead.  The lead was exchanged between four boats, #578, #1414, #773, and #1167.  There were more skippers than sponsors this year, something we hope to correct in the future.  The boats are raced without spinnakers and there is talk of moving to #3 Genoa / Blade jibs and a shorter course next year to lower the physical demands on our honored skippers.  The Ensigns are similarly tuned and they race very closely together, making it a true challenge of skippers and crews.  Come join us next year.  Sign up early, we’ll get more boats involved.

 

Summer Series was interrupted by gale force winds, club events, and race committee duty.  There were only two races sailed with six boats competing in the series.  Race Committee duty was on a day with  challenging East Winds, but a fair course was set that held for the day and gave excellent fair sailing to the Fleets.  Bill Hawk coordinated the Race Committee team and James Bland was PRO for the day.

 

	Sail	Boat	Skipper	Fleet	Total	Race 1a	Race 1b	Race 2a	Race 2b
1	588	Styf Kop	Dahmen,George	ENS	2	0 DNC	0 DNC	1	1
2	929	Dos Locos	Price,Lewis	ENS	4	0 DNC	0 DNC	2	2
3	1167	One with the Wind	Gamble,Dave	ENS	7	0 DNC	0 DNC	4	3
4	2021	Spirit	Bland,James	ENS	9	0 DNC	0 DNC	5	4
5	1414	Prickly Pear	Hawk,Bill	ENS	10	0 DNC	0 DNC	3	7 DNF
6	972		Ford,Fred	ENS	14	0 DNC	0 DNC	7 DNC	7 DNF

 

 

The Dog Days Series started with good wind and hot weather.  Lewis Price was the most consistent of the leaders, but the racing was tight up the first weather leg.   Bill Hawk leads the series, with Lewis Price and Tom Groll in hot pursuit.   Carl Wiseman was showing good form and we hope he can participate more regularly.  James Bland continues to sail very consistently.

 

	Sail	Boat	Skipper	Fleet	Total	Race 1a	Race 1b
1	1414	Prickly Pear	Hawk,Bill	ENS	4	1	3
2	929	Dos Locos	Price,Lewis	ENS	4	2	2
3	578		Groll,Tom	ENS	7	6 RAF	1
4	1609		George,T	ENS	8	3	5
5	2021	Spirit	Bland,James	ENS	8	4	4

 

 

George Dahmen cleaned up in the 2017 Independence Cup Regatta, taking First Place Honors over a 26 boat PHRF fleet, winning on corrected time by just under 2 minutes.  Ensign Fleet 30 is a very competitive fleet with regional and national champions.  George Dahmen is a frequent winner in series races, now has AYC Club honors for the Ensign fleet.

 

Sail	Boat	Skipper	PHRF	NS	Type	Corrected	Fleet
1	588		Dahmen,George	252		Ensign	2:14:18	C
2	629	Bonfire	McDavitt,Linda	174		J/22	2:16:11	B
3	1235	Project Mayhem	Halter,John	174		J/22	2:16:38	B
4	404	Farvfrumwerken	Brinkmann,Johannes	117		J/80	2:16:45	A

 

Fleet 30 is encouraged to visit the new Ensign Class Website. Ensign Nationals start August 13, stay tuned for AYC participation.

June, 2017

Ensign Fleet 30 Update by Tom Groll

With the Spring Series now behind us and summer creeping in, the Ensign Fleet continues to make a strong showing at the Club and on the water. Although our Summer Series is a bit fragmented between having RC duty and hosting the Chaparral de Mar, it is rare not to see some Ensigns out sailing and even rarer that the Ensign Fleet members are not contributing to the success of the many events held at the Austin Yacht Club. 

 

Sail 4 Kids, which seems to be developing into a tradition, was held at the Club on Saturday, June 3rd. This is a very special event hosted by the esteemed Doug Laws with the very capable assistance of Fred Ford. There were about forty underprivileged children from the Baptist Children’s Home ranging in age from 6 to 16 that were all given the opportunity to enjoy a ride on a sail boat followed by some swimming and a cookout. The Ensigns had a strong show of support and provided six boats for the event. Thanks go out to Fred Ford and Ann Riggs, Bill and Kelly Hawk, George Dahmen and Ann Kitzmiller, Dave and Ann Morley, Lewis Price and Annie Lancaster, Tom Groll and Hazel Sanchez for making their time and boats available for this worthy endeavor. Although the wind was not very cooperative a great time was had by skippers and kids alike as our time on the water evolved into more of a splash fest than a sailboat ride. A very special thank you goes to Doug and Fred for making this event possible.

 

Up next is the annual Chaparral de Mar regatta. This is also becoming quite the tradition hosted by the Ensign Fleet as a way of honoring those of our senior members that still have the racing spirit but may not necessarily have that many opportunities to get in the race. The format developed by Danny Lien and Fred Ford pairs skippers with crew on an Ensign for a day of racing on the final day of the Summer Series. There are two categories of competitors: the junior class is comprised of skippers between the age of 70 – 74, and the senior class is for all skipper age 75 and up. While only the senior class of skippers is eligible to win the perpetual trophy, the junior class winning skipper may win a bottle of wine. Regardless of age, all of the participating skippers win our thanks and admiration for their continued love of our sport.  Thank you to Danny and Fred for once again making this event happen!

 

Our next regular series is the Dog Days, which will be held on Saturday evenings with a 5:00 start time. Race #1 will be on June 24th followed by a week off, then four consecutive weekends of racing from July 8th to July 29th. Saturday evenings racing on Lake Travis and then spending time at the clubhouse afterward, enjoying a cool beverage, a great meal, and time with friends; what could be better?!  And speaking of evening sails and cool beverages, the Friday Night Beer Can Races are ongoing throughout the summer. I can think of no better way to wash away the remnants of the work week than the casual setting of the Beer Can race. The Keel Handicap fleet has decided to change the venue up occasionally by holding the MoonBurn Regatta around the time of the full moon each month, which means that they do not plan to provide the usual burgers and such on those evenings. But that should not dissuade us from sailing the Beer Can! There is a movement for those that choose not to participate in the Moon Burn to still enjoy a loop around the Beer Can course followed by our own informal gathering afterwards.  Even if the KHF will not give up their top secret recipe for burgers I’ll bet we can come up with something at least as appetizing… And finally, it’s that time of year when the regional and national regattas are approaching rapidly. The national Championship will be held August 14th through 18th in Cedarville, Michigan. So far, our own George Dahmen and Ann Kitzmiller are planning to attend and will be sailing with John culter, the Ensign Class Commodore. Hopefully we will get at least one more boat to represent Fleet 30 and the AYC. But in case that doesn’t happen, lets wish George and Ann the best and thank them for representing our fleet!