2008 Florida Footy Winter Rally

February 24th 2008

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Nine entries made for a big enough fleet to provide interesting, close racing. It would be hard to fault the weather, though some of us could be heard griping a little at the propensity for the wind to die at the first sound of the starting clock, and as the fleet approached the windward mark. The sun was shining, the wind was light with frequent shifts and enough early gusts to persuade all but one skipper that a moderate size A rig was the setup to go for. The fleet was a mix of kit boats and prototypes, with a Victor V12, 5 Scale Sailing Kittiwakes, a balsa multi chine boat (Cobra) and two depron chine hulled boats. 7 boats had conventional sloop rigs, while two had una rigs based on Brett's Mac rig.

From the first start it was clear that the lone V12 was the boat to beat. Completed the night before with a slightly shorter hoist main and longer mast crane than the stock sail plan, the boat was quick, well balanced and very adriotly sailed by John Egizi. During the morning races the Kittwake's of George Emmert and Phil Ehlinger were in close contention, George's efforts were particularly commendable since he had first seen the boat he was sailing a bare 30 minutes before the first race, while Phil's big rig choice paid off in early races. He retired before lunch with a drowned servo. Chris Coxe's and Nick Schaub's Kittiwakes were usually close to the front and their consistent results paid dividends as the day progressed.

In the early going Paul Taylor's Troll showed occasional bursts of speed but great inconsistency, and eventually succumbed to an uncontrollable servo twitch which would apply full rudder without warning. Paul Viviero's newly built Kittiwake had some teething troubles and retired early. Both Mac rig boats had balance problems in the early heats. Bill Hagerup's Cobra was damaged on it's journey from the cold lands, the temporary repairs were compounded by a flooded receiver during Saturday's trial sail, while the repair had frozen his rig adjuster. Bill's gradual re-tune of the rig during the day resulted in progressively better results, and in his winning the final race. Brent Carter's Depron prototype suffered from being undercanvassed after a conservative rig choice, probably as a result of his problems the previous day with a tall rig. The conclusion as always was that while boat speed was important, sailing skill and a reliable boat are needed to win races and regattas, while familiarity with the Footy and it's quirks is less critical.

Finishing order. 1st John Egizi, V12, Sebring FL: 2nd George Emmert, Kittiwake, Vero Beach, FL: 3rd Chris Coxe, Kittiwake, Daytona, FL: 4th Nick Schaub, Kittiwake, Daytona, FL: 5th Bill Hagerup, Cobra, Laconia NH: 6th Phil Ehlinger, Kittiwake, Daytona, FL: 7th Paul Taylor, Torpid Troll, Daytona, FL: 8th Brent Carter, Prototype, Longwood FL; 9th Paul Viviero, Kittiwake, Daytona, FL.

Race report by Paul Taylor