August 31, 2001

Hello everyone,

It's been another busy week in the Frers 33 Class Association. Last weekend saw 9 Frers 33s come together to race in the PHRF NE Championships in Marblehead. Eight boats raced as a one design class, and 1 boat raced in the cruising/non spinnaker division.

It was quite a coup to get a one design start in something known as the PHRF NE Championships!! But after a dogged effort by yours truly, and a save that was credited to Matt Whitlock, (reminiscent of Rollie Fingers), we finally convinced the RC in the 11th hour to do the right thing. It also helps that we had 9 out of the 10 Mass Bay boats in attendance (the 10th boat belonging to Jonathan and Sarah Lubeck were expecting a baby any day, and wanted to come). We couldn't convince the other 2 boats on the West end of the Cape Cod Canal to come, but there's always next year....no pressure guys!

The first day was characterized by a nice Northeasterly in the morning. By the afternoon, it had gone right and died (some things don't change in Marblehead). Only 2 of the 8 boats finished within the time limit. The second day started out with a nice Northeasterly again, and went right to east southeast. We got three races off on the second day, which only left one for Sunday. Day three brought a decent Southerly breeze.

Neal Melanson on Vapor Trail sailed a solid regatta to get first overall with 7.3 points. Ken Bowden on Knotless bumped out Warren Hudson's Eclipse for the second place finish overall with 11.8 points. Eclipse was a close third with 12.8 points. For full results, go to http//www.phrfne.org/01leadin.htm.

As always, one design brought tight racing. Saturday's race 3 had places 4-6 decided by a 6 second spread. The Northern fleet is trying to organize some fall regattas in the local area.

The Frers 33 fleet was the talk of the tent. I talked to more that a few owners that were envious of our participation, and lack of skewed ratings!

Stay tuned for details on the Larchmont NOOD. Louis Nees has 6 boats signed up for 2 days for racing on Long Island Sound.

Cheers,

Kurt

PS - I apologize for one large oversight in my last e-mail. John Parson's (commodore of PHRF NE) was instrumental in helping us secure our one design start. If you don't know John, he used to own Sundown - a Frers 33 out of Portsmouth, NH. Sundown was sold and renamed Alliance by Mark McGuire which raced this past weekend. John has moved onto a Quest 33, but is still a Frers owner at heart. Please join me in thanking John for all his behind the curtain efforts.

Kurt