Lightning Standings Tighten as Moody Wins Two

Interesting Mark Rounding Coming Up! Picture by George Zimmermann

The Lightning Fleet Standings got a little tighter Sunday with Mike Moody winning two of the three races and cutting into the Wind Dancer Team's hold on first place.

Bill Davidson came out to the Club hoping to catch a ride with someone, but with Michael-Soloman Jost also looking for a ride, they teamed up and sailed "Shibumi" impressively. They often led the fleet, particularly after the first leg, but lost ground when others set spinnakers while "Shibumi" didn't. Still, they powered to a second place finish in Race 2.

Neil Harrison and crew also had some good moments. On one particular downwind, Neil and crew Alanna Harvey and John Quensen caught a puff, came up on the leaders and rolled past to be ahead at the mark.

Jonathan Ahlbrand, Bob Bell and Tom Rasmussen have become a solid team on "Bananas" and showed great speed to stay with the leaders most of the time and finish third in the first race. Unfortunately, even though only a couple of boat lengths separated leading boats, "Bananas" just missed several patches of wind that the other leaders caught in the other races.

In an exciting first race finish, Moody came up on "Wind Dancer" on the final downwind with both boats on port gybe. When the two boats gybed for the finish with only a few boat lengths to go, the "Booty" crew handled their gybe better and rolled "Wind Dancer to win by inches.

In the second race "Wind Dancer" got off to the best start on port at the pin end as a dying wind shifted left. As the new wind came in, Pat Dolan, Gil Chesbro and Doug Crawford had "Wind Dancer" in the best position and took off to score a win. Moody and crew finished third behind the Davidson-Jost duo.

Race three brought the most exciting sailing of the day. The wind came up a little for a five leg race with shortened legs. This meant a lot of close mark roundings and put a premium on boat handling. Bill Davidson and Michael-Soloman Jost found themselves in the lead at the windward mark and were still in front at the first leeward mark. However, boats behind were coming up fast with spinnakers in a puff. Dolan was next in line saying "no overlap at the two length zone" to Moody who was a close third. Moody thought otherwise and insisted on room, making contact with "Wind Dancer" as the two lead boats made their turn. "Protest" was hailed by both boats and Moody did a circle.

Another close rounding marked the second downwind, this time with "Wind Dancer" coming out the lead boat, overtaking Harrison and crew with a well executed turn. "Wind Dancer" went on to post the win with "Moody's Booty" second and Harrison third. When Moody notified the Race Committee he was protesting "Wind Dancer", Dolan took a DSQ rather than have resources and time expended convening a Protest Committee. He hopes the decision won't come back to bite him at the end of the season. In typical fashion, both skippers were convinced the angels were on their side in the dispute.

Harrison Crew Gets Ready for Spin Set Picture by George Zimmermann

Davidson and Jost Finishing Second Picture by George Zimmermann

Wind Dancer Winning Race 2 Picture by George Zimmermann

Detailed results and standings can be found soon through links on the "Racing" page of the LSC web site at www.lansingsailing.org.

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