Miami Fall Series

The day started out blustery with 15 to 18 knots of breeze in a warm northerly.  5 boats competed in the 5th of a 6 part series in the Coconut Grove Sailing Club’s Miami Finn Fleet Fall Series regatta.

Race number 1 was on time at 1130am with Jack Jennings winning the race handily with the rest of the fleet a little flat-footed.  Jack had a great start and led the entire race.

Race number 2 was more interesting as all the boats were on the line in a tight start.  Later we learned that 3 of the 5 boats were over early.  Dave Martin seemed to have good upwind speed and rounded the weather mark ahead of Jack and he held the lead until the finish winning race number 2.  There were a few capsizes as there were squall lines that hit the racecourse occasionally but everyone finished.

Then the wind went light.  The 3rd race was started in under 5 knots of wind and all the boats were not in the starting area when the gun went off.  As the wind filled in it was Charles Heimler this time who escaped the giant wind hole first to lead the fleet by a giant margin and win race number 3 followed by Tom Bremen, our local sailmaker.

The last race of the day was held in roughly 12 knots of breeze with Jack and Dave trading the lead during the first beat with Dave leading at the weather mark only to be hunted down by Jack who rounded the leeward mark one boat length ahead.  Dave was hopeful of using his powers of mass to best Jack during the final beat but Jack covered him and maintained his lead and extended downwind to win race 4.

It was a fantastic day on the water and we are all looking forward to the final race of the Fall Series on December 12th.

Results: Finn FallSeries2020-11-21