Too Lucky to Explain...
Wednesday Night Shields Race Report
Fall Race 2
September 3, 2025
Reported by Shields 217 / “John Dory “
Could the weather and water have been any better than the conditions Mother Nature provided Shields Fleet 9 last night? I think not. Last night was yet another of many nights when I thought to myself and reflected to the crew on 217, “how lucky are we to be out here sailing on this bay, on a night like this, with all these incredible Shields , with good friends and great shipmates?” The answer is of course, “too lucky to explain”.
Despite the many ships festooning the east passage last night, the conditions were once again world class. The tide was still a strong flood tide in the center of the bay, but our pre- race tuning showed that the tide was weakening on the west side of the course, near Clingstone, if it had not switched already. We didn’t get out early enough to fully check the west side , but experience informed us that the incoming tide would be strongest in the middle , weaker on the edges , and flip first on the Jamestown side. The Race Committee set the windward mark nearer the Fort Adams shore which took the Jamestown side tide relief out of play . Our pre-start wind checks had the breeze at 203 at the Boat end and 193 down near the pin.
We decided to start under the pack and hope we could get to a point where we could tack and cross the boats on our hip. After I was late pulling the trigger at the start we were able to hang tough as we approached the big tan/grey cruise ship. I can’t remember the exact color of the ship, but I do remember people standing on their cabin’s balcony looking at us. I think Shields Fleet 9 got a “10” for entertainment value from the cruise line! ( Note to Fleet 9 Leadership : Maybe we should charge them for the entertainment? ) It got a little tricky on the left as the left puffs would hit and we’d look great, but they invariably collapsed and faded right. The boats that were right of us, notably 254 , 109 , 166, 226 to mention a few did an admirable job of negotiating the puffs, tide and race course to round in the front group.
The leeward legs were a tricky balance of wind variations and changing tide. It seemed the tide had started to ebb on the east edge of the course and was still flooding in the middle on the first leeward leg. Always tricksy with the winds and tides for Wednesday night racing!!!The RC noticed a shift to the right for the 2nd windward leg which brought the changing tide on the west side of the course into play. The boats that went right seemed to be strongest up the second and third beats. The 166 sailed a very strong race and took the victory for the evening! A big shout out to helmsman Dan Faria and his crew Brad Beebe, Phil Cox , Elijah Duckworth-Schacter and DF 95 racing titan Scott Macleod for a job well done and a masterfully sailed race. Thanks to the Race Committee lead by Will Museler for a great job and a wonderful race course for Shields Fleet 9 to race on.
Best of luck to our fellow Fleet 9’ers who are at the Nationals this week. Let’s hope our fleet mates dominate the results! Only a few weeks left of these amazing nights of racing this season. Be sure to cherish every one of them. We who sail in Shields Fleet 9, THE BEST ONE DESIGN FLEET IN THE COUNTRY, are very lucky in so many ways. It does not get much better , if you like nice places to sail and beautiful boats
Jamie Hilton
217
