Keelboat Kickoff

Twelve schools sailed the Keelboat Kickoff on Boston Harbor at Courageous Sailing. Half of the schools fielded two squads for the event. Rhodes-19s were triple-handed in breezy conditions, 15 with gusts to 24 from the NNE. Two races were held in a light snowfall. The first three races were sailed with full mainsails and jibs, while the remainder were sailed with reefed mains and jibs. Initially the course was set off Pier 4, at the confluence of the Mystic and Charles Rivers. The first race in each set was a W4 while the second race was a W3.

While races are often interrupted by commercial traffic on Boston Harbor, it was a particularly busy day with two Coast Guard cutters coming home to their berths opposite Courageous Sailing, an outbound tanker, and a fuel barge. The interruption in racing by the first USCG cutter allowed the fleet to reef at the dock. Fortunately, the tanker's departure and barge transit coincided with a rotation at the dock. As the second USCG cutter arrived, we moved the course slightly up the Mystic River. After the course move, all races were W4.

Four races were completed in both the A and B Divisions. Two protests were heard, each resulting in a DSQ. Thanks go out to Jesse Hamilton who ran the race committee, Mike, Bill and MK who helped out in mark/safety boats, Jen Bodde on shore, and Carl Zimba as PRO. Special thanks go to the parents of the Boston Latin sailors who brought hot food for everyone to enjoy in the cold weather.

The following chart shows the relative rank of the teams as of the race indicated. Note that the races are ordered by number, then division, which may not represent the order in which the races were actually sailed.

The first place team as of a given race will always be at the top of the chart. The spacing from one team to the next shows relative gains/losses made from one race to the next. You may hover over the data points to display the total score as of that race.