Karen's Commentary

Sundance Cup – Day One

Lots of breeze, but sunny skies and warm temperatures for 8 teams in Fort Worth on Eagle Mountain Lake. They checked in, weighed in and piled in the boats for a brief morning practice, then returned for lunch and initial meeting with the umpires. After a short postponement, racing began with winds at 18-24 mph, gusting to 26. While spinnakers were allowed for the first flight, the OA and umpires prohibited them when winds continued to build through the afternoon. The course was shifted to the east after Flight 2, but as velocity continued to climb, strong puffs and whitecaps led to RC sending the ladies in after Match 2 of the third flight.

The debrief highlighted several interesting situations brought by both competitors and umpires. Lively discussion (and laughter) ensued and at the conclusion, skippers introduced their teams --- lots of new faces in this year's event --- and became better acquainted at a pre-dinner cocktail reception.

Racing resumes tomorrow at 0900. Forecast calls for continued sunshine and strong winds through the day. Kristen Lane of Tiburon, CA leads with 3 wins following today's racing.

Sundance Cup – Day 2

Another day full of sunshine and WIND. The local advisory was to end at 10:00 AM and forecasts called for velocity to diminish from 15-25 to 10-20 mph this morning. Someone forgot to tell Rudy and while it was a lovely day on the water, spinnakers were prohibited on the racecourse.

Racing began as scheduled at 9:30 and Round Robin #1 was completed at 1:30 PM. While sustained velocity was 15-20, we continued to experience puffs to 29 throughout the morning though they became less frequent until a bit later. Directionally, only one course shift toward the west was required late morning, but the wind shifted back to 180 degrees about 12:45 where it remained.

Twenty-eight matches were completed, finishing up Round Robin #1 and two and a half flights of RR#2 before the competitors were sent to the harbor at 4:15 for debrief. At the end of today's racing, Molly Carapiet and Kristen Lane each have 8 wins, Jo Ann Fisher follows closely with 7 and Rebecca Beard rounds out the top four with 5 points.

Round Robin #2 continues tomorrow at 0900 with winds predicted to lay some overnight, but clock to the north by morning with a cool front. Temperatures should remain in the mid-sixties and occasional spotty rain showers could occur.

Sundance Cup – Day 3

As predicted, the winds clocked to the north with cooler temperatures and overcast skies for today's matches. The course was moved to the west of Fort Worth Boat Club and Flight 3 of RR 2 resumed at 0900. Contrary to predictions, the wind did not lay enough to guarantee the use of spinnakers and they were allowed only sporadically through the day as gusts continued to reach the low twenties.

The second round robin was completed in the early afternoon and participants came in to the Clubhouse for a brief period to evaluate boats and choose the best four for the semis. Molly Carapiet won an 11.1(b) tie-break against Kristen Lane, both San Francisco teams finishing with 12 points. In third place with 11 wins was Jo Ann Fisher of Annapolis and Rebecca Beard, also from San Francisco rounded out the semi-final contenders with 6 points.

Good wind prevailed with some light rain, but the semi-final round was completed in time for showers, a group photo and wildlife exhibition and finally dinner and a preview of the Sundance Cup perpetual trophy as well as the exquisite special award presented annually by Paul Bregenzer for unique and entertaining situations on the racecourse.

Pairings for tomorrow's matches are:

Finals – Carapiet vs Lane

Petit-Finals – Beard vs Fisher

acing is scheduled to resume at 0900 and be completed in time for Opening Day ceremonies at FWBC in the early afternoon.

Sundance Cup – Final

And the winners are: Molly Carapiet, Emily Hill, Carol Luttmer & Molly Vandemoer from Belvedere, California.

Molly's team sailed five matches in the final round today against Kristen Lane to capture the 2008 Sundance Cup and an invitation to the Santa Maria Cup in late May. Winds were very light and the day quite overcast, but the competitors didn't have any rain to contend with this year. They returned to the harbor under AP mid-morning for lack of wind, had lunch and participated in the traditional Opening Day Ceremony at FWBC before returning to the racecourse just after 1400 hours.

In the petit-finals, Jo Ann Fisher edged out Rebecca Beard 3-1 in some very exciting matches. A number of spectator boats were out for the action this afternoon, sailboats, canoes and even a few kayaks. The umpires and signal boat personnel were complimentary of all teams in their comments at the trophy presentation. There were multiple lead changes in several matches and with winds in the 5-10 mph range, the use of spinnakers provided some surprise finishes --- some with boats overlapped.

The coveted “fun” trophy was presented by Paul Bregenzer to the Race Committee this year for a Thursday oopsie involving numeral pennants 1 vs 3. This was certainly a new twist and had them rolling in the aisles as we graciously acknowledged our imperfections.

great regatta for a great group of ladies. We hope they will all return next year!

Photos

2008 Sundance Cup – Fort Worth Boat Club
Women's Invitational Match Racing
March 26-29, 2008

Principal Race Officer – Robert W. Gough
Laura Grunewald
Debi Klyn
Michael H. Lattimore
Harold Rickett
Karen Smith
John & Ruth Starr

Chief Umpire – Cliff Black, Chicago
John Diggins, Dallas
Gary Hendrickson, Chicago
Kathy Lindgren, Sheboygan
Rick Mallinson, Oklahoma City
Bill Simpson, Dallas
Bill Thorpe, Detroit

Competitors
Rebecca Beard, San Francico, CA
Amy Guarnieri, Karri Johnson & Sarah McNoboe
Louise Bienvenu, Metairie, LA
Lisa Luongo & Deanna Vandiver
Molly Carapiet, Belvedere, CA
Emily Hill, Carol Luttmer & Molly Vandemoer
Arabella Denvir, Irvington, VA
Michelle Hitter, Jessamine Lewis & Doris Mollenkopf
Jo Ann Fisher, Annapolis, MD
Nicole Breault, Lynda Hiller & Casey Williams
Kristen Lane, Tiburon, CA
Jen Glass, Mallory McCollum & Genny Tulloch
Julia Lillis, Long Beach, CA
Patricia Escorihuela, Rhonda Halfman & Brooke Phillips
Kim Stuart, Venice, CA
Michaela Draper, Kathy St. Amant & Robin Stout