The 53th (2004) Annual

Race results
Yacht Name	Start	Finish	Elapsed
.
1 Tern	14:05	16:00:17	1:55:17*
2 Whitecap	14:07	16:07:17	2:00:17
3 Hot Numbers	14:10	16:17:51	2:07:51
4 Jai Tu	14:13	16:21:02	2:08:02
5 Shearness	14:21	16:24:00	2:03:00
6 Suzanna	14:15	16:33:14	2:18:14
7 Falcon	14:15	16:33:45	2:18:45
8 Gentian	14:15	16:37:33	2:22:33
9 Cat's Paw	14:12	16:41:40	2:29:40
10 Querencia	14:05	16:50:48	2:36:48
11 Aunt Rose	13:59	16:57:59	1:58:59
12 Gold Rush	14:04	17:02:35	1:58:35
13 Equinox	14:07	17:03:14	1:56:14
14 Spark	14:08	17:08:24	2:00:24
15 Applause	14:01	17:11:21	2:10:21
16 Galatea	14:01	17:15:33	2:14:33
17 Pi-Mut IV	14:13	17:15:34	2:02:34
18 Adventure	13:55	17:16:41	2:21:41
19 Blue Bird	13:58	17:18:13	2:20:13
20 Tetra	13:34	17:19:18	2:45:18
21 Apogee	14:04	17:19:18	2:15:18
22 Hilaritas	13:44	17:19:39	2:35:39
23 Manitou	13:44	17:20:20	2:36:20
24 Ben Jammin	14:01	17:21:53	2:20:53
25 Absinthe	13:56	17:24:17	2:28:17
26 Gitana	13:56	17:24:40	2:28:40
27 Wyanoke	13:46	17:24:42	2:38:42
28 Puffin II	13:43	17:25:00	2:42:00
29 Osprey	13:37	17:25:02	2:48:02
30 Balsam	13:41	17:27:15	2:46:15
31 Mumkin	13:43	17:28:50	2:45:50
32 Sazerac	13:16	17:43:14	3:27:14
Puritan	13:01	DNF
Freedom	13:23	DNF
Navigatrix	13:39	DNF
Hebe	13:40	DNF
Double Chins	13:46	DNF
Alibi	13:54	DNF
Alamar	DNS
Moxie	DNS
Racundra	DNS
George Penney	DNS
Tinsley Light	DNS
Sophie B	DNS
Wind Sprite	DNS
Rock-It	DNS

53rd Maine Retired Skippers Race -- Aug. 21, 2004

Race Committee Report

Passage of a cold front accompanied with fog and torrential rain showers was the dominant feature of this year's race, certainly a memorable event for all participants (though some might prefer to forget this one).

Following the skippers meeting several boat owners came forward to object to their handicaps. In the ensuing discussion, it came to light that at a June meeting, the executive committee had voted to drop the practice of taking past performance into account in determining handicaps, a system that has been in place since 1992. However, the race committee had never been informed of the decision, so the handicaps for this year had been computed by the regular procedures. It was of course too late to recompute the scratch sheets for all the boats, but it was decided to allow two adjustments:

1. Jai Tu would be allowed to use the starting time of Pi-Mut IV, on the basis of their being sister ships.
2. Susanna would be allowed to start with Gentian and Falcon, on the basis of these three yachts often racing together and having been observed to have very similar performance.

The forecast was for southwest winds of 15 to 20 knots, so the tug was anchored northeast of the buoy to provide a reaching start for course A. But from 1215 to 1245 the wind was quite light from southeast, and buoy reports were mostly in the 10-15 knot range, so we chose 12 knot handicaps, with the expectation of more wind later. We don't really know what the wind did, besides vary a lot. By the end of the starts it was settled pretty well in southwest. There was a shift to west or northwest about 1630. We believe the tug's anemometer was not functioning (it was reading a steady 13 knots all afternoon), and the race committee was not out in the weather very much after the start sequence. There were gusts above 15 knots accompanying some of the rain showers, but we have the impression that the wind was below 10 knots most of the time.

8 entrants did not start, and 6 more dropped out, most after completing 3 legs.

Ted Leonard, Rita Poirier, Amy Scott, Mickey Gast, Don and Sue Pierce and Jon Johansen served Race Committee duties aboard the tug. Harry Stevens commanded the tug with great skill, and anchored her just where we wanted to be.

John Letcher, Race Committee Chairman