By Talbot Wilson
Pensacola, FL Jan 15, 2022
The 2022 VX One Midwinter Championship— 2021-22 Winter Series #2 [WS#2] — started with lots of splashes Saturday on Pensacola Bay. The first leeward leg of race #1 saw five boats turn turtle and then on the final run to their finish two more went over. Seven total turtles.
And then the rain came in for race #3. In race #1 Leg 2, one of the sailors had to be picked up by a spectator boat and returned to her boat when she couldn’t swim fast enough to catch the boat. VX One #175 ‘Quiet Coyote’ was righted by the crew. As the boat came upright the one of the crew in the water got separated from the boat. Then one other person went overboard on the second downwind leg, but was quickly recovered. Racing was set for a first warning at 1055. The wind was out of the East with gusts to 20kts and shifting a little South.
After several short AP postponements, racing got underway. PRO Hal Smith’s Pensacola YC committee and the VX One fleet got in four tough races. In race #1, 35 boats started and two did not finish. In race #2 , 34 boats started and two did not finish. In race #3, 33 boats started and three did not finish. In race #4, 32 boats started and three did not finish. Gusty winds building ahead of an approaching cold front with rain moving across the bay at the start of race #3, took their toll on the fleet. It was a rough day on the bay.
The first W-L around the course in race #4 was wet, but the final two legs for Day 1 were better with only 10-12kts and no rain.
Leading after four races on provisional results was VX One Class President Chris Alexander in #276 ‘Counterproductive’. Alexander, from Gulfport [MS] Yacht Club, had finished third overall in the WS#1 regatta in December. Paul Kleinschrodt from Buccaneer YC in Mobile AL in #196 ‘Merica²’ stands second. Kleinschrodt finished WS#1 in fourth place.
1. 276, Counterproductive, Christopher Alexander, GYC / Edison Sailing Center, 1-1-3-5- ; 10
2. 196, Merica², Paul Kleinschrodt, Buccaneer, 4-4-5-1- ; 14
3. 275, , Greg Griffin, EYC, 2-2-8-4- ; 16
4. 232, Katana, William Lydens, MBYC, 10-5-1-8- ; 24
5. 269, Double The Fun, Hayden Bennett, Sail Newport, 5-7-7-6- ; 25
6. 286, Leatherback Beer, Timothy Pitts, Coconut Grove Sailing Club, 8-10-11-2- ; 31
7. 123, Bro Safari, Marc Farmer, RSTLYC, 12-11-10-3- ; 36
8. 310, Old Man's 5-0-5, Paul Murphy, Storm Trysail Club, 3-6-18-13- ; 40
9. 284, Jailbreak, Matt Haddon, None, 15-3-16-12- ; 46
10. 171, The Wagon, Charles Brown, Ida Lewis, 6-12-15-17- ; 50
Racing continues Sunday and Monday in the three-race Championship. With a cold front passing and high pressure building on the other side, it will be cold sailing, in the 47ºF range on Sunday, if it is not too windy to race. VX One class rules and the NOR set a steady 3-minute 25 kt wind limit for racing. Two trusted weather models predict 23 with gusts to 35 and 20 gusting to 29. It is possible that no racing will be held on Sunday or maybe just delayed until the afternoon based on what actually happens. Monday looks like the best day of the series.
Paul Murphy's Old Man's 5-0-5 #310 leads a bevy of VX One's around the weather mark in the VX One Winter Series #1 in Pensacola. © Talbot Wilson
![The Top two Winter Series teams after WS#1, Trevor Parekh's #123 [315], 'Bro Safari' and Hayden Bennett's # 269, 'Double the Fun' from Newport RI, were both OCS, both over early on the start, pushing hard for positions right at the pin end of the line. - photo © Talbot Wilson](https://www.sail-world.com/photos/vxone/yysw345126.jpg)
