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Mercury Class Yacht Racing Association

Once again the weather for this day was comfortable, but rather difficult to race in. The wind was from the same general direction, slightly N. West, with some shifts from the Southwest, that did not last too long. The velocity maybe 5 knots, but no more. There was little wave action that seemed to occur when the wind velocity eased a bit, make it more challenging.

There were 16 Mercs starting the first race. A double sausage course with a downwind finish. Jim and Kathy Bradley had an excellent start, Dave West with Gage Bradford were a little quicker. Because of the elements each tack was a challenge. Bradley won with West second. The next two boats, Dave Morris with Jared January and Park Densmore with Marko Zaninovich were in the hunt with Morris passing Densmore at the finish to place third with Densmore fourth. Bill and Katy Worden placed fifth.

Race two same course and same conditions. As usual going left off the start was the way to go all day. Playing the shifts was difficult because tacking was slow, but necessary at times. Morris got off very fast and led most of the way as West was challenging him. However Randy Smith with Kurt Hummingsen had a good final run and got by Morris to win the race. Morris was second and West third. Densmore was fourth followed by Bradley in the fifth spot.

Race three was once around and took a while. West was off fast and was able to win the race. Anybody that went offshore did not do well. Bradley placed second and is maintaining his lead in the series. Densmore, who is sailing very fast, was third. Steve and Michael Kraft, sailing their best race of the series, placed fourth. John Mowry and Mark Gibbs were fifth, holding their fifth spot in the series. Look at the daily total scores and it shows how mixed up the fleet was, except for the four leaders. Many thanks to the head man Dick Clark and his top crew, Jim Womble and Chip Wood.

One observation of this event is how the Merc skippers from the Monterey fleet all haul their Mercs out after all the visitors, while they are running the hoist, pretty darn good.

Name(s) Sail Number Race 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Total Total Throw Total Pl
Bradley 553 1 4 2 4 2 6 8 1 1 5 2 8 36 14 22 1
West 429 7 1 1 6 1 2 16 16 2 3 1 6 56 32 24 2
Morris 416 2 3 7 2 13 3 1 3 3 2 17 22 56 30 26 3
Smith 543 8 2 3 12 3 1 5 5 9 1 6 16 55 21 34 4
Mowry 563 6 5 4 13 12 4 4 4 7 12 5 24 76 25 51 5
Chandler 524 5 8 11 5 6 7 2 13 12 7 13 32 89 26 63 6
P. Davis 580 4 9 5 1 7 10 15 10 11 9 10 30 91 26 65 7
Baird 508 14 14 14 3 4 5 11 2 6 8 15 29 96 29 67 8
Hines 565 3 11 12 7 9 8 13 15 8 16 8 32 110 31 79 9
Bacci 548 10 12 8 10 5 11 7 7 16 11 11 38 108 28 80 10
Kraft 554 13 6 10 8 11 9 10 9 13 14 4 31 107 27 80 11
Wordan 431 12 7 14 14 14 14 3 6 5 13 9 27 111 28 83 12
C. Davis 529 9 10 6 11 8 13 16 16 14 10 7 31 120 32 88 13
Densmore 572 15 15 15 15 15 15 12 8 4 4 3 11 121 30 91 14
Chargin 577 11 13 9 9 10 12 6 14 15 15 12 42 126 30 96 15
McAleer 459 15 15 15 15 15 15 9 12 10 6 14 30 141 30 111 16
Gould 552 15 15 15 15 15 15 14 11 17 17 17 51 166 34 132 17
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