by Joe Kraetsch, NCR Autocross Chair
June 2 was our second autocross of the year and the second time the weatherman showered us with a wet forecast. The ugly forecast did not keep the real drivers or sailors away. We defied the weather gods and had another successful regatta. Porsches are wonderful driving vessels in the rain. Scruffy and Chris set another great rain course for us to practice our tacking and jibing. We had some startup problems due to wet connections in one of the wireless timers but I reprogrammed our spare unit, we checked the rigging, and we were underway just a few minutes behind schedule. Somehow it even rained inside the timing tent but we managed to keep the equipment dry and it worked flawlessly all day. We did our normal four morning runs and another four afternoon runs and were done before 3:00. Then we headed to the nice dry Billiards Cafe in Ayer to give out the awards. Ed Moschella took top time in the morning session. Rob MacAlpine had the top afternoon time. Ed took both FTD and top PAX for the combined results. Was he flying a spinnaker on that Cayman R sloop?
Mark Schnoerr and his lovely wife Sigrid are leaving us and moving to the Lone Star state (they don’t get as much rain there). Thank you Mark for your contributions as Novice Captain over the years and thank you Sigrid for your perennial services as our starter. You will both be missed by everyone. Ollie Lucier is taking over as Novice Captain and Chief Instructor. Tom Pelton has joined the staff and will be taking over Ollie's timing duties.
Once again a big thank you to all participants for keeping the event running smoothly: from my staff to the workers who shagged cones in the rain again to all the new novices who left with big smiles on their faces. Our next autocross is Saturday, July 21. Hopefully, the equipment and the skies will all be dried out for that event.
