Wasson: The Hat Trick
On the second to last night of racing, Chip Wasson continues his winning ways in the 2008 Cabrinha Race Series. Chip crossed the finish line first in all three races, making that six times in the last 10 races…and when he wasn’t first, he was second! His late season rally has changed the race for the podium. More on that later.
Again, 27 racers competed in three races on 12s/13s under some pretty steady wind on the outside…at least for the first two races. During the third race a hole appeared on the start line and moved around the race course.
The first two races were pretty similar. Wasson, Kafka and Chavez all started on starboard and arrived in that order at the windward mark. On the downwind leg, depending on who caught a puff, each took advantage and three traded position but always staying relatively close. Around the leeward buoy the three again traded places, but with Wasson always first to the finish.
In the third race, Chavez started on port while Wasson and Kafka on starboard. At the start, a hole appeared with several racers falling in the water. Kafka was in the wrong place at the wrong time and by the time he cleared the start line half the fleet was ahead of him. Wasson and Chavez were again first to the windward mark with Kafka working his way back to about eighth. When all was said and done, it was Wasson and Chavez with Alex Smith third, Gomes fourth, with Kafka working his way back to fifth.
Overall for the evening, it was Wasson (Ozone) with 3 points (1,1,1) atop the podium with Chavez (Naish) second with 7 points (2,3,2), and Kafka (Cabrinha) third with 10 points (3,2,5). John Gomes (Cabrinha) was fourth with 14 points (4,6,4)
So, with one night of racing left (October 2) it looks like this...at least to me. Assuming that all the contenders except Anthony and possibly Kafka will drop their worst race if they utilize all three drops before the final race, Anthony goes in the leader with 9 points. He is followed by Wasson and Kafka each with 17 points with the edge going to Chip based on his performance the past 4 weeks. Then comes Headington with 23 points and Gomes with 29…that’s the top 5. Frank Wittke and Eric Due will be battling it out for 6th and 7th with 50 and 53 points respectively.
The third mini series is also up for grabs. As I see it (with 1 throw out) Wasson has the lead with 4 points, Chavez with 5, Kafka with 6, Gomes with 7 and Headington with 8. With the podium yet to be determined for the overall series and the final mini series, the last night of racing should be quite exciting. And lots of raffle give aways at the yacht club after racing.
