Fall Series

Upsets were the order of the day at the Annapolis Yacht Club's Fall Series last weekend.In one upset, Chuck O'Malley and his team on Rude Awakening took first in the MORC race -- and the series -- with a two-second win over Bob Muller and crew on Stingray.With previous class leader Mirage, sailed by the Lewis/Salvesen Syndicate, falling to ninth in the final race after aces in the first two, if Muller had saved his time and beaten O'Malley, Muller would have won the series with a score of 7.75 to O'Malley's 8. Instead, O'Malley took the race and the series by 2.25 points.

The annual Annapolis Yacht Club Fall series got off to a rip-roaring start last weekend as huge fleets of sailboats faced big waves and heavy air for the first of three meets.Saturday's fleet, including IMS II and III, PHRF A-1, A-2, and B and J/35s, has 101 entries so far, of which 89 boats started the 12.27-mile windward-leeward race.The next day, 85 of the 103-boat fleet made up of PHRF C, MORC and the Alberg 30s, Cal 25s, J/30s, J/24s and Pearson 30s tested a similarly sized course.Extremely close results were found in many classes on Saturday, with a number of in-the-money finishers separated by only a few seconds in a shifting southerly breeze that built through the morning to about 20 knots.

The Annapolis Yacht Club's annual Fall Series came to a close last weekend with alternating feast and famine as far as the wind was concerned.The prestigious two-week series, which is a high point of the sailing season for many racers, began on Oct. 3 with more than 110 boats in each of the separate Saturday and Sunday fleets.Last weekend's weather patterns gave the smaller handicap boats racing in PHRF C and MORC, as well as the cruising one-designs ranging from 24- to 30-footers, a challenging time physically, with breezes in the 20s and choppy three-foot seas.

Last weekend's Region II Fall Series, co-sponsored by the Magothy River Sailing Association and Cape St. Claire Yacht Club, may have been light on breeze and participation, but it was heavy on competition.After a long postponement waiting for wind that never materialized, Saturday's race was abandoned, but the seven teams that ventured out on Sunday for the day's two PHRF classes found breeze and challenges aplenty despite a light-air start."It was a fun day and a pretty good race," said PHRF C winner Craig Decker, who sailed his Elite 32 Sure Cure to victory in his five-boat class.

Saturday's light and tricky air and Sunday's big wind shifts made things difficult, but not impossible, for the Annapolis Yacht Club's second weekend of its traditional Fall Series.With 112 boats registered in the Saturday cruising one-design, PHRF C and MORC classes, and 115 signed up for Sunday's PHRF A-1, A-2 and B, IMS and J/35 starts, AYC Fall Series is going strong this year and competition in many classes and fleets remains very close.In Saturday's fleet, only Michael Bay and his crew on Babe, returning to racing after an absence early in the season, have scored two aces.

Pleasant fall breezes got the Annapolis Yacht Club's Fall Series off to a good start last weekend, when both Saturday and Sunday fleets were able to complete close, exciting races."

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This year's Rhode River Boat Club Fall Series took place in a mixed bag of conditions ranging from cold and nasty to some of the most glorious fall weather imaginable.The series, which started Nov. 2 and took place over the past three Saturdays, included five races, withtwo on each of the first two days of sailing, and a single 11-mile contest last weekend.Turnout was somewhat disappointing, with only 15 boats in three classes, which Race Committee Chairman Herb Taylor attributed to burnout from the sanctioned season, which has just ended, but competition was keen across the board.

The popular Annapolis Yacht Club Fall Series came to a disappointingconclusion for many in the fleet of approximately 120 IMS, PHRF A and B and J/35 teams competing in the Saturday races last weekend.The wind failed to arrive in time for a start, and that fleet's series-- which also was canceled because of a lack of sailable air the first week of the three-week schedule -- ended with the previous week's race as its only contest.On Sunday, however, the fleet of 117 starters of the 134 MORC, PHRF C and cruising one-design entrants once again made out better thantheir Saturday counterparts.