CR-914 2000 Nationals
Lake Ogelton Annapolis, MD
 November 11^th-12^th

 By Ernest Freeland 

The People Who Made it Possible 

To begin I must thank all of the volunteers for whom without their help Nationals would not have been a success or possible. As many of you may or may not know regatta’s or events of this magnitude are not possible with out huge amounts of help from volunteers. Scoring throughout the weekend was made possible by Sasha Kavs and Jaye I also must thank them for all of their help on Friday as well as Jaye’s assistance with the line calling and food preparation. Sasha also spent several hours updating his scoring program on Friday evening to accommodate my plans for the regatta. Sue Sutton and Melanie Buchanan were lifesavers with their scoring and line calling on both Saturday and Sunday. A C.B.M.R.A. member that does more for the club then anyone is Tim Mangus. For Nationals he constructed more marks, assisted with the floating dock, set the courses and lent us a crash boat. With all of this activity he still managed to post some impressive results. For the use of the floating dock J World and J Port. For all of the assistance with the floating dock, Dave VanCleef, Will VanCleef, Dave Ramos, Kevin Elion, Chuck Winder and Andy Acton. The Nationals web site was made possible through the work of Dave Ramos and Andy Acton. Andy Acton was also our host at the Bay Ridge clubhouse. To the C.A.M.R.A. club for the use of their equipment, the most valuable tool from them was the megaphone that allowed all competitors to hear the starting sequence and line calling. To Hugh Elliot and Runyan Colie for judging and advice over the weekend. Runyan is a CR-914 sailor and I look forward to seeing him out racing soon. Hugh had an extremely busy day on the “lively” Championship dock Sunday. William Jenkins for the use of his Boston Whaler and donation of the keg, Jamie Mangus for the use of his boat, help with the floating dock and his assistance with the courses on Sunday, as well as Maurice for the use of his boat and constant offers to lend a hand. Not to be forgotten is the L.M.Y.C. club who lent us their complete crystal set to resolve channel conflicts, thanks guys! As you can see it takes a tremendous number of people to pull off an event like this. Thank you again for all of your support and assistance. 

The Sailors, Travel and Venue

 Twenty-seven skippers participated in the 6^th running of the CR-914 Nationals.  Skippers descended on Annapolis from Colorado, Mossouri, Connecticut, Massachusetts Rhode Island, New York and of course Maryland. A lot of talent was on hand, including two National Champions, several of the winners from the Larchmont Spring Invitational Regatta, several Regional Champions were present including Region Five’s all they way from Colorado. Each Competitor and volunteer also received a 2000 Nationals T-shirt and a servo donated by Worth Marine.

Always a topic of conversation at a CR-914 regatta is how did you get your boat here? For those who drove it was easy load it into the car and off you go. Greg Vasileff drove and brought along his whole fleet including a Soling and One Meter for spare parts. For those who fly there are several schools of thought: ship it, carry it on, or check it as luggage. Greg LaLibarte broke the boat down into a box the size the kit comes with and carried it on the plane; Steve Lang uses a modified gun case and checks it as luggage. Ken Sutton has a gorgeous wood box he custom built that carries the boat in a very secure fashion. James Appel chose to ship his boat ahead of time via freight, unfortunately when he arrived he found his boat in several pieces where the keel had been driven up through the hull, the rig was intact fortunately for him. I lent him my wife’s boat to use for the regatta and before he even had a chance to get the boat in the water my friend’s dog ran over it and crushed the rig! What luck, with a little work we were able to bend the rig into shape so he could race it on Saturday, then on Saturday night he installed his rig for Sunday’s sailing. So the lessons learned here are pack your boat with care and keep the dogs on a leash!

We set up camp for the weekend at the Bay Ridge Clubhouse and Marina. This venue was a new one for C.B.M.R.A. we chose it because it offered us a kitchen and dining area, playground for the kids and the all-important restrooms. Sailing took place on Lake Ogelton. Lake Ogelton is more of a protected harbor then a true lake and has a channel leading to the mouth of the Severn River near the entrance to the Annapolis Harbor.

Sailing Saturday

My “game plan” for the regatta was to use Saturday as a “seeding day” to establish a Championship division and a Captains division for Sunday. For Saturday I divided the competitors into four fleets for a round robin with the top 50% to move into the Championship division and the rest into a Captains division. These fleets were A, B, C and D, fleet A would sail against B, C Vs D, A Vs C etc. This would allow every competitor to race against all of the other competitors.  The “game plan” was to shuffle within the fleets on Saturday at the half waypoint. The key word in all of this was it was a “game plan” because the weather forecast called for winds from the north-northwest at 25-30 MPH, the worst possible direction for our venue. My arrival Saturday morning confirmed my fears, as the weather forecast was correct, the wind was from the north-northwest at 25-30 MPH with whitecaps. Less then ideal conditions for racing a CR-914, so much for the protected harbor! Boat inspections and check-ins were complete by 1000 hours with the wind still howling. At 1000 hours I called an hour postponement in hopes that the wind might die down. In case the wind didn’t die down a group of us headed out to find a suitable back up venue. After an hour and half we settled on moving to Truxton Park, the winds were still strong but the water was flatter and made for more suitable sailing conditions. Truxton Park is located up Spa Creek, which runs into Annapolis, and offered a great dock to sail from and grassy bank for us to stage from. Just after lunch we set three different courses and sailed 18 races until 1600 hours. Saturday was a day filled with some spectacular wipeouts and crashes that tested all of the competitors sailing skills and boat maintenance. The weather on this blustery day fully tested the new bow bumper design fresh off the drawing board of Dave Ramos. Constructed of silicon, the new bow bumper is molded to the bow shape of the CR-914 and proved to be solid performers, as we had no damage to boats on Saturday or Sunday. These bow bumpers will soon enter production, pending approval from the CR-914 advisory committee and be available from Dave Ramos at www.rcyachts.com. Each Competitor participated in 9 of the races, not as many as I would have liked but enough to provide seeding for Sunday. Saturday found Tim Mangus, Dave Ramos and David VanCleef and Greg LaLibarte tightly grouped at the top. Between these sailors there was a National Champion a couple of Regional Champions and LMYC Invitational Winners. Also making the Championship fleet was Kevin Dooley the ’98 National Champion. Sunday was going to offer some competitive sailing. 

Nationals Dinner

 After an exciting day on the course many of us returned to the Clubhouse to enjoy a wonderful meal prepared by Amanda’s Confections our caterer for the weekend. Everyone enjoyed a wonderful cake for dessert decorated with a CR-914! I must thank my wife owner of Amanda’s Confections for all of her help and support with Nationals, without her Nationals would not have been possible! 

Sunday 

On Sunday morning I arrived at Lake Ogelton to ideal CR-914 sailing conditions. Sunday was our “reward” for persevering through Saturday. There is a saying that the “The Rewards for those who perserver far exceed the pain that must proceed victory” I guess in my case the “pain” was the weather on Saturday and the “victory” was a successful National Regatta. Sunday followed the “game plan” perfectly. I wanted to run races in-groups of four completing them in thirty-minute time intervals. Complete the races by 1300 hours serve lunch and present awards at 1400 hours.  Tim set up a course for the Championship division and one for the Captains division. The wind was in the correct direction to allow us to tie the floating dock onto one end of the pier for the Championship division and to use a T dock on the other side of the marina for the Captains division. We completed 16 races on the Captains course and 15 races on the Championship course in winds of 5-10 knots and flat seas. The Captains division had a great day of sailing, while the Championship division was a tightly contested division with a lot of close sailing.

At the end Dave VanCleef was crowned the new CR-914 National Champion, Dave Ramos was second and Tim Mangus third. This was the same group of three from Saturday and the top three finishers from the Larchmont Invitational this year. Is there a trend developing here? Greg LaLibarte was fourth followed by Andy Acton. Chuck Winder lead the Captains division followed by Greg Vasileff, Cedric Lewis and Mark Zurmuhlen. 

Thoughts 

My highlight of the regatta came on Sunday while I was running the Captains division. It was seeing Thomas Donlan’s excitement when he won his first CR-914 race. Thomas is new to the CR-914 and had only sailed a CR-914 once or twice before Nationals. I had noticed Mr. Donlan was gaining confidence with the boat as the weekend progressed; it is always good when the fingers do what the brain is telling them. Seeing his excitement when he crossed the finish line made all of the work I had but into Nationals worth it. It is moments like these that are the reason I sail the CR-914. It’s what “keeps me coming back”

Saturday was a day sailed without any major arguments or protests. Sunday was a day of excitement on the Championship course as the sailing was tight. I was not a witness to this but I have been told that this dock became very heated at times almost unsportsmanship like. I guess the dock can get a little heated when you are standing shoulder to shoulder with your competitor. You don’t get the cool down time you do in big boats that generally cross and sail away. I think that it is important to remember several things when sailing RC boats. First there are external factors such as people’s difference in depth perceptions, electronic glitches. Secondly we need to differentiate the difference from accidental contact from outside circumstances or depth perception issues and people committing gross fouls to gain advantage.  Gross fouls are inexcusable and deserve penalties but people need to use judgment from things that might have been out of their competitor's control. Ask yourself did he do this intentionally and knowingly and gauge your reaction from this?  If you get in a tangle or wrap up think before you react. Ask yourself was it in the skippers control or not? If you committed a foul unintentionally you still need to do the turn, whether it was electronics depth perception or whatever. The next time the situation might be reversed.  I think that one of the biggest turnoffs to model sailing is the mannerisms newcomers’ witness. Don’t get me wrong I feel that every competitor should strive to sail with in the rules at ALL times. I just request that people use judgement before reacting. This is supposed to be a fun and competitive environment; a little thinking and courtesy will go a long way. Finally after the sailing is all done and the drinks are flowing, take the time to explain to someone why they fouled you. A little education could go a long way!

Hugh Elliot made a strong observation on Sunday. He said on Saturday the competitors were standing on the left side of the course allowing a better view of the windward mark rounding for skippers approaching on Starboard. On Sunday we all sailed from the right side of the course, making viewing the windward mark rounding at little more challenging. The dilemma on Sunday was you wanted to set a longer windward leg to stretch the boats out but if it was to long you ran into depth perception issues. Tim Mangus mentioned this point. A delicate balance, course size versus visibility, that may only be achieved by reducing the number of boats to fewer then the 14 we had. 

Sponsors 

I also need to thank all of our sponsors; Greg Worth of Worth Marine for his donation of the servos given to each pre registered entrant and the kits given for some of the prizes. The Chart House for hosting the Nationals kick-off party. Dave Ramos of Chesapeake Performance Models (www.rcyachts.com) for the donation of the half hull models for prizes. 

For complete results see the attached score sheets.