2002 REGION 5 REGATTA
SEPTEMBER 28th and 29th
by Denny Hanson
The day dawned crisp and clear on Saturday, September 28, 2002. We arrived at Harper Lake in Louisville, CO to find very little breeze at 8am. We set up the course on the South shore expecting an easterly breeze in the morning hours. We were able to get the marks in place by about 9:30 just as a little breeze did blow in from the east south east.
It was great to have Dick Martin from the Mid-Missouri Model Sailing Club, Columbia MO drive out, as well as, Terry Rainey and Joe McDonald from the Greater Tulsa Model Yacht Club. It was our first time hosting an event in Boulder, even though the Thin Air Model Yacht Club under the direction of Steve Lang, did host last years Nationals up in Evergreen, CO. Our pond is about one mile circumference and sits up on a bluff over looking the front range of the Colorado Rockies and Boulder Valley. It has nice water, no weeds or shallows, and a good bank from which to view the racecourse.
The fourteen skippers that made it to the line were asked to negotiate a west to east, windward / leeward course with offsets at the top and bottom. The racing was very close and of course many overlaps at the turning marks. Part way through the day we had a significant shift and we set up an additional course on the western shore, which we utilized for part of the racing in the early afternoon. We managed to get in 18 races in on Saturday with everyone racing in one fleet. We had lunch brought in at noon and we all had a good time.
Sunday morning dawned in a similar manner, however there was more breeze earlier in the morning. By the end of the first hour the winds were blowing between 15 to 20 miles per hour, and we had one race that was almost a complete blowout. Less than half the boats finished that race. We took a break for thirty to forty minutes and the wind subsided to less than ten, but was somewhat steadier for the next hour. We ended the day sailing again on the western shore with some north south races due to the wind shifting out of the south.
In total we did get in thirty races and we used one throw out for every six races in counting both days for the regatta series total. We had the results tabulated by one o’clock and the award were handed out ahead of schedule. The top three boats were grouped quite closely. John Crimaldi with 62.88 Pts was our Champion. Terry Britton with 65.41 Pts. placed second. Greg Laliberte, our fleet captain, placed third with 75 Pts. We had several redress situations the first day that caused the decimals in the point totals. We would like to thank our US Sailing judges John McGinley and Paul Kresge for their assistance in making calls during the regatta.
The Thin Air Model Yacht Club sincerely hopes that our out of town visitors had a great time and that we will be able to host events in the future which will draw additional skippers from surrounding states. We also look forward to heading for Tulsa for next years regional. We are hoping that several of our skippers will be able to get to Larchmont for the Nationals. We have several fast boats to send.