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2002 Spring Invitational Regatta ReportWe’re talking big! I am
sitting on the train as I write this. It’s
Friday night and just about a week has passed since we blew off the canon to
start LMYC’s sixth annual spring regatta.
As I try to think of one word to sum it all up, all I can think of is
“big.” How about 132 feet of
boat (ok, boats), 44 entrants, 34-- yes that was 34 volunteers, sailors
representing 7 different model yacht clubs, 80 people for dinner, one barrel
of beer, another barrel of grog, a total of 100 people on site during the day,
three rounds of eliminations, 36 sets of spare crystals, 40 raffle prizes, 150
hot dogs, 7 dozen donuts, 6 pots of chili, 18 trophies awarded and 120 races
completed. In my book, that’s a
big regatta! Passing
125th Street, I ask myself, what other word would I pick to
describe the event? I choose “great.” We had two circles for racing with sailors divided into four
divisions. We had 11, yes 11
judges with a minimum of two on each dock at all times. There were protests lodged, but only one request for redress
was NOT resolved on the spot by the judges.
And nobody lost his or her temper.
We had a close run at the winner’s position, had subsequent winners
in all divisions, overcame all mechanical and structural damage encountered,
shared tuning tips, swapped tall tales and figured there was no better legal
way to spend two absolutely glorious days in the sun. We even played bocce on the club’s front lawn Sunday
morning. As we
highball through Fordam, what comes into my mind was what we did differently
this year that made it better? Simple.
Before the event, there was much discussion about how to make sure the
right people got into the championship division for Sunday morning.
In the past, we raced in the same division Saturday afternoon with the
top 3 of 12 going to the champs. While
that was fair, there was the risk that the 4th place sailor in one
division could be better than the 3rd place qualifier in another. To mitigate that, we added a third round of sailing.
Starting 3 hours earlier, we sailed a ten race Preliminary Round, we
then combined the top and bottom halves on each dock for a second Qualifying
Round sailed after lunch. In this way, all one had to do was finish in the top half to
get advanced. If you were in the
second half, you sailed against skippers closer to your skill were more
competitive and had more fun. It
required us to switch a pile of frequencies at lunch, but it all came out for
the better. After sailing 20
races each, it was clear who should be placed in what division for Sunday’s
finals. Just
passing Mt. Vernon…what did we do the same that made it better? Well, we had judges, judges and more judges.
Instead of four judges working all day, we had seven judges on Saturday
and six on Sunday rotating through the fleet.
We had launches acting like jitneys taking us to and from the racing
docks. The Club let us have the
glorious Veranda as a staging area providing cover, convenience and
camaraderie. We had the canon for
the harbor start, two crash boats running at all times, real-time scoring, a
fully staffed (and may I say quite attractive) registration and help deck,
water bottles and soda and we had a boat load of sun.
Oh, yeah, we had tons of fun hanging around between races with friends
both new and old. So what did
the scoring look like? Saturday’s
Preliminary Round was sailed starting at 1030.
The winds were shifty from the south and west making the west course
pretty tricky to navigate. After
two rounds of five races for each division, they sorted out as follows: Division
A - , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Points 1, Winder,
Chuck, 888, 77, 5, T8, 3, 1, 1, 6, 3, 2, 3, 1, 25 2, Maiese,
Mark, 714, 71, T12, 2, 10, 2, 8, 4, 4, 1, 1, 2, 34 3, Padin,
Buttons, 413, 83, 1, T10, 2, 4, 6, 1, 6, 4, 4, 9, 37 4, Masini,
Bob, 861, 82, 3, 1, 4, 7, 2, 3, T10, 5, 7, 5, 37 5, Freeland,
Ernest, 956, 75, 2, 3, 1, 6, 7, 5, 5, T10, 5, 6, 40 6, Kerrigan,
Brian, 761, 61, 12, 7, 5, T12, 4, 2, 1, 3, 10, 7, 51 7, Gahan,
Mike, 190, 68, 8, 5, 6, 3, 3, 11, 8, T11, 6, 4, 54 8, Monte
Sano, Bizzy, 400, 90, 7, 12, T12, 12, 9, 7, 2, 6, 2, 3, 60 9, Fletcher,
Hugh, 383, 87, 6, 4, 8, 5, T11, 9, 9, 7, 9, 10, 67 10, Langone,
Nick, 402, 81, 4, 6, 7, 12, 5, 8, 7, 8, 11, T12, 68 11, Merrit,
Knight, 600, 85, 9, 9, 9, 8, 10, 10, T11, 9, 8, 8, 80 Division
B - 1, Becker,
Geoff, 860, 75, 1, 3, T7, 3, 3, 1, 1, 1, 3, 1, 17 2, Magnus,
Tim, 164, 82, T4, 1, 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 3, 1, 3, 17 3, Schutz,
Harcourt, 895, 81, 3, 2, 3, T7, 5, 3, 5, 2, 4, 4, 31 4, Watt,
Dave, 363, 72, 2, 4, 2, 4, 4, T9, 2, 4, 7, 8, 37 5, Hobart,
Aaron, 637, 27O, 6, T9, 5, 1, 7, 8, 4, 5, 2, 2, 40 6, Beck,
Rick, 384, 84, 5, 5, 4, 5, 2, 4, 7, 7, T8, 5, 44 7, Shepard,
Bob, 453, 61, 8, 7, 6, 6, 9, 5, 8, 6, 9, T12, 64 8, Hodgson,
John, 409, 71, T10, 10, 9, 9, 6, 6, 6, 8, 6, 6, 66 9, Kavs,
Sasha, 7, 62, 9, 6, 8, 10, T12, 10, 9, 9, 5, 7, 73 10,
McCarthy, Dick, 889, 89, 7, 8, 10, 8, 8, 7, 12, T12, 12, 9, 81 11, Dubuc,
Paul, 602, 85, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, T12, 12, 10, 106 Division
C - 1, Ramos,
Dave, 238, 66, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, T3, 2, 1, 1, 1, 11 2, Luscomb,
Charles, 661, 74, 3, 4, 2, 4, 2, 1, 1, 3, 6, T12, 26 3, Buchanan,
Hank, 10, 65, 4, 2, 4, 3, 4, 2, T4, 2, 3, 3, 27 4, Brown,
Peter, 853, 27Y, 2, 3, 8, 1, 6, 5, 6, T8, 2, 2, 35 5, Mehlich,
Rob, 393, 63, 7, 5, 3, 6, 5, T9, 8, 6, 7, 5, 52 6, Schinto,
John, 748, 88, 5, T10, 6, 5, 7, 7, 5, 9, 4, 4, 52 7, Olsson,
Carl, 406, 67, 9, 7, 5, 8, 3, 4, 3, 7, 9, T10, 55 8, Lynn,
Dave, 389, 27G, 8, 8, 9, T12, 9, 6, 7, 5, 5, 6, 63 9, Russell,
Bill, 48, 69, 6, 6, 10, 7, 8, T11, 9, 4, 8, 7, 65 10, Cika,
Bob, 601, 78, 10, 11, 7, 9, 10, 10, 10, 10, T11, 8, 85 11, Clarke,
Stephen, 618, 76, 11, 9, 11, 10, 11, 8, T11, 11, 10, 9, 90 Division
D - 1, Fallon,
John, 586, 73, T4, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 2, 1, 2, 4, 19 2, Spencer,
Ted, 391, 79, 2, T5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 3, 5, 1, 24 3, Olsson,
Eric, 340, 27B, 3, 3, 5, 1, 1, T6, 5, 4, 1, 2, 25 4,
Wullschleger, Sears, 376, 76, 1, 2, 3, 3, 5, T12, 7, 12, 4, 3, 40 5, Maiese,
Dick, 326, 74, 5, 4, 6, 4, T7, 2, 6, 6, 6, 6, 45 6, Magnus,
Jamie, 951, 64, 6, 6, 4, 6, 6, 9, T9, 5, 7, 5, 54 7, Lull,
Wendy, 753, 86, 3, 7, 7, 5, 9, 8, T10, 7, 8, 7, 61 8, Martin,
Dick, 822, 80, 12, 12, 12, 12, T12, 5, 2, 2, 3, 8, 68 9, Buchanan,
Bucky, 833, 70, 8, T12, 12, 12, 4, 1, 1, 12, 9, 10, 69 10, Konrad,
Andrew, 407, 69, 7, 8, 8, 8, 8, 7, 8, 8, T10, 9, 71 11,
McDonald, Gary, 804, 27R, 12, T12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 108 All
divisions returned to shore at about 1300 for lunch and assignments for the
Qualifying Round. This quick
turn-around of divisions and channel assignments proved a challenge but, by
and large, it all worked out. Dick
Martin (can you believe this guy drove all the way from Missouri!) found that
his replacement crystal wouldn’t work and that hurt his first series of the
afternoon. But some creative
channel swapping got him back on the water the last round and he kicked some
butt in his division. Admittedly,
trying to get in a full second round was optimistic, but by running the B and
D division’s ten races consecutively, we saved the time it takes for a
changeover. That was the good
news. The tough part was that if
anyone had a boat problem while stuck on the dock for ten races…as this
writer did…and it killed your placement for the finals.
In the end, after another 10-race set, the Qualifying Round finished as
follows: Division
A - , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Points 1, Freeland,
Ernest, 956, 75, T4, 2, 1, 1, 2, 1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 13 2, Magnus,
Tim, 164, 83, T7, 3, 2, 3, 1, 7, 4, 4, 3, 2, 29 3, Becker,
Geoff, 860, 62, 1, 1, 4, 2, 6, 5, 1, 3, T8, 7, 30 4, Winder,
Chuck, 888, 77, 3, 5, 5, T6, 3, 2, 5, 1, 4, 4, 32 5, Watt,
Dave, 363, 72, T9, 4, 3, 4, 8, 3, 3, 8, 7, 3, 43 6, Beck,
Rick, 384, 84, 8, 9, 7, 7, T10, 4, 7, 6, 2, 6, 56 7, Masini,
Bob, 861, 82, 2, 8, 8, 8, 7, 9, 8, 5, 5, T12, 60 8, Hobart,
Aaron, 637, 27O, T11, 6, 9, 9, 4, 8, 6, 7, 6, 5, 60 9, Maiese,
Mark, 714, 71, 6, 7, 6, 12, 9, 6, 12, 12, 12, T12, 82 10, Schutz,
Harcourt, 895, 81, 5, 12, 12, 5, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, T12, 94 11, Padin,
Buttons, 413, 85, 10, 12, 12, 12, 5, 10, 12, 12, 12, T12, 97
Division
B - 1, Monte
Sano, Bizzy, 390, 90, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, T3, 1, 2, 3, 15 2, Kavs,
Sasha, 7, 62, 5, 4, 1, 3, 2, 3, T7, 6, 1, 1, 26 3, Kerrigan,
Brian, 761, 61, 1, 1, 5, T7, 7, 4, 2, 3, 4, 2, 29 4, Fletcher,
Hugh, 383, 87, T6, 5, 3, 5, 5, 2, 5, 4, 3, 4, 36 5, Langone,
Nick, 402, 81, 8, 3, 4, 2, 8, T12, 4, 2, 5, 5, 41 6, Hodgson,
John, 409, 71, 4, 7, 8, 4, 3, 5, 1, 5, 12, T12, 49 7, Shepard,
Bob, 453, 75, 3, 6, 7, 8, 4, 7, 8, 12, 12, T12, 67 8, McCarthy,
Dick, 889, 89, 7, 8, 6, 9, 12, 6, 6, 7, 12, T12, 73 9, Merrit,
Knight, 600, 82, 12, 12, 9, 6, 6, 12, 12, 12, 12, T12, 93 10, Gahan,
Mike, 190, 68, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, T12, 108 11, Dubuc,
Paul, 602, 85, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, T12, 108 Division
C 1, Ramos,
Dave, 238, 66, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, T3, 2, 14 2, Fallon,
John, 586, 69, 1, 1, 1, 4, 2, 2, 3, 8, 4, T9, 26 3, Spencer,
Ted, 391, 79, 3, 5, 6, 2, 6, T7, 1, 4, 1, 3, 31 4,
Wullschleger, Sears, 376, 76, 4, 4, 5, T8, 3, 6, 4, 5, 2, 4, 37 5, Luscomb,
Charles, 661, 74, 5, 6, 8, 3, 7, 4, 8, T12, 5, 1, 47 6, Buchanan,
Hank, 10, 65, 11, 3, 3, 7, 5, 3, 5, 3, 9, T12, 49 7, Brown,
Peter, 853, 27Y, 9, 7, 7, 6, 4, 8, T12, 2, 10, 7, 60 8, Schinto,
John, 748, 88, T10, 9, 4, 9, 9, 5, 6, 7, 7, 6, 62 9, Mehlich,
Rob, 393, 63, 7, 8, 9, 5, T10, 10, 9, 6, 6, 5, 65 10, Maiese,
Dick, 326, 67, 8, 10, 10, 10, T11, 11, 7, 9, 8, 8, 81 11, Olsson,
Eric, 340, 27B, 6, 12, T12, 12, 8, 9, 10, 12, 12, 12, 93 Division
D 1, Russell,
Bill, 48, 69, 1, 1, 3, 2, 2, 1, T12, 2, 5, 6, 23 2, Buchanan,
Bucky, 833, 70, 8, 2, 1, 3, 1, 2, T12, 6, 1, 1, 25 3, Lynn,
Dave, 389, 27G, 2, 3, 6, 6, 3, 3, 5, 4, T12, 5, 37 4, Magnus,
Jamie, 951, 64, 6, 4, 4, 5, 4, T9, 3, 3, 4, 4, 37 5, Lull,
Wendy, 753, 86, 4, 8, 2, 1, 5, T8, 6, 7, 3, 3, 39 6, Olsson,
Carl, 406, 67, 5, 5, 7, 4, 7, 4, 2, 12, T12, 7, 53 7, Clarke,
Stephen, 618, 76, 3, T12, 5, 7, 6, 6, 7, 8, 7, 9, 58 8, Martin,
Dick, 822, 80, 12, T12, 12, 12, 12, 5, 1, 1, 2, 2, 59 9, Cika,
Bob, 601, 78, 7, 7, 12, T12, 12, 7, 4, 5, 6, 8, 68 10, Konrad,
Andrew, 407, 66, 9, 6, 8, 8, 8, 12, 12, 12, 12, T12, 87 11,
McDonald, Gary, 804, 27R, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, T12, 108 When
arriving on shore after sailing Saturday, the fleet was met by a keg of
Saranac Pale Ale, graciously donated by the Matt Brewing Company upon learning
that the LMYC flagship has their logo emblazoned across its mainsail.
Cocktails followed at 1900 with everyone decked out in their full,
formal attire. In addition to the
Saranac, Binky Hoffmann and Nick Langone rolled out a brand new LMYC Grog
Barrel full to the brim with Monte Sano Coolers.
For those not familiar with LYC’s signature libation, it is two parts
Mt. Gay, two parts Myers and two parts Collins mix.
For those who sampled the grog, we’ll send you the antidote soon!
Thanks to Binky for procuring a great oak and brass grog barrel
complete with a crank case pump for a dispenser and high tech clean-out port.
Thanks to Nick for making sure there was some left after the mixers “made
sure it was just right.” Dinner
found 80 ladies and gentlemen seated in the Tap Room with laughs and more sea
stories floating across the room. After
dinner was done, Dave Ramos oversaw Allie Padin drawing numbers with all
participants benefiting from the raffle.
In addition to the great Lewmar Hats Chuck Luscomb scored from, (yes
Chuck, Lewmar IS the Official Offshore Winch of the LMYC Spring Invitational
Regatta) Dave had scored a boat load of hats, shirts and croakies…with the
grand prize, a Hi Tech FM electronics set going to Cottage Park’s Mike Gahan. One other
event of the evening was recognizing the contribution of Jaye Nasawaty and
Sasha Kavs. Together, they have
run the scoring for this event and our 1999 Nationals flawlessly.
Chuck Luscomb wrote: “Your
volunteers did an excellent job
taking all the fanfare of big boat racing and applying it to the CR914!
Judging was fare and scoring was really fast. It was really a shot to be
able to complete a series and moments later have the official results.” Now,
it would be one thing if Jaye was a local, but she is from Marblehead…an
import as it were. Be it known
that Jaye, and yes, Sasha, have a lock on a position in the upcoming
Nationals.
The “local” members of LYMC announced that Jaye was now officially
an Honorary Member. Congratulations,
Jaye, and thanks for all your time and efforts. Just
an aside here, Dave Ramos gets kudos for his participation at this event.
He not only sailed the pants off almost everyone, he fixed people’s
boats, showed how to clean the potentiometers of transmitters and receivers,
and was a huge. He also has the
biggest laugh in the class, adding more than his share of the sea stories.
At about
0915, a light southerly came in with constant oscillations to the southeast.
The race committees had their hands full setting good courses but
managed to get off ten races for each division to determine the winners.
In the end, Tim Mangus won the event.
Tim also won the Regatta in 1999 making him the first two-time winner. Chuck Winder, now referred to as “Mike,” was in the
second position with the Big Dawg Dave Ramos in third. The racing came down to the wire in the championship division…but
it did in all of them all weekend long.
A quick scan of the results shows that the bullets were distributed
across each division proving that the double filtering system put the right
people into the right divisions. A
Division was not the only close match. In
B, Team Lewmar’s second boat, skippered by newcomer Harcourt Schutz, won by
six points; but only three points separated LMYC’s Buttons Padin, Cottage
Park’s Peter (Geez, I don’t believe I missed that mark again!) Brown and
Riverside’s first timer, John (we found out after the fact he is a dentist)
Shinto – who gets the prize for having the most kids playing bocce.
There
goes the Pelham Station. The C
Division was a real nail bitter as Sasha and Jamie Mangus tied for honors with
Sasha taking the tie-breaker. This
reporter went back into the scoring program Sasha had written and found a
hidden marco formula on tie-breakers…but enough of that.
Bucky Buchanan was just off the pace only four points back with Nick
Langone on his heels. The D
division was populated with some fine sailors who had electrical problems on
Saturday and managed to sail fast Sunday.
Dick Martin took the division with Carl Olsson, Mike Gahan and Dick
McCarthy giving each other a run for the money.
In the end, there is no doubt that the extra qualifying round resulted
in competitive sailing throughout the fleet, maximizing the competitive nature
of all divisions and the overall level of satisfaction received.
The final results were: Division
A - , , , , , , , , , , , , Points 1, Mangus,
Tim, 5, 1, 3, 6, 6, 2, 5, 1, T9, 1, 30 2, Winder,
Chuck, 3, 2, 7, 2.5, 4, 5, 2, 5, 4, T11, 34.5 3, Ramos,
Dave, 6, 4, 4, 2.5, 1, T7, 7, 4, 2, 6, 36.5 4, Becker,
Geoff, 7, T11, 2, 4, 8, 3, 3, 6, 3, 5, 41 5, Fallon,
John, 1, 3, T10, 7, 9, 1, 8, 3, 8, 2, 42 6, Spencer,
Ted, T11, 6, 8, 10, 2, 9, 1, 2, 10, 3, 51 7, Luscomb,
Charles, 4, 8, 5, 1, 5, 4, T11, 11, 11, 9, 58 8, Watt,
Dave, 8, 5, 1, 8, T10, 8, 10, 7, 7, 4, 58 9, Freeland,
Ernest, 10, 7, T11, 9, 7, 6, 4, 9, 1, 10, 63 10,
Wullschleger, Sears, 9, 4, 6, 5, T11, 10, 6, 10, 5, 8, 63 11,
Buchanan, Hank, 2, 10, 9, T11, 3, 11, 9, 8, 6, 7, 65 Division
B 1, Schutz,
Harcourt, 3, 3, 2, 3, 1, 1, 6, 5, 3, T9, 27 2, Padin,
Buttons, 2, 1, 7, 7, 3, 2, T9, 7, 1, 3, 33 3, Brown,
Peter, 6, 2, 1, 2, 7, 4, 4, 1, T9, 7, 34 4, Schinto,
John, 5, 5, 4, 6, T9, 3, 1, 2, 5, 5, 36 5, Hobart,
Aaron, 7, 7, 3, 4, 2, 5, 7, T8, 6, 1, 42 6, Masini,
Bob, T12, 4, 12, 5, 4, 8, 3, 3, 2, 2, 43 7, Maiese,
Mark, 4, 6, T12, 8, 5, 6, 2, 12, 4, 6, 53 8, Mehlich,
Rob, 9, 9, 6, T9, 8, 7, 5, 6, 7, 8, 65 9, Olsson,
Eric, 1, 8, 5, 1, 6, 12, 12, 12, 12, T12, 69 10, Beck,
Rick, 8, 10, 8, 12, 10, T12, 8, 4, 8, 4, 72
Division
C 1, Kavs,
Sasha, 1, 4, 2, 1, 3, 4, 5, T6, 6, 1, 27 2, Mangus,
Jamie, T7, 6, 4, 5, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, 4, 27 3, Buchanan,
Bucky, 5, 1, 1, 2, T12, 3, 6, 4, 2, 7, 31 4, Langone,
Nick, 4, 3, 5, 3, 3, T8, 4, 3, 5, 5, 35 5, Lull,
Wendy, 8, 2, T9, 7, 1, 5, 3, 5, 3, 6, 40 6, Hodgson,
John, 6, T9, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 2, 7, 2, 44 7, Russell,
Bill, T9, 8, 6, 6, 4, 1, 1, 7, 4, 8, 45 8, Kerrigan,
Brian, 3, 7, 7, 9, 6, 6, 7, T12, 12, 3, 60 9, Lynn,
Dave, 2, 5, 8, 8, 12, 12, 12, T12, 12, 12, 83 Division
D 1, Martin,
Dick, 3, 1, 1, T4, 2, 2, 1, 3, 2, 1, 16 2, Olsson,
Carl, 2, 4, 2, 2, T5, 1, 2, 2, 1, 4, 20 3, Gahan,
Mike, 1, T5, 3, 1, 3, 3, 3, 5, 4, 2, 25 4, McCarthy,
Dick, 4, 3, T8, 7, 1, 4, 4, 1, 3, 7, 34 5, Merrit,
Knight, 5, 6, 4, 6, T12, 6, 6, 6, 5, 6, 50 6, Shepard,
Bob, 6, 9, 7, 3, T12, 12, 5, 4, 8, 5, 59 7, Konrad,
Andrew, 7, 8, 6, 8, 6, T12, 9, 9, 12, 3, 68 8, Clarke,
Stephen, 9, 2, 5, 5, 4, T12, 12, 12, 12, 8, 69 9, Cika,
Bob, 8, 7, 10, 9, T12, 7, 7, 7, 6, 10, 71 10, Dubuc,
Paul, 10, 10, 9, 10, T12, 5, 8, 8, 7, 9, 76 Now it’s
time for the thank-you note. Without
this long list of volunteers, the event would not have been close to the
success it was. Here’s whom we
owe our gratitude to:
It was
great hosting old and new friends -- so keep your electronics dry and come back
to Larchmont when you can. Sail fast, Buttons
Padin Commodore
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