Greater Tulsa Model Yacht Club

Mid Winter Regatta Report

March 3 & 4, 2001

Thirteen boats participated in this, the second regatta hosted by the newly formed GTMYC on Saturday and Sunday, March 3 & 4. Dick Martin again made the 300 plus mile drive and joined us from Columbia Missouri as he did for our first regatta back in December. 

Here at the conclusion of winter, Saturday dawned gray and cool with north winds in the 10 to 15 range, and temperatures in the mid 40’s, very tolerable conditions for what we could have experienced.  The regatta was again sailed on Carol Williams retention pond near 11^th St. and Mingo Rd.  This wonderful venue has proved to be an ideal place for sailing the 914 and we have converted this place into our club’s home field.  However, with all of the rain that we have received, the concern for this regatta was the muddy shores.  It was possible that we would have to cancel if we got the rain that was predicted at the end of the week.  After much discussion and considering canceling or changing the regatta to a one-day event due to the pending weather forecast, we decided to stay with the original two-day format and pray for the weatherman to be wrong.  He was!  The rain skirted Tulsa on Friday stayed south of us on overcast, chilly Saturday with no rain.  We were in great shape.

After registration and boat preparations Saturday noon, the skipper’s meeting was conducted and I explained the heat promotion system for those who were not exposed to it in the Holiday regatta.  We got in 20 heats and 10 complete races before time expired and we called it a day.  Winds were in the moderate range and we had few problems with breakdowns throughout the afternoon.  We utilized the average scoring system with no throw-outs that we have used through out the winter sailing season.

Sunday’s weather was gorgeous, sunny and in the mid 50’s but very gusty with puffs close to 20 knots.  This proved to be a beautiful but challenging day for the 914 skippers.  Since we allowed one-day skippers to join the silver fleet on Sunday, we now had 7 boats in the gold fleet and 6 in the silver.  A challenging race day lay ahead.  A windward – leeward course with off set marks was set.  Gold and silver fleets raced on the same course with very little interference between fleets.  A 15-minute rest period was called after 5 races and then 6 more races were sailed before time expired at 3:00.  The closeness of the racing in the gold fleet was tight. The average score for the top 5 finishers were within .73 points with the top two sailors tied at 3.18 points.  Terry Rainey was declared the winner with 4 bullets for the day.  Karey Low was second, also with 3.18 points but only one bullet on Sunday.  Harvey Baker was 3^rd with 3.36, Dick Martin 4^th with 3.45 and Drew Ziegler 5^th with 3.91.  Utilizing conventional scoring, the top five finishers were separated by 8 points.  Silver fleet racing was not as competitive since veteran sailor David Ayres joined us for Sunday only.  He splashed his boat for the first time on Sunday and won 8 of the 9 races he sailed.  Bob Aklin was 2^nd, Joe McDonald 3^rd, Bill Jacobi in 4^th and Charlie Nelson 5^th.

Trophies supplied by Ziegler’s were presented within 20 minutes of the conclusion of racing and the course and facility was dismantled.

This regatta marked the wrap up of the winter sailing for the Greater Tulsa Model Yacht Club.  Even with the extra cold winter this year with the ponds frozen for over a month, we were able to sail on 11 Sundays this past winter.  We look forward to hosting our summer invitational regatta in July and have begun the planning for the Region 5 regatta in September.  We look forward to hosting both of these contests, hoping to have more visiting skippers to come enjoy the Tulsa area and to test the sailing ability of the Tulsa CR 914r’s.

Terry Rainey

Fleet Captain GTMYC