Seven Wayfarer skippers and their crews made the trip down east to Lake Waccamaw about 30 miles north of Myrtle Beach for the third annual Alligator Run Regatta April 14 through 16. On Friday night, the Waccamaw Sailing Club hosted a delicious barbecue and taco welcome dinner for the sailors and volunteers.

Early Saturday morning the wind was light with a forecast of more to come later. A group of Wayfarer sailors went out to breakfast before the competitors’ meeting. Around noon, the Wayfarers joined the F18s, Tanzers, Holder 20s and various other multihulls and monohulls on the lake in typical lake wind: shifty and gusty, but with plenty of wind all over the lake.

After completing one race, we waited for a capsized Tanzer to be towed. By the second race, the skippers and crews had their sea legs back after a late winter and early spring of very little sailing due to poor weather. The second and third races were hard fought, both up-wind and down, with many place changes and close finishes.

We were treated to fantastic fried chicken and fixins for dinner. While several Wayfarer sailors asked a retired pharmacist for naproxen, others were spry and nimble.

Sunday morning brought quiet air. The race committee was skeptical that races would be held. But around 11AM, the wind filled in and we were off the dock, ready for more racing. The Wayfarers battled it out in 10-15 knot winds, similar to Saturday's, with several calls of “starboard” but no collisions. After numerous place changes during the races and very close finishes, the final standings revealed AnnMarie Covington and Gareth Ferguson as the solid winners ahead of Ali Kishbaugh and Johnh MacAdam.

How did they do it? - Some of the key strategies Gareth and I used for upwind sailing during the two days of racing were: loosening the vang during lulls to avoid stalling the main, tacking on the shifts, employing ease-hike-trim, and finding our way to the port side of the course in the last third of the beat because the wind gave us a lift to the mark there. For downwind, we stayed on broad reaches, planing when possible and maneuvering to stay in clear air. In the last race, we protected our series lead by staying between our nearest series challengers (Ali and John) and the next mark. Great competition!