The
Cottonwood Regatta & U.S. Nationals Catawba YC, Charlotte, NC April 23-24, 2005 awards & home photos by Uncle Al, John de Boer et al |
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Regatta co-Chairman
(and Uncle Al's personal Lightning mentor!), Ron Wright, gets the
presentations under way with thanks to the many kind volunteers who
again made the Cottonwood a super regatta even without much
co-operation from the weather!
... |
Wayfarer 3rd and Most
Improved honours went to ... ... |
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... Richard Johnson
and
his wife, Michele - no small achievement since a
large part of the logistical load, such as food and free beer falls on
their shoulders each year. An example of this was Sunday morning when
Richard got up and went to pick up the food trays around 0630 while the
rest of us visitors at the Johnsons' - Peter and Alex, John Weakley and
me - were still sleeping the sleep of the exhausted from Saturday's
sailing exertions.
... |
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Michele and Richard
were also the highly popular and deserving winners of the Designer's
Trophy as
top US finishers in the 2005 Wayfarer Nationals. ... |
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Runners-up in this
year's US Nationals were John and Dolores de Boer. (Richard still on
duty here - this time as presenter!) ... |
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Repeating their
victory here of two years ago were Peter Rahn and son, Alex, who won
all
four races in most convincing fashion! ... |
A Special Award: For his
years of running superb races for Wayfarers everywhere, John Weakley,
was made ... ... |
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... an Honorary Life Member
of the Canadian Wayfarer Association. ... |
Knowing how much John loves
the Cottonwood Regatta, the CWA had Uncle Al present the award there. ... |
Almost looks like the
lad
has tears in his eyes!! Another fine
aspect of the
Cottonwood's outstanding hospitality was the fact that the proceedings
were over by about 1230 so that those who needed to start a long trip
home could get away in plenty of time. And what a trip home ...
... |
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... it turned out to
be for those heading north! Uncle Al hit wet snow only about an hour
north of Charlotte which had intensified as he got off I-77 onto Rte 19
near Beckley with a view to an overnight stop at ... ... |
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... the Best
Western in Summersville, West
Virginia. A dying nerve in one of Al's bicuspids encouraged him to aim
for an early Monday arrival so that he could beg his dentist for an
appointment. A steak dinner and a nice long, very hot bath and six
hours of nice, restful sleep followed. By 0200, Al was ready to hit the
road into more of the snow that would last almost to Buffalo. Luckily,
there was no snow accumulation on the road surfaces!
... |
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An hour past
Pittsburgh on I-79 about ... ... |
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... 50 miles south of
Erie, PA. ... |
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Happy April 25th to
one and all. Oh yes, my dentist took pity, gave me an interim fix - and
my root canal is a week from today. |
2005
Cottonwood Regatta & U.S. Nationals results report photos: shore pics - 1 shore pics - 2 more Friday ashore more Saturday & Sunday ashore sailing pics - 1 sailing pics - 2 awards de Boer pics |