| Rank | Seed | Sail No | Helm | R1 | R2 | Total | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 52 > 1 |
3854 | Al Schonborn | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| 2 | 54 > 2 |
2458 | Jim Heffernan | 2 | 2 | 4 | |
| 3 | 157 > 4 |
3991 | Jim Lingeman | 5 | 3 | 8 | |
| 4 | 367 > 9* |
3654 | Mike Tighe | 4 | 5 | 9 | * Most Improved |
| 5 | 124 > 3 |
10864 | Nick Seraphinoff | 3 | 8 | 11 | |
| 6 | 205 > 6 |
276 | AnnMarie Covington | 8 | 4 | 12 | |
| 7 | 314 > 8 |
3492 | Jim Burns | 6 | 6 | 12 | |
| 8 | 181 > 5 |
10862 | Dave Hepting | 7 | 7 | 14 | |
| 9 | - | 3140 | Patti Kuntz | 10 | 9 | 19 | |
| 10 | 280 > 7 |
4105 | Ken Butler | 9 | 10 | 19 |
Sailwave Scoring Software 2.19.8
www.sailwave.com
|
Top Seeds Run True to Form in Inaugural
Wayfarer Solo Regatta
.. |
|
Three
- dare I say grizzled? - veterans topped the field
in a North American first, a single-handed regatta
for Wayfarers, hosted the weekend
after the Midwinters by the Lake Eustis SC.
Saturday, February 6th brought an ideal day for
solo sailing: warm sunshine and 5 to 10 knots of
generally easterly breeze. After two pretty
exciting races for the 10-boat fleet, the winds
went for a nap, and racing was called off for the
rest of the day. In fact, with a most unpromising
forecast on tap for Sunday, the series was called
complete, two windward-leeward races of four legs
each having been completed.
In
race 1, veterans Al Schonborn, Nick Seraphinoff
and Jim Heffernan soon distanced themselves from
the rest of the fleet. And early bit of wind luck
gave Al a lead that he held in good style the rest
of the way, while a couple of hundred yards back,
Nick and Jim duelled with Nick having an edge
upwind but Jim passing Nick going downwind each
time.
Following Al, Jim and Nick across the finish line in race 1 was the 9th-seeded Mike Tighe while Jim Lingeman rounded out the top five. The second race saw Jim Heffernan turn the tables as he got better wind and a nice lead while Al rounded about half-way down the fleet. In one of his better racing efforts in recent times, Al proceeded to sail cautiously and slowly nibbled away at those in front of him. By the leeward mark, Al was up to 3rd, perhaps a hundred yards behind the leader, Jim Heffernan, and just behind 2nd-place Nick (I think). With a his boat geared to solo tacking, Al lured Jim into a tacking duel, the upshot of which was that at the final windward mark, Jim was barely a boatlength clear of Uncle Al. Taking a leaf from Uncle Al's book, Jim gybed to port to "defend the left" and keep his air clear right after rounding the offset mark. Al meanwhile kept up his speed by bearing off slowly. As we neared the finish line, Al was nervously maintaining about a boatlength of lead, as he and Jim ghosted along on port with Al watching for Jim to gybe onto starboard. Perhaps 100 yards from the line, two things became apparent: a slightly better breeze, backed about 20°, was filling in, and secondly, the pin end of the line was closer to us. By being the first to gybe, Al cemented his 2nd bullet, and series first. If Jim had won, he would have won on the tie-breaker. A solid 3rd place finish gave Jim Lingeman series 3rd, just one point ahead of Mike Tighe, whose overall 4th meant he had beaten his seed by 5 places. Congratulations on being the Solo Regatta's Most Improved helm. Nick, who had been doing to well, lost his grip on a few things at one point and by the time things were back in hand, Nick was doomed to an 8th and series 5th with 11 points. One point back were AnnMarie Covington (8-4) and Jim Burns (6-6) with AnnMarie taking the tie-breaker based on her fine 4th in the finale. Always in the hunt but never a bride (Ah, I do love those mixed metaphors!) was Dave Hepting who ended up with a pair of 7ths. Each beating the other once were Patti Kuntz and Ken Butler who tied at 19 points, with Patti taking the tie-breaker on the "who beat whom in the last race" provision. Fun for all, and thanks to Tom Kidd, our RO, and his RC. Repeat next year? |