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Report by Uncle Al |
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Funck,
Schönborn tie for North American title – again!
For the second time in five years, the Wayfarer North American championship has ended in a tie between Heider Funck and Al Schönborn. The series was run as a combined effort by the Port Credit YC and the Mississauga SC August 9-10 as a warm-up to our next Wayfarer Worlds to be hosted by the same two clubs August 2-7, 2004. The excitement was cut short to 4 races when a Sunday afternoon thunderstorm obliged PRO, John Weakley, to abandon the final race at the first leeward gate. Southerly Lake Ontario breezes of 5 – 12 knots produced very close racing among the 18 entries, our best turn-out of 2003 so far. With crews coming in from as far away as North Carolina, Cleveland, Tawas Bay, Ottawa and Montreal, this year’s North Americans had an added air of excitement that was made even better by the fact that much of the fleet was in close contention for most of each race. But in the end, it was the wily old veteran teams that prevailed. Heider Funck and Tom Wharton sailed to an outstanding 1-1-2-2 series in Hans, only to be matched in a comeback by the defending champions, Al Schönborn and Frank Goulay in SHADES, who ended up scoring 2-2-1-1 to create a tie for the Henry Croce Trophy. This was the third tie in the 44-year history of our North Americans, and each has involved Heider. In 1972, the year of the first Canada-Russia hockey series, he tied with Detroit’s Dick Rothery, and in 1998, it was Heider and Al – just like this year. Heider and Tom sailed an excellent series and were particularly good upwind in the lighter airs of races 1 and 2 where their brand new North Sails helped them to outpoint the competition. Al and Frank, who were using a venerable 10-year-old mainsail, had to rely on great starts, exceptional downwind speed and flawless boat handling to earn the tie. Although it does not show in the scoreboard, a third championship-worthy performance was turned in. The Conestoga brother team of Paul and Alan Laderoute sailed a Wayfarer for the first time, instead of their usual 470. In Unplugged, a borrowed boat with well used sails, Paul and Alan were well placed to win every race, including the abandoned finale before bad luck and lack of Wayfarer experience caught up with them. Still, the Laderoutes scored a fine 4-3-3-4 and easily took series third. Alan and Paul were a very valuable and enjoyable addition to our fleet. Word has it that they hope to sail next year’s Worlds and that we can look forward to having them with us a few more times before then. Only 7 points separated places 4 through 9! Coming out on top of this bunch was Hans Gottschling with rookie crew, Zoltan Takacz. The 28 points from their 6-10-5-7 were good enough to give The Nutshell a two-point edge over Detroit’s Nick Seraphinoff who was again sailing with Toronto’s Marc Bennett in Bush & Cheney. A past North American champion, Nick experienced boat speed problems on the Saturday and could manage no better than a trio of 9ths. A thorough dinner-time analysis found a pair of potential causes: the new, stiffer mast and a centreboard that was perhaps too narrow. These problems were duly addressed with some mast “pinging” and a borrowed centreboard from Uncle Al on Sunday morning, and the results were spectacular: a third-place finish in the finale which moved Marc and Nick all the way up to series 5th. A mere two points further down the list, we had a tie for 6th place between a pair of father and son crews, the Rahns in Shadow and the Pedersens in Akvavit. Peter and Alex Rahn were one of three crews to make an early start to a long trip home (to Montreal) when Sunday morning’s early light offshore breeze died and forced postponement of the racing. When race 4 was subsequently sailed in a lovely 10 to 12 knots of SW breeze, Peter and Alex were stuck with 19 points for a DNC and fell to series 6th. Ivan and Chris Pedersen on the other hand, did their best sailing after Sunday's hour-long postponement, scoring a 6th which moved them into the tie with Peter and Alex. It was a fine showing for the 9th-seeded Pedersen crew who beat their computer-predicted position by three spots in their first Wayfarer appearance of 2003. 8th place, two points from 6th, went to Conestoga’s Dwight Aplevich and Al Nichols who piloted Eclairelle to a fine 5-6-4 on the Saturday. Unfortunately, Dwight and Al plunged in the standings after an OCS for a race 4 start line infraction which they ended up having to count when race 5 was abandoned. A point behind Eclairelle was Red Top with our very own Wonder of the (Sailing) World, George Blanchard, who is less than two months from his 90th birthday. Sailing with his trusty sidekick, Mike Codd, George ended up scoring an eminently respectable 12-5-10-8. Our Ottawa crew from the Lac Deschênes SC, Doug Netherton and Françoise Brossard, had a much better time of it at the NA’s than at the Ontarios three weeks earlier where their newly acquired woodie, Toodle-oo (W1366), nearly sank several times. Seeded 16th, Doug and Françoise scored a fine series 10th in the NA's, and were easily the Most Improved crew of the 2003 North Americans. Watch for the very enthusiastic Doug to breathe new life into our Ottawa Fleet along with another welcome young addition to the LDSC scene, Andrew Gumley, as these two sons of former Canadian Wayfarers will be taking over the Fleet Captain’s duties from the departed Keith Kennedy. The series ended too soon for Kit Wallace and Gord Leachman. Ab faB found the going tough (10-12-13) in Saturday’s lighter airs, but took an excellent 5th in Sunday’s race to end up just one point short of hitting the top ten. Kit and Gord were, by the way, lying 2nd in race 5 when it was abandoned. A missed final race due to the need to start the regatta’s longest trip home – about 13 hours to Charlotte, North Carolina – dropped Richard Johnson and Jim Higgins and their Free Range Chickin to series 12th after a sound, competitive Saturday of 11-8-7 (despite a suspect spinnaker!) Another team that prefers a more substantial breeze is the TSCC crew of Geoff Edwards and George Waller. Jansubar never hit the top 10 on Saturday but improved (9th) in Sunday’s hiking breezes and ended 13th overall. David Platt, one of two entries from the host Mississauga SC, teamed up with new crew, Peter Seet, for a 14th-place tie with the TSCC tandem of Fred Black and Ted Lacelle who in turn edged out clubmate, Thomas Vendely, who was making his first North Americans appearance. After getting a pair of Saturday 15ths with his very relaxed son, Dusan, Thomas needed a crew for Sunday. He lucked in, getting North Bay Wayfarer, David Hansman, and scored a much improved 11th in race 4. Tony Krauss and Mary Abel, prospective W’s from Cleveland, borrowed a lovely new Mark III from MSC’s Philip Harber, and liked it. Despite having only a two-sail rig to draw on in Mostly Harmless, our Cleveland friends beat several spinnaker- driven W’s in the three Saturday races before getting a timely start for home on Sunday and ending up 17th, only two points from 14th. MSC’s Wayfarer newcomers in 2003, Alan Hallwood and his son, Stephen, did the “perfect host” act in this, their first North Americans. Despite a frustrating series in which they lacked boat speed in general and pointing in particular, the Hallwoods contributed more than just their presence to this event. They took some fine pictures which can be seen on the picture pages - including a great shot of Wayfarer Man (Frank) and Uncle Al, which Peter Rahn has already earmarked for the cover of our 2003 Yearbook CD. Also contributing magnificently to the pictorial documentation of this fine championship were Gord Leachman and Joanne Kumpf. The latter had come to the NA’s hoping to land a crewing job after nearly a year away from her Wayfarer friends. When nothing was available, Joanne graciously consented to “man” the CWA digital camera and – as can be seen on our numerous pages of pictures – did a superior job! The fact that the event ran like clockwork bodes well for the 2004 Worlds, and is in large part thanks to Regatta Chairman, John Weakley, and his sleek team of Jim Currey (marks), Don Stewart (Heron II driver) and Margaret MacDonald (recorder). Thanks, gang! You did a lovely job!!! |
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