the Old Brown Dog Regatta
Catawba YC * Nov. 4-5, 2017
reports by Ron Wright and Uncle Al
last updated: 29 November 2017 at 1959 hrs - a work in progress
Consistency rewarded as Heffernans finish 2017
with a resounding Old Brown Dog Wayfarer victory

Wayfarers add to Lake Wylie's Fall colours

(171115)  Racing was close in both 10-boat fleets, the MC's (MC report follows W report below) and the Wayfarers, but in our fleet, only Jim and Linda Heffernan managed to be consistently at or near the top at the finish and scored a runaway win in light and mostly patchy winds.

a work in progress
Rank Seed Sail No Helm/Crew R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 Total
1 6* (106)
 1066 Jim & Linda Heffernan 1 2 1 2 6 3 2 17
2 4  (77)
 7372 Jim & Alicia Cook 2 3 4 5 2 4 4 24
3 5 (85)
 10978 Uwe Heine/Nancy Collins 8 1 2 1 5 5 5 27
4 1  (36)
 3854 Al Schonborn/John Waller 6 6 5 8 1 1 1 28
5 2  (39)
 10873 Richard Johnson/Michele Parish 3 7 6 3 4 2 3 28
6 3  (51)
 11134 AnnMarie Covington/Mike Sigmund 5 5 7 7 3 8 6 41
7 7 (156)
 864 Phil & Cathy Leonard 4 4 9 4 7 6 8 42
8 8 (219)
 10945 Evan & Mary Trudeau 9 10 3 9 9 7 7 54
9 10 (360)
 276 Annette Grefe/Ali Kishbaugh 10 8 10 6 10 9 9 62
10 9 (254)
 449 Ken Butler/Trish McDermott 7 9 8 10 8 DNC DNC 64
Fred Herr Hangs on to Edge Will Hendershot in Hard-fought MC Competition

From: Ron Wright [mailto:ron.wright53@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 15, 2017 9:53 PM


... My perspective on the MC class...

 



Fred Herr (above) opened the Old Brown Dog regatta with three bullets and never looked back en route to an amazing 9-point day over six races in a variety of conditions to win the MC Class.  Fred showed why he is the 2013 National Grandmaster Champion of the MC class with exceptional speed and tactics.



Canadian sailmaker Will Hendershot (above) made a run when the wind kicked in with aces in races 4-5. The two went to race six with Hendershot trailing by two  points, only to see Fred win race six and the regatta. 


 

Tom Martin (above) had a great day earning second-place finishes in races two and five to record the highest home club (Catawba YC) finish and a third place overall.


 

(Uncle Al's note) Our Catawba resident musicians were next in line in 4th and 5th places overall. Mandolin maestro, Jim Higgins (above), built a fine series 4th around a first-race 3rd and two later 4ths. Our bass man, Ron Wright (below), meanwhile needed a tie-breaker to take series 5th from ...






... Sara Floyd-Jones of Lake Norman(?) (above) who also sailed her first OBD this year. Sara is not new to sailing but she is new to MC's this year and she had four top five finishes to come in sixth overall.



Only two points back of Ron and Sara was Bill Schiffli. Bill (above) started with a promising 5th in the opener but that would be his series high point, and he ended up 7th overall.

 


Ted Kaperonis from Lake Norman broke in a new/used MC for him, as he took ownership of MC 546 before the regatta.  Disguising it as MC2398 (above), Ted sailed it to a great fourth place finish in race three - Ted's high point for the day.

 


Catawba's Jim Tapkas (MC176) skippered his first regatta ever in an MC and he climbed out of the basement in race four for a nice 8th place finish.  Jim is improving every time he sails and will be a force to be reckoned with in the future.



(Uncle Al's note #2) Also sailing with #1860, but with black numbers, was John Holmes who rounded out the MC standings, calling it quits after three races. Apparently John had reached his fun quota for the day.

On a final note, we love Will Hendershot's sails here at CYC. Four of the 10 MC's raced with Two Mountain sails, finishing 2-4-5-7 in the regatta.  

 

Ron Wright

Thank You for a Great Old Brown Dog


From: Ron Wright
Sent: Sunday, November 5, 2017 8:06 PM
Subject: Thank You for a great OBD

 

The 2017 OBD is in the books and by all accounts, it was one for the ages!  We had the largest number of boats participate to date. The food and hospitality won many compliments and the Saturday party was epic.  Some thank yous are certainly in order.

 

Ali Kishbaugh:  That you so much for serving as co-chair and taking on so many tasks.  The food Saturday evening was excellent.  You did so much to make the regatta special.  We cannot thank-you enough and we miss you lots.

 

Jim Cook:  Your Friday Pizza party was the talk of the regatta.  Thank you so much.

 

Phil Keenan, Sheree Enfinger, Dylan Keenan, Doug Conley, Kevin Kocianski, Betsy Kocianski, Bob Boyd, Jeremy Kishbaugh, and Nora Cook:  The race committee work was excellent.  Thanks for working so hard to provide 7 great races.  The decision to stay out Saturday after lunch resulted in the best wind of the day.  We appreciate you.

 

Sheree Enfenger:  Extra thanks for handling registration and keeping the books straight. 

 

Doug Conley and JoAnne Shields:   Breakfast was superb. The perfect start to each day. Thank you.  And thanks for all the behind-the-scene extras.

 

Susan Wright:  The bag lunches rocked.  And what a deal you got at Subway. We appreciate all you did to make it happen.

 

Jim Higgins and Jenny Poole:  The music was epic.  Finally we had someone who could sing!!!!  You made the party rock!!!

 

Yates Smith:  The hand-made awards were a classy touch.  Thank You!

 

To anyone I may have missed: Thank You.  Committee chairs, if there was anyone who helped you and I did not thank them, please forward my thanks. THANK YOU.

 

And to all our guests who came to race:  THANK YOU. You make our regatta what it is.

 

​Ron Wright

Commodore

Catawba Yacht Club


(Al's note: And let us not forget the self-effacing author above, Ron Wright, who co-chaired the 2017 Old Brown Dog and played a mean bass in our fine 2017 band on the Saturday evening.)​