| the Pumpkin Regatta Fanshawe YC, London, ON * September 30 - October 1, 2006 Regatta Report by Uncle Al |
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2006
Pumpkin Regatta challenges sailors with rainy sailing but provides a
great time just the same!
The
2006 North American Wayfarer season is in the books! 11 enthusiastic
Wayfarer teams from as far afield as Charlotte, North Carolina and
North Bay, Ontario, survived a miserably cold, rainy Saturday (photo
below) on London's Fanshawe Lake before being rewarded with a
splendid mostly sunny Sunday and perfect sailing winds to end our 2006
in fine style! In fact, even Saturday's trying conditions were
mitigated by great sailing winds which PRO, Scott Town, used to full
advantage to give us four rainy races. Despite a very gloomy forecast
for the weekend of Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, about 30 boats enjoyed this
year's Pumpkin. In addition to our solid Wayfarer fleet, we had 12
Lasers, 3 each of Laser 2's and Y-Flyers plus a mixture in the Open
Class.
 In
Wayfarers, the veteran team of Uncle Al and Marc Bennett once again
made
themselves right at home on the tricky waters of Fanshawe Lake, winning
all seven races and maintaining their hold on the George
Blanchard Red Top Award.
 For Uncle
Al, it was his 27th trip to the victor's podium, dating back to 1970
when his crewed for brother, Mike, in W276 in the first ever Pumpkin (see
photo above from the days when Uncle Al (r) actually used to
wear shoes)
 Also
sailing an outstanding series
were the local team of John and Dolores de Boer (W7351 above) who
scored six seconds to convincingly nail down the runner-up position in
the series. Perhaps the most impressive performance of the series,
however, was turned in by
Richard Johnson and his wife, Michele, who took series 3rd in their
first time sailing on Fanshawe (10139 above), and who were also
the Most Improved Wayfarer in this year's Pumpkin, improving
four places over their 7th seed. It was
marvellous to see the Johnsons again who came up all the way from
Charlotte, NC with daughters, Alyssa and Emily, and insisted on camping
in the Fanshawe Campground - well, some of them insisted!!
Series 4th went to Toronto's Mike Codd who sailed George Blanchard's Red Top with his cousin's wife, Jane Codd, once again. Jane did a fine job as crew under trying conditions, especially in race 6 where she and Mike scored an impressive 2nd. Dave and Carol Hansman came down from North Bay again and were a most welcome addition to not only the sailing but also to the socializing. Although their Sunday results no doubt disappointed them a bit when they fell from a third-place tie after Saturday to a final 5th, the Hansmans continue to sail better each time out - an improvement they attribute to more regatta participation. Well done, Carol and Dave! Also sailing consistently well were the Regatta Chair, Robert Kennedy, and Peter Galsworthy, who ended up only one point behind the Hansmans, and who looked particularly good in placing 3rd in race 2. Conestoga's Jeff Baker imported crew, Gary Blad, all the way from Winnipeg for the Pumpkin. An outstanding 3rd-place finish in the finale moved Jeff and Gary into series 7th - a fine improvement over their 10th seed. Brantford's Brian Hickman and John Bockhuyt took a while to get up to speed and were looking especially good near the end of the series on the Sunday, only to run into problems remembering the assigned course, something with which Uncle Al can certainly identify on Fanshawe Lake. Falling to series 9th on a tie-breaker were Fanshawe's Jeff Eames and his wife, Vera. The Eames team often looked good and fast and in fact scored three 6ths but lack the necessary consistency as yet. Another Fanshawe team was next: Len Macdougall and Andy Turnbull were a most welcome presence among us again after a year's absence. They too, showed a bit of rust from lack of regatta practice, though they did have one glorious stretch on Sunday where they held 2nd place for the first time around the course in race 6, I believe it was? Special mention must also be made of Wayfarer newcomer, Harold Whitcomb and his son, Mitchell (10), who came in from Flint, Michigan. They toughed it out all weekend long, and learned a lot from their wet experience. We admire your spirit and eagerness to learn, Harold and Mitchell, and look forward to seeing more of you in 2007!  Wayfarers got a special treat once more as John and Dolores de Boer hosted the by now traditional Friday night Wayfarer dinner party to get our Pumpkin under way in the best of styles (photo above). Guests included all four Johnsons from North Carolina: Richard, Michele, Alyssa and Emily; Dave and Carol Hansman as well as Marc Bennett and Uncle Al who again got to live at the Château de Boer for the weekend. John de Boer poured - among others. Thanks a million for a great time, Dolores and John! All
in all, most of us agreed this year's Pumpkin was a great
experience. Thank you, Fanshawe Yacht Club, for having us!! In
particular, I thank Scott Town who gave up his Wayfarer racing so that
we could have a good Race Committee Chair, and to Regatta Chair, Robert
Kennedy. We are also grateful to RC member, Hans Schaffner, who took
pictures for us, as well as to the following:
Registration: Sharon Biskaborn and Jamie Pentland Rescue
Boat duties: Mike Morris, Jamie Pentland , Ed Tait, John Bryant,
Brian Perry
Kitchen
Help: Jessie Renes, Betty Macdougall, Jamie Pentland, Sally
Galsworthy, Brenda Pentland
Scoring: Ed Tait See you at the 2007 Pumpkin!!! |