| the 17th
Annual Wayfarer Midwinters & 55th U.S.
Nationals Lake Eustis SC * Jan. 30-Feb. 1, 2015 report by Uncle Al last updated: 17 Feb 2015 at 2048 hrs |
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Pughs Shine at
Midwinters
...   (160217) Oakville's David and Anne Pugh of the Mississauga SC topped a fleet of 21 boats in the 2016 U.S. Nationals, hosted Jan. 29-31 by the Lake Eustis SC as part of our annual Florida Midwinters. Even though the winds failed to co-operate on Saturday and Sunday, Friday's magnificent winds and weather enabled our fine RC to give us five races that day. The Pughs (above right) left no doubt as they scored four convincing firsts and one 2nd in the 5-race series in which the defending US champs usually had to overcome early deficits in the four-leg windward-leeward races sailed in medium airs (above).  The seasoned, top-seeded Detroit Bayview YC team of Doug Scheibner and Andrew Lockhart (above) were the only ones to beat the #3-seeded Team Pugh in nay race and ended up scoring 3-2-2-1-(4) and 8 points to place a fine series second while Charlotte's Richard Johnson and wife, Michele in Black Skimmer - seeded 5th - rounded out the top three, scoring 12 points from 4-3-(9)-3-2 finishes.  Sailing in their first US Nationals, the Johnsons' Catawba YC clubmates, Jim Cook and Mike Taylor (below) won a close three-way North Carolina battle over series 4th as they placed 2-6-6-(9)-3 for 17 points and beat out a pair of teams from the fast- growing Lake Townsend YC fleet by a mere one point.   Jim and Linda received an Uncle Al 2016 Wayfarer wall calendar from Regatta co-chair (with Mary) for their 5th overall finish. That points tie was broken in favour of Jim and Linda Heffernan who placed 5-4-3-(7)-6 for their 18 points and beat out veteran Flying Scot sailors, Uwe Heine and Nancy Collins, in their new Wayfarer who scored (12)-5-4-4-5. Jim thus won the tie-breaker under the "Most firsts > most 2nds > most 3rds etc." provision of the tie-breaker.    Finishing in series 7th was LTYC's AnnMarie Covington with her Detroit crew, Nick Seraphinoff. The 14th-seeded Ann Marie (above) was a model of consistency with 6-(7)-5-6-6 finishes and easily our Most Improved helm of the series. Another recent addition to the Lake Townsend Wayfarer fleet, Phil Leonard and wife, Cathy, were next in 8th overall and beat their 12th seed by an impressive four places.  Dave
Hepting and Ali Kishbaugh repeat as Non-Spinnaker
champions
 Tops among host club entries was Dave Hepting who again teamed up successfully with Catawba's Ali Kishbaugh to win in the 10-entry white-sail group. Even without a spinnaker, Dave and Ali placed well into the top half of the overall fleet. Well done, Dave and Ali.  Things were in fact very close at the top of the NS fleet as both the Lake Eustis team of Jim Lingeman and Pat Kuntz (above) and Wayfarer newcomers from NC's Blackbeard SC, Peter Thorn and Arch Altman (below), ended up a mere point in back of Dave and Ali, with Jim and Patty taking the tie-breaker ahead of Peter and Arch.   That tie was in fact a three-way one with the team of Al Schonborn of Oakville with Tom Goldsmith of Pleasantville, NY (above) winning the tie-breaker and taking series 10th, also with 42 points like Jim and Peter. Al and Tom gave up on race 1 to go an get their normal spinnaker pole when Al's auto-launch creation turned out to be unworkable. That innovation, plus Tom's spinnaker skills were to get a test run on the previous day which, alas, brought nothing but calm and rain. Expecting four races to be it for the day and failing to notice the Second Repeater flag on the RC boat indicating another race coming right up Al rushed ashore to get his best camera because he needed to "cover" the ceremony of the scattering of the ashes of the Lake Eustis Wayfarers' founding father, Mike Murto, that was scheduled for immediately after the final Friday race and because he did notice that the water-proof Pentax had not charged properly and was unavailable.  Dotty
Murto bids farewell to Mike's ashes amid blossoms
scattered in Mike's honour by the Wayfarers.
Al and Tom were thus surprised to note that a 5th race was well under way by the time they returned to the race course. Al's loss was the fleet's gain, however, as all those nice Friday Wayfarer action shots - the only ones of the weekend - were made possible as a result.  Epoxy-sealed,
Jim and Cynthia's baby W911 arrives from Detroit.
When we next see the Bests and W911, she will have a paint job of an as yet undecided hue.  Bayview's Cynthia and Jim Best (above) gave us a visual progress report on the re-birth of W911, their classic wooden Wayfarer. For the first time in their Midwinters career, nothing broke on 911 and Cynthia put in a solid performance, placing 13th overall, just three points out of 9th overall.   And we also extend a warm welcome to Karlheinz Krüger, a.k.a. Peter, who has taken up where Mike Murto left off in W2959 at the LESC. With LESC Junior Instructor, Craig Yates (above), as his helm, W2959 won a 15th-place tie-breaker with Idaho's Sarah Pedersen (below). The latter teamed up with Nick Damaskinos of Detroit to sail W8705, the last of the North American wooden kit boats that was lovingly and painstakingly completed by Sarah's late father, Frank.   Kelly
brought along her support team, Ricky, a most
lovable guy in a unique business - more here
Lake Townsend's Ken Butler again sailed with his budding spinnaker prodigy of a daughter, Kelly, in Wayfarer 449, a wooden W from the earliest days which was finely restored a couple of years back by Ken. Nice to have a fearless daughter, eager to fly the spinnaker in all weather, is it not, Ken?   Just starting his racing career and the sole solo sailor in this year's event was Jim Burns (above) who has taken over W3492 from Izak Kielmovitch who has stepped up to a Mark IV. Jim did not look out of place in the US Nats field and continues to enthusiastically explore ways to improve his and W3492's performance.  Also representing Lake Eustis very nicely (above) were Mike Tighe and his wife, Mary, who placed 19th overall. Congratulations and commiseration to Mike who sailed solo and had a glorious time on Sunday morning as he ghosted along into a solid lead around the windward mark only to have the race abandoned when the wind dwindled. Well sailed, Mike and Mary.   Sunday morning: all rigged up and no wind to go Our latest Lake Eustis Mark IV, Izak Kielmovitch, and crew, Joshua Lorry (above), were finally ready to go for it by Saturday morning, but unbeknownst to us all, the racing had already been completed. Still, we had fun refreshing ourselves and talking rigging and racing :) Sincerest thanks to all of our beloved and appreciated hosts at the Lake Eustis Sailing Club. It was wonderful times, as always. Complete results here. |