NAC Friday

July 2, 2010

IN WHICH the regatta is a regatta after all.

In order for the Flying Scot North American Championships to be complete, three races had to be scored. As earlier reported, the weather has been unsettled to the point of malice – lots of thunderstorm squalls and then absolute millpond calms, and very little of the gorgeous, hot, sea-breezy conditions that we were expecting. (I was told there would be cake as well, but that’s another story altogether.)

Between the weather and bad luck, we started this morning (at 9:30!) with but one race on the scoreboard. Things were a bit tense. Still, the RC prevailed and sent the fleet out to race in some lightish conditions. We got in a race before the breeze shut down, which gave us a fourth. Richard Wake and Jennifer Judkins from Texas took the race categorically, though Robert Cummings and Nina Boswell (Hey Texas!) had great speed.

Then came the wait and inevitable countdown. No races to start after 3 pm, so as we most of us drifted around the race committee in the melt-your-macademia-nuts-off haze, we started counting. Two hours and twenty minutes until the cutoff. Two hours and fourteen minutes until the cutoff. One hour and fifty-five minutes.

At around one hour and forty minutes to go, there was rumor of wind, and Clinton put up a come within hail flag. This drew back those boats that had slid closer to the harbor (some even at the dock! Gasp! Some probably drinking at the bar! Not us, since we packed a big cooler) but alas, the rumor proved flat for another hour or so.

Finally this afternoon, with a half-hour or so to go, we got the kind of conditions we had been hoping for: hot like an oven, yes, but with a lovely sea-breeze filling in to around 7 knots. Al Terhune took an early lead, and though there was a big black cloud threatening on the other side of the bay, both fleets finished and got to shore without incident.

The Flying Scot class has a LOT of silver to award, and some of the notables from Florida: Kimmie and Dave won race 2 in the Challenger division trotting away from the rest of the fleet. Ray Laguna was in the money, finishing 10th in the Challengers. Both got cool bags. I’ve listed some of the results below. Maybe Dave and his magical slow computer will put up the rest…Must pack up and get ready to hit the road in the a.m. Maybe late in the a.m. Maybe after some lunch...


Partial Results
1 Al Terhune/Katie Terhune 5,5,1 11 points
2. Chris Wientjes/Dave Bolyard 2,2,8 12 pts
3. Jeff/Amy 7,4,2 13 pts
4. Andrew Eagen/Shelby Friedrichs 4,9,5 18 pts
5. Zak Fanberg/Gary Taylor, 10,3,6 19 pts
6. John Dane/Schaffer Dane 1.6.13 20 pts
7. Richard Wade/Jennifer Judkins 9,1,10 20 pts
8. Max Albert/Steve Hunt/Avery Sollberger 3,14,11 28 pts
9 Dave Boylard Jr/Bradley Jarvis 6,12,12 30 pts
10. Larry Taggart/Carrie Berger 12,7,14 33 pts.

Challenger Fleet
1. Ben Williams/Deb Aronson 1,2,3, 6 points

Some more from Kim;
Bright and early, the roosters and howling dogs outside greet the day. Nature, it turns out, is very noisy at times. The chorus of frogs at night is quite different from the chirping of crickets at home. New dogs greet us on our street for more morning excitement.
As expected, rain starts as we get ready to leave the house.
The last day of “The NACs that almost weren’t” begins with a race that actually counts! And, bonus, we won! The RC tried to start the next race in a ridiculous amount of non-breeze, and wisely abandoned as some boats in the Championship fleet have not crossed the starting line after ~5min. Wow. We settled in for a long stretch of waiting, bobbing, drifting. RC has till 3:00 pm to start a race to complete this regatta.
Between 2 and 2:15, our boat is pointed toward the yacht club and a horn is sounded calling sailors to get ready to race. It seems futile to us, Sailflow has nothing good on the radar (what would we do without a Blackberry), the smokestacks remain in a straight-up position, and Clinton starts a sequence in questionable conditions, patchy ripples on the bay, and potential for a very poor race. Dave and I make our final decision to continue on to the club, as beating the rush to the hoist, washing the boat, hanging by the pool, and margaritas seem like the preferred activity.
At ~2:45, though, the prayers of many on the water are answered as the promised sea breeze fills in, and the best and last race of the regatta is completed. The Terhunes run away with the win in the Championship fleet, and Diane and Greg Kampf win this race in the Challenger fleet. Fun to watch! Then, as if on cue, thunderstorms that had been threatening, finally let loose to complete the day and complicate hoisting once again, dowsing competitors and sails, once again. With the guidance of the volunteers at the hoist, all goes without incident. At least we had been warm and dry earlier in the day.
Congrats to the winners!! The hurricane-themed regatta is in the books, much to the relief of the race committee, I’m sure.
Dinner-time! The troops organized again for dinner at Trapani’s. This family is amazing. The older brother seems to run the restaurant, then, there are twin younger brothers, one bought us margaritas at the club, the other is the Commodore at the club and was available on award night for pictures. The Patriarch maintains watch at the weather/radio station at the club and monitors the comings and goings. He is omnipresent and helps with communication between RC on the water and volunteers in the club. I’m sure he’s in charge of many other things as well. At Trapani’s, we had our table with Jeff, Amy, Ryan, Carrie, and the Fowlers. Lo and ahold, Harry and crew also join in for a good dinner before the 3 hr trip to their evening destination. We are surprised by the arrival of plates of appetizers that we didn’t order, and we are thankful to Bubby Eagan for his generosity. Yummy stuff. I don’t think there is anything this restaurant makes that we wouldn’t eat. This is really a great small town with wonderful folks.