We continue the 2012 - 2013 FL District Championship with a stop in Charlotte Harbor where the newest FL fleet continues slow, steady growth. We had a nice looking forecast that included temps in the 80's so all we needed was a little bit of wind for a perfect weekend.
With the close of registration we had 21 entries which may be a new high for this event. The crowd left the harbor in a solid ESE breeze that included some white caps in the puffs. The RC set a fairly long WL course, twice around and we were off. The sailing was nice but pretty shifty especially up near the weather mark. Big gains and losses were the norm, make a mistake and pay big time. The breeze held up all afternoon and by about 3:00pm we had three races in and were heading back to the club.
The Lintons were sitting on a nice little lead and were being chased by Zeke Horowitz who just bought a Scot a couple weeks ago. I don't have results but I'm fairly sure Jim Egan was a close third. After that there were a bunch of us giving it our best shot and enjoying a perfect day of sailing.
Saturday night included a nice dinner and and the viewing of some NFL playoff games. Can anyone believe how Denver gave that one away? Holy crap!
Sunday morning was nice again, warm and a nice Easterly. For a little while. During the first race it pretty well fizzled out to nothing at times and very little the rest of the time. Let's see, the race started at 10:30 and by about 10:35 the first beer was required, so there you go. RC shortened course to 3 legs or the time limit would have come into play. Only 8 boats finished within 20 minutes of the leader so the other time limit did come in to play. TLE's were scored 2 more than the last finisher so a mess of boats received a 10 for that race. Fortuitous for some.
We loitered a bit while the sea breeze tried to fill in from the west. With a patchy light westerly a race was started and the memories of the drift-a-thon we just had last month in Jacksonville were going strong. UGH! Similar current as well, which had us a little surprised. The course is way up the bay, fairly close to where it becomes a river but the flood current is still very strong.
Jeff and Zeke were having a good go of it and either could have won the regatta depending on the others score. Jeff pulled a little come from behind thing and took the race and regatta by four or five points, overcoming a small beer emergency. There were another bunch of TLE's who could not manage the 20 minute rule, and so it goes. Zeke ended up second and Jim Egan third, nice job to all. Also many thanks to Martin and the volunteers at the club.
Go to Lake Eustis Feb. 16 and 17 and bring your Scot.
I will add some results here when available.
Results;
