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| Sarasota Sailing Squadron One Design Midwinter Regatta at Sarasota Sailing Squadron | March 22 - 23 |
| Story |
| The virtually tropical Sarasota Sailing Squadron Midwinter
Championships saw 8 Windmill entries on a delightfully warm weekend. Dave Ellis returned to Windmilling with junior crew Rye Heastings (in his first Windmill regatta) and this team was consistently excellent with 2-1-1-2 results to take the first place position. Four races were sailed on Saturday, all on a WLWL course with the start/finish located about 25% of the way up from the leeward mark, providing a windward finish. The first two races were sailed in 6-8 mph winds with the final two in slightly stronger 8-10 mph breezes. The first race found Allen Chauvenet/Sarah Steward (5586) engaged in a close battle with Ellis/Heastings (sailing Colin Browning's "old" 4481). These two were close throughout but slightly better downwind speed gave 5586 the lead at the final mark and a careful cover to finish at the downwind end of the line gave them the victory by about 30 seconds. Ralph and Sandy Sponar (5702) were always close but never quite ahead of the leading two boats and took 3rd. The second race saw the same battle but this time Dave and Rye held a slight edge through most of the race. Dave drove the boat very well and focused on main telltales to aid him in playing the mainsheet in the slight puffs and lulls while Rye showed excellent crewing skills to keep the boat moving very well at all times. Allen and Sarah made them pay attention but finished about 20 seconds behind while the Sponars took another close 3rd. With the slightly increased breeze in the next race, Colin Browning and Kat Hanson sailed 5252 (Colin's "new" boat) exceptionally well and improved relative boatspeed. Dave and Rye were able to stay ahead for the win while the Sponars took yet another 3rd. Allen did not have 5586 moving well in this race and an ill-advised jibe away from the fleet on the final run allowed Lon Ethington/Meg Gimmi (5070) to move past 5586 and take 4th. What proved to be the final race found Colin and Kat jumping out to the lead and rounding the weather mark ahead of Allen and Sarah. The Sponars went well downwind and turned the leeward mark 2nd with 5586 3rd and Dave/Rye 4th. Starting the beat, Allen was unable to get any speed from B&B (lesson: likely seaweed) and Colin/Kat sailed away while Dave/Rye sailed over 5586 without much difficulty. At the mark, 5252 still led followed by 4481. The Sponars had gone to the left (others to the right side) and appeared at the mark 3rd. This time Allen did not choose the wrong jibe and B&B held 4th to the final mark. Dave/Rye closed on Colin/Kat but rounded just behind at the final mark and Colin/Kat were able to hold on for the win in a very close finish. The Sponars completed a day of all 3rd place finishes and Allen/Sarah positioned themselves to cover Lon/Meg on the final beat and take 4th. Bob/Sue Poston and Lisa Fath/Caroline Denton were never able to crack the top 5 but Bob/Sue led at the weather mark in the 3rd race and Lisa/Caroline were often close. Unfortunately Arthur Anosov was unable to participate in spite of supporting the class by entering the regatta. After a delightful Saturday night dinner, Sunday dawned with no wind. While wind did eventually appear (light but present) the race committee did not hold any Windmill races so the results reflected total scores for 4 races with no drops. Next year we plan to coordinate any such issue with the race committee. The venue is great and the club treated all of us wonderfully. This was the largest Windmill fleet at Sarasota in a long time. In spite of coming the weekend after the Midwinters, we are all expecting a larger fleet to race in tropical paradise next year! |
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