MANLEY & CROPPER CAPTURE CORSICA TITLE
Ralph Sponar did a lot of work to restore Windmill 3651 so that Rock Hall YC junior sailors David Manley & Stephen Cropper could race it in RHYC club events and hopefully come to love the Windmill. After some excellent practice results in club racing, the teenagers showed that they were ready for a regatta. David's father towed the boat (behind his cruising sailboat) across the Chester River to the Corsica River YC Regatta July 23-24 and was rewarded by watching a victorious result after David & Stephen recorded 1-3-2-2 results to edge Ralph & Sandy's 3-2-1-3 for the first place trophy! Allen & Christina Chauvenet placed 2-4-4-1 to take 3rd. An exciting part of the regatta was that the 4 races were won by 4 different boats!
CRYC traditionally uses an unusual course consisting of a beat, beam reach to 2nd mark, run dead downwind to 3rd mark and a beat back to the finish set just upwind of the 2nd mark. Saturday found the courses out in the Chester river with winds of 6-8 mph. The Chauvenets thought they had the favored pin end start on starboard but David & Stephen alertly started on port and went right under the stern of B&B--this proving to be the right plan when a slight lift allowed them to fetch the weather mark on one port tack! The reach found no significant changes but on the run the Chauvenets gradually gained but were unable to establish an overlap. David & Stephen rounded well and defended their lead alertly to win by a boat length of open water with the Sponars coming on well at the end to take a close 3rd. The second race was sailed in similar conditions with the starting line squared to the wind. Again David & Stephen led at the weather mark but all of the other 4 boats were close astern. On the run, Max Penders got 4262 going very well and picked up a few puffs to pass the Sponars. The Penders and Sponars continued to have excellent speed on the beat to the finish and played the approach to the line perfectly, passing David & Stephen right at the end with the Penders winning and these 3 finishing within a few seconds of each other. Christina & Allen Chauvenet were not far behind and the Durands were close as well.
The final race Saturday found the Sponars in control as they jumped out to a nice lead at the start and led at all marks, though pressed by David & Stephen. Christina Chauvenet sailed wonderfully well on the run to the final mark to pass the Penders but Max found a nice area of wind on the beat to the finish to take 3rd by a couple of boat lengths.
Sunday saw very light winds and only 1 race which was sailed "inside" rather than out in the Chester. All the boats were tightly bunched rounding the weather mark and the reach mark. On the run B&B held to the right and was able to jibe to port and cross everyone approaching the final mark. After rounding the last mark, the wind became exceptionally light and it was barely possible to make progress against the outgoing tide. Near the finish, David & Stephen were converging with Allen & Christina and hailed "Which tack are you on?" only to hear the reply "I wish I knew"!! Somehow B&B drifted across the line first with David & Stephen edging the Sponars for race second and regatta first.
Hope for more boats next year at this delightful and laid-back venue--all had a great time and we expect to see David & Stephen receiving more trophies in the future! |
