Windmill Northern's -- Massabesic Yacht Club at Lake Massabesic, Manchester, NHSeptember 11 - 12
Story
The Windmill Northerns at the Lake Massabesic Yacht Club near Manchester, NH were sailed September 11-12 in ideal conditions on Saturday (8-12 knot winds with blue skies) and similar winds on Sunday but overcast with very light rains. The twelve boat fleet had a wonderful time as 5 boats from the host club were joined by 7 guests. The wind direction on Saturday led to WL courses (usually twice round) with an offset mark.

Rick Fontana (4621) made the trip from Maine to sail with Tori Henken, a childhood friend (and former Jet 14 sailor) of Lisa Hayes. Although meeting for the first time Saturday morning, they showed amazing teamwork which combined with excellent starts and a wonderful ability to sail fast on the right tack upwind--the result was an opening three bullets which relegated Larry Christian (5319 using 5048 sails) and Eli Slater to three consecutive runnerup positions. Dennis Phelps and John Bolster (5044) did almost everything right to take a well-earned third in the first race before fading while Lon Ethington/Meg Gimmi (5070) edged Ralph and Sandy Sponar (5060) to round out the top five in the opening heat.

The next two races say Allen Chauvenet & Lisa Hayes (5586) moving very well downwind to secure consecutive thirds. Jack Cartland and Ann McPhillips (2117) put together a wonderful second race to edge the Sponars for 4th while they reversed positions in the next race with Jack and Ann losing a possible third with jib haliard problems. Lon and Meg were often on the wrong side of critical shifts both upwind and downwind to record 6-6 in these two races.

The final race of this beautiful day saw Larry take the lead after doing a 720 at the start (!) while Allen and Lisa found just the right winds and shifts downwind to make great gains and recover from a poor opening leg--only to find the Sponars sailing their best race of the day and holding them off to secure the runner-up position while Allen and Lisa mangaged to secure another 3rd in spite of the closing challenge from Rick and Tori while Roy Sherman/Maggie Arnesen (4500) sailed their best race of the day to take 5th. This left the two leaders tied at 7 points each, although Rick clearly held a major tie-break advantage. The day's activities closed with an outstanding dinner at the club as the sun set in a clear sky.

Sunday saw clouds and very light rain but similar winds. Lon and Meg came out determined and after a great first leg led the rest of the race to take a solid first. Rick won a battle around the course with Larry to take the regatta lead with Roy edging Allen for fouth; Allen focused on Ralph and Sandy and they wound up 7th with Dennis coming back from poor results in the final three races of Saturday to take 6th. Rick and Larry split the next two races with Roy continuing his excellent sailing to record two thirds while Lon and two fourths and Allen two fifths. This left Allen well ahead of Ralph but now only a point ahead of Lon; unfortunately Allen did not sail the final race due to the need to get an early start back to West Virginia. Larry won the last race but Rick needed "only" a third to win the regatta and took a second. The Sponars again closed with their best race of the day in third place followed by Jack and Ann with Lon and Meg taking a fifth and the overally 3rd place on tie-breaking ahead of Allen and Lisa.

As always this was a wonderful event with much good sailing done by many boats--8 of the 12 entrants finished 4th or better at least once. We all look forward to growing activity and an even larger turnout next year while looking to see many of our friends from New England sailing in the 2011 Nationals.
Result
PosBoatNameTotalRace 1Race 2Race 3Race 4Race 5Race 6Race 7Race 8
14621 NoNameRick Fontana Tori Henkes101(1)1(2)1(3)(4)(7)2(9)2(11)1(12)2 (14)
25048 DaveLarry Christian Eli Slater112(2)2(4)2(6)1(7)(3)(10)1(11)2(13)1 (14)
35070 Pig HeadedLon Ethington Meg Gimmi304(4)6(10)6(16)(8)(24)1(25)4(29)4(33)5 (38)
45586 Beauty & the BeastAllen Chauvenet Lisa Hayes306(6)3(9)3(12)3(15)5(20)5(25)5(30)(DNC) (43)
55060 Go BlueRalph Sponar Sandy Sponar325(5)5(10)4(14)2(16)(7)(23)6(29)7(36)3 (39)
64500 BlueRoy Sherman Maggie Arnesen367(7)8(15)(9)(24)5(29)4(33)3(36)3(39)6 (45)
72117 CupcakeJack Cartland Anne McPhillips44(8)(8)4(12)5(17)7(24)8(32)8(40)8(48)4 (52)
85044 PastimeDennis Phelps John Bolster523(3)10(13)(11)(24)9(33)6(39)7(46)9(55)8 (63)
92793 MedeaEric Arnesen Lars Arnesen60(10)(10)7(17)8(25)10(35)9(44)9(53)10(63)7 (70)
103049 Little Miss SunshineEric Francios Matt Miranda64(11)(11)11(22)10(32)6(38)11(49)10(59)6(65)10 (75)
115102 JousterGlenn McKibben Joan McKibben669(9)9(18)7(25)(11)(36)10(46)11(57)11(68)9 (77)
125001 Maggie C.Geoff Ling8912(12)12(24)(DNS)(37)DNS(50)DNC(63)DNC(76)DNC(89)DNC (102)
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