North Carolina Masters
- Saturday, June 25th, 2005 - Sunday, June 26th, 2005
- Oriental Dinghy Club
- Oriental, NC
Reprinted From TownDock.net with Permission:
George Sechrist with the Oriental Dinghy Club provided this report on the races:
The Oriental Dinghy Club ("ODC") and the Oriental Laser Fleet hosted the ninth annual NC Masters Championship this past weekend, June 25&26. Twenty Lasers made up the race fleet.
The Laser is an International and Olympic sailing class, and is a 14 foot single handed boat.
Male & female sailors came from North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and Georgia for this event. There are 4 classes of Laser Masters: Apprentice, age 35-45, Master 45-55, GrandMaster 55-65, and Senior 65 and over.
Besides the intense competition in each age group, the overall awards are adjusted for penalty points for the “young “ guys, that is the younger the group you are in, the more points are added to your final score.
Saturday provided challenging conditions for these small boats, with winds gusting out of the east at 15-17 kts and 3 ft waves. Many sailors went for one or more unintentional swims in the Neuse, due to some unexpected gusts and wind shifts.
The ODC race committee gave us 5 great races Saturday, with 15 of the 20 completing all 8. The championship battle was set in the 1st race with Mike Schmidt from Annapolis beating Martin Willard, and they traded first & second until race 5 when Henry Amthor of Hampton, VA separated them with a 2nd, which gave Martin a slim lead going into Sunday over Mike & Henry, whose worst race was a 3rd.
Sunday was more to the liking of the older and smaller sailors, although the 1st race started out with gusts of 15, the wind settled down in the 8-12 range with lots of shifts, allowing 3 good races, each one a different course.
The championship was settled with Mike Schmidt having a 1,7,3, and beating out Martin Willard by 1 point with a 5,5,2. David Wright of Charlotte came out of the pack to win the last two races.
Local ODC sailors finished as follows: Chuck Lee 3rd Grand Masters, George Sechrist 5th GM, Ken King Seniors 3rd, Gordon LeGrand S4, and Stanley Bryant Masters 5th.
Congratulations to Stan Bryant competing in his first Laser Regatta. The top female was Kim Couranz from Annapolis, who was also visiting her family in Pamlico County.
The Oriental Dinghy Club thanks the race sponsors: Triton Yacht Sales, your local Laser & Sunfish dealer; M&M’s Restaurant; The Inland Waterway Provision Company; and West Marine in Oriental. Also thanks to Grace Evans for the use of her lawn, and Gordon LeGrand for the use of his boat parking & storage area.
2005 NC LASER MASTERS RESULTS |
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| Place | Name | Home | Score |
| 1 | Mike Schmidt |
Pasadena, MD | 27 |
| 2 | Martin Willard | Wrightsville Beach | 28 |
| 3 | Henry Ampthor |
Hampton, VA | 34 |
| 4 | Bob McCormack |
Norcross, GA | 48 |
| 5 | Ted Morgan | Annapolis, MD | 52 |
| 6 | John Fragakis | Winston Salem | 61 |
| 7 | Ken Hopkins | Statesville | 64 |
| 8 | Rob Frechette | Apex | 65 |
| 9 | David Wright | Charlotte | 66 |
| 10 | Chuck Lee | Oriental | 68 |
| 11 | Chris KaKavis | Burlington | 88 |
| 12 | George Sechrist | Oriental | 95 |
| 13 | Finn Hassing | Hickory | 95 |
| 14 | Warner Guedry | Atlanta, GA | 97 |
| 15 | Kim Couranz |
Annapolis, MD | 99 |
| 16 | Ken King | Oriental | 102 |
| 17 | Margaret Podlich |
Severna Park, MD | 111 |
| 18 | Gordon LeGrand | Raleigh | 125 |
| 19 | Jane Schmidt | Pasadena, MD | 134 |
| 20 | Stanley Bryant | Oriental | 155 |
Added: 6/29/2005 08:20:20 by Jon Deutsch
Updated: 6/29/2005 21:57:13 by Jon Deutsch