District 11 Championship

  • Saturday, September 28th, 1996 - Sunday, September 29th, 1996
  • Severn SA
  • Annapolis, MD

Saturday was not just windy but down right scary. The wind was from the south at about 20kt and had been blowing that way for several days. As a result 4-6ft waves had built up. Just about all of the fleet made it to the race course including two 15 year olds and most started but only about 13 of the 32 boat fleet finished. Ridge,the race committee chair set what he call a short weather leg, well I couldn't even see the weather mark! Thank goodness the leeward mark was about .25 mile from the start. The lead boat finished in about 50 minutes with the remaining fleet finishing in the next 30 minutes. Derek Fernon took the lead and held it for the entire race. Alden Shattuck finished second. I had a poor start but slowly ground about 8 boats down and missed getting third by 1 foot. The guy who was 3rd was 18 and he won the regatta. It wasn't just a survival game. There were some shifts and hitting them so that the boat was at a favorable angle to the waves made a difference. Those who could reach well also made out. Needless to say there was a lot of carnage. One visiting boat having just recovered from a capsize and while luffing had seen a Pearson 28 coming at him with one sail up on starboard. The next thing he knew the Pearson ran over him to such a degree that he had to reach up and grab the Pearson's shrouds to keep from getting squished. The skipper of the Pearson hailed starboard! Well, the bow put a hole in his sail which he had bought the night before, he lost his rudder and there may have been structural damage to his boat. He was shaken but okay and kept referring to himself as a speedbump.

As the race committee picked up to the remains of about 4 other boats the races were postponed for the day. Everyone sat around Saturday night telling their biggest wave story. Eric Dennis was telling us how he capsized about 20 times down wind. Someone said did you keep the main well over trimmed and he said no I let it past 90 degrees where it seemed really fast- for about 3 seconds. Bob Tan burst out laughing while those of who remained up right explained we were too scared to let out the main more than 5 degrees- well may be we did let it out a little more. Bedtime was 8:00pm! Sunday was more sane with most of the fleet starting. The races began promptly at 1030 and four were completed. The wind was out of the WNW 10 to 12 shifty with chop. Many of those who finished out of the top five on Saturday now were consistently in the top five. In many cases the finishes were very close with the outcome determined by who correctly picked where the last major shift was coming from and who correctly gauged the strength and direction of the current. The top three were very consistent and there was no throw out. - Karen Long

TOP 10 OF 32 BOATS

Place Name Points
1 Matt D'Errico 14 ¾
2 Alden Shattuck 21 ¾
3 Jeremy Wilson 21 ¾
4 Derek Fernon 21 ¾
5 Bob Tan 27
6 Andy Schoettle 35
7 Karen Long 39
8 Takao Shioya 66
9 Addison Thompson 76 ¾
10 Tom Shaw 77

Added: 4/10/2007 19:19:21 by Jon Deutsch