District 11 Grand Prix Championship

  • Saturday, May 14th, 2005 - Sunday, May 15th, 2005
  • Rock Hall YC
  • Rock Hall, MD

Nicholas Place reports on another fine regatta at Rock Hall YC:

RHYC hosted the 2005 Laser District 11 Grand Prix Regatta a week ago. Mother Nature provided a good variety of sailing conditions throughout the 5 race series. We had great wind throughout the weekend in the 10-15 range, only dropping to about 3 knots in the final leg of the last race. We had SW winds on Saturday that were steady and provided decent waves with the long fetch up from Kent Island Narrows. On Sunday the wind had veered to the Northwest which made for more tactical racing and flatter water.

We had a great turn-out in terms of numbers and certainly in terms of quality. We had 39 sailors from 13 clubs, 7 states, and three laser districts; Virginia to Connetticut. We also had a good contingent of women and junior sailors.

Ryan Minth of the US Sailing Team won the regatta. Jason Currie, (SSA), second; Nick von der Wense, (SSA) was third; Diane Burton, (SSA) was first female. Billy Martin was first Junior. results www.rockhallyc.org or www.laserdistrict11.org

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Ryan Minth shared this report and Nicholas passed it on...

The D11 Grand Prix regatta for me was one of those laser events that surprise you on the class calendar. One hears about the regatta and decides to go with just enough time to get the car loaded with boat/gear and drive to make it to the first start, maybe. Rock Hall YC is wonderfully located on a quiet peninsula in the northern region of Maryland's Eastern Shore.

It was so nice to be at Rock Hall that I was saying to myself, "This is the best regatta ever", even before launching.

The forecast was off quite a bit and we were greeted with warm temps and mid-teens onshore breeze. Although, the water was still chilly, one good layer and airprene pants were enough. John, Jason, Nick v., and Bobby led the fleet tightly packed into a group of four. I made time on the first run working the waves and rounded in the middle of this group. John and I worked away from the fleet on the next beat and I passed him on the run. John took the first bullet. This was an 85 minute race with looooong beats.

In race 2, Jason ,got off to an nice lead early on. This time Bobby and Nick v. were in pursuit, but everyone was spaced apart a bit and no passing lanes were found. In the 3 leg course it was all final beat cover, there were your 1-2-3 finishers.

The final race of Saturday had lightened to very low teens. With another 3 legged, windward-leeward, I jumped off the favored port end, worked one small shift to the middle, went back left and had a good lead at the weather mark. A loose cover on Dave Breder, and there is your 1-2, with Jason posting a 3.

As we waited for dinner, it was easy to look back out and want for a fourth race, especially after showering and de-rigging.

Dinner was amazing; easily worth the $10 and the wait- a wonderful whitefish, mussels/clams, pork, salad and vegetables. Delicious.

Sunday wind appeared to be about half-strength to that of Saturday. We found ourselves in a stiff north-westerly, but with smaller waves.
The shifts were faster and bigger. I got off the favored end and worked the right for a wire to wire win. Jason made a miraculous recovery, from 10th to 3rd; keeping the regatta close at 2 points.

The last race was almost a copy, except it seemed half the fleet was tangled in some sort of starting line mayhem. Some new faces found their way to the front of the fleet while others struggled to catch up.

The wind now dropping from a full hike to sitting in, starving to find pressure, to an ever worse getting silly light and shifting wildly. Places changed beyond anyone's capacity to track. Jason went from mid-teens to sixth; another more impressive recovery and coming on strong. We separated a bit, as I waived a port-tack to Ted Morgan- giving him a boat between us. Jason needed two boats. It wasn't in the cards as I squeaked past Ted at the favored pin end.

The line, "this is the greatest regatta ever!" deserves an explanation, but will have to wait. Just take it at face value and do not miss the next. ROCK HALL YC, ROCKS!

Congratulations to Suzie and Brendan for staying in the regatta and making every race!


Saturday
Sunday
With drop
Place
Sail #
Club
Race 1
Race 2
Race 3
Race 4
Race 5
Total
1 175581 Ryan Eric Minth CPYC
2
4
1
1
4
8
2 173704 Jason Currie SSA
3
1
3
3
3
10
3 178862 Nick von der Wense AYC
5
3
10
2
2
12
4 175006 Bobby Martin RYC
4
2
7
5
9
18
5 166063 Mike Schmidt MRSA
7
7
4
9
1
19
6 181148 John MacCausland CRYC
1
8
6
8
6
21
7 152045 Dave Breder CYCCM
10
26
2
7
7
26
8 182434 Philip Hood CPYC
6
12
8
4
11
29
9 175520 Brian Raney CPYC
14
5
5
14
13
37
10 178575 Ted Morgan SSA
11
14
12
11
5
39
11 168424 Bob Tan SSA
13
6
13
10
14
42
12 177693 Luke Shingledecker SSA
9
20
25
6
12
47
13 168549 Diane Burton SSA
8
17
11
12
16
47
14 153046 Mitch Grieb RHYC
19
9
18
19
8
54
15 154518 Jim Knab CRYC
17
10
19
16
15
58
16 178603 Alain Vincey FBYC
15
15
15
13
19
58
17 168479 Roger Link WRSC
18
11
16
20
21
65
18 151860 Rich Parolski RHYC
20
18
14
21
18
70
19 181141 Mike Hecky RYC
12
22
20
23
20
74
20 158005 Nicholas Place RHYC
16
39/DNC
39/DNC
17
10
82
21 179485 Billy Martin RYC
21
21
22
18
24
82
22 159785 Jon Deutsch FBYC
23
16
17
28
29
84
23 154414 Mark Lynch RHYC
24
30
9
29
31
92
24 180529 George Lewis RHYC
27
24
24
24
22
94
25 152989 JR Futcher
26
27
29
15
27
95
26 171075 Holger Hinsch SSA
31
25
28
26
17
96
27 169588 Brendan Gay WRSC
30
23
23
22
28
96
28 169593 Rob Maxwell SSA
29
19
31
27
23
98
29 182753 There DuPont NHC
28
13
21
39/DNC
39/DNC
101
30 144293 George Kuney CRYC
32
28
32
25
25
110
31 170775 Jeff Pugh RHYC
22
29
27
39/DNC
39/DNC
117
32 134195 Kim Couranz SSA
25
33
30
30
33
118
33 145649 Bill Thomson
33
32
26
35
39/DNC
126
34 121384 Jane Schmidt MRSA
36
36
34
34
30
134
35 150890 Glenn Smyth RYC
34
37
35
31
35
135
36 297 Susan Bloom CRYC
38
34
36
33
32
135
37 181288 Guy Rodemich
35
31
33
39/DNC
39/DNC
138
38 152095 Kevin Hecky RYC
37
35
39/DNC
32
34
138
39 375 Faye Flam PLF
39/DNC
39/DNC
39/DNC
36
26
140

Added: 5/18/2005 14:57:29 by Jon Deutsch
Updated: 5/27/2005 08:34:10 by Jon Deutsch