2007 J80 East Coast Championship
“Frustrating to say the
least.”
With
three days of racing and not much wind, the Annapolis NOODs and the 2007 East
Coast Championship went to FKA. FKA has
won this event 2 of the last 3 years.
Even then, it was not easy. Due
to large shifts and larger holes in the breeze during the last race, I think
that every boat was in first and last at least once during the race.
Once
again, we had new faces and old faces in the mix. It was good to see a diverse range of boats from around the
Northeast. We even recruited Dolphin
formally from Texas now from Detroit.
Day
1 showed us no breeze. Cloudy, rain,
cold. It wasn't much fun. No races but everyone was in good spirits
when we got back to the dock. The tent
party held copious amounts of party favors and then everyone made there way
back to Eastport Yacht Club, our host, to continue the party until late.
Day
2 started off much the same. No
wind. However, the breeze kept teasing
us coming in from the west and north all morning. Finally, the RC was able to get a race off and there was even
decent breeze. Excitable Boy got off to
a huge lead and the rest of the pack spent the remaining 4 legs trying to reel
them in. Dolphin and Angry Chameleon
made it very close on Excitable Boy but they held on to win the race, with
Dolphin and the Chameleons neck and neck for second and third.
Race
2 seemed to be very much like race 1 until we all turned the top mark. Church Key had a great first leg and the
beginning of the run, however, that changed when the wind changed 180
degrees. The run became another beat
and the RC abandoned the race. They
quickly got us off on race number 3.
Once again, this race was looking good.
Halfway up the second beat, the breeze decided to shut off and change
direction. Patience and persistence was
the name of this race with the boats on the left winning out in a big way over
the boats on the right. The RC was
running out of time to get some races in for this regatta so they chose to let
the race finish and Spank Me ended up taking home the bullet.
Day
3 dawned with breeze. As we left the
docks, we were able to sail to the race course. However, we had to wait for it to fill in on our circle. Race 4 started off with some breeze, big
puffs, big shifts and big chop. It was
the most breeze that we saw all weekend.
FKA stepped up and won that race.
The
final race started out in not much breeze.
The pin seemed to be the place to big with Dragonfly winning it but also
hitting it. They did a circle and then
we heard their tactician say, "I know you'll hate me but, there's nothing
else we can do, we have to go right."
Do I have to tell you that Dragonfly was first to the top mark and at
that point was winning the regatta?
After a furious gybing duel between Dragonfly and Crush going for the
finish, Crush was victorious and FKA held on to first for the regatta.
We
all had a great time even thought the wind did not cooperate. Everyone had a great time at our host marina
Eastport Yacht Club and everyone agreed that they would love to return to EYC
next year and just hope that God cooperates with better conditions! The goal for next year is 20
boats. If you didn’t come this year,
plan on coming next year, it was a blast.
|
Pos |
Sail |
Boat |
Skipper |
Total |
Pos |
||||
|
1 |
155 |
FKA |
Les Beckwith |
5 |
4 |
1 |
6 |
16.00 |
1 |
|
2 |
357 |
Dragonfly |
Chris Johnson |
8 |
2 |
5 |
2 |
17.00 |
2 |
|
3 |
483 |
Dolphin |
Jeff Bodkin |
3 |
8 |
3 |
4 |
18.00 |
3 |
|
4 |
285 |
Crush |
Mark Gorman |
7 |
13 |
2 |
1 |
23.00 |
4 |
|
5 |
259 |
Spank Me |
Bob Limoggio |
12 |
1 |
6 |
5 |
24.00 |
5 |
|
6 |
255 |
Angry Chameleon |
Kristen Robinson |
2 |
7 |
7 |
8 |
24.00 |
6 |
|
7 |
59 |
Church Key |
Chris Chadwick |
6 |
5 |
9 |
7 |
27.00 |
7 |
|
8 |
158 |
Excitable Boy |
Edward D. Philpot, Jr. |
1 |
6 |
8 |
14 |
29.00 |
8 |
|
9 |
443 |
Underdog |
Tom Behrle |
9 |
3 |
10 |
9 |
31.00 |
9 |
|
10 |
146 |
Hummer |
Christopher Kingsley |
4 |
9 |
11 |
10 |
34.00 |
10 |
|
11 |
205 |
The Office |
Steve Coneys |
10 |
12 |
12 |
3 |
37.00 |
11 |
|
12 |
364 |
Born 2 Run |
Rick Hanson |
11 |
14 |
4 |
11 |
40.00 |
12 |
|
13 |
156 |
Emotional Rescue |
John Enderle |
13 |
10 |
15/DNF |
12 |
50.00 |
13 |
|
14 |
381 |
Bigamy |
Dennis Meichel |
14 |
11 |
13 |
13 |
51.00 |
14 |