2011 Tradewinds Was Awesome

Great Wind the Entire Weekend

Over eighty high-speed, high-tech catamaran sailboats came from twenty two states, and from Canada, Brazil, Italy and Puerto Rico, for the 2011Tradeswinds Midwinter Open Cat National Championships. The event was held off the beach of Founders Park, and was hosted by Founders Park Watersports on the Bayside of the Islands. The event was Friday through Sunday January 14-16. There were six different classes of boats, with the F16 and F18 Classes each featuring their Class Midwinter National Championships.

Start of the F18 Class, 25 Strong
Two courses were set dividing each course into three classes. The spinnaker boats were on the Yellow Course pretty far out from shore where the winds were more consistent. The Hobie Wave and 16s, along with the Open Portsmouth Class sailed on the Orange Course, which was a little closer to shore.
The winds cooperated perfectly for all three days of the regatta. The first day was a bit on the chilly side – if you were from Florida. The northerners didn’t seem to notice. However, the winds were a steady 18-20 on the first day after a 90-degree shift just before the races were to start.
This kept the RC and Mark Boats hopping to get the games underway and on time. And they did it – there were no postponements. The Yellow Course got in 13 races over the three day span, while the Orange Course got in twelve – that was a lot of racing and all in great winds.
The winds stayed up there for the first two days and finally let up on Sunday. That day saw a pretty steady 15.

The Races

F18 Class (Largest Class with 25 Boats)
It was a star-studded class the gave battle in the awesome winds and flat seas. After the first day of racing John Casey and Dalton Tebo were tied with Mike Easton and Tripp Burd with 13 points each. Taylor Reiss and Matthew Whitehead were only a point behind and John Tomko was a point behind him. It was some exciting and tight racing.

On the second day of racing Easton/Burd took over, rattling off two bullets and four deuces for a total 16 points with their throwout. Casey/Tebo got their act polished and got three aces, two fives and a ninth, which they threw out. At that point Casey/Tebo were in second place, 10 points behind the leaders and 6 points ahead of Tomko and, and ten points ahead of Reiss/Whitehead

The RC got in 3 races the last day where Easton/Burd sealed the deal with 1-4-3 finish and a total points of 24 – they were 17 points ahead of Reiss/Whitehead. In the last race Casey/Tebo had a good lead on the fleet, but when the got to the leeward Gate, they straddled the mark and drug it a great distance. The RC did a great job by jumping in a rubber boat with the Mark Missing Flag.
The error cost Casey/Tebo second spot on the podium. Had they finished with a first they would have easily taken second. No way would they catch Easton and Burd. Tomko finished in 3rd place, followed by Casey and Tebo. Olli Jason and Patrick Gilles rounded out in 5th place. Olympic Team sailor, Robbie Daniel was always in the mix, but ended up in sixth place.

Mike Easton and Tripp Burd won the coveted Carlton Tucker Memorial Trophy given to the annual winner in the largest class.

Waves (Second Largest Class with 18)

Leah White (known as the Plant Lady) of Key Largo won in the Hobie Wave Class. On the first day of racing she had two bullets, a third and sixth. Husband Dave White also had very finishes and was only one point behind in second spot. John Sherry was following Dave by two point. Stan Woodruff and Mark Scarpelli were nipping at the heels of those leaders.

On the second day Leah White won the first three races of the five and was close to the lead for the 4th race of the day. Just as she got to the leeward mark she did an accidental jibe, which knocked her off the boat. She held on to the sheet, but in doing so, made the boat capsize.
While working on righting the boat the mast jumped off the rotating post, causing a dismasting. Then the boat went turtle. She had to be towed to shore, taking a DNF for the 8th race and a DNS for the 9th race. It appeared her routing of the class had come to a close.
As the races started on Sunday Stan Woodruff now had the lead with 24 points, Dave White in 2nd with 30 points, John Sherry third with 31 points, Mark Scarpelli with 32 points and Leah White with 33 points.
Four way tie between Stan Woodruff, Dave White, Mark Scarpelli and yes, Leah White, who had just won two of the previous races.
And the winner is.........
Yep, Leah won the last race taking all the marbles. Mark Scarpelli took a 2nd place finish and ended up second overall. Stan Woodruff took a 3rd in the last race, and third overall, and Dave White finished fourth and took 4th overall.
There is really some very, very close racing in the Wave Class

Leah White eke out another victory in the Wave Class, despite DNFs in two races.

Truly Youth Sailors. Don Harper let his daughter Leah and friend Chris Nagy sail his Wave, and they did very well finishing in 14th place out of 18 boats.

John Sherry was right in the top 3, but ended up in 5th place in the Waves

Mark Scarpelli took 2nd place, just one point behind Leah White

Hobie 16 (Third in Size with 14)
Youth sailors Eric Raybon and Dan Rodriguez took a commanding lead on the first day, with three bullets and second. Tom Korz and Jessie Gybeswell were in second, six points back, followed by Greg Raybon and Cory Page, then Herb James and Sue Bennett.
The savvy Korz was not going to be outfoxed and put together a string finishes the were always in the top three and had several aces along the way. They managed to take to top prize over the youth team, followed by James/Bennett, the Greg Raybon/Page and Dan and Laura Borg.

Tom Korz and Jesse Gybewell (109876) battle it out with Bob John and Tina Pastoor (108113)

Tom Korz and Jesse Gybeswell won the Hobie 16 Class. Donita Leavitt, PRO on the Yellow Course.
F16 (Had 9 Boats)
Nigel and Tammy Pitt took no prisoners and showed no mercy taking all bullets except for a second and a third. Tim Bohan/Andy Lutz were the only ones near the Pitt family. He captured second place ahead of Eric Witte/Robin Merricks, followed by Chris Stater/Oscar Garcia, and Karl Brogger/Ela Silwerska.

F16 Class winners were Nigel and Tammy Pitt
NI20 Fleet (5 Boats)
Trey Brown and Bailey White totally dominated this class as did the Pitts in the F16, taking all aces, but one of the thirteen races. Jake Kohl and Frank Moore took one bullet and was pretty much second in all the rest. Patrick Pettengill and Joe Pocreva place third five points behind. The rest of the fleet rounded out with Phillip Mumm and Jody Abrams taking 4th place and Dennis Bedgood/Bill Bartlet in 5th place.

Open Class (This was the handicap fleet, with 7 boats registered)
Four of the seven boats did not compete on Friday. They were awarded their average scores on Saturday and Sunday to fill in their Friday scores. Jerry Pattenaude and Dan Berger on a Shark won with 16 points, followed by Wally Schuette on an F17, only 3 points behind. Kelly Davis sailed his Hobie 17 to 3rd place, with Shark sailors Jim Hirtreiter and Charles Marshall taking 4th place and in fifth place was David Norvell on a Hobie 18.

Jerry Pattenaude and Dan Berger on their beautiful wooden Shark won the Open Class by 3 points over the F17 sailed by Wally Schuette

Kelly Davis took 3rd place in the Open Class sailing a Hobie 17

Barb Short of Founders Park Watersports said, “We put this event on in what we believe is a great time of the year for both the sailors and the local economy – it gives the folks time away from the zero-degree weather up north, and it helps the motels, restaurants and shops locally during that little window of off-season that happens after the new year.”
Thanks to the many, many people that helped in the regatta.

PRO on the Yellow Course was Donita Leavitt and on the Orange Course was Rick White. Both did a great job and had very few delay time between races.
The event was sponsored by Catamaran Sailor Magazine of Key Largo, CABB (Catamaran Assn. of Biscayne Bay), OnLineMarineStore.com, Rick White’s Sailing Seminars and Founders Park Watersports.

Results:

2011 Tradewinds Regatta

Founders Park, Islamorada

F18 Class

F16 Class

Wave Class

Nacra Inter 20 Class

Open Handicap Class