US Sailing Area C Alter Cup Qualifier (aka: Pumpkin Patch Regatta)

As the awards presentation began, I made a point of thanking the people who help plan, staff and carryout the regatta, starting with mentioning our PRO and the Race Committee. I was just about able to utter Rolf Zeisler (our PRO), and the room erupted with applause. After about thirty seconds I was able to read the names of the race committee, Sue Zeisler, Daphne Byron, Chris Ford, Dave Yemc, Bob Robinson, Sue Robinson, Macy Nelson, and Brandon O'Connel. The applause began again. This applause was the most robust applause I have heard in my 15 or so years of sailing and was very well deserved. Let me take you back to the weekend of October 17 and 18. It began getting colder on the Wednesday before the regatta and then began raining on Thursday, which continued on and off through Sunday morning. The forecast on Saturday morning suggested that Saturday was going to be a much better day than Sunday. Much better in that Saturday the temperature was in the low 40s, it was raining on and off, and the waves were 2’ to 3’ with the occasional 5’ set working its way into the river. The wind at Thomas Point was being recorded around 22 knots and building. Where was the race committee? They were on station, setting marks. They were in boats which offer very little shelter from the elements—if you have been in the Correct Craft or a whaler lately, you know what I mean. They patiently waited for the racers to show up on the race course. They provided three very well run races. Sunday morning I walked out to my truck around 6:30 am in a heavy rain and an optimistic 39 degrees temperature. I remember thinking I should be going hunting or skiing instead of sailing. A few hours later, there was the Race Committee ready to go—probably more ready than the racers. The Correct Craft was proving difficult to start. Race committee persistence—I’ve heard past Commodore persuasion can be irresistible—won over the vessel and they joined in setting the racecourse.

We had 23 boats register for the regatta. Seven teams traveled in from outside the West River Sailing club to vie for the right to represent our area in US Sailing Association’s annual Alter Cup—considered the US Championship for beach catamarans. Most of us left the beach on Saturday morning but only a few stuck out the difficult conditions to actually complete the races. When we capsized prior to racing, my crew said, “well I’m glad we got that out of the way!” I was reminded again that it is not good to sail a Nacra 20 slow. With the breeze generally from the North east, two lap races with a leeward gate and a downwind finish was the chosen course inside of Curtis Point. Three races and a capsize seemed to be enough for us so we called it a day and headed in to a semi-roaring fire, hot soup, and jerk chicken and macaroni and cheese.

Sunday, I get cold all over again just thinking about it, the breeze had shifted more to the north—maybe even a little to the north west—and the waves had settled down. In the first race the windward mark and offset were set up in the Rhodes River and the breeze was concentrated in the river, making the rounding very interesting having to short tacking up to the marks. On one of the F16s, John “Hollywood” McLaughlin and Ed “Lucky Duck” Mills were very hard to catch. In the second and third race the marks were moved out to the West River just outside of the Rhodes River, making the mark a little easier to achieve. In one of these two races it seemed like all ten boats racing that day converged on the weather mark at the same time during the first rounding. Kris Hathaway on his F16 tacked in front of us and luckily accelerated out of his tack, just prior to becoming a Gertie hood ornament. Dominating the racing was Randy Payne on a Hobie 14—scoring first in every race except the first two, in which he missed the offset mark.

Taking home the top spot was Bill Kast and 15-year old, Ryan Flanigan on a Hobie 16. Bill and Ryan now qualify to represent our Area in the Multihull Championship for 2010. They also won the Rob Wilson Memorial trophy and their names will be engraved and placed on the trophy at the club. While the 2009 Alter Cup Championship has just completed in Florida, rumor has it that the 2010 event may be held in the Spring.

Todd and Leanne Berget organized and staffed the food and did a great job, as usually. Thanks to Olivers Brewery (Pratt Street Ale House, http://www.prattstreetalehouse.com) for batching up an IPA for us. The “I” in Oliver’s IPA stands for Ironman, fitting giving aforementioned conditions. Also, I want to thank Mark Schneider for doing the race scoring again this year, as he has done in the past too many years to remember for the catamaran community. Finally, a special thanks to all who pre-registered and showed up for the regatta to race or just party, in the face of a really crappy weather report! Alec Daunheimer has stepped forward to be Race Chair for the 2010 Pumpkin Patch. Hey Alec, I’ll get the keg!

Chris Allen, Ex - Regatta Chairman