9th Wave Nationals Has Lots of Wind

Dec 1-3, 2006, Key Largo, Florida
Over a nice and windy weekend, a newcomer to the Wave Class dominated over the 24 boat fleet to win by nearly 30 boats. Patrick Green of Put-in-Bay, Ohio had been sailing anything and everything for years, usually commuting by ferry to Sandusky, Ohio. Mostly his experience was on Thistles and Interlakes. The sailing at the Put-in-Bay Yacht Club had been nonexistent for a number of years, other than when they host the I-LYA Bay Week Regatta in August.

Patrick Green rounds the leeward mark in the lead as usual

Then one day he heard the Rick White and Mary Wells had come to the island and were trying to rejuvenate sailing at the PIBYC and had a spare boat to lend folks that were interested. Green jumped at the chance.

The first year he struggled with the new toy, but was soon hooked. Not only did he buy his own boat the following year, but bought two. That way he could share with newcomers they way Rick and Mary did. And so the class grew at the club.

Green raced at the PIBYC for two years, getting in around 55 club races per season. And this year the experience showed. In July he sailed the Wave North American Championships at Sandy Hook, New Jersey, but could only muster up a mid-fleet placing. But, by August he was honking. He finished 2nd place in the Wave North Coast Championships against 15 other boats.
Alter Cup Champion John Casey (99) enjoys a lead at the leeward mark.

At this year's nationals he started off by taking a Rick White Sailing Seminar. Took a break before the regatta began and then simply smoked. Out of eighteen races he took six bullets, five seconds and finished well in all the other races. He was definitely the most consistent sailor out there.

And still another star was born. Kenny Pierce, Alter Cup Champion, had never set foot on a Wave until Friday of the regatta. And his first day showed it -- he had two 11th place finishes and was over early one race. But after that he became obsessed. He rattled off a bunch of top finishes including three aces to work his way back to second place overall.

Kenny Pierce (59) edges out Patrick Green (11) at the finish line and appears to be very pleased by it.

Perennial hot shot, Jim Glanden, was always finishing with the front boats and took a couple of bullets as well to capture 3rd place spot. Dave White started off poorly, but like Pierce started finishing high up in the finish positions to grab 4th place.

White's wife, Leah, started off the series with two bullets and appeared to be on her way to her first major title. That would have been awesome considering she has only been racing a couple of years. But, things started going bad for her -- she had several very bad races. She still managed to finish up in fifth place by one point over prior champ Dan Kulkoski. Leah White was also the Womens Champion for the regatta.

Second in the Womens Championship was Betty Bliss of Put-in-Bay, Ohio, followed by former Open Champion Kathy Kulkoski.

In the Masters it was Jim Glanden taking the honors, with Stan Woodruff in 2nd spot and Nelson Wright in 3rd place.

This was the first time the event had been held at the Upper Keys Sailing Club in Key Largo. The club opened it arms to the fleet and did a great job of organizing the entire event. The food alone was worth showing up for -- Tom and Marylou Chambers outdid themselves with more gourmet food than anyone would ever want. For the Saturday night banquet meal they roasted a 90-pound pig and also had turkey. WOW!

Racing was really fun, with good winds ranging from 12-18 knots and flat seas -- perfect catamaran sailing conditions. The RC was able to match the record of the first year and got in 18 races. Corsair dealer and racer, Don Wigston, said, "...was great to be able to get in so much racing. Usually you travel hundreds of miles and only get in a few races. This was great!" Wigston managed to finish in 14th place on his first Wave effort.

Next year's races will again be in the Key Largo area over the first weekend in December. There are now charter boats available so start making your plans early -- it is an awesome event.