By Doug Bowe
The smoke has cleared, the carnage is over and the first regatta of the
new year has been completed in Palm Beach Gardens. With the weather
forecasts calling for rain all day Saturday we were wondering if moving the
regatta from Jacksonville to South Florida for the February dates was the
right thing to do. I guess it was as we had no rain but more than enough
wind. Saturday morning brought 5 to 8 knots of wind from the Southwest and
22 skippers started the first of two seeding races to establish the
groupings for the EORS scoring system that we would be using for the first
time. The "usual suspects" came to the top of the board and set the standard
for the weekend. Joe Walter and John Bottensek from Jacksonville, Carl
Olbricht from Bonita Springs, Bob Dudinsky of Treasure Island, and Harry
Strunk from the host club all seemed to have their boats moving well. With
the longer courses that were able to be set up due to the wind direction and
buoy changes that PBGMYS had made to the lake, there was a lot of separation
established. This was important, as the wind continued to build during the
day. Only 16 heats were sailed on Saturday due to many " holds" being called
for various breakdowns and electronic failures. That totaled up to 8 races
and we finished sailing for the day so we could meet at the Abbey Road Grill
for dinner and libations. The camaraderie was evident and I think everyone
enjoyed themselves.
Sunday morning brought 48 degree temps and a wind shift to the Northwest
at 12-15 knots! Yes, the cold front had arrived! Sailing began on time and
we had a dismasting before the first bell sounded. The rescue boat was
launched and the tone was set for the morning.
The sailors who were able to handle the building breeze easily sailed
away from the fleet. Joe Walter did a horizon job in the first race of the
day after his closest competitor, John Bottensek lost his rig. Then locals
Harry Strunk and Ed Gelina pulled away in the next race only to have Joe and
John come back to make it fairly close at the end. Bottensek crossed the
line and lost his second rig of the day.
Those two races were sailed with four other dismastings, a few very hard
collisions, uncontrolled jibing and broaching, numerous hardware failures,
and the like. The wind had reached 18 knots steady (measured) with gusts
approaching the 22-25 knot range, when RD Doug Bowe called a meeting of the
skippers for a vote on continuing. By a 3 to 1 margin racing was cancelled
and scores were totaled.
On a positive note, there were a number first time participants which
shows that the class is growing in Florida. Earl Mills from St. Petersburg
had his best showing, finishing sixth and newcomer Bob Greer from Palm Beach
Gardens, sailing in his first regatta, took a seventh place finish.
The sailors from the Soling and Victoria fleets of the host club did a
great job again in handling all the race committee duties. Dick Reinke, who
just finished RC duty for the Olympic qualifying regatta in Miami, did a
great job in keeping the courses interesting. With the wind, the new scoring
system, and the fact that this was only the second EC-12 regatta for this
club, I think the consensus would agree that the Palm Beach Gardens Model
Yacht Squadron did a job "Well Done."
Results
1 Joe Walter 28
2 John Bottensek 31
3 Harry Strunk 39
4 Carl Olbrich 49
5 Ed Gelina 56
6 Earl Mills 64
7 Bob Greer 69
8 Bob Dudinsky 74
9 Bill Gale 75
10 John Garver 76
11 Kent Farndell 82
12 Phil Ehlinger 83
13 John Biles 84
14 John Rowley 94
15 Rex Theile 102
16 John Harrington 103 Did not sail on Sunday
17 Karl Burton 114 Did not sail on Sunday
18 Tim Hopkins 124 Did not sail on Sunday
19 Carl Sturges 134
20 Mel Baldwin 154 Did not sail on Sunday
21 Richard Garnache 168 Dropped out Saturday
22 Jerry Warmeskerken 198 Broke down Saturday
|