2002 East Coast 12 Meter National Championship
By David Brawner

The locals have told me that State College, Pennsylvania is a beautiful place to be in the fall.  The Weather Channel was doing it’s best to convince me otherwise.  Thankfully, the Weather Channel’s doom and gloom forecast was entirely wrong every single day.  We had everything from bright sunshine to thick clouds.  The winds ranged from too little to too much.  These are great conditions to crown a National Champion, or in our case, two National Champions.

To say the least, our schedule was ambitious with both the National Fleet Racing Championship and National Match Racing Championship to be sailed over four days.  Thanks to the co-operation of a great group of sailors and a prepared Race Committee, we were able to get in 113 heats over the course of four days.

Wednesday:  Match Racing

We had 28 entries for the Match Racing Championship, which was set up in single match elimination format.  Each match was best 2 out of 3 with the winner advancing to the next round.  Based on timing and the weather forecast, we decided to race both the first and second round matches on Wednesday.  There were 12 matches in the first round and eight in the second.  The man of the day was giant killer Tony Bollers.  In his first match, he knocked out Star National Champion, Scott Rowland.  His next victim was CR914 superstar, Dave Ramos.  At the end of the day, we were left with eight skippers and all four top seeds had advanced.

Thursday: Fleet and Match Racing Round of Eight.

We started the day with seeding races for the fleet racing using a windward/leeward course sailing from right to left.  The thirty-two boat fleet was divided in two 16 boat heats with each seeding heat being sailed twice.  After those four heats were sailed and while Frank & Linda Angel tallied the scores and divided the fleet, we got on with the round of eight in match racing and some mouth-watering match-ups.  My favorite had to be Reichard Kahle and Rick Gerry who drove from South Carolina together.  In what was termed an upset, Rick won the match 2-0.  Both pre-starts were good battles with the edge in each going to Rick.

The first day of fleet racing proceeded like expected.  Everyone was a little bit antsy and for those who generally are at the head of the local fleet, it takes a while to get used to so many boats being ahead of them.  At the end of the day, Mark Rinehart had a lead of 7 points over his closest rival, Reichard Kahle.  Bob Kjellberg had an outstanding day and found himself in third at the end of day one.   Defending champion Danny Thomas dug himself another early hole this year trailing the leader by 15.

Friday: Fleet Racing and Match Racing Final Four.

We started the day with fleet racing over a zigzag course.  The wind had shifted just enough to the left to take away the windward/leeward course from the day before.  The skippers sailed to windward, then a reach across the lake and then another windward leg before turning for the run back down to the start.  There were a few less than cordial roundings at the reaching mark. But, overall the skippers did a great job adjusting.

At the end of this day, the top five for the regatta had been set.  Danny Thomas, Ivor Walton and Dave Ramos made their moves.  Mark was still on top.  He had even increased his lead a little bit and that little bit would prove important.

The Final Four in match racing featured Rinehart versus Wathne and Thomas versus Ricky Gerry.  All are very familiar with each other.   In the first race, I would assume that the peanut gallery was putting their money on Rinehart.  Well that calm cool Jarl Wathne became a hunter once the tape started and beat Mark to advance to the final.  In the other match, Danny Thomas took the first race but was trailing in the second when Rick Gerry had a mechanical failure.  Danny, in true sporting fashion, pulled out of the race to allow Rick time to repair.  The quote from Danny was “we had come too far to have it end like this”.  When the race was resailed, Danny ended up winning it and advanced to an all Maryland Model Yacht Club final.

Saturday: Final day of Fleet Racing and the Match Racing Championship

The weather forecast had been for 30 knots.  Though that didn’t materialize, the wind was far from settled.  We set a windward/leeward course and crossed our fingers.  What started as a fleet race turned into a match race between Rinehart and Thomas.  The early morning found Mark holding his lead.  Then in race 12, disaster struck as the jib sheet wrapped around the boom.  Mark took a last place and the scores got a lot tighter. 

It all came down to the last race with Danny trailing by 4.8 points.  While Danny did beat Mark in the last race, Mark held on close enough to win his second National Championship by just 1.8 points. 

Match racing on Saturday included the 3rd & 4th place match of Rinehart and Ricky Gerry and the Championship.  Rinehart won his first race against Ricky and in the second heat the only part he led was the last six inches which was enough to earn him 3rd place.

The Final pitted Danny vs. Jarl.  What could be more fun?  They are from the same club, have sailed together for years, one is mellow, one is a bit hyper and they drove together.  The pre-start was expanded to two minutes to allow for some more excitement.  Jarl was the hunter again.  During both pre-starts, Jarl attacked Danny from a leeward position time and time again.  Both starts, Danny slipped away by an inch or so.  Once in front, Danny is hard to catch.  Danny took the Championship 2-0 in front of a large crowd. 

Saturday night we had our awards banquet at Duffy’s Tavern, which is a charming place built in 1819.  During dinner we gave away a bunch of door prizes from the suppliers of the class.  While the drawing was totally random, some were very ironic, such as sail maker Danny Thomas winning a pair of sails or Soling One Meter National Champion, Greg Vasileff winning a Soling One Meter.  Once dinner was over trophies were handed out.  Each skipper received a half hull plaque thanks to the hard work of Bob Kjellberg and others.

A special award was given to Frank & Linda Angel for Lifetime Achievement for Service to the Class.  A more deserved award could not have been given.  Not only are they the driving force in the Carolinas, this was Frank’s 100th regatta.

It takes a man like our host, Fred Maurer to pull off such a regatta in State College, PA.  Prior to this regatta, their club experience with regattas totaled one.  Prior three years ago, the total number of EC12s in State College was zero.  Fred is a tireless worker who approaches everything from the positive side.  Thankfully, his wonderful wife Nancy is there to keep him out of too much trouble, or even more importantly to get him out of it.  Fred, Nancy and the rest of the State College Model Yacht Club took care of every detail imaginable regarding creature comforts.  Trust me, we were all fed well during our stay.  Thank you Fred, thank you Nancy.

The race committee was made up of Rick West, the Angels and myself.  Rick and I handled starts and on the water judging.  Frank and Linda took care of the finishes and all of the scoring.  What a pleasure it is to work with people so prepared for their jobs.  After 113 heats over four days, the regattas are over and we turn our attention to San Diego in 2003.

Match Racing:

Danny Thomas 

Champion

Jarl Wathne 

Second

Mark Rinehart

Third

Rick Gerry

Fourth

Full Matrix shown below

Fleet Racing:

 

Captain

Score

1

Rinehart

44

2

Thomas

46

3

Kahle

79

4

Walton

89

5

Ramos

101

6

Rowland

102

7

Kelter

109

8

Gerry,R

117

9

Wathne

122

10

Sellers

135

11

Cobley

177

12

Bottensek

190

13

Houtz

196

14

Mueller

200

15

Metcalf

231

16

Vasileff

248

17

Hale

251

18

Cole

259

19

Kjellberg

280

20

Proefrock

300

21

Pendino

321

22

Kornmann

334

23

Donohoe

338

24

Ottopal

340

25

Bollers

359

26

Gerry,D

371

27

Hein

402

28

Lenhart

410

29

Aiken

410

30

Dukehart

416

31

Wood

438

32

Slater

487

Daily Results

Thursday   Friday   Saturday -  Final
Captain Score Pos   Captain Score Pos   Captain Score Pos
Rinehart 8 1   Rinehart 28.2 1   Rinehart 44 1
Kahle 15 2   Thomas 37 2   Thomas 46 2
Kjellberg 18 3   Kahle 59 3   Kahle 79 3
Wathne 18 4   Walton 62 4   Walton 89 4
Thomas 23 5   Ramos 69 5   Ramos 101 5
Kelter 25 6   Wathne 69.2 6   Rowland 102 6
Ramos 25 7   Rowland 74 7   Kelter 109 7
Walton 26 8   Gerry, R 76 8   Gerry, R 117 8
Gerry, R 27 9   Kelter 93 9   Wathne 122 9
Rowland 30 10   Sellers 101 10   Sellers 135 10
Mueller 30 11   Bottensek 126 11   Cobley 177 11
Sellers 34 12   Mueller 135 12   Bottensek 190 12
Bottensek 40 13   Cobley 140 13   Houtz 196 13
Cole 46 14   Metcalf 154 14   Mueller 200 14
Cobley 57 15   Houtz 162 15   Metcalf 231 15
Vasileff 58 16   Cole 169 16   Vasileff 248 16
Hale 58 17   Kjellberg 177 17   Hale 251 17
Houtz 60 18   Vasileff 185 18   Cole 259 18
Metcalf 62 19   Hale 191 19   Kjellberg 280 19
Bollers 70 20   Pendino 219 20   Proefrock 300 20
Gerry, D 74 21   Ottopal 225 21   Pendino 321 21
Pendino 80 22   Proefrock 232 22   Kornmann 334 22
Proefrock 81 23   Donohoe 235 23   Donohoe 338 23
Kornmann 85 24   Kornmann 247 24   Ottopal 340 24
Dukehart 90 25   Gerry, D 250 25   Bollers 359 25
Lenhart 90 26   Bollers 255 26   Gerry, D 371 26
Ottopal 91 27   Lenhart 258 27   Hein 402 27
Aiken 91 28   Hein 266 28   Lenhart 410 28
Hein 95 29   Aiken 281 29   Aiken 410 29
Donohoe 95 30   Dukehart 282 30   Dukehart 416 30
Wood 101 31   Wood 302 31   Wood 438 31
Slater 104 32   Slater 322 32   Slater 487 32

 

Match racing Matrix

Wednesday Thursday Saturday
Semi-Final Final Consolation
Kahle Kahle Kahle Rick Gerry Danny

Thomas

Rick

Gerry

bye
Metcalf Metcalf
bye
Gerry, R Rick Gerry Rick Gerry
Wood
Vasileff Vasileff
Ottopal Semi-Final Loser --------->
Thomas Thomas Thomas Danny

Thomas

Lenhart
Houtz Kjellberg
Kjellberg 1st Place
Kelter Kelter Kelter Danny

Thomas

2nd Place
Aiken Jarl Wathne 3rd Place
Bottensek Bottensek Mark

Rinehart

4th Place
Hale Rick

Gerry

Rinehart Rinehart Rinehart Mark

Rinehart

Jarl

Wathne

Mark

Rinehart

bye
Mueller Mueller
Gerry, D
Rowland Bollers Bollers
Bollers
Ramos Ramos
Hein Semi-Final Loser ---------->
Wathne Wathne Wathne Jarl

Wathne

Donahoe
Sellers Sellers
Kornmann
Walton Walton Walton
Dukehart
bye Pendino
Pendino