<b>Daily updates</b> will be posted here by RC, Joe Walter and myself. These postings are likely to be in the <b>evening ETZ</b>.
<b>Monday:</b> Joe Walter, Tom Germer and Tom Phillips arrived for final coordination for the conference room setup of storing the boats and competitor's gear. Lakeside access is about 50 feet to the water and all the lawn.
Hotel is likely to be placing our people on the top floor with most facing the lake. The staff here is very accommodating.
Except for the hotel on the south side of the lake. There are no air impediments to the race course. This is a very nice racing venue and we are quite welcome here.
<b>Tuesday:</b> The same bunch was back again today with four plaforms into the water so we can have dry feet, individual bags with polo shirt and all sorts of stuff. There are a half dozen boats here already.
Weather is better than forecast but grey all around. The wind is still up and the forecast for 10-15 most of the week. I hope it is 18-22. This eastern edge of Ida will pass north tomorrow. Good sailing ahead.
<b>Wednesday:</b> The fleet arrived. All were checked in, tanked and measured. There was a seminar on the Rules by the three US Judges attending and a welcome cocktail party following. The stage has been set.
<b>Thursday:</b> The morning dawned gray and stayed that way cold and windy. It was 55-60 and 5 to 10. Mostly A rigs were on the water with some B rigs. Six seeding heats and lunch consumed most of the time till 1330 when full heat racing began. Two races were completed and 2/3rds of another. We will begin with A Fleet in the morning.
The course is long with shifts along the way and gust to 12 mph every 3 minutes or so. Lay lines to weather also change along the way. Those reading the water have done well. The fleet has been well behave and the racing fun.
Forecast for the tomorrow is clearer weather with the wind still up and it will warm up about 10 degrees. Racing will change for sure with a full day of scoring. There are a lot of ties and the top 10 is not clear yet.
<b>Friday</b> SUN!!! Clear with nice temperatures today. It was B rig in the afternoon with northwest winds to 15+gusts. Unfortunately such conditions bring damage. There was a lot of scrambling as the fleet bared down to the task and the racing got more intense. Scoring changes happened while the cream continued to rise.
We have had Class members and interested sailors show here to see the event. Today was quite a show and Joe Walter at the windward mark, as monitor and finishing caller, was right on with his task. John Bottensek has demonstrated he is a top Race Director. Kudos also go to Tom Germer who was moving at Mach 1 since before the event being Super Gopher. Management wise this has been a stellar event.
<b>Saturday - The Finish</b> The wind was lighter starting with very light in the morning to 5-8 mph by noon. It was close all day with scant separations at the top. Seven races were competed bringing the total to 16 full races with 48 heats and 6 seeding heats. We finished at 1600 today right on schedule.
Unfortunately, Danny Thomas had winch problems in the afternoon. He and Reichard Kahle were dicing it out every race and DTs finish does not reflect his excellent sailing. Second through fifth was a toss up all day. World Champion Rick Gerry was pressing the envelope and ending at 3rd to Dave Ramos who had an excellent Saturday and sailed steadily throughout the event. Chuck Luscomb blossomed on Thursday and showed that he came prepared to finish his best in this Class. It was a very nice event with good racing and good sportsmanship.
Jon Luscomb gets the event sportsman award for having a lapse that damaged another boat during a foul. He immediately withdrew from the race and paying the heavy scoring penalty.
The full report will come as Joe Walter decompresses.
<b>Please note:</b>Two Throwouts are included.
1 Kahle 57
2 Ramos 71
3 Gerry, R 71
4 Luscomb, C 75
5 Brawner 81
6 Thomas 103
7 Bremer 115
8 Rinehart 124
9 Perkins 124
10 Kelter 130
11 Herrerick 132
12 West 140
13 Brown, B 143
14 Greer 179
15 Dudinsky 203
16 Kakavas 227
17 Raishbrook 250
18 Wubbe 252
19 Luscomb, J 268
20 Pfeil 269
21 Dion 274
22 Cobley 280
23 Pardee 286
24 Gerry, D 322
25 Freeland 348
26 Gray 353
27 Ward 363
28 Vernon 370
29 Phillips 372
30 Elder 376
31 Mulroy 388
32 Vella 410
33 Hale 410
34 Edwards 458
35 Smith, M 502
36 Garver 503
37 Stall 506
38 Allen 510 DNF
39 Atkinson 527
40 Reinke 527
41 Fernald 531
42 Donohoe 547
43 VanCleef 548 DNF


"That's All Folks."
...94

yikes!!

...GALE WARNING...

.OVERNIGHT...W OF 74W...E TO SE WINDS 25 TO 35 KT...EXCEPT FAR
SW PART DIMINISHING TO S TO SE 15 TO 20 KT LATE. SEAS 8 TO 12 FT
BUILDING TO 9 TO 13 FT. E OF 74W...E TO SE WINDS 15 TO 25 KT.
SEAS 7 TO 10 FT. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND TSTMS THROUGHOUT.
.THU...WINDS DIMINISHING TO S TO SE 10 TO 20 KT...EXCEPT FAR SW
PART BECOMING N 20 TO 25 KT LATE. SEAS BECOMING 8 TO 13 FT
THROUGHOUT. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND TSTMS.
.THU NIGHT...S WINDS 15 TO 20 KT...EXCEPT FAR SW PART BECOMING N
TO NW 25 TO 30 KT. SEAS 8 TO 15 FT...HIGHEST N. ISOLATED SHOWERS.
.FRI...FAR W PART...NW WINDS 25 TO 35 KT DIMINISHING TO 20 TO 30
KT. ELSEWHERE...S TO SW WINDS 15 TO 25 KT. SEAS 9 TO 16 FT
THROUGHOUT...HIGHEST N.
.FRI NIGHT...N TO NW WINDS 20 TO 30 KT...EXCEPT E PART S TO SW
15 TO 20 KT. SEAS 9 TO 15 FT...HIGHEST N.
.SAT...WINDS BECOMING N 15 TO 25 KT THROUGHOUT. SEAS SUBSIDING
TO 7 TO 12 FT.

Doug,
There was a serious rum squall passing through here last night. The storm formed during the welcome cocktail party and gathered strength at the restaurant where it was quickly upgraded to category 3.

We'll see the victims at the skipper's meeting.

DB

Gentlemen: Keep those reports and blow by blow commentaries coming. Some of us that just cant be there but would love to be with you are hanging on every word. Many thanks for the updates.

From the back of the pack.....weather is unseasonably cold and winds were B rigs with marginal A sightings. no real performance gained by A rigs. Detroit MYC members are attempting to inebriate the rest of the fleet courtesy of Margarita Mike's offerings....Most of us Northern boys packed for a weekend of sunshine and are freezing. It's warmer at home.... Tomorrow is another day and hopefully we will all crack out our A rigs..More tomorrow

1483 FV

"When the cannon fires, harden up, tack or get out of my way"

Margarita Mike's entry almost had me show up

It's back to the B rigs this morning. [:)]

DB

Damn - why couldn't it of been like this for us in Charleston - more like here [:p][:p]

Chris
NZL1 Longtack
NZL110 Swept Away NZL128 Ketch me if U Can

Today's racing was followed with a gathering around Margarita Mike's truck. The drinks and lies flowed freely.

Dinner became a mostly liquid event. Tomorrow's forecast is for "A" rigs and hangovers.

Stay tuned. The scores are tight.

DB

Thanks to all the skippers, guests and staff for making this a great event. I hope everyone had a good time. I will be posting the full results very soon, along with a report on the event. In the mean time, I want to make one correction in the scoring that Rick posted above.

Mark Rinehart finished in 8th place with the same score as Perkins, but beat him on the tie breaker. The error was discovered after the awards banquet was over and too late to get Rick to amend his post.

Joe Walter #24

Congrats Reichard - must be something in the Charleston water with the South Carolina boys taking out Morgan Black and the Nationals this year.

Chris
NZL1 Longtack
NZL110 Swept Away NZL128 Ketch me if U Can

Joe and John, a super event hosted by a super team. Fantastic facilities, premier planning and excellent execution. You guys should be very proud of what you accomplished this past week. Please pass along my thanks to your entire team. You guys did good!!!

Skip Allen [:D]

Loud applause all around for Joe Walter, John Bottensek and the entire staff at the banquet on the shoreline and here too. Super regatta and party.
Ivor Walton of the Mid Atlantic group in Mount Laurel won the EC12 short kit raffle and Chris Kakavas of the Piedmont group won the EC12 hull drawing donated by Skip Allen. Thank you, Skip.
From Baton Rouge, LA on the road.


...94

Super regatta.
Best venue,staff and off-time fun ever.
Tom Germer took pix:
http://picasaweb.google.com/greerdr/2009EC12Nationals
there is a #01,#02 and #03

R.C.Greer

Look in "my photos" header to see more.

R.C.Greer