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2008 Results
Trapeze
Invitational Regatta May 18, 2008 (3 boats) Among the three
Hampton One Designs racing on Sunday, Mark
Wheeler / Graham Garrington took the top spot.
Also racing were Charlie McCoy and Trevor Pardee. Rock Hall Regatta June 21 –
22, 2008
(5 boats)
The Rock
Hall regatta was a great success. We had 5 boats on the line, which
included three representatives all the way from Norfolk. Charlie and
Chuck McCoy came up Friday night the old-fashioned way and Chris Kennedy commandeered
a civilian Cessna 182 in Suffolk and flew up Saturday morning to
the Bay Bridge Airport and hitched a ride with 727 from there. Chris
made the trek up the bay to the eastern shore in a record-breaking 45
minutes. The
weather was close to perfect, with a light east breeze shifting to the west
and building to about 8 knots over the course of both days. The RC was
run by Rock Hall YC's top log canoe sailor and was very precise and
efficient, banging off 4 races on Saturday and 3 on Sunday. Courses
were a combination of upwind and down-wind finish W/Ls. The
Rock Hall regatta is really the next best thing to the Oxford
Heritage Regatta, with Hamptons, Chesapeake 20s, Wind Mills, and Wafayers all
competing, right next to very large fleet of A-Cats. Fridays Down-River
race even saw a log-canoe on the line. The RHYC facility is fantastic
and has added a pool and party pavilion in recent years, this year's party
featured a blue-grass band. But once the free beer had been consumed at
RHYC, the pillaging band of HOD sailors opted for more local color at
the local Waterman's Crab House Honkietonk, and were not disappointed. On the
course the competition was extremely close, with 1st to 5th never separated
by more than about 100 yards. In Race 1,
Bill Carnell and Lars Florio lead the fleet around the first windward mark by
footing fast to the left into the deeper part of the channel for more
favorable current velocity. Downwind, they played the same side of the
course looking for more wind, which did not overcome the adverse
tide going downwind, and they settled for a very close second. Charlie
McCoy and Chuck really turned it on in races 2 and 3.
Calamity Jane was sporting a brand-new aluminum boom and a very
fast set of new sails from Jim Miller's new Doyle loft, which appeared
to have more power, and lots of speed as the breeze filled in an brought a
light chop onto the course. Calamity Jane lead most of race #2, but
were ground down in a wicked roll-tacking duel at the very end to fall to
second 514 sealed the deal in Race 3 with a convincing bullet. Ed and
Laura Cassidy turned it on in the last race on Saturday and lead the fleet
around the first windward mark. 727 slipped by on the first run by
splitting jibes, but Ed and Laura hung on a for a close second. Ian &
Nancy turned it on Sunday, and frequently vied for the lead in races that
were even tighter than the Saturday races. Their Sunday performace
enabled them to overcome 724 and pull into 4th for the weekend.
There were white caps in the river
and winds probably gusting to 20+ mph.
We welcomed Ken Flowers and his refurbished Hampton #603. Ken did a great job on making her look
beautiful. Unfortunately, Ken had
trouble with the fitting on the boom and could not make it to the starting
line. The race committee used whistle
starts and Trevor Pardee was the only one who heard the whistle for the first
race. 514 caught on that the race had
started when the race committee hailed "514 over early." Trevor won the first and second races. Gordon Wolcott started the second race and
finished second. 514's possible excuse
we dropped the whisker pole overboard and went back to pick it up. The third race Trevor broke his jib halyard
and retired. Gordon Wolcott had
trouble with his jib halyard and retired.
That left 514 finishing the last race.
Edward Wolcott, Jr. had jib halyard troubles and was not able to start
a race. The Broad Bay Sailing was generous
enough to award Charles H. McCoy, Jr. the first place trophy, Trevor
Pardee the second place trophy, and Gordon Wolcott the third place trophy. The race committee was kind enough
to recognize the fact that Charles H. McCoy, Jr. sailed 514 in their first
regatta in 1961. Wolcott Memorial Regatta
June 29, 2008 The wind was strong but we did not
have the white caps as we had the day before.
We welcomed Tyler Thomson's refinished #520 to the Class. He did a great job. We now have a varnished hull boat in the
fleet. It is nice to be able to see
the beautiful wood that she was constructed with. Randy Stokes and Ann Stokes got 3
first places and 2 second places thus they took the regatta with 7
points. Gordon Wolcott and Woody
Granger finished second with 2 first places, 2 second places, and 1 third
place, finishing second with 9 points.
Trevor Pardee and Rachel Blake were third with 18 points. Charles H. McCoy, Jr. and Charles H. McCoy,
III were fourth with 20 points. Yes, I
am getting old, as evidenced by one of the competitors greeting Charles III
as Mr. McCoy. Gordon Stokes and Perrin Priest
finished fifth with 25 points. Edward
Wolcott, Jr. and Sara Wolcott finished sixth with 26 points. Eddy said that some of the gusts were so
strong that he only had a few inches of his mainsail drawing. Tyler Thomson and John Sawyer finished
seventh with 37 points. They did a
great job considering the fact that #520 does not yet have a trapeze. Ken Flowers and Laurelyn Flowers retired
early but had a good time.
Admiral Byrd Regatta, July 19-20, 2008, Cambridge Yacht Club The
Admiral Byrd Regatta was a blast. We had great weather and a solid
turnout of 7 boats including: Gordon
Wolcott, Eddie Wolcott, Charlie McCoy from NYCC, and Ian
Twinn, Ed & Laura Cassidy, Bill Bavin and Latane Montague from PRSA. On
Saturday the RC, featuring the now "classically" unorthodox race
management of the CYC PRO, banged off six nice races Saturday, and another 2 on
Sunday with a unique blend of flags, sound signals, and verbal moral
support to the racers (but strangely no megaphone this time). The
courses were very straight, with long beats, and alternated between single
and double-lap heats. With an off-shore wind out of the south, the
windward mark was set up near the entrance to Cambridge creek, and it was
super shifty with lots of highly localized puffs. The racing was
very close with lots of lead changes. Latane and Chris Kennedy won four
of the six races on Saturday, with Eddie Wolcott, sailing with daughter
Laura, and Charlie McCoy, sailing with John Sawyer, also each picking up
a bullet on Saturday. Gordon Wolcott and Woody Granger sailed 715
very consistently to pull ahead of Charlie and John at the end of
Saturday for 3rd overall. Saturday
was not without frustration for the rest of the fleet, with Ian Twinn and
Nancy, Ed and Laura, and Bill Bavin all experiencing break-downs to varying
degrees. The Cassidy's jib-halyard failed in Race #3 but they got it
back together by the last two races. Ian and Nancy apparently had a
hiccup in race 4, and Bill Bavin lost his main halyard before he left the
dock. Bill missed all the races, but got the "Right Stuff"
award by completing his repairs and launching somewhere around 3:00
PM. He made it out to the course just in time to see the finish of
the last race and then experience a head-stay failure on the race back in for
beer. For Sunday
the first order of business was finding a boat to serve as the RC, which
apparently had "not-exactly" been worked out in advance. The
conditions on the water were similar, but the mojo had shifted to Team
Wolcott. The races were again close with numerous lead changes, but 714
always found the last big shift or puff to take two bullets.
Fortunately for 727, the RC abruptly stopped racing after just two races, and
the final standings were as noted below. The
highlight on Sunday was seeing the CYC mark-boat take after a huge cruising
power boat with a vengeance I had frankly never seen before on the race
course. The "chase boat" was passing out water, and
the occasional beer to competitors (which they may have been sampling for
quality control purposes) and at one point the chase boat rocketed straight
up the middle of the course in the middle of a race in hot pursuit
of a huge 40+ foot Sport Fisherman that was steaming at full
speed at 90 degrees to the rumb on a course right through the
middle of the run to the finish. The chase boat intercepted the
Sport Fisher at about mid-course, and turned 90 degrees to continue
the pursuit. The tiny Carolina skiff finally caught up with the
Sport Fisherman near the Bridge and closed in from behind, nearly getting
swamped in the huge wake. All the while, the courageous
CYC volunteer was crouched on the bow at full speed, waving both arms
and screaming at the cruiser. The cruising skipper was jamming to
reggae tunes up on the fly-bridge and had no clue he was being chased or
driving through the middle of the Laser fleet. Eventually the guy's
wife noticed, climbed the fly-bridge and got her husband to slow down with a
tap on the shoulder. Maybe you had to be there. The final
results were (as reported by CYC) were: 1. Latane
Montague & Chris Kennedy 1,3,1,1,2,1,2,3 2. Eddie
& Laura Wolcott 2,5,2,2,1,3,1,1 3. Gordon
Wolcott & Woody Granger 4,2,4,4,3,2,3,2 4. Charlie
McCoy & John Sawyer 3,1,5,3,4,5,4,5 5. Ian
Twinn & Nancy Younans 5,4,3,DNS,5,4,5,4 6. Ed
& Laura Cassidy DNS 6,DNS,DNS,6,6,6,6 7. Bill
Bavin DNS,DNS,DNS,DNS,DNS,DNS, DNS Ware River Fury, August 2-3, 2008, Ware River Yacht Club The Ware River Governor's Cup was a great time. We had great weather, (with one notable exception discussed below), a strong turnout, and great competition. The Hampton One-design fleet included 8 boats, after a few last minutes scratches. The fleet included Steve & David Taylor, and Trevor Pardee from HYC; Ken Flowers and Charlie & Chuck McCoy from NYCC, with Ed & Laura Cassidy, Bill Carnell, Steve Kistler and Latane representing PRSA. The weekend featured an especially strong crew line up, with T. Brockenbrough making a long awaited return to the fleet crewing for Steve Kistler, Greg Stillman sailing with Bill Carnell, and Dave Chapman filling in for Chris Kennedy in 727 on Sunday. T. Brockenbrough owned and restored 3 HODs and raced actively in the 1990s and it's great for the class to have him back on the scene, rumor has it that T is already plotting out his HOD campaign for 2009. Greg Stillman's grandfather ordered HOD #412 from V.J. Serio in 1947, and he made quite a splash with his debut in the modern HOD.
Initially there was quite a buzz on Saturday after the HOD's realized that our 8-boat turnout was tied with the Albacore fleet who had won the Governor's Cup for most boats for the last two years. That buzz fizzled, however, when we realized that the Bucaneers had 12 boats (ARGHHHHHH!) and the Laser's had 11. It was hard to question the merits of the Buccaneer's achievement when it was announced that their fleet included boats from as far away as Canada, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Connecticut.
On the water, the agile RC wisely abandoned the first race when they sensed the sea breeze starting to fill around 12:15. After rotating the course 180 degrees, the first real race was started in a beautiful 8 kts. Bill Carnell and Greg Stillman shot off the line at the committee boat and never looked back, Bill and Greg led from start to finish, in Greg's first race on a Hampton. Trevor Pardee and Rachel Blake recovered nicely from an OCS and bounced all the way back to 2nd, just edging out Charlie and Chuck at the finish.
The breeze built for race #2 to consistently trapezing conditions, and Latane and Chris put their extra beef to good use to find a bullet. Trevor and Rachael were second, and Bill Carnell showed that race #1 was no fluke by finishing in 3rd with the lead group. Thunder storms were building out to the west of the course, and the breeze peaked out between races 2 and 3 in the 15 kt range allowing for serious high-speed planing between races. Once the race #3 started the breeze moderated to the 10-12 range, and we completed a nice two lap heat under gorgeous sunny skies. The top three places remained the same, setting up a great show-down for Sunday, with Trevor & Rachel on top, with Bill Carnell in 2nd and Latane & Chris in 3rd.
Ware is probably the most beloved venue and regatta on the circuit, but Saturday's post race haul-out was one of the all-time worst. The water was about 4 inches deep within 100 feet of the ramp, which made for a slow and tedious process. The process was complicated by a fast approaching thunder squall. Everyone was calm, cool, and collected and we continued to lift boats onto the trailers as the rain started pouring in buckets. A number of us stupidly continued to stand in the water lifting boats in spite of the thunder and lightning. But when the thunder and lightning were crackling at about the same time, we all tip-toed out of the water, knowing we had borrowed as much time as possible, and no body really wanted a "Darwin Award" for the effort. Ken Flower's beautiful wooden Serio Hampton, and a hand-full of Buccaneers remained in the water as everyone made a bee-line to the clubhouse. Moments later the rain turned into frozen hail, gravel-sized, and the winds started getting stronger. They did not stop getting stronger until it was blowing over 50 kts (some subsequent weather reports indicated 60 mph). First, the winds knocked down all the bare-spared boat that remained in the water. Then Optis, Lasers and 420 began flying off of their trailers, then a 20 foot catamaran flipped off its trailer, next a a large wood and metal folding table was picked up in the air and thrown tumbling through the large section of sleeping tents. Remarkably no one was injured by the table, which could have been lethal. The huge steel flag pole in front of the club flexed like a laser mast, and then after about 3 minutes the winds abated and within 10 minutes the sun was out again.
Ken Flower's boat was one of the most seriously hit, and he suffered a bent mast, broken spreader and bent spreader bracket, but he is determined to make it to Nationals! That's the spirit!
We all went on to enjoy a great BBQ dinner at the club.
On Sunday the winds were better early and we got off two nice races in a light and shifty 3-8kts. Dave Chapman volunteered to replace Chris Kennedy on 727 and was fantastic on the trap and with the tactics. 727 won the first race, but Bill Carnell and Greg matched the effort with a strong second, and Bill moved into first place going into the last race. Steve Kistler and T in #726, and Ed & Laura in #724 also found their groove in the first race Sunday nailing down 3rd and 4th ahead of the previous regatta leaders Trevor and Rachel. In the last race, the winds were growing lighter and large holes were developing on the course. Bill and Greg found a larger hole, and Trevor and 727 were able to pull away to set the final standings. The final results are as follows: 1. 727
Montague/Kennedy/Chapman 6,1,1,1,1 10pts. 2. 722
Pardee/ Blake 2,2,2,6,2 14pts. 3. 723
Carnell/Stillman 1,3,3,2,7 16 pts. 4. 514
McCoy/McCoy 3,4,4,5,4 20 pts. 5. 726
Kistler/Brockenbrough 4,6,6,3,3 22 pts. 6. 724
Cassidy/Cassidy 5,7,5,4,5 26 pts. 7.Taylor/Taylor
7,5,9/DNS 7,6 34pts. 8. Ken
Flowers 8,8,7, DNC/DNC 41pts Fishing Bay Annual, August 8-9, 2008, Fishing Bay Yacht Club This
weekend the Hampton class sailed the Fishing Bay Annual One-Design
Regatta. Saturday’s weather was just about as nice as it gets: NE breeze at 7-10, clear skies and highs in
the mid-80s. Four boats ventured down
from Alexandria to Stove Point; we would have loved to have seen some of our
Southern Bay colleagues (which also would have permitted us to have our own start,
instead of combining with the San Juan 21s), but we had a blast nonetheless. The
first race was a nice single W-L.
Latane, sailing 727 with Travis Dozier, took first, followed by
Carnell and Florio in 723. Ian Twinn,
with Kathy Bowdring in 719, duked it out with Sean Riley and T.
Brockenborough in 693 for third. In a
classic “oh, no” moment, Ian just edged out Sean in a
"photo-finish" . . . at what Ian thought was the finish line, and
then cracked off . . . which allowed Sean to beat Ian to the ACTUAL finish
line. The
second race was a long double-sausage, with wind shifts that made the
down-wind legs as at least tactically interesting as the beats. 727 again took a bullet, followed by 723,
then 719 and 693. By the
time the third race came around, it was getting late in the day – no time to
reset the marks again – so when the wind picked up and shifted 30+ degrees to
the east, the RC wisely continued the sequence and started us anyway. Everyone knew the start would be
everything, and with a minute left in the sequence, the scene to leeward of
the committee boat became an orgy of flapping sails as Hamptons and the
slightly-less-nimble San Juan 21s battled for pole position. 723 managed to start at the boat with good
speed, and stayed in first the wind turned the race into a wild ride of
spray-soaked planing reaches. Saturday
night’s dinner-and-party really showcased FBYC’s amazing new facilities,
through which the club’s age-old hospitality was able to shine. Somehow, Latane and I got roped into
substitute-bartender duty, and ended up pouring drinks at the new tiki bar
well into the after dinner hours . . . with predictable results. At some point I think the night began to
resemble some of those party days of yore, though details remain fuzzy. On
Sunday, we sailed out in a nice westerly, which then died . . . and when the
wind picked up again it was because of approaching thunderstorms that sent us
retreating for the safety of shore.
Congratulations to Latane Montague, winning the Fishing Bay Annual. On
Saturday we also had the chance to meet Dr. Walter Bundy, owner of brand-new
HOD 728 – which supplements the Shields he sails out of Newport RI, and the
Colgate 26 he sails out of FBYC. Dr. Bundy
looks forward to meeting – and sailing with – the rest of his new
fleetmates. Welcome aboard.
2008 National Championship, August 15-17, 2008, Urbanna Yacht Club Photos (From
Southern Bay Racing News You Can Use #407) Third generation
Hampton One Design racer, Gordon Wolcott, is 2008 HOD National Champion. Gordon comes from
strong HOD lines; his grandfather was Judge Wolcott, an HOD "original", and his father is
Eddie Wolcott, still very active in the
fleet. Gordon, sailing with another "youngster", Sam Stokes (Randy Stokes' son) led the regatta from start to finish
(1-1-1-[7]-3-6), fighting his way through light air on Saturday and
Sunday. Threatening thunderstorms drove the fleet in on Friday
before the scheduled races. On Saturday they got in 4 races and on
Sunday they were bedeviled with the very light stuff, but managed to get
in 2 shortened races. This year's event was in Urbanna, sponsored
by the HOD class. The HOD class will celebrate their 75th Nationals in
2009 at Hampton Yacht Club. Finishing second overall was Latane Montague (3-3-4-1-2 [5]) and third was Eddie Wolcott (2-4-3-3-1 [9]). Race
Officers were Malcolm and Kathy Brady.
NYCC Annual Va Governor’s Cup, August
30, 2008, Norfolk Yacht & Country Club Final Standings: Gordon
Wolcott (crew Graham Landy) Eddie
Wolcott (crew Billy VanBuren) Randy
Stokes (crew Ann Stokes) Charlie
McCoy (crew Charles McCoy) Jim Shook The day
started out looking very bleak wind-wise, but the course had sailable
conditions. The races were mostly short windward-leewards, with a
couple of triangles thrown in. Surprisingly, the 3-7 kt. WNW wind held
on all day, allowing six races. Charlie won the first race, but Gordon
was very strong and consistent. He clinched the sixty-ninth Governor's
Cup by coming from way behind to pass Eddie at the last leeward mark in the
next to last race. It took Randy and Ann until the last race to figure
out their new sails. Jim sailed well and was very competitive in a
strong fleet. President’s Cup & Leukemia Cup, September 7, 2008, Potomac River Sailing Assn Five
Hamptons sailed in the PRSA’s 2008 President’s Cup/Leukemia Cup Regatta. Saturday’s racing was cancelled by Tropical
Storm Hanna (second cousin, I’m told, of 2002 President’s Cup champ Kevin
Hanna), but Sunday proved to be a fine day for sailing. Winds
were mostly from the north in the 5-7 range, with clear skies and
temperatures in the low 80s. When I
say winds were “mostly” N at 5-7, I should clarify that we at times had
breeze anywhere from 0 to 14, and it came from pretty much every point on the
compass at least once during the day. The RC
managed to get in three good-sized double-sausage races. The river was swollen with Hanna’s
downriver runoff, and with light and variable breeze the keys to success were
playing the current and anticipating the next puff. In the first race Sean and Kate in 693
demonstrated an amazing ability to find breeze, and led for most of the race
until 723 managed to pass towards the finish.
The second race was equally interesting in the race for second, as
693, 706, and 726 traded places several times on each leg. 726 stood out for Steve’s amazing downwind
speed (all envied his Judson boat and uber-light 15-year-old-girl crew), but
got edged in the last leg by 693. The
third race turned into a drifter for a while, which gave rise to one of the
most amazing things I’ve seen on the Potomac.
We were basically drifting downriver with what tiny bit of breeze
there was coming from the SSE, when we saw ripples develop on the western
shore. The new breeze line raced
towards us, and one after another boat got almost knocked down as they got
hit by the sudden westerly. We had our
sails set when it got to us, and we literally went from drifting to planing
in the space of about 20 seconds. Then
20 seconds later it was gone (but momentum carried us to the finish line). The
party afterwards was a blast, with beer, burgers, and Leukemia Society swag
for all. Unoffical
results:
Serio Regatta, September 13, 2008, Hampton Yacht Club 1st - Mark Wheeler,
Graham Garrenton 2nd - Charles McCoy,
Charles McCoy III 3rd - Steve Taylor,
Jennifer Taylor 4th - T. Brockenbrough,
Dave Chapman |
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