Click here for
Photos by Tom Evens

Click her for
Photos by John Garver

Report and Results

Dave Ramos Wins Big

The star of the 2012 EC-12 National Championship was Dave Ramos. Dave went on an unbeatable run of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finishes after starting the regatta in the B-fleet. He easily moved out of B into A and only made it back into B after a foul by another boat tied him up with Ricky Gerry. They both got redress, but had to fight their way up to A again. Dave made it look easy and after the first two days of racing had a 4th place finish to throw out. He had a 42-point lead going into the last day of racing and was looking to just protect his lead and stay up in A-fleet. He did just that, and finished the regatta with a 32-point margin over Alan Perkins in second place.

There was; however, a whole lot of other stuff going on in the regatta that needs to be talked about. The doors to the banquet room officially opened Wednesday morning on November 6, although there were already a handful of skippers who had come in the day before. The room would be used the whole week for skippers to store their boats, fully rigged, along with all their gear. No need to break down after sailing each day. The crew from the Jacksonville MYC began setting up the marks on the lake and stuffing welcome packets with the sailing instructions, local coupons to area attractions, and a beautiful custom Tervis Tumbler glass. The inspiration for the Tervis Tumbler came from Reichard Kahle and his famous “Special Cokes.”

At noon, we began checking in the skippers and measuring boats. The process went quickly as we only measured new boats or boats that had major changes to them. In all, less than half the boats were measured and most of the skippers had plenty of time for practice. That evening, a welcome reception was held for the skippers and their guests in the hotel lounge. There was a great spread of food and snacks and Doc Greer and Jon Luscomb sprang for a keg of Michelob. It was planned to be a short gathering before folks headed out to dinner, but most people were so full, they just stayed in the rest of the evening.

Thursday morning greeted the skippers and race staff to beautiful Chamber of Commerce weather. It was a little cool for this time of year, with early morning temps in the high 40s and reaching only into the high 60s for the first two days. However, the wind was steady and building all day and for most of the time came from the favored direction. We started on the East side of the lake, sailing into the NW breeze. A-rigs were the order of the day, but they were tested a few times with some big puffs. As the day progressed, the wind clocked around to the right and after lunch we had moved the course to the West side of the lake and sailed into the NNE wind. Except for a couple of moves around the lake on Friday to find a better wind direction, we sailed the West course for most of the regatta.

Racing continued after lunch until around 4:00 each day. The opening non-scored heat and 5 scored heats were sailed on Thursday. This was a total of 18 races on the day. We would manage to sail 6 full heats on Friday and 7 on Saturday. That’s 57 races total and I can tell you my legs are still hurting.

There were other boats on the water besides number 05. The battle for 2nd place changed several times with Alan Perkins, Rick West, Bob Greer, Dick Hedderick, Jack Ward and Dave Dellenbaugh, all in the hunt at one point or another. Great racing action occurred all up and down the course and in all three fleets. With 40 skippers in the regatta, it is impossible to mention all the tremendous performances this week. But, with the long up winds and frequent shifts, there were plenty of challenges for everyone and some very close crosses and finishes.

On Thursday, Bob and Dee Dudinsky, along with Papa Dick and Susan Tuten, hosted a cocktail party in their huge suite on the 6th floor. It was just going to be a simple little affair, but the word spread and soon the room was full of 25 people or more. After a while, the talk of where to eat dinner came up and Frankie Novak offered to buy pizzas and wings for everyone. What a fantastic evening and no one had to drive home. They just needed to remember what floor their room was on.

The highlight of Friday’s racing was a brief break in the action to watch the aerial dogfight between an osprey and a bald eagle. The osprey had a large fish in his talons and the eagle wanted an easy meal. The two turned and banked above the race course. The eagle making high-speed dives at the osprey, who would turn hard just in time to avoid the hit. This went on for several minutes until the osprey gave up his fish only to have it drop into some shrubs on the far side of the lake. Neither bird was able to retrieve the fish and they both flew off as we resumed sailing.

Saturday started off cool again, but soon it warmed up to the mid 70s and the wind was just perfect for the mid to high end of the A-rigs range. Baron Bremer helped shift the West course a little to the right for the new NE wind and we did our best to keep the fleets moving to get us to 18 scored heats for the three days. As the final races of the last heat were finishing on Saturday, each fleet was instructed to clear out their gear from the banquet room so the hotel could set up for our awards dinner that evening. By 4:15, we were all packed up and the hotel began preparing for our dinner.

The final evening began in the hotel bar with drinks served up by our new favorite bartender, Sarah. We were supposed to have a private bar in our banquet room, but the extra bartender was AWOL. Sarah did a great job and after a few drinks we made our way next door for the awards dinner. The hotel served up a wonderful buffet of chicken picatta, carved roast beef, roasted vegetables and some amazing desserts. After dinner, it was time to thank my race staff. These folks did a fantastic job not just with helping me run the regatta but for the weeks and months leading up to the event. My nine-year-old daughter, Mary Michael, helped me hand out Tervis Tumblers to the men on my staff and then for the women, we had Coach wallets.

The new Florida EC-12 Association Chairman, Richard Hedderick, took the floor for what I thought was going to be some brief words about his new job. Instead, he presented me with a really nice plaque, thanking me for my years of service. It was a complete surprise and very much appreciated. Next, it was my turn to make a presentation to Rick West for his lifetime achievement of service to the Class. Rick had actually given out this award to Frank Angel and to David Brawner for their service over the years. David made the arrangements and I had the pleasure of presenting it to Rick. It was dedicated to both Rick and his wife Merrilee.

Every skipper was named and their finishing score called during the presentation of the awards. Only one skipper was unable to attend the dinner. We missed you Mervin. The trophies were made by Tom Germer and myself with the help of my daughter Emily who did all the varnishing. Tom made the beautiful oak plagues with inlaid mahogany stripes for the top three spots. I made the hand carved medallions of the regatta logo and cast them in solid gold...err, plastic with gold paint. Emily helped me hand out the trophies including the huge perpetual bell trophy to Dave Ramos.

The evening closed with the awarding of the Short kit hull from Skip Allen of Robin Yachts and a deck from Tom Germer, which were part of the silent auction. A set of sails from John B was also auctioned. The winner of all of it was Gerry Fernald, who was a little shocked to be named the winner as he was just trying to bid up the prices for the Class. He was a good sport though, and wrote the $735 check. Now he just needs to find someone to build it for him. The Class appreciated your support Gerry.

I want to thank all my staff, without whom, I would not have been able to put on this event. John Bottensek and Tom Germer who helped with measuring and trophies; Cheryl Bremer who hosted the lunches; Kelli Greer who filled in at the score table at the last minute; Tom Phillips who was my right hand man throughout the planning of the regatta and helped with registration; Karen Luscomb and Trish Gray who did a fantastic job at the scorers table and kept perfect score all week; Ken Morrison, who thankfully only had to hear one protest and a few questions; Baron Bremer who was indispensible with setting marks, chasing boats and helping everyone launch boats; and to Bud Cassidy, who kept me focused and called all the finishes. You all were amazing.

I also want to thank all the skippers for first-class sailing. You were all competitive gentlemen and ladies and you sailed at the top of your game. It was a joy to watch. .

Each skipper has two throwouts.