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Jacksonville Regatta The 2010 EC-12 Jacksonville regatta was held at the Comfort Suites Hotel adjacent the Historic city of St. Augustine. 24 skippers attended. Georgia, South Carolina and Florida were represented. The Race committee consisted of Tony Rieck and Baron Bremer, Co-RD’s, Ken Morrison, Head of Protest committee, Angie Bottensek and Bill Gale kept score, Patricia Grey and Cheryl Bremer recorded finishes. Many thanks to them for doing a great job. The weather report for Saturday indicated 7-12 mph from the N-NE with a 20% chance of showers. Most skippers were anticipating 12-20mph as some weather models indicated this. Alan Perkin had a ‘C’ rig assemble ready. P& R system meant that the fleets were divided into two with seeding heats to decide the A & B fleets. 4 up 4 down etc. The heats were completed in a nice 7mph steady N-NE wind. The course provided for a generous 250’ beat. 2.5 times around with a finish in the middle. Walter and Perkins showing an experienced hand. Rieck and Bremer had courses set to accommodate wind from most angles but what they had not anticipated was a weather system rotating above them with persistent rain and 180 degree wind shifts every 2 minutes. In one race, what one disgruntled skipper thought would be a downwind start, turned out to be a beat. After the fleet rounded the weather mark, they were faced with a beat back down the course. The fleet were enduring the rain and the erratic wind shits but eventually the wind died and with it the will to carry on. Even though the conditions were dicey, experienced skippers, with a ginger touch and keen eye kept their cool and their boats moving. In one race The fleet had started without Martin Grey because of his technical issues. But being Irish and a keen one at that! Martin put his boat in and crossed the start line as the fleet rounded the weather mark. Martin ended that race fourth. He did this twice. Its true, in weather condition like this, some Skippers were just unlucky but the cream was beginning to rise. End of day one, only 10 points separated the top 5 skippers. In contrast to the previous day, Sunday was truly wonderful. The sun, mild temperatures and steady wind (7-12mph) from the North awaited a bright, enthusiastic group of skippers. Rieck and Bremer wanted the course a bit straighter but this meant moving the windward mark even further out. This mark was already proving to be a challenge so they opted to stay with it. Starts were hot with many boats jostling at the starboard end of the line. Joe Walter knew this and on one occasion was poised to boggie out on a port tack from the port pin only to be shut out by his friend from Georgia, Skip Allen charging in on a starboard with all the rights. Skip quickly tack to port, waived “bye bye” to the others as he crossed their bows and went on to win that race. Its always a sign of quality when you see a skipper tacking away from the fleet as he rounds the leeward mark as Bottensak and Brown did in one race. They were trailing significantly, but decided to harden up their port tacks around the leeward mark for say, 10 extra feet. This extra real estate paid off big 250’ up the beat. They both finished around the top. An old friend, would always remind me “ you'll never win the race by following the boat in front”. They didnt score many bullets but they sailed consistently throughout the regatta and eventually the quality showed. Congratulations to Bob Greer, Dick Hedderick and John B for outstanding consistency and subtle skill in challenging conditions. Congratulations to the all the other skippers for a great showing. Here are the final results. Results
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