Jacksonville Regatta
Alan Perkins wins the regatta and the series
by Joe Walter RD

We decided to nickname this regatta "The Maytag Regatta." The wind was fighting us the whole weekend. It mostly came from the SE, but it would also swirl over the top of the hotel or wrap around the hotel from the west and cause all kinds of trouble at the leeward end of the course. It was also anything from light As to Bs. Fortunes were won and loss on a single tack choice. Baron Bremer seemed to figure it out better than most, but that darn Alan Perkins always found a way to get back to the front and take the win. Nine wins out of 14 races sailed to be exact. Aside from his 12th place finish in the first heat and a trip to B-fleet, Alan never finished worse than 3rd place for the rest of the regatta. It seemed like Baron was always leading the way around the course, only to have Alan slip buy on the final beat. Baron did score 4 bullets and 4 second places.

The only other skipper to score a bullet was Jon Luscomb who shot out of the blocks on the first race in A-fleet to sail a near horizon job on the rest of the fleet. After that, he was racking up a lot of 3rd, 4th and 5th place finishes, but just could not break into the Perkins and Bremer show. Meanwhile, Doc Greer was quietly crossing the line with a lot of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th places to edge out Jon for third place by just 0.6 points. Martin Gray and Jack Ward were separated by just 1.6 points for 5th and 6th respectively.

There was some really great racing from all of the 21 skippers entered. Only 4 skippers didn't make it into A-fleet this weekend, but all of them came really close. As the nick name implies, the regatta was a bit of a washing machine and even the most talented skippers struggled. With so many wind shifts and swirls on the course, nobody should go home feeling like they did not do well.

We did put Ken Morrison, our USSailing judge to work, but only to decide redresses. There were no protests filed and all turns were done on the water. The reason for six different skippers getting redress was mostly due to the swirling winds tangling boats up around marks. I think I saw two dozen auto tacks at just one windward mark rounding. There is just no way to anticipate that. Hats off to Scott Vernon for coming forward in one of the tangles. "I'm not sure Joe, but I think I am the reason for those boats being tangled." Scott said to me. He then withdrew and informed Ken. That is the kind of sportsmanship we like to see.

The trophies were cheap certificates that I printed out at home and stuck in a $3 frame. Ok, so I really wasn't that cheap. The top three skippers also received YETI tumblers to hold their special Cokes. A Tervis Tumbler with a lid and naked mermaid artwork was awarded to John Goldsworthy who was Bubble Boy this weekend. John sailed in 21 of the 28 total heats. I told him I was going to put a bungee cord on his clothespin. That way I could just unclip it and it would snap back to him.

I want to thank John Bottensek and Jim Pardee for running the start line; Robbie Susan for writing down the finishes and keeping me focused; Bill Wells for watching the marks, chasing boats and "herding the cats"; Baron, Martin, Tom, and Frank for helping set up and haul gear before and after the regatta; Cheryl Bremer for getting lunch and setting up and cleaning up; and last but most importantly Trish Gray for doing an excellent job keeping score.

Results
1 Alan Perkins 16
2 Baron Bremer 29
3 Robert Greer 47.8
4 Jon Luscomb 48.4
5 Martin Gray 79
6 Jack Ward 80.6
7 George Balaschak 88.6
8 Tom Phillips 95
9 Jim Kaighin 109
10 Scott Vernon 112
11 Liz Perkins 116 tie breaker
12 Chuck Millican 116
13 Donald Hain 122.8
14 Dick Reinke 123
15 John Goldsworthy 128
16 Dan Pearce 187
17 Brenda Pardee 197
18 John Santoro 198 did not sail Sunday
19 Gerd Peteren 210.8
20 Frank Ligon 214
21 Richard Sbordone 223 did not sail Sunday

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