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| Naples "New Year Regatta" Report Quick Take: January 10&11, 2015 Well, I gotta brag a little.....this was one heck of a regatta. If you didn't go, you missed a good one. The weekend was kicked off with a very nice skippers's welcoming party hosted by Larry Brannon at his home. Larry is relatively new to our regattas and it was really nice of him to host all of us. Larry and his wife Nancy had a feast of goodies to eat, one of my favorites was the Jack Daniels pulled chicken sandwiches. And those desserts were really good!
Saturday Morning gave us a cool start, but a nice breeze out of the NE. This was Gerhard Kelter's first appearance as RD for the Florida EC -12 series. He did an superb job. An excellent course was set with long upwind legs. But with that cold bite in the air, it was a relief we didn't have to be on the boats... And it was nice that the Commodore of NMYC, Randy Williams, had lots hot coffee and donuts handy nearby. Most skippers started with B rigs, as there were puffs to 12+. A few of us braved it with A rigs. The course had a lot of good shifts and the fleet often split as half went to one side and half to the other. If you got it right, a passing lane opened up. But if you went the wrong way, well, you lost a lot of places. Five boats might lead in one lap, but then another five would lead the next... Alan Perkins made his required trip to B Fleet and then got beat his wife, Liz Perkins. Nice strategy, Alan! Around noon, the winds went a bit more easterly and eased a it. Everyone jumped on the A rigs. After lunch sailing really got nice. The sun was nice and warm and the wind was 8-10 and very steady. The EC-12's put on a beautiful display of sailing. The fleet often split after the start.
At the conclusion of racing on Saturday, none of us really knew where we stood. No one had multiple firsts and most had taken a trip to B Fleet. Scorer Jack Wubbe had prepared a nice spread sheet with the detailed race results. After 11 races the leader was: Pfast Pfreddy Pfeil! Fred had sailed very consistently capturing a lot of 2nd's and 3rd's, but never going into B Fleet. Sometimes that is how you win a regatta. Saturday night we all gathered at Spanky's Speakeasy for dinner. Bud Cassidy had arrived earlier and made sure that everything was set up properly. The food was great and the service excellent. We even got our checks quickly! Sunday morning yielded even better conditions. The wind had eased to 5-10 and it was warm and sunny. Dick Hedderick started the day in the groove with 3 bullets. Fred Pfeil had the misfortune of a boat breakdown....ugh. The wind picked up again to heavy A rig conditions for the last 4 races. In the end, Alan Perkins captured first place. After checking the scores, RD Gerhard Kelter read the results and Regatta host, Dick Hedderick awarded the trophies.
The top five were Alan Perkins, Dick Hedderick, Doc Greer, Fred Pfeil, and Jack Ward (R to L).
William Brown was the "bubble boy", shown with his trophy... Results
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