Naples "New Year Regatta" Report
Perkins returns to winning

By Dick Hedderick

Unusually warm weather greeted the 22 skippers Saturday morning with light winds out of the east. RD Chuck Weaver got the first heat off promptly at 9:30. Unfortunately, as the boats headed off the start, the wind dropped to less than a knot. The first heat took about 30 minutes to complete. The wind returned somewhat and began to clock towards the south. The course was adjusted accordingly, but the skippers struggled around the modified courses with spits of air coming from various southerly directions.

Racing was held up for a nice long lunch and the wind filled in nicely from the southwest. The wind built to about 10-15 and the skippers reveled in the breeze. Racing was exciting as most skippers braved out the winds in A rigs. Shown below is a picture of the start of Race 7. For a complete video (provided George Balaschak) of Race 7 go to this link: https://youtu.be/7fA13EWcob8

The blue boat (66) is skippered by Sean Fidler, the current EC-12 National Champion. This boat was graciously loaned to Sean by Frankie Novak, a long time Naples Model Yacht Club member.

At the end of the first day after 9 races (18 heats), Sean Fidler was leading, with Al Dion 2nd and Dick Hedderick 3rd.

Tiffany Fidler also competed in the regatta with #34, graciously loaned by Dave Boulanger, the Race Director for the Naples Model Yacht Club. Tiffany did very well in her first EC-12 regatta. She was able to advance to A Fleet twice during the first day.

Saturday evening we had a great dinner at Spanky's. This restaurant has changed hands and the service and food were excellent! We ate in a screened in porch and were entertained with a spectacular lightening show to North. An F2 tornado actually touched down north of Naples later that night. A cold front was pushing through. Fresh cool westerlies of 10+ were forecasted for the next morning.

The next morning we all arrived at the lake in fog and mist. What? Then the clouds darkened and the rain began again. More lightening and thunder and teaming rain. Smartphones were out and showed bright orange and red from the pockets of rain yet to arrive. For safety's sake, halfway through the morning, the RD recommended that racing be abandoned. We took a vote and unanimously agreed to pass out the trophies and run for cover...

Here are pictures of the top 3 trophy winners, provided the next day in drier conditions.

First Place, Sean Fidler with Tiffany:


Second Place, Al Dion: Third Place: Dick Hedderick

Many thanks to the Naples Model Yacht Club race crew made up of Chuck Weaver, Dave Boulanger, Jack Wubbe, Winston Mathews, Pete DeWolfe, Dave Pacha, Randy Williams, Jim Craft, Dave Harrington, and Denny Ginsburg.

Results
Sail #
Skipper
Points
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
1
66
Sean Fidler
16
4
1
1
(6)
1
1
3
1
4
2
74
Al Dion
29
3
3
4
2
5
2
5
(14)
5
3
38
Dick Hedderick
31
(9)
8
2
9
3
4
2
2
1
4
27
Ted Flack
39
1
5
9
(11)
2
5
11
3
3
5
110
Steve Pfeil
44
2
4
3
3
14
3
1
14
(17)
6
01
Jacks Ward
48
7
2
6
4
7
6
8
8
(9)
7
36
Dick Reinke
53.8
6
(9)
7
7
8
8
4
7
6.8
8
15
Fred Pfeil
54
8
10
(15)
1
9
12
7
5
2
9
311
Bill Ewing
65
10
(23)
5
10
14
9
6
4
7
10
2009
Jim Rutherford
87
14
11
(18)
8
6
13
10
12
13
11
89
Frank (Black Prince) Vella
87
16
(23)
11
12
11
7
13
9
8
12
48
John Goldsworthy
94
13
6
13
(16)
13
14
15
14
6
13
2200
George Balaschak
95
19
12
8
5
4
10
(23)
23
14
14
57
John Steacy
106
5
7
12
14
16
17
12
(23)
23
15
156
Dan Pearce
112
17
15
16
15
(19)
18
14
6
11
16
34
Tiffany Fidler
116
15
18
10
(23)
15
15
18
10
15
17
50
John Santoro
118
12
19
(22)
18
18
11
17
13
10
18
21
Richard Flach
118.8
11
(20)
14
17
12
16
15.8
15
18
19
70
Larry Markey
128
18
13
17
(20)
10
19
19
16
16
20
56
Gerd Petersen
142
(23)
14
20
13
17
21
16
18
23
21
51
Mark Fleckenstein
144
(23)
16
19
23
23
20
9
11
23
22
362
Larry Brannan
148
20
17
21
19
20
(22)
20
17
14