Palm Beach Gardens Regatta Report
Carnage in the Gardens of the Palms
By Doug Bowe

The smoke has cleared, the carnage is over and the first regatta of the new year has been completed in Palm Beach Gardens. With the weather forecasts calling for rain all day Saturday we were wondering if moving the regatta from Jacksonville to South Florida for the February dates was the right thing to do. I guess it was as we had no rain but more than enough wind.

Saturday morning brought 5 to 8 knots of wind from the Southwest and 22 skippers started the first of two seeding races to establish the groupings for the EORS scoring system that we would be using for the first time. The "usual suspects" came to the top of the board and set the standard for the weekend. Joe Walter and John Bottensek from Jacksonville, Carl Olbrich from Bonita Springs, Bob Dudinsky of Treasure Island, and Harry Strunk from the host club all seemed to have their boats moving well.

With the longer courses that were able to be set up due to the wind direction and buoy changes that PBGMYS had made to the lake, there was a lot of separation established. This was important, as the wind continued to build during the day. Only 16 heats were sailed on Saturday due to many holds being called for various breakdowns and electronic failures. That totaled up to 8 races and we finished sailing for the day so we could meet at the Abbey Road Grill for dinner and libations. The camaraderie was evident and I think everyone enjoyed themselves.

Sunday morning brought 48 degree temps and a wind shift to the Northwest at 12-15 knots! Yes, the cold front had arrived! Sailing began on time and we had a dismasting before the first bell sounded. The rescue boat was launched and the tone was set for the morning.

The sailors who were able to handle the building breeze easily sailed away from the fleet. Joe Walter did a horizon job in the first race of the day after his closest competitor, John Bottensek lost his rig. Then locals Harry Strunk and Ed Gelina pulled away in the next race only to have Joe and John come back to make it fairly close at the end. Bottensek crossed the line and lost his second rig of the day.

Those two races were sailed with four other dismastings, a few very hard collisions, uncontrolled jibing and broaching, numerous hardware failures, and the like. The wind had reached 18 knots steady (measured) with gusts approaching the 22-25 knot range, when RD Doug Bowe called a meeting of the skippers for a vote on continuing. By a 3 to 1 margin racing was cancelled and scores were totaled.

On a positive note, there were a number first time participants which shows that the class is growing in Florida. Earl Mills from St. Pete had his best showing, finishing sixth and newcomer Bob Greer from Palm Beach Gardens, sailing in his first regatta, took a seventh place finish.

The sailors from the Soling and Victoria fleets of the host club did a great job again in handling all the race committee duties. Dick Reinke, who just finished RC duty for the Olympic qualifying regatta in Miami, did a great job in keeping the courses interesting. With the wind, the new scoring system, and the fact that this was only the second EC-12 regatta for this club, I think the consensus would agree that the Palm Beach Gardens Model Yacht Squadron did a job "Well Done."

Results

   
1 Joe Walter 28  
2 John Bottensek 31  
3 Harry Strunk 39  
4 Carl Olbrich 49  
5 Ed Gelina 56  
6 Earl Mills 64  
7 Bob Greer 69  
8 Bob Dudinsky 74  
9 Bill Gale 75  
10 John Garver 76  
11 Kent Farndell 82  
12 Phil Ehlinger 83  
13 John Biles 84  
14 John Rowley 94  
15 Rex Theile 102  
16 John Harrington 103 Did not sail on Sunday
17 Karl Burton 114 Did not sail on Sunday
18 Tim Hopkins 124 Did not sail on Sunday
19 Carl Sturges 134  
20 Mel Baldwin 154 Did not sail on Sunday
21 richard Garnache 168 Dropped out on Saturday
22 Jerry Warmeskerken 198 Broke down on Saturday