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| Palm Beach Gardens Valentine's
Regatta Report -- Region 3a Championship After the pledge of allegiance, Gib Loesell took the edge off the competitorís anxiety with a rousing and easily recognizable version of something on his bagpipes. Gib also donated 60 Smith hotdogs to the regatta for lunch! Thanks Gibby! The forecast for the day was for a southerly breeze dialing to the right as an expected front slid down the state. The ìArDeeî should never have listened. Race committee set a course with the windward mark somewhere in the middle of the average of 40degree fluky oscillating shifts and 0 to 2 knots. Dick Hedderick shot out of the blocks and started the day with two bullets in a row, and the game was on. The rest of the usual suspects began to post similar finishes as the morning rolled along. A cooked fresh lunch of grilled hot dogs, kielbasa, sautÈed onions, and homemade chili with any combination thereof and Ann Gelinaís caramel brownies was served to the sailors. Everyone enjoyed it and considered siestas rather than competitive sailing in the afternoon. Following lunch, the opposite of the posted forecast happened and the breeze backed to the right to South East (rats!). The course was adjusted for a South East breeze and shortened in an effort to keep the unpredictable winds that swirl around the ìtreeî. All who have sailed at our pond now know about the gorgeous and huge ficus tree that stands AT WATERS EDGE on the South East corner of our sailing area. Many threatened to drive brass nails in it and others wanted a quicker fix: cutting it down. Problem was the course was too short: kind of like something Apollo Ono would skate on and roundings were very tight on the first beat and first run. The serenity of the day was ruined by the screech of calling fouls, bickering and the dreaded protest. ArDee adjusted again after one race lengthening the course and Baron flourished with a 1,2,1 and the bickering ceased as the fleet spread out. Scores at the split were: Sunday the breeze had shifted to southwest and was a solid 6-8 knots. The fleet was in early for the forecast was for the breeze to build and dial further right. Brenda Pardee withdrew due to flu onset. Our pond really sets up perfectly for this wind so a long windward leeward course was set with two times around. Each beat and run allowed for a lot of passing opportunities. As the breeze built, carnage began with broken shrouds one holed hull and burned rudder servos. It was great to see Alan Perkins dig himself out of a bad day one. Alan and Baron wowed the spectators with two very tight tacking duels that could have gone either way. In one, they were so into what the other was doing they forgot the rest of the fleet and gave up an easy 1,2 for a 3, 6. At the end of the day we had one protest in 13 sets of races. All of the competitors were very well behaved and talked things out and settled on the course. I know that our volunteer chef, Chester Williams purchased a hull from Bob Dudinsky. Another one to the fleet! Keeping score is a bear! I learned a lot from this and am looking forward to trying it again next year if you will have me. Thanks for coming and see you next year! Results
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