Punta Gorda "Holiday Regatta" Report
Perkins kicks off the 2017 season with a win
By John Steacy

The weekend got off to a rousing start with more than half the competitors and company getting together for dinner Friday evening. The next morning when we all got to the pond we were greeted by no wind out of the east. At least that was the forecasted direction so RD Art Hawes started to set up a course on the south side of our pond. The wind did come in as predicted but was very light and the Perkins sailing clinic got underway on time. It turns out Alan’s first race was his worst finish of the weekend, a 10th. In spite of what I believe to be a new record for OCS starts in one regatta (FOUR), Alan went on to finish no worse than 4th in 14 of the 18 races to win the regatta by a whapping 24 points.

Things were a little more interesting back in the fleet. In the end there were only 19 points separating the next four boats. The 2nd place finisher, Jack Ward, tried hard to give the position away Sunday morning by getting caught in the B fleet for a couple of races but Al Dion who was in third would have none of that and went to B as well! Meanwhile Chuck Millican from Hilton Head was enjoying a string of single digit finishes but couldn’t quite close the gap on Al and finished fourth overall. Doc Greer got the last podium finish moving up from 7th at the end of the day Saturday. Speaking of Saturday, by lunch the wind had backed to the north forcing a mass move over to the east side of the pond and then persisted in oscillating back and forth and up and down providing some really good drifting for those who like that sort of thing. The top four guys in the end met the challenge. The rest of us struggled and had one excuse after another. Such is pond sailing. Art and his legion for course marshals, scorers and mark tenders did a great job getting things set and really kept us moving. Eighteen heats, thirty-six races, in what was generally light air is testament to that.

RC John Steacy
RD Art Hawes
Scorers: Paul Newfield and Doug Jones
Social Directors: Howard Means and Jack Ward
Registrar and Head of Cloths Pins: Rich Greenwald
Food and Beverage: Pauline LaCroix, Mike Rodehaver, Commodore Jeff Hawley

Results

Skipper Regatta Points Series Points
1 Alan Perkins 40
100
2 Jack Ward 64
95.9
3 Al Dion 66
91.8
4 Chuck Millican 70
87.7
5 Bob Greer 83
83.6
6 Jon Luscomb 100
79.5
7 John Steacy 107
75.5
8 Bill Brown 121
71.4
9 Earnan Scavella 121.8
67.3
10 Martin Gray 124.5
63.2
11 Don Hain 125
59.1
12 Bill Croft 133
55.0
13 Dick Reinke 156
50.9
14 John Goldsworthy 159
46.8
15 George Balaschak 170
42.7
16 Dan Pearce 211
38.6
17 Jim Rutherford 231
34.5
18 Don Peterson 234
30.5
19 Jim Pardee 256
26.4
20 Richard Mieling 277
22.3
21 Brenda Pardee 278
18.2
22 Don Thompson 282
14.1
23 Liz Perkins 325
10.0

Photos coming soon we hope.