Wells Challenges For Regatta Trophy as Megarette Goes Missing

As Hennon pulled into the marina lot he knew this was not going to be a normal regatta.  The self-proclaimed professional meteorologist had called for a “light southerly” for the day’s races.  If one interpreted that as meaning “winds from the south from 5-15 kt. with gusts over 20”, then his forecast was right on.  As Hennon pondered how to keep his boat flat with a 55 lb. crew, he almost ran over a Laser that was parked in front of his normal parking spot.  This wasn’t your normal looking club racer Laser; she had labels on her rigging with the names “Ronstan” and “Harken”.  The bottom was clean and smooth, and the sails actually made some sort of strange cracking sound when the wind gust.    Hovering over this hotrod was a guy decked out in full racing gear – the kind you get at what the mystics call “West Marine”.  Hennon, sensing the worst but always optimistic, introduced himself and asked him if “he was racing with us today or just going out for a sail”.  Wells did not dignify the question with a response and promptly launched his boat to prepare for racing.

Bob Murray, last seen back stage at the Air Supply concert in Greenville, was PRO for the day.  Using the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” mantra, Murray called for a triangle course with marks to starboard for all four races.  In addition to Hennon and Wells, Bruce Sampson checked in with his Thistle and returning hot shot, west coast crew Jason.  Howe LaGarde and Drew “Crumpits” Langsner represented the Laser Radial fleet.  Barney and Lee Sokol were back in the Flying Scot and J. Guest, no longer a rookie, had the Bucanneer rigged and ready to go well before the skippers meeting.  Rounding out the fleet for the first race were the big boats, Nathan “RC” Lynch in the Starwind 19 and W. “don’t know your first name” Adams in the Catalina 22.  Missing from action were Julie Brockman and Madonna – hope to see them at the next one.

The puffy gusts before the first Race caused some last minute shifting of crews.  Catherine, an experienced sailor, decided the puffs might be too much for her “Zumfish” (the accidental offspring of a Sunfish and Zuma).  Hennon, the competitive juices already flowing, promptly booted his own offspring Olivia off the Jet-14 and grabbed Catherine for the day.  Barney couldn’t help feeling sorry for the weeping 8-year old and invited Olivia onboard the Flying Scot.  Olivia gladly accepted and said afterward that the blue boat “didn’t tip as much as your boat Daddy”.

As the gun for Race 1 sounded, Hennon nailed the start at the pin and tacked onto port.  Settling in for the windward leg, Catherine suddenly said “Do you see the Laser crossing 50 yards in front of you?”   Sure enough, Wells was sailing off toward the power plant all by himself.  As Hennon pondered what was happening, half the fleet crossed in front on starboard and spit the Jet out the back.  It was a challenging leg – lots of puffs and lulls interspersed with 30 degree shifts.  The right side of the course paid off initially with the higher velocity.  However, the wind came around to the left near the top of the course.  The key appeared choosing the right time to tack onto starboard to make your way to the left.

After the race Guest was seen wandering around the grounds with a rudder and tiller.  Apparently there was some sort of mechanical problem, preventing him from competing in Race 2.  His place was taken by Richard Hansen, who made his customary late appearance to compete in the last 3 races in his Venture 14.  Wells continued to intimidate the fleet by not coming in after the race, presumably to save his crispy sails from flogging around at the dock.  Langsner, sporting a nice “quiet” main, figured out the best course in Race 2, sailing up among the leaders for most of race.  He rode a nice puff down to the finish and almost caught Hennon/Catherine for the bullet.  Sampson had seen enough of this “hot shot Laser guy” and was heard yelling “eat my wind shadow” as he blanketed Wells during the entire third leg with his 45,675 sq. ft. mainsail.

Mass confusion arose at the start of Race 3.  As the clock ticked down to 00:00, the anticipated air horn blast failed to materialize.  Instead, PRO Murray let out a simulated air horn sound with his voice, which actually sounded like a dying goose.  Hennon, still wary from his over early call 2 weeks prior and wondering if Sampson and LaGarde had again paid off the RC, hesitated before sailing off down the right side.  Wells, who unfortunately discovered that morning that stop watches needed batteries to operate, was still maneuvering for starting position when he looked up and saw that Hennon was halfway to the windward mark.  Hennon, however, negated his advantage by tacking on every lift up the course and rounded behind Wells and Sampson.  Hansen, who had been observing this sad excuse for a windward beat from the middle of the pack, suddenly caught some breeze and virtually hydroplaned past Hennon on the second leg like the Jet-14 was sitting still.  He would go on to finish second in the race, his best finish of the year.  Good sailing!  On the last leg, Hennon brought out the heavy artillery by launching the spinnaker.  Wells just chuckled as he went on to the easy victory.  Sampson, however, began to tighten up as Hennon approached from behind.  With Jason working the jib and Brinna (hijacked crew from another boat) keeping the boat flat, the Jet slowly got bigger in the rear view mirror.  Sampson was heard arguing for throwing Brinna overboard to lighten the load, but Jason would have none of that.  In the end, Sampson edged Hennon at the line by less than a second.  Very exciting.

The RC technical snafus continued for Race 4.  Sampson and crew took off at the start and never looked back, seemingly finishing the race in 5 minutes.  And that time was not far off, as PRO Murray reported an elapsed time of 5 seconds for the race.  Sampson used quantum physics to argue for the time, but to no avail as Murray admitted not starting the race clock until 5 seconds before Sampson finished.  Afterwards, Sampson attributed his nice race to “Brinna, his new jib trimmer”.  Sorry Jason.  In other Race 4 action, Hennon caught a nice lift at the top mark, threw up the chute on the way home and rode a nice reach down to take first.  Lynch and crew looked like they were just starting to get their groove the last couple of races as he was only a few seconds out of 6^th place.  Langsner had a tough start as he got the mainsheet stuck on a tack before the start, then discovered that the approaching skipper (J. Guest) was a product of the “Tom Cannon School of Sailing”, of which the first lesson is “How to take out your competition with your boom”.  Langsner made a nice recovery though to finish 4^th for the race and the series.

The question may come to mind why “Megarette” was not used as a RC tool during the regatta.  She was last seen in the hands of Lee Sokol as she ran out on the dock to hail a boat.  Upon questioning from authorities, Lee pleaded the 5^th when asked if Megarette was now in Davey Jones’ Locker.  More details will follow as they become available.  Barney was last seen weeping in the corner as the fleet derigged.

A beautiful Saturday at Lake Julian produced some competitive (and sometimes loud) racing.  Lee Sokol, still smarting about Barney’s affair with Megarette, jumped ship to the Jet-14 for the day’s festivities.  Barney, unable to convince Megarette to crew for him, brought aboard the next best thing, his friend Laurie (?).  Howe LaGarde was back after last week’s swim for some more action.  Accompanying Howe in the Laser Radial fleet was 3^rd place Summer Series winner Drew Langsner.  Langsner was heard begging Bruce Sampson for another chance on his Thistle, but Sampson shunned Drew in favor of Jason, an up and coming newcomer who brought some “west coast” sailing experience with him.  Jason’s companion, whose name starts with a ‘B’ (sorry – Brina?  Brianna?  Brenna?), found a ride with the big boat with ‘RC’ on the sails captained by Nathan Lynch.  Bill Winkler rounded out the fleet for race 1 in his souped up Widgeon.  Also sailing around the lake but not racing was “Guest”, which is apparently the real last name of the guy in the Buccaneer (sorry, I’m not good with names).

An awards ceremony was scheduled to precede the racing, but someone forgot to tell Chief of Awards Rick Strickland, who was last seen eating chocolate and window shopping for watches in the Swiss countryside.

PRO Jeffries seemed nervous in his RC duties as he “asked” around for opinions on the course for the first race.  Howe said he didn’t have any time for this nonsense and called out for a triangle course rounding to port.  It seemed like a good course with the light northerly, allowing for a nice long spinnaker run to the first mark.  Hennon nailed the start and launched the chute to pad his lead, only to encounter a 180° shift and thus an inverted spinnaker.  Lynch made the critical error of following Hennon’s lead and launched his own kite, soon discovering the awkwardness of steering a boat backwards.  Giggles and a couple of profanities were heard as the entire fleet sailed over Hennon and raced to the dam.  All seemed lost until Lee, who said something to the effect of “I thought I was jumping on board a winner”, called the tactics the rest of race, leading to a dramatic come from behind win.

A couple of newcomers in Race 2 expanded the fleet to 9 boats.  Richard Hansen appeared out of nowhere during the starting sequence, then promptly continued right on across the starting line 30 seconds early.  Guest, seeing the awful tactics of Hennon during Race 1, thought anyone could do better than that and joined the fray in his Buccaneer.  During the last minute of the starting sequence, as Hansen sailed away toward the dam, boats were bunched up at the pin hoping to be the one to nail the start with clear air.  Langsner knew better than that and sailed away from everybody from the middle of the line.  Lee, at first worried that Hennon was over early, now berated him for letting Langsner get such a big lead at the start.  However, a couple of fortunate puffs later had Hennon passing Langsner near the first mark.  With the Sampson Express closing in on the last leg, Hennon/Sokol barely held them off for the win.  Winkler provided a preview of what was to come with a strong 4^th, and Lynch had a good enough race that there was even time to dock and have a drink with the rest of the fleet before the next starting sequence.

Developments on shore before Race 3 set the tone for the rest of the day.  Barney made the unfortunate mistake of asking why the RC didn’t use “Megarette”.  Lee, who was considering abandoning the Jet Express, mumbled something to the effect of “you can have her” and immediately put on her Jet-14 ball cap. Duke Angier, sporting a “Michael Jackson Glove”, claimed he could only act as ballast and couldn’t pull on anything.  That was enough for Guest, who recruited Angier to skipper the Buc for Race 3.   And Sampson and LaGarde were seen suspiciously slipping a couple of Jacksons into PRO Jeffries’ pocket.

As Hennon’s watch struck 00:00 for the start of Race 3, the PRO watch was apparently at 00:05 and Jeffries called the Jet-14 “at least a ½ boatlength” over early.  As Sampson and LaGarde winked at one another, Hennon had to return to the starting line and stare at Winkler’s transom all the way up the course.  Meanwhile, Angier must have brought his secret motor with him from his Cat as the Buccaneer basically destroyed everyone in the race.  At one point, the Buccaneer was so far ahead that Hennon thought there was no way he was even racing.  Angier and Guest had a couple of drinks under their belt back at the clubhouse before the next boat finished.

Winkler, who was usually unrigging in the parking lot about this time, decided to stay for one more race and nailed the start in Race 4.  The shocked fleet was subjected to shouting and some sort of awkward dance as Winkler celebrated being ahead of every other boat.  Although he would be buried by most of the fleet by the end, it was easy to see how Bill won the last regatta as he took the bullet easily on time.  LaGarde had to beat Hennon by 4 boats to take the regatta win but came up short, as the Jet-14 finished just ahead of him at the finish.

Thanks to PRO Jeffries for running the races.  Enjoy your “salary”!



Race 1:  Howe on his Radial was first over the line.  Bruce took a DNF with his Thistle b/c of the strong and shifty winds.  Bill Hurni took Bob Murray as crew on the Capri 22 and Barney raced solo on the Scot since Jill and Lee were subbing for the slightly late Richard Hansen as Race Committee who had traffic problems and detours getting to the lake.  (Was there ever a lovelier Race Committee, even though they were just subbing?)  Watching the prancing Capri 22 refusing to cross the finish line was like watching a thoroughbred race horse refusing to leave the starting gate…such sleek lines and beautiful dancing.  The Widgeon had a slow first race, I think because she was attracted to a bright red Widgeon sailing from the public launch that Bill Winkler didn’t even notice.   Whit waited on the Catalina 22 for Captain Curtis to show up from his job.

Race 2:  Lee crewed for Bruce on the Thistle since he needed ballast and someone to do a quick release on the jib sheet when needed.  The times show that the Thistle crossed the finish line 10 seconds before the Scot.  It felt closer than that.  (The Scot was showing off her newly scrubbed bottom.)  Drew and his crew on the Coronado capsized but made a quick recovery.  The Widgeon decided to sail faster this race to show off to the pretty little red Widgeon.

Race 3:  Bruce didn’t race his Thistle; I guess Lee wasn’t enough ballast after all.  So Lee crewed for Barney on the Scot.  After sitting out Race 2 for a breather, Howe was back out on his Radial.  The Scot and the Radial were right together at the head of the pack at the dam mark.  Unfortunately, Howe capsized while rounding the mark.  Barney and Lee on the Scot sailed on to the wires mark while still looking back to be sure Howe got his boat back up.  After rounding the wires mark, they saw that Howe still wasn’t back up so went back to check on him.  Just before they got back to Howe, Howe was back up sailing and Nathan was in the water trying to climb the ladder back onto his Starwind.  Turns out the Radial and its centerboard parted ways during the capsize…making it very hard to right the boat from a turtle position.  With Nathan’s help in the water, Howe got the boat righted and the centerboard back in.  Thanks, Nathan!

It was fun to have Jonathon and Janet Guest out on their Buccaneer during and after the racing.  I hope they’ll be joining in the racing soon.  I saw Jonathon getting tips from Duke Angier on how to use the “magic box” on the mast to increase speed.  There’s no better theory coach than Duke, for sure.      – Lee Sokol

* Flying Scot and Starwind 19 receive average scores from races 1 and 2.  They stopped to assist another boat.

Rumors were circulating that Howe “this housing market sucks” LaGarde had had enough of watching these young whipper snappers take all his bullets in the races.  Sure enough, trumpets blared as Howe pulled in to ASC with Laser in tow, ready to kick some behind.  The return of LaGarde brought out two more Lasers, Drew Langsner and Tom Cannon.  Cannon was supposed to be on RC duty today but managed to find a couple of very capable substitutes, Jo Sampson and Cannon’s better half Scottie – we’ll call them the “RC Babes”.  Mr. Consistency Richard Hanson was there to claim his 87^th straight Top 7 regatta finish, and Bruce Sampson couldn’t wait to try out his brand new halyards, replacing the ones that Brockman and Madonna destroyed 2 weeks ago.  Rick Strickland was at the club around sunrise rigging his Skiff, and we can always count on Barney and Lee Sokol to have a great time trying to get their spinnaker flying.  Rounding out the fleet was Curtis Boyd on his Catalina 22 and yours truly on the Jet-14.  Missing from the fleet was Bob Murray, who was attending an Air Supply concert in Greenville.

Even though Cannon wasn’t officially on RC duty, he seemed to immediately take charge and called out for a windward/leeward 1 lap race in a relatively light southerly.  Cannon then subsequently boarded his Laser, sailed to the starting area, and capsized before the starting gun.  LaGarde, seemingly rusty from months of sailing inactivity, wondered out loud if Cannon was trying a new type of starting maneuver.  Hennon, with crew Julie “Friend of Madonna” Brockman on board, confidently started at the wrong end of the line as usual and had to tack behind the entire fleet.  The winds seemed to gradually increase as the race progressed and the first race concluded in about 3 minutes.  Sampson used a great start to edge Hennon by seconds at the end for the bullet.  Langsner showed the fleet that he would be a factor today with a strong 4^th.

As the fleet rested onshore, winds unexpectedly continued to increase into the 12-15 kt. range with higher gusts.  Noting this, Cannon (still dripping wet) called for a longer triangle course (dam, wires, finish).   After a clean start the fleet headed up the course, beating their way to the dam mark.  Hennon took advantage of Brockman’s insane hiking ability to pull away at the top of the course.  Sampson, clearly agitated that he couldn’t keep 4,567 sq. ft. of sail area flat, rounded second, with Langsner close behind.  The final run in 15 kt. of breeze was one for the ages, as 1 out of every 2 gybes by the fleet turned into a capsize.  Cannon clearly missed his Tilapia friends and planted his mast in Loc Julian again.  LaGarde, still thinking that Cannon was on to something, followed suit.  After practicing their spinnaker work between Race 1 and Race 2, the Hennon/Brockman team finally made a successful launch and ripped down the course in pursuit of Sampson.  Langsner managed to stay upright on the run, allowing him to take 2^nd place for the race and move into contention for the regatta victory.

Some excitement occurred at the conclusion of Race 2.  After finishing, Boyd turned his bow toward the launch ramp and kept going, seemingly trying to sail right up into the parking lot.  Luckily they were able to stop just short, and with the help of a few scared members the Catalina was returned to the rough waters of Lake Julian from whence she came.

Some changes were in store for Race 3.  Apparently trimming a spinnaker in 20 kt. gusts was a bit too much for Brockman as she demanded the tiller for Race 3.  Sampson, knowing the Langsner was now a threat for the regatta victory, somehow convinced him to crew for him.  We can only speculate that their “tea and crumpits” outing in April was more special than originally known.  Swim buddies Cannon and LaGarde were still game, though.  The course was similar to Race 2 except in the opposite direction.  Why?  Only the RC babes know.  The other change in course was a finish to windward after rounding the “hole” mark at the bottom of the lake – little did the fleet know how much this would come into play later.

After an uneventful first couple of legs, with the exception of the appearance of the full-flying Sokol Flying Scot spinnaker (nice job!), the critical moment of the race arrived as three boats approached the “hole” mark.  LaGarde, Brockman, and Cannon were jockeying for rounding position at the bottom mark.   Cannon, clearly overtaken with frustration from his swim parties, saw his chance to take Hennon out of the Summer Series and maybe the Annual race.  Brockman could only utter a quick “Look out!” as Cannon’s “boom of death” swung across the deck of the Jet-14 and plowed into Hennon’s noggin.   Cannon, who claimed later to be “concentrating on the mark” and not “worrying about whether my boom of death was interfering with another boat or someone’s head”, was forced to do penalty turns, taking him out of contention.  Brockman, clearly overlapped on the inside of LaGarde, took her room and used it to her advantage, beating LaGarde to the finish and edging Sampson on time for the victory.

After Sampson’s elimination of Langsner, the regatta win came down to two boats in the final race – Thistle vs. Jet-14.  Sampson did his part in the dying wind, winning Race 4 by few seconds.  The regatta came down to the final leg to the finish.  Hennon needed to place 2^nd to win the regatta by one point, but the boom of death and LaGarde were between him and the finish line.  Fortunately the beat to the finish was long enough and Hennon/Brockman were able to edge both boats at the finish to claim the regatta victory by 1 point over Sampson.  It was an unbelievably close regatta, with the Thistle and Jet-14 separated by only 3 seconds in Races 1 and  4. Nice sailing Bruce!

I think 10 boats is a nice turnout for a hot summer day – thanks everyone for sailing!  We hope to see all of you at the Poker Run/Shrimparoo!

-Chris Hennon

The winds of July featured a rare summer northerly as eight boats competed in the third summer series regatta at Asheville Sailing Club.  3 boats almost didn’t make it in time as Bob Murray pulled up in front of the locked gate and thought that the park ranger would personally deliver the key.  After 15 minutes of listening to Air Supply’s Greatest Hits, Bob emerged with a confused look on his face.  Even more confused was Drew Langsner, who trailored in his Laser Radial, and Chris Hennon, who was blocking the road with his new, shiny gudgeons.  Eileen Gertz, sandbag crew for Hennon, saved the day and secured a key.  Already inside the grounds was Bruce Sampson, who apparently arrived around noon and had his Thistle rigged and ready to go hours before the gun.  The Flying Scots were out in force, with traditional power Barney and Lee Sokol sailing alongside at least 4 or 5 fun loving people whose names  I didn’t catch in #4131; we’ll just call them “Jeffries”.  Rounding out the fleet were Richard Hansen in his multi-hull rocketship, and Spencer (?) Atwater in his beautiful Dougdish.

PRO Bill Winkler skillfully called in the competitors for a very special skipper’s meeting.  No, Barney was not going to demonstrate the Macarena.  Rather, Howie Lagarde made a special appearance and was heard mumbling how he could still “school these pretenders”.  It was good to see him.  Also, Lee requested a quick review on right of way rules near mark roundings.  This seminar was attempted by C. Hennon with a lot of help from his better half and a few magnetic boats.  Things were going well until questions arose regarding the 3-boat circle.  The lesson quickly fell apart into a mass ball of utter confusion, so Winkler cut it short and set the first course as an up and back, rounding to port.

Winds were forecast to be out of the north around 5 kt – we were lucky to see 5 kt for much of the first leg of Race 1.  Taking inspiration from the rules seminar, several hails of “Coming up!”, “Starboard”, and “Get the #$%* out of my way!” were uttered from the anxious fleet (not sure that I covered that  last one in the talk).  Sampson started at the pin and found a nice channel up the left side, rounding well ahead of the fleet.   Langsner and Hansen came up on Hennon at the last moment and all 3 rounded together with Drew “taking room” on the inside.  All three boats were alarmed when they passed Murray in his Melonseed belting  out “Even the Nights Are Better” on his way to the top of the course.  Hennon tried a new tactic to catch Sampson, the “fly a spinnaker to windward” maneuver – which quite literally backfired.  Bruce pulled an “Angier” and had time for a couple of beers before the fleet arrived.   Team Jeffries and Atwater completed the race and seemed thrilled to finish.  That’s what we like to see!

With hints of a building wind, Winkler called for a triangle course (wires, dam, finish) for Race 2, taking the marks to starboard.  Sampson tried a repeat of Race 1, heading up the left side.  It worked again, although the building winds made it more difficult to keep a boat powered by 345,543 square meters of sail area flat.  Hennon and Gertz once again tried to wield the kite to make up ground but instead events turned into a movie titled “Groundhog Day II: When poles let go of sheets”.  After rounding the dam mark, the fleet had to beat to windward for a ways in a nice 8-12 kt. northerly.  Atwater played it perfectly and went on to finish a nice 3^rd.  Also, Team Jeffries showed the rest of us that a Flying Scot can go with 46 crew members on board.  Finally, after a nice 4^th place finish in Race 1, Bob Murray was apparently “Lost in Love” this race.  But his boat is just so darn pretty.

Winkler called for one more race, same course as Race 2.  Sampson interpreted that to mean that he would start on the left side and round first again.  But it was not to be as he drove right into a shoreline wind shadow, stalling about 1/3 of the way up the first leg.  Langsner, sailing away in the middle of the lake, looked over fondly at Sampson, recalling the nice tea and crumpits moment they shared in April near that very spot.  Murray serenaded Sampson with “Making love out of nothing at all” as he drove by – we are still trying to determine what that means.  In other action, Hennon found a nice wind line and rode it all the way up to the first mark.  Hansen found a clear lane on the second leg, rounding just behind Sampson (who recovered nicely) and Hennon on his way to a nice 3^rd.  The winds were just approaching the Flying Scot sweet zone, as Sokol and Jeffries (improving by the second!) finished 4^th and 5^th.  Langsner, feeding on the good feelings from that April encounter, played it right and finished a strong 2^nd.

The racing may have been over but the action was still hot.  Kenny, who as far as I know doesn’t have a last name (kind of like “Madonna”) and Julie Brockman stopped by to watch the racing and think about what boat Julie might buy.  Sampson gave them a ride in the Thistle, which went well until the main halyard decided it had had enough after 35 years of service and snapped.  Seeing that their work was done there, Kenny and Julie next targeted the Sokol Flying Scot for demolition.  Fortunately they completed the sail without incident.

-Chris Hennon

Results Key:

D-PN – Portsmouth Handicap (No wind adjustments)
ET – Elapsed time in decimal minutes (e.g. 30 seconds = 0.5 minutes)
CT – Corrected time, calculated as (ET*100)/(D-PN)
Place – Corrected finish for individual race
Total – Sum of finishes for all races
Finish – Final rank for regatta

Please see the Regatta Organization document for details on how the series scores are calculated.

The Summer Series has 5 scheduled regattas.  As in the Spring, 3 regattas are needed to qualify.  If a skipper participates in more than 3, then the best 3 regatta finishes will be used to calculate the Summer Series score.

Thanks for participating this spring.  I hope to see you on the line this summer.

- VC Chris Hennon

The first light air regatta of the Spring Series brought 8 boats to the line.  PRO Chris Hennon was thankful for the day off as his legs had not yet recovered from the brutal wind of the previous weekend.  With a light and shifty “somewhere out of the south” wind seemingly holding on, Hennon set the fleet off on a 1 lap triangle course in Race 1.  As the gun sounded, 7 boats steadily made their way up the course.  Barney, who apparently hijacked Flying Scot #4131, wanted to see if the added weight from having his mainsail up slowed the boat down in light air.  He quickly discovered that having no mainsail was slow, and subsequently hoisted it and started the race.

Cackles from the RC shed quickly turned to disbelief as Barney somehow caught and then passed most of the fleet.  Unfortunately, the wind died at the top of the course and the dreaded “20 minute to round the first mark rule” came into play as Hennon blasted the abandon race signal.  Barney, who by this time had a 10 boat-length lead on arch rival Sampson, was furious and sensed conspiracy, claiming he saw Sampson “phone a friend” just before the abandon signal.  Subsequent claims of a large lump sum payment into Hennon’s account have not been substantiated.

A long pause as the fleet waited for the wind to fill in allowed for a few beers to be poured and some boat rides to be given.  Sampson and new best friend C. Hennon took a ride in the Jet-14, as did Doug “don’t know his last name can someone fill me in”.  Towards the end of the break the wind increased by over 100% in velocity (from 1 kt. to 2 kt.), and so Paula Hennon, though having no official authority, began a 10-minute countdown for the next race.

Race 2 looked promising at the start, as the fleet caught a nice tailwind down to the first mark.  As the current breeze was out of a northerly direction and the large-scale wind was supposed to be from a southerly direction, this was a bad sign.  After safely rounding the top (bottom?) mark in a blazing 14 minutes, the fleet disappeared behind the point and could not be seen from the RC shelter for approximately 6 hours.  Finally the fleet emerged from it’s other dimension and finished the race in just under an hour.  Sokol, apparently not discouraged by the large political forces aligned against him, had a great race to finish 3rd.  Afterwards, he gave proper credit to the “nice shiny gel coat” on his stolen boat.  Bob Murray finished a strong second, on his way to a second place overall finish.

The promised southerly finally built in around 3:30 pm, just in time for the start of Race 2 (or 3 if you are counting at home).  Hennon set a short “windward/leeward” course (which is in fact still sanctioned by US Sailing as a proper race course) and the smaller fleet (P. Hennon and Sokol had to retire early – P. Hennon was later seen at Asheville mall buying an expensive diamond necklace, which has no correlation to the outcome of the abandoned race) set off in a nice 5-10 kt. breeze.  The first boat finished with an estimated time of 7 minutes – estimated because the official ASC stopwatch stuck on 2:23 during the race.  Luckily some guy named Kenny (actually he is the roommate of hotshot Julie) had a stopwatch and saved the day.  Sampson finally scored a good race without the help of Franklin and Grant to take second, and D. Langsner, recently let go from his position as Sampson’s crew for well known reasons, finished literally 1 second behind to take 3rd.

This regatta concluded the Spring Series – we look forward to seeing everyone start over fresh at the first Summer Series regatta on Saturday June 11.  Note the 4 pm start time for the June 11 races.

Results Key:

D-PN – Portsmouth Handicap (No wind adjustments)
ET – Elapsed time in decimal minutes (e.g. 30 seconds = 0.5 minutes)
CT – Corrected time, calculated as (ET*100)/(D-PN)
R1 place – Corrected finish for Race 1
Regatta Score – Sum of finishes for all races