Several New Orleans Yacht Club sailors raced this weekend at SYC’s Closing Regatta. This regatta was part of the local J-22 Fleet 46 and PHRF Fall Series. The weather was incredible. The temperature was in the low 80’s and the winds were out the east at 6-10 knots.
In the spinnaker Handicap Fleet, Scott Tonguis and his crew nucleus from the J-30 North American Championship swept class. They raced this optimized J-30 with 9-year-old blown out sails and it didn’t seem to slow them down a bit. Foredeck David Zahn said that they were a little short handed in the puffs, but getting around the course with only a crew of four wasn’t much of a problem. Zephyr started in a typical Tonguis like fashion. Tactician Dave Erwin suggested that they bail out early take sterns and work the right/south side of the course. They did just that and nailed two twenty five degree shifts too stretch out a huge lead to the first mark. Even know victory was eminent at this point, they stayed focused, sailed their polar angles, snapped in a few flawless gybes and continued to stretch out their lead. Second in this class was Merlin Wilson sailing Tenacity and third was Rob Parker on Flying Tiger. Rob Parker said, "I can’t believe how flat those guys on Zephyr sail the boat…. I had a little trouble hanging with them for a change…we had them at the start and then they took off and got a big shift". In Class A, Stephen Murray sailing "The Most Recent Decision" in its Lake Pontchartrain shallow draft configuration beat Heartbeat and Java to correct out first. Henry Lopez on his Hunter 40 Kon Tiki won the non spinnaker class.
Over on the One Design course, NOYC sailors Gilbert McLauglin, Ryan Bancroft and Chris Teske embarrassed &/or shamed the local Fleet 46 crowd by beating them with their J-22 that included life lines, stanchions, bow pulpit, motor bracket, a gallon of gasoline and an outboard on board. One racer said, " I can tell you this….I have been sailing J-22’s for over 13 years and this is the first time I lost to another J-22 sailing with all that stainless steel every where and a motor on the boat". Chris Weintjes sailing 22-Caliber scored finishes of 2-2-5 which placed him second overall. Stanton Murray sailing with his hung over puking crew finished third, but they put out some nice chum during the race.
SYC put on a great regatta with excellent race management. The closing ceremonies were classy and traditional with a patriotic flair. The trophies were large glass candleholders and were given to those who finished first through third in their classes. In their commodore’s words, sailing season closes today, but LPRC starts next weekend. I guess that this is what we get when when our sailing traditions follow those of other geographical areas that actually have four true seasons.
-steinkamp
