Our last regatta of the 2018 season is in the books! The 59th annual Midlands Regatta saw a fleet of 11 fulls, 3 radials, and 3 4.7’s competing in characteristic Fall lake conditions.
Saturday was extremely light but we managed to get off one race. The key on Saturday seemed to be connecting the dots between tiny puffs and gradually making your way around the course, taking a second every now and then to wave at the drone flying overhead taking video! The drinks and bbq on Saturday night made up for a less than ideal day of racing.
Sunday was a GREAT day of sailing. We had three excellent races in moderate, shifty breeze with tight competition. In one or two of the races, the top 5 was decided at the final leeward mark rounding! Keys for Sunday were (a) good starts, which was tough since the wind was shifting back and forth suddenly and significantly all day, and (b) staying in phase on the upwind legs.
On the topic of staying in phase, this was my first regatta using the newly legal digital compass from Nautalitics. For me, having never raced with a compass, it took some getting used to. But by the second and third races on Sunday I was comfortable with my heading ranges on each tack and it was easy to make decisions using the data. I felt more in phase this regatta than any previous event! Perhaps the biggest difference for me was getting immediately in phase right after the start and right after rounding the leeward mark. It made a huge difference! For all the gear junkies out there, it’s worth a shot. The screen is easy to read while hiked out and very sensitive to subtle changes in direction. And the countdown timer works great too. Only drawback to me after one regatta was the 3M velcro adhesive started peeling up a little by the end of the event. Jury is still out on whether that’s a good long term method of attachment.
As this was our last event of 2018, we had our annual meeting on Sunday morning before racing. Here are the two big highlights:
For scheduling purposes, going forward we will adopt a 3 tier method for handling the rotation among venues. Tier 1 venues are ones we want to have every single year. Tier 2 are venues we want to have most years, but will rotate away from perhaps every 3-4 years. Tier 3 are venues we want to include occasionally, perhaps once every 3-4 years. Added to this conceptual framework will be significant consideration to the SAYRA Jr schedule. This worked very well this year and the feedback from the juniors and their parents is that aligning some of our D12 events with the SAYRA Jr schedule helps tremendously with participation. In order to accomplish this, the final 2019 schedule will not come out until after the SAYRA annual meeting in January. Stay tuned!
D12 Leadership was discussed. Our plan is to adopt a permanent Co-Secretary set up where each district secretary serves a two year term, and these are staggered to increase continuity. For next year, Rob Bowden will continue in his role as Co-Secretary. I am at the end of two years as secretary and while I’m happy to continue, we will solicit interest to see whether another person wants to take over my position.
Finally, the District 12 Championship Series awards were presented. Here’s the rundown:
Overall Champion – Stanley Hassinger
Radial Champion – Danny Diederich
4.7 Champion – Garner Mobley
Overall Master’s Champion – Stanley Hassinger
Top Apprentice Master – Stanley Hassinger
Top Master – Rob Bowden
Top Grand Master – Robert Key
Top Great Grand Master – Finn Hassing
My last comment is this. Combining all three fleets, we had 93 sailors compete this year. That’s incredible! Unfortunately, of these 93 sailors a total of just 14 qualified for season ending standings by competing in at least 3 events. We all need to do a better job encouraging folks to get out and sail in 3 or more events!
Best,
Stanley
[photo credit: Mark Alexander]
Laser District 12 