2012 Bowlegs Regatta -- Ft Walton Yacht Club
By Galen Freeman,
Last weekend
five J/22 crews traveled from Nashville to compete in the reliable sea breezes,
the great fun and famous Florida Sun at Ft Walton Yacht Club. The only problem was … somebody forgot the
SUN part. In fact, I would almost swear
I saw Jim Cantory from the Weather Chanel in the whiteout behind the two
waterspouts spotted by the race committee during the abandoned 3rd
race on Saturday.
Sean Clare,
Steve “Doc” Bellows (owner of Emerald Sails), Ashley Sukalaski and Colleen, (a
90lb. young lady from the Ft Walton junior sailing team), all sailed very well scoring
two firsts. In the first race, they just
sailed away and never looked back followed by Mark Hunter (a former Finn sailor
(who had the heaviest crew in the series) using their extra weight to hold the
boat flat in the extreme conditions.
Aboard our
Florida “HO” (the J/22 John Robertson and I keep at FWYC) we were proud to have
Shea Freeman Patrick, return from “J22 racing retirement” after a 6 year “Workaholic”
session at her new location for Freeman’s Flowers in Franklin. The
good news … She didn’t miss a lick … In spite of the 4-5 foot waves … Every
tack, every jibe was as if she had never left the foredeck ... Shea and John
Robertson were able to drag me back through the fleet after my DFL start in the
first race … Race two saw us off the starting line on a nice lift but unable to
hold off Sean who was just able to keep his boat flatter (with an extra 90
pounds of “Colleen” on the rail) and we had to settle for second in the race.
Sunday races
were first postponed due to the carnage in the other fleets during Saturday’s
storms, however the committee succumbed to harassment and decided to start us
in spite of the impending storm ... With only one race possible before the
storm in the 25kt winds, Mark Hunter came after us before the start but we were
able to gain the advantaged leeward position in the starboard lift and hold him
off until the storm cancellation during the third leg to secure second in the regatta.
John
Harrison, Rob Borquin, and James ODell aboard J22 “Mach” had an excellent first
race catching us at the finish line in race one. They then recorded a spectacular crash-n-burn
in race two and were making THE MOVE on us in race three at cancellation. Whew!
Brad Arnold on
“Humdinger” with fellow J/22 owners from KLSC Wayne Cassady and new 22 owner, Doug
Davis finished 6th in the first race and a tight 7th in the second.
Our newest
fleet members Tony Giarratana and Ted Kromer sailing with Tony’s son Sam,
suffered from a lack of crew weight in the heavy conditions plus a lost
spinnaker pole on Saturday ... BUT they sailed well and braved the super heavy
winds of Sunday … With only the two of them.
Tough guys … and … They are SERIOUS ABOUT BEATING ME.
We had plenty
of wind … but the other fleets didn’t fare as well as the rugged little J/22s,
with carnage in each fleet. The skipper
of the new Melges 20 was washed overboard with no life jacket and almost lost
before the crash boat found him in the heavy seas.
A good lesson
to ALWAYS WEAR YOUR LIFE JACKET IN HEAVY AIR ... (Isn’t that why they call it a
LIFE jacket).
Two Catalina
22s lost their rigs on Saturday and the fleet elected to stay at the club on
Sunday. They were right, but it was a
HOOT beating home with only the jib after the vang blew up in the 30kt plus
gusts of the last leg.
As we say in
our PPYC fight song …
Ohhhh!
We’re the BUNCH FROM PERCY PRIEST
With all our sailing gear
We’ve traveled East
We’ve traveled West
With never any fear
We win with ease
Where ‘er we please
Throughout the Hem-is-phere!!!!!
AND
--- We’ve
Come
in a bunch - to eat your lunch - AND - drink up all your beer”
J22 Fleet - FINAL RESULTS
as of 10 June 2012
Sailed:
2, Discards: 0, To count: 2, Entries: 8, Scoring system: Appendix A
|
Boat
Name
|
Skipper
|
Boat
Type
|
Sail
|
Rating
|
|
|
Total
|
Points
|
|
White Trash
|
Sean Clarke
|
J/22
|
202
|
183
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
2.0
|
2.0
|
|
HO
|
Galen Freeman
|
J/22
|
1261
|
183
|
4.0
|
2.0
|
6.0
|
6.0
|
|
Mark Hunter
|
Mark Hunter
|
J/22
|
239
|
183
|
2.0
|
4.0
|
6.0
|
6.0
|
|
Mach
|
John Harrison
|
J/22
|
1045
|
183
|
3.0
|
5.0
|
8.0
|
8.0
|
|
Eve 'n Keeled
|
Jennifer Grant
|
J/22
|
238
|
183
|
8.0 DNC
|
3.0
|
11.0
|
11.0
|
|
Bob Blythe
|
J/22
|
467
|
183
|
5.0
|
6.0
|
11.0
|
11.0
|
|
Humdinger
|
Brad Arnold
|
J/22
|
723
|
183
|
6.0
|
7.0
|
13.0
|
13.0
|
|
Bellissima
|
Tony Giarratana/Ted Kromer
|
J/22
|
1502
|
183
|
7.0
|
9.0 DNF
|
16.0
|
16.0
|
