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And the winners are ....!

Corpus Christi Yacht Club Juniors

Corpus Christi Yacht Club Jr. sailors and coaches following the regatta this past weekend.   It was wet and windy, but the
sailors had a great time.  The parents and kids alike loved the trophies -- the color sketches were a big hit. 
Thank you again for your help. 


CCYC junior, Kathryn Moffitt, age 7, happy Green Fleet Winner!

August 23rd & 24th, 2003

CHARLESTON, SC—Now in its fourth year, the Charleston Harbor Challenge drew 21 boats to the Charleston Yacht Club this weekend for a lively seven-race series that witnessed winds ranging from six to 20 knots, and a few knock-down puffs well in excess of that. For two days boats from as far away as Tennessee, Florida, Virginia, Maryland and Georgia joined eight local boats to compete around the buoys in the Holy City’s tide-strewn harbor. When the spray finally settled, local sailors Ross Griffith, Miles Martschink, Bill Hanckel, and Bill Milling sailing aboard Moving Target emerged as the winners, the benefactors of superbly consistent tactics and boathandling.

Saturday’s initial contest got underway in a waning ebb tide and southwest winds that rarely surpassed eight knots. As the top three boats converged on the weather mark, the wind gods took a powder and the Charleston Harbor Challenge momentarily became a driftathon, with the fleet enduring a nearly complete inversion. “In about four minutes we went from third to third to last,” said Steve Jones, who along with his partner Eric Andrews had driven all night from Tennessee for the festivities. Almost as quickly as the wind had gone limp, a marginal breeze reappeared and the race committee was able to score the first of five races that day. Charleston’s Omalley Avant on USA 98 surprised the fleet by coming off the left on that first windward leg to sneak around the mark well ahead of the pack and hold that lead for the next three legs to the finish line.

Throughout the day the breeze direction remained relatively stable as the winds built toward 15 knots. After one general recall, Race 2 got underway in roughly 12 knots of wind. Travis Weisleder’s crew on Carloan.com out of Annapolis, MD started clean and hit what few shifts there were to round the top mark with a comfortable lead. They managed to hold off the Gregory, Hill, Scholtz team on Satisfaction (out of Atlanta) to grab a bullet in that contest, and then duplicated the feat in Race 3.

 

 

 

For Race 4, the winds intensified to the point that some boats were able to plane on the leeward legs, if only for a few seconds at a time. In that contest, Griffith and his team on Moving Target started nicely, a third of the way down the line from the committee boat, and punched out to an early lead that they maintained to the finish to grab their first bullet. Second place in that race went to the event’s organizer Ryan Hamm and his crew on board the aptly named When Pigs Fly.

A slight moderation in the wind strength developed for Race 5, though there were still a few puffs that could promote planing. After a dismal 15th in Race 4, the Pitt-Shafer syndicate on board the Florida-based Tommy Bahama redeemed themselves by grabbing a hard-won bullet in this contest. Tight on their transom Satisfaction and Carloan.com, each inched closer to the regatta leader Moving Target (sixth place in that race) as the day closed out.

After a treat of limitless shrimp and draft beer on Saturday Night at the yacht club, the competitors suffered through a hot, windless morning on Sunday, but were ultimately treated to 12 to 15 knots out of the southeast, setting the stage for two contests that featured the most stable winds of the entire event. Doug Kessler and his Atlanta-based team on board Liberty finally found their groove in that day’s first race, coming off the left side of the first beat to gain an early edge. They battled with two local boats most of the way around (When Pigs Fly and Moving Target), but managed to clinch the win.

In the final contest, Moving Target worked out to a nominal lead by the first weather mark, with Liberty and When Pigs Fly rounding in hot pursuit. Griffith and his team aggressively protected their turf throughout the ensuing three legs to cross the finish line and take the gun, solidifying their claim to the overall win.

Principal Race Officer Hal Smith of Greenville, SC, remarked after the event how fortunate he thought all the attendees were to get seven fair contests out of what he said had the makings of a questionable weekend of weather. Punctuating his point, bright bolts of lighting crackled across the sky to the west as dark thunderheads bore down on the Charleston peninsula. He said he felt the action on the racecourse was impressively tight, right down to the final start. “There were boats out there with plenty of points on the scoreboard, but they were nonetheless right up there on the line with the leaders when that last gun went off. That’s great racing.”

The Charleston Harbor Challenge was scored with a throw out factored in, leaving Moving Target with 15 points, followed by Satisfaction with 23, and Tommy Bahama with 24. Fourth place overall went to Mark Marenakas of Charleston and his crew on board Paddlefoot with 30 points. There was a 3 boat logjam with 32 points with Carloan.com, Liberty 3, and When Pigs Fly finishing 5th, 6th , and 7th respectively. For additional information log on to www.charlestonyachtclub.com.

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Melges 24 – Charleston Harbor Challenge 2003 - Results

Place	Boat Name	Score	TieBreak	Helmsman	Home Port
1st	Moving Target	15		Ross Griffith	Charleston, SC
2nd	Satisfaction	23		Scott Gregory	Atlanta, Ga
3rd	Tommy Bahama	24		Nigel Shafer	Florida
4th	Paddlefoot	30		Mark Marenakos	Charleston, SC
5th	Carloan.com	32	T1,1	Travis Weisleder	Annapolis MD
6th	Liberty	32	T1,2	Doug Kessler	Atlanta, GA
7th	When Pigs Fly	32	T2	Ryan Hamm	Charleston, SC
8th	Beelzebubba	51		John Lucas	Charleston, SC
9th	No Tourism	57		John Raymont	Columbia, SC
10th	Sick Puppy	60		Steve Jones	Tennessee
11th	Suzanne	64		Routt Reighart	Mt. Pleasant, SC
12th	Dirty Wight Boy	68		Bill Blanc	Annapolis, MD
13th	USA 98	70	T1	O'malley Avant	Mt. Pleasant, SC
14th	Adios	70	T8	Ray Laguna	Melbourne, Fl
15th	Buzzard	77		Brian Swan	Charleston, SC
16th	Trust Me	79		Tom Carter	Melbourne, Fl
17th	M & M	81		Michael Nuff	Melbourne, Fl
18th	Meinnetonka II	85		Gary Umberger	Atlanta, Ga
19th	Caliente	88		Bob Sowden	Melbourne, Fl
20th	Rogue Wave	102	T10	Jeff Meyers	Atlanta, Ga
21st	Thunderbird	102	T13	Buck Newsome	Charleston, SC

10th Annual Oriental Rotary Club Tarpon Tournament
For the full story, see http://www.towndock.net/tarpon/index.html
     
Over 65 intrepid fishermen stalked the elusive tarpon for two days (July 26-27) on the waters of the Neuse.  Many were spotted, few (just 20) silver kings were caught and released.  The everpresent cow nose ray (a.k.a. pancake tarpon) was a different story.  Dan Roberts, above right, caught and released 75 of the hungry critters ... in addition, Dan placed in a four-way tie for third place. 
Volunteer observers kept count on every fishing boat.

Keyport Yacht Club Juniors Regatta, July 18, 2003
Keyport, NJ

Keyport Yacht Club's  winning junior sailors.  Back Row L-R: Maddie Fahey Second place Opti Green Fleet, Meredith Richter Third Place Opti Green Fleet, Sarah Richter and Max Butler Third place 420 Class, Alex Galeta and Kevin Hanley First Place Blue Jay Class.
The regatta was a great success and good fun.  The weather held out although it looked iffy at times.  Everyone loved the trophies!! 

Catalina 22 National Awards Cascade, Idaho

National Rear Commodore, Lynn Buchanan, received the  Betty Clements award.   Mike
Wing, Vice Commodore is making the presentation. She won the award for placing highest  woman skipper in the 2003 Catalina 22 Nationals held at Cascade, Idaho June 14-19. She is from California

New Racer award was presented to Bill McKenzie.  This was his very first regatta.   Bill is a local form Idaho.

Region Commodore award was presented to Keith Bennett for his outstanding work as the Commodore of Region 3.
Keith is the incoming National Commodore.  He came to the Nationals from Alabama.

Home
2003 Chesapeake 100

underway!!

the trophy table

Mark Schnieder and David Nees overall trophy winners

Mark Schneider, regatta organizer,  Keith Chapman and Alec Daunheimer
skipper and crew, second overall
Catamaran Racing Association of the Chesapeake
www.sailcrac.com
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last updated 4/22/05