Regatta Report

It was a year and a half ago when Steve Helander and the Greensboro Model Yacht Club jumped on the calendar to add an annual two day event to the Region 3 schedule. The regatta was named the “Soak at the Oak.” The 800-acre Oak Hollow Lake was built in the early 1970’s as a water supply for High Point, NC and is surrounded by several park complexes which include picnic shelters and bath facilities. It is an ideal venue for inland but open water R/C sailing and a great replacement for the missed but not forgotten site at Lake Norman Yacht Club. Its location is convenient for most of those who travel with the EC-12 class and the ability to handle a large group made it easy for the class to select GMYC as the host for this year’s NCR.

At noon on Wednesday November 6th, skippers started showing up for check-in and measuring. Although the wind was light, after being tanked some boats were launched for practice time but many skippers just hung around the shelter to catch up and tell lies. The weather forecast was a hot topic because cooler conditions were on the way with a front rolling through tomorrow during the first day of racing. There was a brief meeting with most of the fleet in attendance and Dee Dudinsky surprised the skippers by handing out towels with custom embroidered sail numbers on them. Thanks Dee! A large number of skippers and staff of the 30 boat fleet were staying at the Red Roof Inn so when things were wrapped up at the lake around 4:00pm, the shenanigans continued in the hotel parking lot with an informal happy hour gathering. Fatz Restaurant was only 100 yards away so that was an obvious choice for dinner.

In order to get things moving quickly on Thursday, two seeding fleets were divided before the event began using the class National Seeding List. Each fleet went in for two races to set up for A and B fleet starts in the Equal Opportunity Racing System (EORS) using Promotion/Relegation (P/R) with four boats moving up and down. The day got underway with the four seeding races and the first two sets of P/R completed in light west winds coming straight down the lake. Then, after lunch, it came. The front that was predicted rolled through causing the wind to swirl around from all directions and the trees started to rain pine needles and leaves. Mother Nature took control and it was impossible to adjust. We just had to deal with it for three more sets of races and at the end of the day six scores were on the board including one carry over from the seeding. Defending champion Dave Ramos was our leader with the top four boats all within 4 points.

Friday morning brought colder temperatures with the day beginning near freezing but the sun quickly warmed us up and we were comfortable in the upper 50’s. The wind direction was now out of the north, however, which made it a frustrating day and once again hard to set a good course. Several times the race committee considered moving the fleet to the alternate shelter but space was limited and there was a big hole with no wind in the lee of the shoreline. That option may have worked out if we were racing Micro Magics but not so much when you have 17 EC-12’s on the line at each start. So we were forced to stick it out again sailing the same course as the day before with the breeze coming from behind us. Decisions had to be made. Either come towards shore and pick up a lift at the risk of running out of air or stay out in the lake with more breeze but risk approaching the first mark on port tack and having to duck the fleet. The good news is that the conditions did not seem to affect the leaders and the cream stayed consistently on top. There were several changes in the lead though with Joe Walter on top mid day moving up from third and A.M.Y.A. President David Brawner taking it away towards the day’s end moving up from his second place position yesterday. It was still anyone’s game between the same top four with Brawner inching out a bit followed by Ramos, Bremer and Walter. We now had 14 scores on the board and had reached our first throw out.

Saturday was the final day and fortunately it was a whole different story that made up for the previous day and half of trying to master the unpredictable. Winds were back out of the west coming straight down the lake. The pressure was much better with B rigs in use for a while in the afternoon. The battle was on between Ramos and Brawner as they separated themselves from the rest of the fleet. Dave Ramos sailed a great regatta staying consistent even in the crazy stuff but it was David Brawner who must have become possessed in the end scoring a 3rd, 4th, five bullets in a row and then finishing the regatta with a 2nd. That performance speaks for itself and David is now your 2013 EC-12 National Champ for the third time. I still don’t know how he avoided the traditional toss into the lake he must have been surrounded by the Secret Service. Just wait until your presidential term is over and see if that happens again!

Saturday evening, our host Steve and his crew arranged a catered barbeque dinner for us in a private reception room at a local business. We had special guest Linda Angel join us from just down the road whose late husband “Uncle Frank” was a major contributor to the EC-12 class and can be credited with much of our success. A good time was had by all and awards were given out after finishing our meal. Unsolicited donations were set up on a table for auction which included a Robin Yachts hull with cradle from Skip Allen, a Tom Germer deck, a Rinehart rudder, a ballast by David Linville and a set of sails from John Bottensek. Thank you everyone for the donations! JD Langdon was the highest bidder and we look forward to seeing him out in a new boat next sailing season.

On behalf of the EC-12 class, I would like to offer a big thank you to Steve Helander, Ron Small, Richard Wiley and the entire GMYC for organizing and executing a great National Championship Regatta. You have a great venue and we all look forward to sailing there again. I would also like to thank the traveling staff members Skip Allen (scorer), Tom Germer (judge) and Rick Gerry (race officer/whip) for making my job as RD seem effortless. Thank you Joe, our Class Secretary, for handling the duties of registrar and for all of the news updates. I look forward to seeing everyone next year, this time on the water.

Reichard Kahle, RD

Day One Photos (by Tom Germer)
Day Two Photos (by Tom Germer)
Day Three Photos (by Tom Germer)
Awards Dinner Photos (by Tom Germer)

Photos by Skip Hall
Photos by a GMYC member