No longer a Brides Maid

The 2007 EC-12 Nationals, held in Charleston South Carolina, is in the books and we have a new champion. David Brawner had a convincing win by over 26 points in a 51 boat fleet, the largest gathering yet for the East Coast 12 Meter class. While this is his first NCR victory in the 12’s, he is certainly not new to the class or model yachting. David Brawner has been a mover and shaker for years now. He has given countless hours of his time to fleet building, helping others, and as a manufacturer for a while. He has also been instrumental in protecting the EC-12 Classes longevity with his contributions to the ’95 hull standard program and to the current class owned mold program. It’s people like him that we need to thank for the growth and success of the EC-12‘s class, the fun that we are having now, and for the good years to come. 

 It’s about time! Dave has come close but never pulled it off before. He has always been a top helmsman with tons of podium finishes (I think he just rebuilt his workshop this past year and rumor has it that he used wood from all of the trophies he has won to do it). He has also won the J Nationals several times. Class records show that in the last 15 EC-12 Nationals, Dave has attended at least 13 times and has placed second at 4 of them and RD’d three including the last two in a row for ’05 and ’06. And finally after the two year break, the one he was looking for came. Congratulations Dave on a well deserved victory.

Wednesday, October 31st

Skippers started arriving at the lake around mid morning to get a jump on measuring. Staff members Ron Brown, Ed Atkinson, Mike Mulroy and myself managed to get everyone checked in with no real snags or delays. Thank you, guys, for a job well done. I was not looking forward to measuring 51 boats but you made it smooth.

Meanwhile, out on the lake, sailors had an opportunity to check their gear and tune and test new equipment after they had passed through the measuring tent. It was an overcast day with a few sprinkles and a NE wind around 6-12. I think a few pulled out their B rigs just to check them out but it was an A rig day.

At around 5:30 pm, most headed over to the James Island Yacht Club to have a few cocktails and shoot the bull. Then it was time to grab a bite to eat and start thinking about getting serious and being prepared for the morning.

Thursday, November 1st

 The weather was warm and sunny with winds oscillating between NE and NNE at about 4-12 mph. The course was a long rectangle with 2 ½ laps for about 2,200ft of total distance sailed (and walked).  

 The fleet was divided into three groups for the seeding races. After a skippers meeting, group 1 went in the water and sailed two races then group 2 and then group 3. Once the scores were totaled by Sir Francis of Graham and Lady Linda, skippers were seeded into one of three fleets designated by colored clothes pins and their best score was carried in. Using the Equal Opportunity Racing System (EORS) of promotion relegation, the Regatta began with four boats moving up and down between fleets. This put 19 boats on the line for the red fleet, 20 for the blue and 20 for the gold.

Those carrying in first place finishes from the seeds were defending champ Jarl Wathne, Brawner, Skip Allen, Gerhard Kelter, Bruce Walton, and Dennis McInerney. After a short lunch break and another skipper’s meeting we managed to get three complete rotations in before it was special coke time, the first and third heat was won by Brawner and the second by Chris Kakavas. The forerunners of the day were Dave with 10 points, John Bottensek with 11, Baron Bremer with 17, Dave Ramos at 18 with Wathne and Kakavas tied at 23. The remainder of the evening was left open.

Friday, November 2nd

Cool, breezy and overcast with NNE winds shifting to NE at 12-18 mph and gusts to 22. The same course was used from yesterday.

Today was the day where everyone really got to test themselves and their equipment. For all those who had one, it was B rigs on all day long and a boat or two chose to stay onshore because they were not equipped. I also saw a C rig come out for a while. For some sailors it took some time to get their boats settled down and get used to handling it in the breeze. With a few wrong wiggles of the thumb and some slow reaction times, quite a few rigs came down this day due to collisions and staff member Mike Mulroy stayed busy in the dingy. Considering the large fleet size and the traffic, I was pleased overall with how most handled themselves. Yes, there were some screw-ups but just about all were resolved on the water by the fouling skipper doing turns and redresses were later granted for those that were severely taken out. Most breakdowns were repairable and very few required multiple heats to fix.

But then there was the incident between Gerhard Kelter’s SWE18 and Joe Walter’s #24. The result was Gerhard being holed and almost sunk before he reached the bank. It was enough to fry his electronics so Joe, being in the wrong, immediately retired from the regatta and offered Gerhard his boat. It was a true show of sportsmanship and another demonstration of the quality of people who are involved with this class. Kelter gladly accepted and sailed the remainder of the regatta with Joe’s brand new boat and Joe became a volunteer staff member.

When the day was done, six more rotations had been completed and the heat winners were Kakavas, Brawner, Ramos, Alan Perkins, Kakavas and Brawner. The leader board still showed Brawner in first with a raw score of 46.2, Kakavas with 58, Wathne with 59, Bremer at 61, Bottensek with 68 and Ramos with 70. Dave Ramos would have been just twelve points out of the lead after a throw out and in second place if it were not for a loss in the protest room at the end of the day. The evening was open once again.

Saturday, November 3rd

 Weather was cool and sunny with NNW winds at 2-10 mph. The course was the same shape and length but was moved to our lake’s North side.

 The day started off with a demonstration by Scott Vernon that the P/R racing system is one of the fairest. Scott started the morning in the red fleet, got promoted to blue, got promoted to gold and then won it. Yes, all the way from the bottom to the top.

  The wind at times was very light, especially at the top end of the course. It eventually filled in but the morning rounded out the regatta as a test of skill in all conditions. All three days required good starts, excellent boat speed and great handling to stay on top. Five more rotations were completed to make it a total of 14 heats scored plus the carry over from the seeding races. One throw out was given.

 The heat winners of the day in addition to Vernon were Skip Allen, Ramos, Bob Greer and Jack Wubbe. In the end, Dave Brawner, with 50.2 points wins the title along with three gold chevrons, Jarl Wathne was second with 77 and Baron Bremer was third with 93. One point back in fourth was Dave Ramos with 94, Chris Kakavas with 97 and Rick West worked his way up the board to finish in sixth with 123 points. These were the six trophy winners who received the beautiful hand made half hull creations made by our local and original C.M.Y.C. member Bill Coates. Bill carved and made the trophies at RV campgrounds as he and Ginny traveled the country for two months prior to the event. Erv Kaeser did the clear coating on the top three afterwards.

 The awards banquet was held in Downtown Charleston at the Boathouse Restaurant with 74 seated. After drinks and dinner, while coffee and desert were being served, Rick West took the floor for his annual NCR class address. David and Lisa Brawner were honored with the EC-12 lifetime achievement award for years of dedicated service and sacrifice to the class. Joe Walter was recognized for offering Gerhard his boat and was named Sportsman of the Year. Rick Gerry then called out the finishing positions and scores and I handed out the trophies. David Brawner also took the perpetual bell home which has undergone some renovation with an additional floor added. He also received the Mount Gay Rum Trophy for the year. These trophies are becoming way too comfortable living where they are in Region 2 (wink).

 In general I think the Regatta went well and the feedback since has been very positive. The planning, organization and administration of this event was most certainly a team effort and many thanks are due. A big thank you to Frank and Linda Angel for stepping up over a year ago and agreeing to be in charge of scoring, fleet and frequency management, to Joe Walter for setting up the website and keeping it up to date, to Rick West for organizing all of the data in spreadsheets and taking the entries. Also to Rick Gerry (a.k.a. The Whip or Chief of bull horn) for being my wing man and keeping things moving. Thank you Ken Morrison, our Senior US Sailing Judge and race starter who came directly from Annapolis where he acted as chief judge in the U.S. Offshore Championship sailed in Navy 44’s. Ken also helped to keep the starting line square and offered input on course adjustments. Thanks to Ron Brown, Ed Atkinson and Mike Mulroy for conducting the measuring, chasing clothes pins, watching marks and operating the chase boat and to Bill and Ginny Coates for sorting the lunches, firing up the coffee pot and making the trophies.

I hope everyone enjoyed themselves in Charleston, it was a pleasure to serve the class and I look forward to being on the starting line in ’08.

Reichard Kahle Jr.

Regatta Director             

Photo links:

Day 1 photos by John McMillan http://picasaweb.google.com/kahle67/2007EC12NationalsDay1

 

Day 2 photos by Jim Kransberger http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/thumbpage.aspx?e=3252470

 

Day 3 photos by Bob Greer http://picasaweb.google.com/greerdr/2007Nationals

 

Photos from Frank and Linda  http://picasaweb.google.com/kahle67/2007EC12NationalsPicturesFromFrankAndLinda

 

2007 EC-12 National Championship Regatta

 

Skipper

Sail

 

Seed

C/O

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

T/O

Final

1

D. Brawner

53

 

1

1

7

1

4

1

3

3.2

24

1

6

2

5

8

7

24

50.2

2

J. Wathne

88

 

1

11

2

9

5

2

5

4

15

5

2

12

9

6

4

15

77

3

B. Bremer

81

 

4

3

8

2

3

12

2

17

2

8

3

4

19

10

15

19

93

4

Dave Ramos

05

 

3

6

6

3

2

36*

1

7

4

2

17

15

1

2

6

17

94

5

C. Kakavas

236

 

3

9

1

10

1

6

7

3

1

17

7

7

20

16

9

20

97

6

Rick West

94

 

4

12

13

7

9

9

4

2

16

13

8

10

16

5

11

16

123

7

S. Vernon

80

 

4

8

5

13

8

15

9

8

20

34

1

5

7

9

16

34

128

8

J.Bottensek

11

 

2

2

3

4

14

9

13

10

7

4

14

14

15

20

24

24

131

9

G. Cobley

25

 

3

7

11

20

7

14

11

5

11

3

5

21

29

12

12

29

142

10

B. Dudinsky

95

 

3

14

14

15

16

13

12

12

6

14

16

3

18

29

13

29

169

11

Bob Brown

2011

 

4

5

18

12

12

8

6

19

25

12

9

19

16.8

24

18

25

182.8

12

Skip Allen

47

 

1

4

17

26

21

10

10

18

22

26

10

1

2

18

36

36

186

13

G. Kelter

18

 

1

35*

23

22

11

3

19

29

13

11

11

9

13

14

3

29

188

14

J. Wubbe

23

 

3

23.6

21

17

25

33

22

14

3

6

20

23

8

3

1

33

189.6

15

A. Perkins

14

 

2

26

36

38

37

5

16

1

5

15

15

6

3

11

14

38

192

16

C. Luscomb

84

 

8

28

27

21

18

21

21

6

9

7

4

8

11

17

29

29

206

17

B. Walton

33

 

1

13

12

26*

17

26

14

16

12

10

18

26

24

21

25

26

235

18

A. Rieck

82

 

5

34

22

24

27

22

32

25.4

37

19

13

16

6

13

2

37

260.4

19

Alan Sellers

2260

 

5

25

28

6

13

19.2

24

26

28

29

27

25

14

15

5

29

260.2

20

Al Dion

74

 

11

39

37

29

29

7

15

9

10

18

25

27

17

22

10

39

266

21

Bob Greer

52

 

15

44

29

33

6

11

24.6

30

26

25

21

24

21

1

8

44

247.6

22

Phil Tonks

62

 

11

21

31

30

31

23

36

25

23

23

22

13

10

4

17

36

284

23

Harry Mote

56

 

2

17

4

16

19

32

30

24

29

21

23

18

27

27

28

32

285

24

Jake Leo

10

 

17

23

20

23

35

16

17

11

8

20

35

22

31

25

19

35

287

25

E. Freeland

06

 

4

29

16

19

23

24

29

34

38

31

30

11

4

19

34

38

307

26

D. Wotring

51

 

8

15

15

8

20

29

27

23

27

24

26

32

28

26

31

32

307

27

B.Szczepanski

63

 

4

16

9

18

26

25

31

13

18

33

24

28

34

34

30

34

309

28

Carl Olbrich

96

 

3

32

33

25

22

35

28

21

21

9

12

17

33

33

22

35

311

29

W.Matthews

316

 

11

37

41

44

33

34

38

28

14

16

19

21

12

7

20

44

331

30

Brett Biwer

1639

 

7

30

25

14

15

17

33

37

31

27

31

30

26

23

27

37

336

31

Joe Cole

49

 

5

24

30

34

38

42

37

32

17

28

28

31

23

28

26

42

381

32

Frank Vella

189

 

12

43

46

49

40

37

8

15

19

22

29

29

22

32

32

49

386

33

D. McInerney

43

 

1

10

19

32

28

28

26

26.6

28.1

52

33

41

35

45

38

52

390.7

34

Joe Walter

24

 

7

31

10

5

10

4

21

52

52

52

52

52

52

52

52

52

437

35

Gary Mueller

90

 

13

27

24

27

34

31

35

42

52

52

43

34

37

35

23

52

457

36

Scott Todd

78

 

11

45

34

37

49

39

42

31

34

35

32

33

25

31

33

45

466

37

Al Lang

13

 

13

40

45

28

32

27

25

27

32

32

34

43

52

52

52

52

482

38

Ivor Walton

40

 

6

22

35

37

24

30

23

22

27.2

52

52

52

52

52

52

52

486.2

39

M. Denest

99

 

12

38

32

37

48

48

45

43

30

36

38

38

30

30

35

48

492

40

Tom Phillips

65

 

2

35.8

26

31

36

43

43

45

33

40

42

45

41

40

39

45

496

41

Ole Kistler

55

 

8

41

49

42

39

41

41

38

40

37

37

37

38

37

21

49

497

42

Jim Linville

42

 

9

36

40

46

41

38

34

39

35

38

52

42

32

36

52

52

518

43

Dick Gerry

1796

 

14

42

38

41

46

52

47

40

39

30

36

35

40

38

37

52

523

44

Jim Donohoe

706

 

6

35

43

39

42

47

48

41

52

43

41

39

44

44

43

52

555

45

D. Harrington

825

 

13

47

39

47

30

37

52

52

52

52

40

36

42

39

41

52

567

46

F. Novak

66

 

16

49

47

40

45

40

44

47

41

42

39

44

39

43

40

49

567

47

L. Mazoway

29

 

17

50

44

48

44

44

40

44

52

39

43.8

40

45

42

44

52

584.8

48

John Garver

60

 

15

46

42

45

47

46

46

46

42

41

44

46

43

41

42

47

585

49

Dick Reinke

1936

 

9

33

48

50

43

45

39

52

52

52

52

52

52

52

52

52

631

50

Bill Ewing

70

 

13

48

50

48

52

52

52

52

52

52

52

52

52

52

52

52

674

51

Ken Bradfield

89

 

18

52

52

52

52

52

52

52

52

52

52

52

52

52

52

52

694