Friendly Gathering              

The EC12 National Championship was held on the last weekend of the nine-day Raceweek hosted be the Argonauts of San Diego. The pond is within the Mission Bay recreational complexes and was designed for and used strictly for model boats. It is rectangular, about 500 feet long and 100 across, and pointed east and west. The pond has a sand bottom and shoreline with a grass carpeted park in trees all the way around. Parking lined the north side of the pond within a few feet of grass and shade to set up. It is beautiful, comfortable and a dream sailing location.

The course was 400 feet in length with a double mark windward and a 15-foot gate leeward where you could choose a port or starboard rounding. It was convenient and accessible with the water around 75 degrees and a gentle sloping bottom for adjusting your boat when afloat. However, it was two courses in one. The east 200 feet was square to the wind in most cases. In the west 200 feet you were faced with shifts up to 30 degrees, as the breeze moved between southwest and northwest with turbulence as you neared the starboard windward mark, many times with seconds. Additionally, the west end had different patterns in the morning to those after lunch with changes in wind velocity. The culprit is a convention center built a few years ago to the west. Yes, this is where we chatted a bit with each other.

Chuck Black was the Race Director for this event and assisted by Pete Jefferson and Bob DeBow with several others. The wives provided lunch. This was a very organized event and conducted strictly by the rules and operated on time. When a five-minute hold or a ten-minute break was called, it was to the minute. Protests and redress were to be submitted in writing, to which they provided a form. Pete Jefferson was in charge of the court. Chuck was a gracious and polite host but could not veil his disappointment at the EC12 turnout. He was told to expect around 40 entries.

There were only eight of us then one of the wives was signed up. Only two showed from Region 6. We completed 28 races in two days and all were two laps of this long course. Racing in this single fleet required that you maintain contact with the leaders or they would extend. One could take a turn at the leeward gate and take the lead on the next crossing if the favored side was chosen. However, it was not long before this was figured out and there were few wrong turns. We had morning breezes at 1 to 4 and afternoon to 10 mph.

Gerhard Kelter started off shakily but soon he and Jarl Wathne were posting consistent scores. Gary Mueller, sailing a new boat with interesting engineering, was a light air terror. Rick West was consistent too with low scores in the morning and then to the middle of the pack in the afternoon fluky breeze. Bill Cullen had mechanical problems the first day but sailed well the second with some low scores. Robert Schoos broke the sheet line system in a wild gybe the first afternoon and spent the evening putting it back together. Rex Theile sailed all the races and was near the bottom of the group but grinning all the way. Steve and Katie Mulry, who are just getting into the EC12 from other classes, struggled to keep things running. They had an emergency call and did not show for the last day.

Sunday morning Gerhard and Jarl were tied for first at 36 with Gary and Rick one apart for third at 40. The day separated the field as Gerhard took command, posting bullet after bullet. Jarl made a bid around mid-day but it fell short.

While this was not the National event this class has been used to with over 30 boats entered, match racing and social gatherings, it was a relaxed one with all feeling comfortable like a local club event. Albuquerque was discovered and it is likely a new fleet will be growing in Slow Low, Arizona. We met new friends and now have contact with the San Diego sailors.