Fourteen teams with a nice mix of sailors from as far as Cork Ireland, Illinois, New Hampshire, North Carolina, New York, Maryland and Virginia sailed a light air series just south of Annapolis.
Saturday the fleet was greeted with a 10 to 12 knot northerly. The start time was nicely adjusted to late morning allowing many teams to make the drive and set up Saturday morning. Tyler Moore sailing w/ Carl Smit (who recently moved back the east coast) got off to a good start and lead all the way showing that light air races can be won by larger west coast-type crews.
However, Races 2 through 4 were dominated by Parker Shinn and Jesse Falsone who showed good boat speed, solid starts and protected the favored in-shore side of the course. Kelsey Averill, a recent 505 convert (thanks to Macy), sailing with Uncle Henry also had a good day to round out the top 3 on Saturday. Craig Thompson sailing with Peter Scannell from Ireland had a solid day with a deuce in race 2. Catherine Guiader sailing with Chris Brady also had some great moves to get a 2nd 3.
WRSC staff, with their recently renovated kitchen, grilled up some serious looking steaks and crab cakes for the hungry group watching a very nice sundown overlooking the creek.
Sunday brought another sunny day with 8 to 10 for the sail out. Unfortunately, the pressure dropped to 6 for the start of race 5 and continued to die just as the fleet finished.Kelsey and Uncle Henry picked up the last shift on the first beat and lead all the way around followed by Tyler and Carl and Macy Nelson sailing with Stephen Long.
With the breeze iffy for the rest of the day, Macy made a good call to sail in and have and have a casual debrief to discuss what worked well in the light air conditions. Special thanks to the WRSC 505 fleet members Macy and Doug for putting the regatta together and pushing for strong turnout. Of special note, Macy loaned his #2 boat to Region One sailors Craig & Peter and Dave Burchfiel loaned his #2 boat to two college sailors David Rogers & Andy Simons from NC State.
Photos Courtesy of Clay Taylor, Race Committee, www.westriversc.org
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