Friday setup and Vintage Races: The Nationals started on Friday with the arrival of 30 boats from up and down the East Coast. Walt Collins got busy measuring boats and sails while everyone began to set up their boats. It was a gorgeous day, there was a beautiful breeze out of the SE, and great camaraderie as everyone caught up on the latest. A number of new boats showed up for this year’s Nationals. Amy Linton (Jeff flew in that night), Jamey Rabbitt and Ken Wilus drove up from Tampa with their new OH Roger’s Wedges. These are unstayed skiffs and showed good speed at Charleston and the Midwinters. We were all anxious to see how the Mistrals and Wedges would fare against each other. Mike Parsons from Philadelphia came with a brand new Mistral. Al Whitner came with a new Maser that had the middle cut out of a Laser versus the stern cut off. It looked a lot like the Mean Tangerine. Randy Stark came with Rev D of his Maser. We also got a look at another new boat that sported twin dagger boards around a tunnel hull and a scow-ish bow. The boat was the handiwork of Gary Gowans. This boat is an attempt to (loosely) recreate Gail Halsey's 1960s era Moth "Presto". The original Presto didn't have twin trunks however. Gary also wants a set of Mistral plans after watching this year's regatta. Dan and Brett Winters were there for awhile checking out the boats and making sure their new sails were measuring in properly. Dan bought one of Scott Sandell’s Mistrals and plans to build a new boat for next year. George Albaugh also just mailed a set of plans to the fellow who borrowed Greg Duncan Connecticut. Funny, nobody wanted Mistral plans after the regatta last year!!!

By about 5 o’clock the Vintage boats were launched and got in several great races started off Erky Gregory’s dock. There were a total of five vintage boats racing Friday night: Beans in Merv Wescoat's Connecticut, Arch Farmer in DINO, George Albaugh in BLONDIE, Brian Gregory sailing his Dad's Ventnor TWEETY, and Greg Duncan in his recently purchased Connecticut. Additionally, Mike and Laurel Hall drove all the way from Ohio to show us their Ventnor Moth, which we hope will be racing next year. Walt gave the Halls a wood mast and a sail so they can get started on the restoration. This boat is a genuine Ventnor Boatworks-built boat and still has the neat Ventnor Boat decal on the boom (which incidentally would make a great tee-shirt next year). Mike rescued the boat from being sent to the dump. A previous owner had registered the boat as a "jet ski" with the state of Ohio Dept of Natural Resources! Clearly, that guy didn't know what he had. She must be an extra lucky boat to escape into more sensitive hands. Walt weighed the hull. She weighs 95 lb as found, so should be a good addition to the vintage fleet. After all the sailing, Beans Weatherly won the Vintage Championship, with Arch Farmer in second and George Albaugh getting third.

Erky and Alma hosted another wonderful affair Friday night, and Tom again provided a number of kegs of beer. Great stories were told and everyone had a super time!! A number of folks dropped by the local pub for dinner and drinks after, making it a great start to the Nationals weekend.

False start: On Saturday morning we all met at the new Museum of the Albemarle for registration and the skipper’s meeting. It was another beautiful day, but there really wasn’t any wind. Nevertheless by 10 am everyone was launching and drifting out to the starting line. The race committee started the first race in no wind with a windward/leeward course. Unfortunately, the fleet didn’t understand which way to go, and Mike O’Dell actually started in the opposite direction from the rest of the fleet. At the gun the breeze had just come in 1 kt from SE, which favored the boat end and making for a downwind start. Craig Saunders, Mike Albert (in Joe Bousquet’s Try-umph) and Jeff Linton were at that end and got out a little in front. Jamey Rabbitt and Walt Collins came in at the pin end. Mark Saunders was stuck in middle with everyone else. Drifting down to the mark was a real social affair as all the boats were bunched up together. Mike, Jeff, and Craig rounded the first mark in a small cluster followed by Jamey. Mark was right on Jamey’s transom on the inside with several boats overlapped to the outside. The fleet did not provide enough room and several of the boats locked up, Mark included. It took a couple of minutes to separate them, and a frustrated Mark could be heard urging folks to provide room. The downwind (now the upwind leg) showed an increasing breeze out of the SE with playable shifts. Mike sailed a great leg and rounded the last mark in first followed by Jeff, Craig and Mark. Jeff and Mike crossed the finish neck and neck with Jeff just edging Mike for the apparent win - quite exciting to watch from several boat lengths back. Craig finished third with Mark next. As fate would have it, it turns out everyone sailed the wrong course (we were supposed to round to starboard, not port), and the race committee threw out the race.

Real Race 1: Wind continued to come in from the SE but had increased to the 4-8 kt range. The course was again windward/leeward, 1 time around with the pin favored. Walt started at boat end and headed right immediately - looking real good. Mark, Mike and Craig were close to pin end. Jeff and Jamey were more toward middle. Everybody tacked to port pretty quickly and watched Walt getting a good lead ahead. Walt carried the lead into the windward mark and rounded first. Mark caught a couple of quick shifts half way up the leg with a nice lift into the windward mark and rounded second followed by Mike, Jeff, Jamey and Craig. Walt headed for the far end of the protected starting line while Mark and the rest took the inside (turns out shorter) route around the line. Mark rounded the leeward mark just ahead of Walt followed by Jeff, Mike, Jamey and then Craig. Mark held on to the lead to finish first, followed by Walt. Mike squeezed by Jeff (returning the favor from the previous race attempt) and Craig sneaked by Jamey at the finish line. Another exciting finish!

Race 2: Wind still out of the SE, continuing to increase, and the race course was a carbon copy of 1st race - short starboard followed by long port tack with a short tack to the windward mark. Mark, Jamey and Jeff were on each other’s hip the entire port tack. Jeff tacked for the mark forcing Jamey and then Mark t tack on each other’s lee bow. Mike and Craig were right behind. Mark laid the mark, and Jeff rolled Jamey. Jamey rounded followed by Mike and Craig. Mark, Jeff and Craig stayed out in the middle and eventually took the long route around the protected starting line, while Jamey and Mike took the shorter route between the committee boat and Erky’s. This proved to be much better and Jamey got to the mark first. Mike and Mark were overlapped with Mike on the inside, followed by Craig and Jeff. On the windward leg Mike headed right while Jamey and Jeff played the middle. Mark followed part of the way to the right and went back toward the middle half way up. Mike won followed by Jamey. Craig came roaring in from the right to nip Mark. Jeff rounded out the top 5. Racing was proving to be very tight among the top six boats.

Following the second race, we came in for great lunch sponsored by the Gregory’s. Cold beer, good food, great weather. At lunch Mike was in first with 4 points, Mark second with 5 points, a three way tie for third between Walt, Craig and Jamey with 8 points each. Jeff was one point behind with nine. Very, very tight racing. A similar situation was occurring in the next group of Brian Gregory, Greg Duncan and George Bailey with a tie between Brian and Greg and George just one point behind. And they were closely followed by Mike O’Dell, Ken Wilus and Joe Courter. This is great racing! Lizzie was making a great showing as the top junior in Joe Bousquet’s Maser.

Race 3: Sea breeze had really come in - probably 10 - 15 still out of the SE. Race committee lengthened the course to an Olympic triangle. Mark and Craig really showed the Mistral speed in the chop with their new sails. Jeff and Jamey started on the hip of each of them and watched the Mistrals climb out, going faster. Mark managed to get to the windward mark first followed by Craig, then Mike. Mark won, Craig was second and Mike third. Jamey got by Jeff and Walt rounded out the top six

Race 4: The breeze began to drop a little, but still maintained the same direction. The course was Olympic again. Mark continued to show superb speed getting to the windward mark in first followed by Mike and then Craig. Mark led the way around the first lap of the course, followed closely by Mike. On the second windward leg, Mike went left and Mark went up the right. After passing the finish/start line, Mike and Mark converged a boat length apart. Mike passed astern and headed right. Mark came back to cover and they converged again. Mark lee-bowed Mike and Mike tacked away back to the right. Mark went a little farther left and tacked back on a lift into the windward mark several boatlengths ahead of Mike while Craig followed closely. The order remained the same on the downwind leg. On the final beat Craig and Mike battled for second and third. At the finish Craig just beat Mike by a half boat length. Jeff got by Jamey this time.

At the end of the day, it was Mark with a 1,4,1,1; Mike with a 3,1,3,3 and Craig with a 5,3,2,2. So Mark won the MOA trophy (finally!). Jamie was 2 points ahead of Jeff with Walt one point further back. Brian Gregory had established a firm grip on 7th and was kind of filling in the gap between the lead pack and the next group. Greg Duncan, Mike O’Dell and George Bailey were having a great contest with just a couple of points between them. Walt had a firm grip on the Senior trophy and Lizzie Gladney was dominating the juniors.

The MOA put on another great dinner and awards presentation. Lizzie won the junior trophy with Mark Sigimoto in second both representing the Moths while third in the juniors went to a sunfish sailor. We had great BBQ and plenty of beer. There were lots of stories exchanged, technical discussions, and anticipation for the following day. Lew Trautz put on a particularly interesting show in the bar. He clearly made friends with everyone. The only real casualty of the day was when Lew fell over the railing on his way back to the room and hurt his ribs enough to keep him from sailing on Sunday.

Sunday and Race 5:Sunday dawned bright and beautiful again with very little wind. There was great camaraderie around the fleet during boat preps, and Greg Duncan showed us the front page of the local paper with Lizzie’s picture on it, and Mark Sigimoto’s picture on the sports page. Wonderful to see the juniors highlighted instead of the old folks!

Folks started launching around 9:00 and the wind cooperated by coming out of the NE at about 5 kt in time for the first race, a short Olympic course. Craig was pushed over the line early with George Bailey, and they were forced to restart. Jeff and Jamey got a quick jump on everybody and extended a bit on starboard. Mike ducked a few boats going out to the right and picked up a bit more pressure allowing him to get to the weather mark in first followed very closely by Jamey and Jeff. Mark rounded about 6 boat lengths astern followed by Lizzie. Walt, Craig and Brian Gregory and a number of others were right there too. By the reach mark, Mark had sailed up to the lead boats and developed an overlap on Jamey. Mike rounded first and headed up sharp to keep Jeff from getting to windward. Jeff, who had a nice bit of speed, was forced to go to windward of Mike, and the two began to climb up to windward on the second reach. Mark took advantage of this and headed straight for the leeward mark followed closely by Jamey. Although Mike and Jeff got the puffs first, they always filtered down, and Mark got there first. On the second upwind leg Mark headed off to the right side while Mike, Jeff and Jamey headed left. Mark picked up a bit more pressure and a nice lift to cross well ahead of the next boats. Jeff worked the shifts hard and the three boats converged at the windward mark quite close together with Jeff rounding in second, followed by Mike and Jamey. The downwind leg remained pretty much the same. As Mark finished, he watched the battle for third between Jamey and Mike. Mike won out and got the third.

Race 6:Mark had now won the National Championship with a 1,4,1,1,1 and didn’t need to sail the last race. He sailed it but tried not to get into trouble. The wind had shifted more to the East with puffs coming in from the NE. Prior to the start Jamie broke his rudder (again!) and was forced to go in. Craig, Mike, and Jeff started at the favored pin end. Craig was the farthest left as they headed for the mark on port. He was in a beautiful 40 degree 12kt. puff reaching when the wind shifted back and he capsized to windward. Despite this, he managed to get back to the windward mark in 3rd behind Mike and Ken Wilus. Mike had gotten the shift that Craig had and now had a huge lead over Ken and the others. The rest of the race really focused on a battle for second and third between Craig, Ken, Jeff, and Walt. Although Walt rounded the second windward mark in 6th,he found a nice streak of wind on the left side of the course and rounded second followed less than a boat length by Craig. Jeff followed with Mark and Ken close behind. The final beat to windward saw a seesaw battle between these boats. At the finish Craig just beat Jeff. Greg Duncan sailed a great race and took a fourth just in front of Walt, and Ken came in 6th.

Second overall went to Mike with a 3,1,3,3,1, third went to Craig with a 5,3,2,2,2 and Jeff took fourth (4,5,4,2,3). Walt won the Senior Division with George Bailey in second and Joe Courter in third. Lizzie won the Juniors with Mark Sigimoto in second and Erik Albaugh in third. Mark and Erik finished just 1 point apart. Pretty exciting! The Turtle Award went to Joe Bousquet for fancy high speed crashes at Portsmouth, destruction of tramps and swimming exercises at Brigantine, and didn't he do a full turtle at Charleston between races???? Seem to remember, but it is so blurred!!!

It was a great regatta and special thanks go to the Gregory’s and their neighbors for putting up with all of us, and to Erky’s daughter, Ginger, for the gorgeous trophies again this year.

Mark Saunders