KASHMIR, CREATIVE DESTRUCTION, FALCON Class Winners(Harbor Springs, MI)- Sailing teams from across America head to Harbor Springs each July for a summer tradition: the Little Traverse Yacht Club "Ugotta Regatta". Hosted by the LTYC, the Regatta brings together some of the best sailboat racing in the country on Little Traverse Bay and takes place the weekend following the second of the Mackinac Races (Port Huron to Mackinac or Chicago to Mackinac).
This year’s 2011 Regatta, sponsored by Credit Suisse, began with one design racing on Friday followed a "Tour of the Bay" course on Saturday and windward-leeward racing on Sunday. The weekend’s festivities kick off bright and early Friday morning with a fun tradition: a long line of happy people beginning at sun-up outside Irish Boat Shop to purchase the 2011 Regatta t-shirt. Each year, the shirt design changes and with a limited number produced, the lines begin early so that the shirts can be had.
Enjoying the fun and festivities were Karl Brummel, Steve Henderson and Mike Mayer on the J/111 KASHMIR, showing the J/111 fleet how to get around the track (or in some cases, get out of trouble), finishing the event with a consistent scoreline of 1-1-2-2-1-3 for 10 pts. Local favorite and sailing hero, Dave Irish took aboard as much local talent as possible on NO SURPRISE and simply couldn't muster up enough fire-power to overcome KASHMIR's ability to sail fast and smart. NO SURPRISE finished the series with a 4-2-1-1-2-2 for just 12 pts. Third was Paul Stahlberg's fun-loving team on the fast red boat MENTAL! The MENTAL team sailed consistently and snuck in a first in the last race to finish with a tally of 2-4-3-4-3-1 for 17 pts.
Over in the J/105 fleet, local sailors took home the bacon with Carter Williams' CREATIVE DESTRUCTION winning in convincing fashion with a 3-1-4-1-1-2 record for 12 pts. Second was Clarence Holman on EXIT STRATEGY with 14 pts. In nearly a three-way tie for third was Bill Petzold on GREEN FLASH, Mark Symonds on PTERODACTYL and Richard Lehman on WIND CZAR. Based upon how these three teams had been sailing all weekend, it was anyone's guess what the outcome would be after the last race. By getting a 3rd, Bill's flashy team won the tie-breaker over Mark's raptors with their 5th and coming up short was Richard's czars with a 4th.
Like their 35 foot sisterships, the J/35s had a fun, close series. While the leader, Ed Bayer's FALCON walked off with three 1sts, the battle for 2nd to 4th was close. It was Bruce Metcalf's BOZO'S CIRCUS that managed to squeak by with a 4-2-2 to finish second by a half point over Larry Taunt's BAD DOG.
In handicap world, a fleet of J's sailed well to take places in three of the divisions. In PHRF E class, Mike Graham's J/109 MERENGUE finished 5th after three races and Mitch Padnos' gorgeous J/124 SUFFICIENT REASON finished 6th. In PHRF H class, the J/95 STILL CRAZY sailed by Justin Palm was 2nd and the J/100 JUST MESSIN sailed by Adam Esselman was 5th. In PHRF I Class (jib & main only), the J/42 JAYWALKER sailed by Bill and Judy Stellin continue to sail fast after criss-crossing the Atlantic Ocean, pulling off 4th in their class. For more Ugotta Regatta sailing results
