The Winchester Boat Club played host to the 1996 District 1 Championships. Twenty-nine teams competed for the automatic berth into the Heinzerling Series at the Nationals, with the winner also taking home the Winchester Invitational trophy. The district was well represented with boats travelling from Annapolis, Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut.
Saturday opened with light and patchy breeze out of the northeast at 0-5kts. Race committee chairwoman Berta Swanson set the famous Mystic Lake butterfly course, leaving the visiting sailors scratching their heads about which mark to round next. Jim Bowers/Myrna Fong used their local knowledge to find the breeze and hold off Doug Clark/Marci Girard up the last beat to take the first race. The second race was postponed in the dying breeze and light rain, but when it was started, half of the fleet had to scramble to get to the starting line from the dock. Ray Schmit/Sandy Rogers got out in front early and stayed there throughout all 9 legs of the course. The third race started with 7-9kts of breeze with a giant hole near the weather mark. Clark/Girard and Dave Lence/Alex Elger escaped and took a commanding lead to the jibe mark and the rest of the race. The second group to round the mark did not fare so well as the breeze filled inside causing a serious case of fleet inversion. 20 boats arrived at the jibe mark simultaneously, with Lee Griffith/Mary Fiske making a nice inside move to come out of the mark first.
The district meeting was also held on Saturday. Lee Griffith asked for volunteers to charter their boats to foreign competitors for the Western Hemisphere Championships to be held in October in Larchmont, NY. Ray Schmit reminded everyone that District 1 will be hosting the US Nationals in 1997 in New Jersey and that district members should be prepared to help out. Finally, the new district officers were elected. Congratulations and best of luck to them:
Governor: Ray Schmit
Vice-Governor: Bob Coyle
Treasurer: Pedro Lorson
Sunday brought an early start, beautiful sunny skies, and a 15kt northerly. In the fourth race, Bowers/Fong posted their second bullet in the heavier air, again edging out Clark/Girard. In the final race John and Maggie Manderson put on the jets to beat out Griffith/Fiske for the final bullet. Both took off downwind in the marginal planing conditions. Clark/Girard finished a solid third to win the regatta, topping Bowers/Fong by 4 3/4 points. Bill Hall/Scott Tarpley sailed a very consistent regatta (all finishes between 4 and 7) to place third.
Many thanks to the Winchester Boat Club for hosting a successful regatta, regatta organizers Sue Lodico and Dave Lence, and to the race committee for setting good courses in shifty conditions.
Sunday, June 23, 1996, at 6:51 PM REGATTA STANDINGS: Snipe District 1 Champs, by Score, page 1 Pos Sail# Skipper/Crew 1 2 3 4 5 TotPts Pos --- ------ ----------------------------------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------ --- 1 28050 Doug Clark/ Marci Girard 2 6 .75 2 3 13.75 1 2 28440 Jim Bowers/ Myrna Fong .75 9 3 .75 5 18.50 2 3 28199 Bill Hall/ Scott Tarpley 4 5 7 5 6 27.00 3 4 25949 Gerard Coleman/ Cheri Coleman 15 2 5 3 10 35.00 4 5 27101 Dave Lence/ Alex Elger 7 11 2 7 9 36.00 5 6 27054 Lee Griffith/ Mary Fiske 6 7 6 16 2 37.00 6 7 28044 Pedro Lorson/ Mimi Berry 10 4 14 8 4 40.00 7 8 26451 John MacRae/ Melitta King 3 10 11 4 13 41.00 8 9 28065 John Manderson/ Maggie Manderson 19 8 4 10 .75 41.75 9 10 27225 John Tagliamonte/ Abby Janes 12 3 12 14 8 49.00 10 11 25659 Ray Schmit/ Sandy Rodgers 8 .75 9 19 17 53.75 11 12 23591 Gavin O'Hare/ Holly Wolford 5 13 19 9 15 61.00 12 13 25003 Sue Lodico/ Jan Tabor 11 12 17 11 11 62.00 13 14 24999 Martin Fraser/ Suzette Fraser 9 21 8 12 12 62.00 14 15 27238 Steve Keckler/ Michelle Morphew 17 16 13 21 7 74.00 15 16 27861 Dave Applegate/ Stan Schreyer 13 15 15 15 18 76.00 16 17 24695 Bob Coyle/ Chuck D'Antonio 14 19 10 17 19 79.00 17 18 28542 John Lally/ Kerri O'Brien 18 20 21 6 20 85.00 18 19 25710 Ben Hammond/ Lelia King 16 18 18 18 16 86.00 19 20 27591 John Mullane/ Rita Mullane 20 14 22 13 22 91.00 20 21 28999 Ralph Swanson/ Maura Power 21 29 16 20 21 107.00 21 22 25999 Jim Fraser/ Maria Tricca 22 17 20 24 25 108.00 22 23 25708 Chuck Oman/ Peter Oman 24 22 25 27 14 112.00 23 24 28443 David Ryan/ Meg Lawson 23 28 24 22 24 121.00 24 25 26453 Mike Langlois/ Elena Langlois 27 26 27 25 23 128.00 25 26 25198 Charlie Price/ Fred Borgess 26 25 29 23 28DNF 131.00 26 27 25167 Jim Revkin/ Joshua Revkin 29 24 23 26 29DNC 131.00 27 28 27999 Bill Baldwin/ Sarah Baldwin 28 23 26 29 27 133.00 28 29 25838 Eric Gabrielson/ Liz Crutcher 25 27 28 28 26 134.00 29 -- Steve KecklerReturn to the Snipe Home Page