North American Championship – Final

Ft. Lauderdale, May 21, 2017.  (Photo courtesy of Lauderdale Yacht Club) Regatta report by Carol Cronin, results and photos 26 boats from five countries The conditions varied, but the winners never did: Ernesto Rodriguez/Kathleen Tocke won all eight races of the 2017 North American Championship, hosted by Lauderdale Yacht Club. Day one was the most challenging, with three triangle races in 15-20 knots of breeze and 4-6 foot mixed up seas.  ...

North American Championship – Final Image

Photo courtesy Bill Branan

Ft. Lauderdale, May 21, 2017. 

(Photo courtesy of Lauderdale Yacht Club)

Regatta report by Carol Cronin, results and photos

26 boats from five countries

The conditions varied, but the winners never did: Ernesto Rodriguez/Kathleen Tocke won all eight races of the 2017 North American Championship, hosted by Lauderdale Yacht Club. Day one was the most challenging, with three triangle races in 15-20 knots of breeze and 4-6 foot mixed up seas. 

Once everyone was safely back onshore,  blisters and bruises were revived by the shared “fleet” bottles of champagne; it’s an LYC tradition to award winners with a bottle for each race won. If a team wins two races, the second (and, in this case, also the third) bottle goes to the “fleet.” (If we’d known Ernesto/Kathleen were going to win all eight races, we might have insisted they drink all that champagne by themselves.)

A tasty pasta dinner buffet revived us all, and while catching up with old friends and making a few new ones, we got a photo-walk down memory lane with John Payne photos from previous Florida regattas. We also saw photos from the day’s racing, including a few capsizes and also a few breaking waves. Despite the excellent food and company, most teams called it an early night.

For day two, the wind lightened up enough for PRO Tom Lihan to give us windward-leewards, finishing downwind. Unfortunately several teams (including some of the top finishes) didn’t realize that the course diagram required rounding the port gate before the quick broad reach to a short finish line; at the end of the day, thirteen teams were asked to retire from at least one of the three races. Ernesto and Kathleen posted three more bullets, leaving the race for second overall to a tight battle between juniors Jensen McTighe/Andre Guaragna and master skipper Augie Diaz, sailing with Eddie Mintzias. 

After three more bottles of champagne, another tasty dinner (this time with a Key West seafood theme) was accompanied by photos from Bill Branan and photos/video from Matt Ditzel.  Augie praised several teams for various acts of sportsmanship. And then National Secretary Art Rousmaniere challenged our sailing-fatigued brains with a math challenge, eventually determining that the highest combined team age (Old Man Diaz and crew) was more than 3 times as large as the lowest combined team age (Jensen and Andre). It was a great way to show the wide variety of ages represented at the regatta.

Sunday’s breeze lightened to 8-12 knots and the sea state fortunately subsided too, so the regatta finished up with two light air races. The light air didn’t matter to Ernesto and Kathleen (who posted two more bullets), but the conditions made it possible for Augie/Eddie to push Jensen/Andre back to third overall.

Back at LYC, a sandwich bar (and newly installed tents shading the tables) made for a festive gathering of the fleet, volunteers, sponsors, and other guests. Awards were given out for the Ron Payne Memorial Regatta, as well as the top junior team (Jensen/Andre).

Thanks to Connie and Peter Commette for stepping up to run this regatta (and congratulations on finishing sixth overall). Also thanks to all the sponsors and to LYC for making it such a great gathering of both Serious Sailing and Serious Fun.

Final results after 8 races (1 discard)

1. 31337, Ernesto Rodriguez/Kathleen Tocke, [1]-1-1-1-1-1-1-1- ; 7

2. 30288, Augie Diaz/Eddie Mintzias, [4]-3-4-2-4-4-3-4- ; 24

3. 30027, Jensen McTighe/Andre Guaragna, 2-4-2-[29/RET]-2-3-4-9- ; 26

4. PUR 29841, Raul Rios/Mac Agnese, 7-2-3-[29/RET]-3-5-5-2- ; 27

5. 31297, Doug Hart/Diego Escobar, 5-5-7-3-[8]-2-7-3- ; 32

… full results …

Pos Sail   Skipper  1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8  Total Pos
1  
31337   Ernesto Rodriguez/
Kathleen Tocke  
[1]   1   1   1   1   1   1   1   7  
1  
2  
30288   Augie Diaz/
Eddie Mintzias  
[4]   3   4   2   4   4   3   4   24  
2  
3  
30027   Jensen McTighe/
Andre Guaragna  
2   4   2   [29/RET]   2   3   4   9   26  
3  
4  
PUR 29841   Raul Rios/
Mac Agnese  
7   2   3   [29/RET]   3   5   5   2   27  
4  
5  
31297   Doug Hart/
Diego Escobar  
5   5   7   3   [8]   2   7   3   32  
5  
6  
29442   Peter Commette/
Connie Commette  
6   [29/OCS]   5   4   7   7   2   8   39  
6  
7  
30860   Carol CRONIN/
Linda Epstein  
[29/DNC]   16   18   5   6   6   10   5   66  
7  
8  
31391   Brett Davis/
Bryan Stout  
13   7   11   7   [29/RET]   15   8   11   72  
8  
9  
29511   Taylor Scheuermann/
Charlie Bess  
[17]   14   16   9   11   8   13   6   77  
9  
10  
31424   Andrew Pimental/
Megan Place  
3   [29/OCS]   6   29/RET   5   16   6   14   79  
10  
11  
PUR 30873   Agustin Lazaro-Lugo/
Jose Lazo  
8   11   9   6   14   19   14   [20]   81  
11  
12  
2944   Michael Morley/
Watt Duffy  
15   8   13   8   [29/RET]   13   9   18   84T  
12  
13  
29671   Tarasa Davis/
Kim Calnan  
14   10   12   [29/RET]   9   10   16   13   84T  
13  
14  
31087   Diego Figueroa/
Benjamin Vidal  
10   15   [20]   10   15   12   20   17   99  
14  
15  
28811   Jimmie Lowe/
Lori Lowe  
12   9   10   [29/RET]   29/RET   14   17   12   103T  
15  
16  
30571   Sharon Seymour-Johnson/
Tara Lobo  
16   12   15   [29/RET]   13   17   15   15   103T  
16  
17  
30364   Rogelio Padron/
Lorenzo Lopes  
9   6   8   [29/RET]   29/RET   29/RET   12   16   109  
17  
18  
29782   Zack Kelchner/
Nikki Bruno  
18   [29/DNS]   29/DNS   29/RET   10   11   11   10   118  
18  
19  
29602   Sarah Streater/
Elizabeth Ryder  
[23]   13   19   12   16   21   19   19   119  
19  
20  
30611   Sean Adams/
Jennifer Adams  
21   19   21   11   17   20   [23]   21   130  
20  
21  
31280   Art Rousmaniere/
Jennifer Rousmaniere  
19   17   14   [29/RET]   29/RET   29/RET   18   7   133  
21  
22  
30280   David Hiebert/
Bill Schoenberg  
11   [29/DNF]   29/DNS   29/RET   12   9   21   29/DNS   140  
22  
23  
31027   Juan Jose Ferretti/
Juan Carlos Casal  
22   20   23   [29/DSQ]   18   18   22   22   145  
23  
24  
29995   Ivan Riano/
Bruno Mello  
25   [29/OCS]   17   14   20   29/DNS   25   29/DNS   159  
24  
25  
30111   Christopher Hains/
Barbara Mann  
[29/DNS]   29/DNS   29/DNS   13   19   22   29/DNC   29/DNC   170  
25  
26  
29108   STEVE STEWART/
MARCUS HALL  
20   18   22   [29/RET]   29/RET   29/RET   29/DNC   29/DNC   176  
26  
27  
31355   George Antarr/
Donna Antarr  
24   [29/DNF]   29/DNS   29/RET   29/RET   29/DNF   24   23   187  
27  
28  
30336SNIP   Gonzalo E. Diaz/
Alex Guerrero  
[29/DNC]   29/DNC   29/DNC   15   29/DNS   29/DNS   29/DNC   29/DNC   189  
28  

Share

0 comments

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Your comment will be revised by the site if needed.