Atlantic Coast Championship

Surf City, NJ, USA, June 18, 2023. Final results after 5 races:

1. Bradley Adam & Thomas Walker, 7
2. Alex Pline & Lisa Pline, 15
3. Lee Griffith & Nikki Bruno, 16
4. Gavin O’Hare & Holly O’Hare, 22
5. Bob Coyle & Mike Lusty, 24

Report by Alex Pline

The Atlantic Coast Championships held at Surf City YC on Long Beach Island NJ served up some uncharacteristically strong Northwest breeze making for a fun and very challenging five race series. The strong, very shifty breeze put an emphasis on both hitting the shifts and boat handling and in the end everyone except the eventual winners Bradley Adam/Thomas Walker had some “issue” that kept them down the scoresheet. 

“We often see this kind of breeze strength when the southerly thermal pumps, but not with the 30-40 shifts, that made this edition so challenging” according to regatta chair Lee Griffith. The fleet hit the water on Saturday with the 10-20 knot shifty breeze. Despite many who thought that this might be a dying NWer, the breeze strengthened and was at time bumping up against the class limit during the first race. Double triangle courses were set for the first race with some really fun and fast planing reaches. Alex/Lisa Pline lead the whole way around the course until a pole issue at the last jibe mark resulted in their being passed by Adam/Walker, Griffith/Bruno and the O’Hares on the final reach leg. Halfway down that final leg, the Pline’s turned around to assist Preston Senior and Kate Shermock who were dealing with a lost shroud due to a chainplate bolt failure. It’s amazing that in 20+ knots of breeze a Snipe mast stayed vertical (well sort of) without a weather shroud. “Weebles wobble but they don’t fall down” as the 70s TV commercial goes! Several capsizes resulted in the RC calling it a day before a second race could be held. After an afternoon of straightening several bent masts and a little boat work, everyone was ready for a great day of sailing on Sunday.

Sunday was more typical of a dying NWer, but there were still some very strong puffs, perhaps made even more challenging due to the fact that both the wind direction and speed differences were large; hitting the first several shifts off the line was critical. Adam/Walker did exactly that and won three of the four races. It was definitely a “rich get richer” kind of breeze. The Plines sailed fairly consistently despite several boat issues including a crew hiking strap that came untied (and an associated crew swimming session) with no race lower than 4th to finish 2nd. Griffith/Bruno notched wins in races 1 and 3 (the only team to beat Adam/Walker) but had a 7th in one race due to being on the wrong side of the course that proved one point too much to beat the Plines. 

In addition to hosting the regatta at his club, Lee and Karla Griffith also hosted the entire fleet at their beach house rental a few blocks from the club along with BBQs Friday and Saturday nights. Lodging, food (the infamous “pork loin”), beer and wine for three days and great racing, plus a central location in District 1, what more can you ask for $100? The fleet was a little small this year due to some unique conflicts this year in the district, but everyone should put this June regatta on their calendar as well as the September 9-10, 2023 Surf City regatta with the same Snipe family hospitality that we are also going to attend! 

	SAILORS	SAIL NUMBER	BOAT NAME	CLUB/ORG	NET	TOTAL	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5
1	Bradley Adam Thomas Walker	USA 29044	None	Severn SA	7	7	2	1	2	1	1
2	Alex Pline Lisa Pline	USA 31313	Old Folks Boogie	Severn SA	15	15	RDG – 4	2	3	4	2
3	Lee Griffith Nikki Bruno	USA 31304	Menage a trois	Surf City YC	16	16	1	4	1	7	3
4	Gavin O’Hare Holly O’Hare	USA 30629	Severance	SSA / OBYC	22	22	3	3	7	2	7
5	Bob Coyle Mike Lusty	USA 28542	None	Fleet 244 – Cottage Park	24	24	4	7	4	5	4
6	Devon Feusahrens Laura Varela	USA 30860	Her Fault	Severn SA	28	28	5	6	6	6	5
7	Preston Senior Kate Shermock	USA 28686	Cap’n Crunch	Eastport YC	29	29	DNF – 10	5	5	3	6
8	Darryl Waskow Martha Kerch	USA 30325	None	Surf City YC	42	42	DNF – 10	8	8	8	8
9	JohnMichael Ayers Leigh Ayers	USA 999	Lockdown	None	50	50	DNC – 10	DNC – 10	DNC – 10	DNC – 10	DNC – 10

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