South Daytona Regatta Report
Bottensek Now Has Five In A Row
by Chuck Buzek

Saturday Nov. 13th, 20 skippers took to the water of the Reed Canal pond in South Daytona, the sky was Florida blue, winds were 5 to 8 mph early, but at the start of the first race the wind went AWOL, down to 1 to 3 mph. The course sailed was a windward leeward, if you could find the wind.

The very first race was won by Ray Story who has returned to RC sailing after a 3 year hiatus. Enough said about rust. At 1100 hr. the wind took a shift from the NW to the ENE and a fresh 5 to 8 mph. A course change was made, it was the same windward leeward course but to the East. Two laps around gave all the skippers time to run out of brains, but those that didn't, caught up. This course setup gave the skippers two 100 yard beats, more than three tacks required, and two 100 yard runs, a very challenging course. The runs became exciting for the skippers as well as the spectators, as they all were carrying A rigs.

A KFC lunch for all was served by Ken Reed and the ladies of the club, the skippers seem to enjoy the break, but as they were enjoying their break the wind wasn't taking one, it freshened to 8 to 12 mph, now some B rigs were seen. B rigs looked like it was the way to go.

At the end of the day, John Bottensek was 8 points in the lead with Bill Gale ahead of a tight group of John Rowley, Pete Kremlick, and Bob Dudinsky. Saturday evening the group gathered at a local bistro for dinner and the swapping of sea stories (sea lies) and much grog.

Sunday morning saw the winds out of the ENE but now it was mean. Those who had B rigs had them on. Some of the wind gauges saw 18 mph. John Bottensek sailed the entire day with his B rig as well as most of the skippers. The long course didn't take long to sail and only one rig was lost the entire weekend. Bob Dudinsky lost his when he hit a mark while practicing but had time to repair. Racing came to a halt when the skies were threatening and it was beginning to rain. 30 heats were sailed and 14 skippers won one or more heats. Bill Gale won 6 with John Bottensek following with 5 bullets. All protests were resolved on the water. All skippers were on their best behavior and not a loud word was ever heard. Beautiful half model trophies were given to the first 5 places.

Thanks go to Ken Reed, Homer Bowen Ned Lakeman, Herb Harris, Lanny Vandebogart, Pete O'Brien, Ray Single and many others of the So. Daytona R/C Model Yacht Club without whose help this regatta would not have been as enjoyable

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