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Jacksonville Regatta The Region 3a Championship in St. Augustine was a hard fought race with many lead changes and lots of great racing action. The conditions for both days were hot with light to moderate winds, mostly out of the SSW. Bud Cassidy made the trip up from Naples with his daughter Kelly to RD the event. Eventhough the lake was big enough to handle 20 boats on the line, with 21 boats, we stayed with the P&R with 13 boats on the line. No seeding heats were sailed for this event. Instead, all the skippers were listed from top to bottom using the National past performances list kept by Rick West. The B-fleet simply started the regatta off right after the skippers meeting. Everyone seemed to like the new format, especially not having to sail seeding heats and then waiting for the fleets to be assigned. 9 races were sailed on Saturday with John Bottensek holding onto a very narrow lead before throw-outs. Baron Bremer was in 5th place. The racing was very close with multiple lead changes throughout the day. Some very good racing was on display by all. There was also very little protest didcussions and everyone did their turns. The Annual Meeting of the Association was held in one of the meeting rooms of the hotel after sailing. A full report on the meeting will be sent to members soon. Dinner was at Donnovans Irish Pub just down the road for the lake. Everyone said the food was great, except for the few who did not heed my warning about the Sheepards Pie. Strange that an Irish Pub can't make a good Sheepards Pie. The rest of the food was great and the Guinness was folwing. Lighter wind greeted the skippers for Sunday morning. Still, 8 races were sailed and the leader board flipped as Baron rallied to win the regatta in a tiebreaker with Dick Hedderick and John Bottensek slipped into the clutches of the B-fleet and dropped to 5th place. The BBB (Bubble Boy Brotherhood) was officially named and Jon Luscomb, Jack Ward, and Jim Kaighin are the first named members. But we have all been there. A big thanks to Bud Cassidy. And a big thanks to Kelly Cassidy and Angie Bottensek for keeping score and to Trish Gray and Cheryl Bremer for getting lunch and setting up. And thanks to all the JMYC members for all their help in setting up the event, building docks, making trophies, etc. Baron Bremer also won the Florida Championship. He sailed in all five regattas this season and won four of them. Baron threw-out his one low score which was a second place finish. You can't get much better than that. Congratulations Baron and to all the skippers for a very well sailed season. Results
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