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Jacksonville Regatta, Region 3b Championship The Region 3b Championship was the 5th stop on the Winter
Circuit of the Florida EC-12 Association. Race Director Martin Gray called
the captains' meeting to order at 9:00 am on Sat 27 April. The 27 skippers
introduced themselves which included: The sailing instructions were discussed. The National Seeding List was used to set the initial A and B-fleets for the P/R schedule of races. The winds were lighter than expected ENE at 5-7 MPH so the "left course" was preferred and the course board drawn up with 2.5 laps. Racing began with the B fleet at 9:30 am and 15 boats with A-rigs approached the start line. The top 4 boats moved up to the A-Fleet and 16 boats lined up to start the A fleet. The course proved challenging over the next 6 races and the ENE wind tended to clock to the E and freshen to 9 MPH with gusts of 13 MPH as a total of 5 different captains scored bullets. By Lunch break (which was arranged by Sheryl Bremer) Dick Hedderick with 24 pts was in the lead followed closely by Baron Bremer and Alan Perkins on 28 pts. A little further down Scott Vernon 37 pts; Dave Linville 37 pts; Jon Luscomb 39 pts; Bob Greer 43 pts and George Balaschak on 44 pts were also chasing hard. After Lunch and winds clocking to the ESE the "right side" course
was preferred and the RD called a course change at 12:50 and race #7
began with the B-fleet. Many captains had decided to change to B-rigs
as the wind continued to build to 10-12 MPH gusting to 15. Alan Perkins
continued to improve his position over the following five races and after
posting two bullets and two second place finishes he was in the lead
with a total of 37 pts. Baron Bremer and Dick Hedderick continued a
tight battle with Dick on 54 pts inching out Baron on 57 pts for second
and third place respectively. Bob Greer and Jon Luscomb continued to
post consistent results and were slowly pulling ahead of Joe Walter,
Jake Leo, George Balaschak and Dave Linville. Further down the fleet
after a rocky start in the morning (caused by electrical failure) Ricky
Gerry posted two bullets in Race #7 and #10. Steve Pfeil also posted
a bullet in race #9 and put together a series a good results. At the
close of Saturday the top 10 results with one T/O were as follows:
At 9:00 am on Sun 29th the captains meeting was called and with the light winds variable ENE - E at 0.5-1 MPH the RD decided to hold off on racing until 9:30 before posting the course. At 9:45 the A-fleet with 16 boats lined up for the start of Race #12 as the winds increased from 1-4 MPH from the East. Alan Perkins continued his dominance of the regatta by posting 3 bullets in the next three races while Baron Bremer and Dick Hedderick battled hard to stay close to each other and remain in 2nd and 3rd place. Bob Greer was also posting some very consistent big results followed closely by Jon Luscomb who was posting some great finishes. Further down the fleet Ricky Gerry was showing great form and enjoying the Easterly 3-5 MPH breeze with a brace of top 6 wins. In the final 4 races and the end game in sight Dick Hedderick posted two bullets in races #15 and 16 while Baron also stepped up his game and posted two bullets in races #17 and 18, as Alan Perkins began to slip back into their clutches. Bob Greer and Jon Luscomb kept fighting hard all morning to maintain their 4th and 5th positions. Further down the fleet Steve Pfeil was enjoying the Easterly breeze with mixed results and stealing a 3rd and a couple of 4th place finishes. Brenda Pardee surprised the A-fleet boys by taking 2nd place in the last race #18. By the end of Sunday morning Alan Perkins had shown that he was the class of the field to beat and had done enough to maintain his 1st place win over Dick Hedderick who tried so valiantly to reel him in. There were four captains who spent more time than most "On the Bubble over the weekend and they are Tom Philips…12 Times; Steve Pfeil...12 Times; Dick Reinke…13 Times and Rueben Casares…16 Times. A free entrance to the next regatta (The Villages) was given to Rueben Casares…now known as “Bubble Boy.” Many thanks to all 27 captains for their participation and making the Region 3b Championship such a great success. I would also like to say a Big Thank You to the following volunteers for all their invaluable help and contributing in no small way to making this such a wonderful weekend. Barbara and John Andras who worked as course observers, Robbie and Susan Chandler also worked as course observer. My wife Patricia who worked on the name tags; scoring and printing score sheets, etc.. Sue Kelly who assisted with entry of scores and score sheets. Cheryl and Baron Bremer for lunches and recue boat. Tom Philips and Joe Walter on setting the course and moving buoys, Tom Germer drinks and snacks, Karen Luscomb photographer and finish line, Ken Morrison regatta protest committee. Results
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