Palm Beach Gardens Valentine's Regatta Report
Walter Wins Region 3a Championship
By Bob Greer & Dick Reinke

The 2007 Kick-off Valentines regatta of the Florida Cup is complete. There are some broken hearts this Valentine's Day.

Friday night's get-together at the New York Bar and Grill for Maine lobster went over very well. Several skippers from Naples proudly showed off their newest class, the Footie. The whole restaurant was entranced as these 12 inch wonders were passed around. Saturday morning, I couldn't find a parking spot at 0800 for a 0930 skippers meeting. Everyone was ready to get the season started.

We began with 31 registrants but by race time we were at 27 boats for the seeding races.
This regatta was sailed under the EROS so 4 seeding races were run. Two fleets each sailed 2 heats. The scores were combined to set the fleets to start race one and the best of the two seeding heats was kept.

Racing commenced promptly at 1000, with the seeding races followed by a brief time out to set the fleets for heat one. Winds were variable, both in direction and velocity, from 1-13 knots. Unlike many regattas no skipper dominated because of the changes in the breeze. The sailors who kept options open and took transoms in crossing situations seemed to do better than those intent on a preconceived game plan. I compliment the sailors on giving up that pin at the end of the heat, it is often difficult to track them down whilst starting the next heat.

First day results had Joe Walter in first, chased closely by Baron Bremmer, John Bottensek and Mike Zellanack. Racing concluded at 1530 with 11 eleven races completed (4 seeding and 14 heats or seven races). My thanks to the captains on their competence on being able to launch (I wont say splash anymore) their boats when summoned.

Dinner at Paddy Macs (Dick Reinke’s favorite Irish pub) was a huge success. His organizing of our private room was the perfect setting for our post race gathering. We were all enthralled by our Class Secretary and EC-12 World Champion, Rick West recounting his glorious victory in the first World Championship held in New Zealand. Jack Wubbe, who also sailed "Down Under," added his thoughts as well. Rick informed us that the skippers down there are all top notch and now that they have studied our American made boats will be ready to give us a good race when they come to the States in 2009.

Sunday dawned bright and sunny with temps in the 70s and 5-8 knots out of the North. Our pond is oriented well for most Northerly winds and this allowed us to have good, long windward legs. Races typically ran 12-15 minutes each and the alternating fleets managed to launch and recover quickly. I think the skippers might have been getting a bit tired by noon and everyone seemed satisfied to end with ten more heats (5 races) completed.

Saturday's splendid lunch laid out by Ann Gelina and Kelli Greer with help from Joyce Zellanack was repeated on Sunday and I venture no one went home hungry or thirsty. My Assistant Race Director, Dick Reinke, had the unenviable task of starts and finishes. The moans and groans of an over early skipper are almost pitiful in such a competitive fleet, but Dick held their feet to the fire and kept us moving at an admirable pace.

The scoring table is always a hard job and our sincere thanks go out to John Biles and Ed Lunay, whose patience with my meddling is exemplary. The very strong turn out of helpers from the Soling Fleet led by Dan Richardi to watch marks and finishes was essential. The 12 helpers made this regatta so much better. Our club relies on Ed and Ann Gelina for so much help. It seems all the paraphernalia from the dinghy to traffic cones reside with Ed and we are so appreciative of their unflagging support.

Thank you for all being such great sportsmen. It was a true pleasure and a great deal of fun to be a part of this regatta--We'll see you at the pond real soon!

A-Fleet Results

Click here to see a slide show of the regatta by Bob Greer.