Hedderick Edges Out Walter to Win by One
2008 Region 3 Chapionship Regatta at The Villages

Dateline: THE VILLAGES, November 3, 2008 – The roving regatta reporter interviewed John Rowley, Regatta Coordinator; Ken Morrison, Race Director; and Sue Rowley, Social Chair.

John, tell us about the 2008 Gator Regatta. This year we were hosting the Region 3 Championship which necessitated sailing a promotion / relegation style regatta. With the focus on the championship we decided not to race for the Ancient Mariner Award this year. We originally had a fleet of 24, down from previous years, perhaps due to the economy. Just prior to the racing we had 4 dropouts, so each fleet was 12, a nice size, but still with lots of tight racing.

We had an enthusiastic and competent committee including J.C. Peck, Jay Tether, Jim Kelly, Bob Gill, a member of the other Villages sailing club, Bill Worrell, and two guest judges from U.S Sailing; Barb and Dave Shaffer. I met with the recreation department on several occasions to gather support and The Villages was again very accommodating with loaned equipment, which allows us to really stretch our regatta dollars. We sent out press releases which resulted in newspaper, TV and radio coverage, so the racing drew hundreds of interested spectators over the two days.

Ken, please describe the racing. After some great easterly winds for last year’s regatta, we were not so lucky this year. A massive cold front moved through Florida and the forecast was for northerly winds shifting to northeast by late morning. Unfortunately, the northeast shift never occurred and we had to deal with northerly winds for the entire regatta. Not the best wind direction for our east-west oriented pond. The wind did stay relatively steady throughout the regatta averaging around 3 to 4 mph with occasional gusts to 5 or 6 mph.

Since our regatta was chosen as the AMYA Region 3 Championship we were required to sail under the Promotion/Relegation system rather than the Florida EC-12 two-fleet system. With 24 entries reduced to 20 by late dropouts, the fleet was initially divided into two groups of 10 for the two seeding races. The remaining races were sailed in groups of 12 with 4-up and 4-down between the B and A fleets. At the end of the first day, we had sailed the two seeding races plus 7 of the main races. Joe Walter and Richard Hedderick were tied for the lead with 17 points, including one throw-out. Tony Rieck was 2nd with 25 points, Jack Wubbe was 3rd with 30 points and Baron Bremer was 5th with 32 points.

On Sunday the winds again were steady northerlies. We were able to complete 6 more races giving us a total of 14 races for scoring. Richard Hedderick and Joe Walter continued to battle for the top spot, but Hedderick was finally able to squeeze out Walter by one-point with net scores of 47 and 48 respectively. We understand that this was Hedderick’s first regatta win with the EC-12 Class and to make it doubly rewarding he was crowned AMYA Region 3 Champion for 2008. In the balance of the fleet Tony Rieck was unable to hold on to the third place position from day one and he slipped to 7th overall. This opened up the remaining trophy positions. Baron Bremer was able to improve his performance and finished 3rd overall with 52 points while Jack Wubbe remained in 4th place with 59 points followed by Bob Greer in 5th place with 70 points. Congratulations to all the trophy winners!

Sue, how did things go for the social committee? A Friday night party hosted by Alan and Liz Perkins was a wonderful kickoff to the event. Mary Peck, Sue Kelly, and Liz Perkins were generous with their time all weekend and we set up food and beverage distribution under our ancient live oak tree. Jay Tether, Jim Kelly, Bill Worrell and J.C. Peck were also tireless in their response to my constant needs for muscle power, storage and restocking of supplies. We asked The Villages’ for electricity, coffee supplies, ice, tables, chairs, and tents and they appeared! Winn-Dixie donated 12 lunches for volunteers. At our Saturday Regatta Dinner, about 40 guests enjoyed Tex-Mex food at Amigos on Spanish Springs Town Square, as lively music emanated from the nearby bar. We had pre-arranged a special group seating and requested that chips/dips and water be placed prior to the arrival of our hungry sailors. Everyone seemed satisfied with the quality of food and service. Sunday, Mary and Sue K. dashed over to Churchill Rec center at noon to assemble a huge green salad to accompany the specialty pizzas devoured in the comfort of the Churchill Recreation center during the trophy ceremony. We don’t like to send our visitors off on an empty stomach!

Any final thoughts John? Yes, our immense thanks again go to The Villages Recreation Department for their excellent support of the Sumter Landing EC-12 MYC. We look forward to the Gator Regatta in late 2009, including a rematch for the Ancient Mariner Award!

Results

   
1 Richard Hedderick 38 47  
2 Joe Walter 24 48  
3 Baron Bremer 81 52  
4 Jack Wubbe 23 59  
5 Bob Greer 45 70  
6 Alan Perkins 14 71  
7 Antony Rieck 82 76  
8 Bob Dudinsky 95 85  
9 John Rowley 22 90  
10 Bud Cassidy 21 105  
11 Dick Reinke 36 133  
12 Jim Pardee 72 135  
13 Carter Cain 3001 139  
14 Tom Germer 662 165  
15 Jack Ward 04 171  
16 Denis Futterlieb 50 192  
17 Brenda Pardee 12 209  
18 Alber Stall 79 211  
19 John Garver 60 220  
20 Jim Rutherford 78 238  

Click here for a link to a slide show by Bob Greer.