Report by John Womble
Larry Frost from New Orleans came out on top after the last circuit stop of the first annual Southwestern Lightning Circuit at his home club. He sailed very consistently at the five circuit stops he attended with three 1st and two 2nd place finishes in the regattas.
Clarke Newman and John Womble from Dallas took 2nd and 3rd , respectively. Robert Bernhard from Florida finished 4th, and Bill Baxter, Jr. from Memphis rounded out the top five. John Womble was awarded the “Road Warrior” trophy for being the only competitor to attend all six circuit stops.
Twenty-Seven teams competed in the circuit, and there was an average of ten boats at each circuit stop. Most regattas were up in attendance from last year, which considering the economy 2009, is exceptional.
It was a great season of travel, fellowship, and sailing experiences - most with great breeze! Below is a short recap of each circuit stop. Visit the ILCA web site for regatta results and full reports.
Circuit Stop 1 - Bay-Waveland Yacht Club
The Southern District of the ICLA held their District Championship regatta in conjunction with the GYA Opening regatta this year at Bay-Waveland Yacht Club in Bay St. Louis, MS. The GYA Opening is a major regatta in the south that hosts eight different one-design classes with around 100 boats in 2009.
With the ten Lightnings parked right in front to the main entry to the club house, this event was a great place show case our class. It also helped that it is the home club of the soon-to-be 2009 North American Lightning Champion, Marcus Eagan. Countless people stopped by the various boats over the weekend with stories of the old days when they sailed Lightnings on the Gulf Coast, and told us how glad they were to see us back.
The wind turned out to be more than twice the forecasted 10 – 12 mph, so the racing conditions were a lot of fun. The waves on Bay St. Louis were really rolling all weekend, and several boats had a hard time keeping their center boards in the water (including Team Womble). Marcus Eagan sailed a very consistent regatta with bullets in all four of the races that the race committee was able to complete before the high winds caused them to abandon. Larry Frost was close behind in 2nd, Tommy Merrick finished 3rd, Clarke Newman finished 4th, and Robert Bernhardt finished 5th.
Circuit Stop 2 - Delta Sailing Association
They say to head Memphis If you want to see southern hospitality at its best – and they are right! The Delta Sailing Association & Lightning Fleet 274 hosts their Hernando Desoto Regatta every spring at the same time as the “Memphis in May” festival, and in 2009 it was the same weekend as the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest. Team Womble drove up early Friday to enjoy the festivities before the regatta started. It’s hard to beat all the live blues music on Beale Street, and the best Barbecue in the world all in one place.
Racing the next day was tricky to say the least. It was very breezy and VERY shifty which caused several lead changes in the first day of races. That night the fleet was treated to a home cooked barbecue dinner that was put on at the lake by the members of Fleet 274. On Sunday morning the wind had built from the day before and the temperature had dropped twenty degrees. In the end, Larry Frost won the regatta by one point over Robert Mattix. Robert Bernhardt finished 3rd, Bill Baxter Jr finished 4th, and Team Womble finished 5th.
Circuit Stop 3 - Rush Creek Yacht Club
The last three Texas District Championship regattas had five to six boats in attendance, and there has not been double digit attendance since the 1980’s. So when we had eleven boats on the line that Saturday morning we knew our efforts were starting to pay off. It was a typical very hot Texas summer day, but we had the key ingredient for great racing – breeze! The party that night was enjoyed by all. RCYC cooked a great dinner for us, and that was followed by free rum and live music on the club’s deck courtesy of our regatta sponsor, Don Q Rum. Larry Frost’s crew even entertained the fleet with a few songs.
Clarke Newman and Larry Frost took turns leading the regatta all weekend, but in the end Larry won the regatta again by one point. Bill Baxter, Jr. finished 3rd, Aroldo de Rienzo finished 4th, and Peter Doncaster finished 5th. This was the first regatta we hosted at Rush Creek Yacht Club since re-activating Fleet 435, and it is our hope that we can build on the success of this event and begin to see a resurgence of Lightning sailing in Texas.
Circuit Stop 4 - Jackson Yacht Club
After the summer break, the Southwestern Circuit started back up with the Hospitality Regatta at Jackson Yacht Club in Jackson, MS. This regatta has always been well-attended in the past because if its central location to sailors from the surrounding areas, but a stormy weather forecast really hurt the turn out this year.
Luckily for the seven boats that decided to brave the weather, the major storms never materialized. It was a cold, grey weekend with light rain off and on, but at least we had a little breeze. Larry Frost won the regatta, Clarke Newman finished 2nd, Ian Edwards finished 3rd, I finished 4th, and Bill Baxter, Jr. finished 5th.
Circuit Stop 5 - Houston Yacht Club
The Turkey Day Regatta at Houston Yacht Club was selected as a circuit stop this year in an attempt to jump start Lightning sailing in the Texas Gulf Coast area. The great fleet builder, Ian Edwards, from Sydney recently moved to Houston, and several of his friends from the Lagos Lightning fleet have also recently relocated there as well. Fleet 435 from Dallas saw this regatta as a great opportunity to build a Lightning fleet at HYC. So, in addition to the two boats competing in the regatta from Dallas, we loaned three additional boats to the Houston skippers. Ian also loaned his second boat to a Houston skipper, and out of the blue a new member from HYC bought a Lightning.All of that plus the teams that attended from Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Mexico made the regatta the largest circuit stop with thirteen boats! Saturday was cold and rainy, but the race committee was able to get four great races in. That night at the club the fleet enjoyed a wonderful Mexican dinner thanks to the sponsorship of Dieball Sailing – Thanks Skip! The sun finally came out the next morning, but the wind decided not to show up with it. After a sucker breeze tricked us all into sailing out into the bay the RC abandoned the race.
This was the Turkey Day Regatta, so HYC presented the top finishers in each class with a large frozen turkey as their trophy. Taking home turkeys in the Lightning class were Clarke Newman for 1st place, Aroldo de Rienzo for 2nd place, Team Herman for 3rd place, Robert Bernhardt for 4th place, and Scotty Barrett for 5th place. After we headed back to Dallas, Ian held a meeting in the parking lot with all of the Houston skippers. He tells me several of them plan to buy Lightnings and start sailing at HYC and on the circuit in 2010. Thanks for all of your efforts Ian; we wish you the best of luck.
Circuit Stop 6 - Southern Yacht Club
The Sugar Bowl regatta was final circuit stop of 2009, and it was co-hosted by Southern Yacht Club and New Orleans Yacht Club. The Lightnings sailed out of SYC’s recently completed club, and it is remarkable! The Sugar Bowl regatta is always the weekend after Christmas, but since Christmas fell on a Friday this year the regatta was the next day. That hurt attendance this year, but all seven bloats that did attend were very completive. Since everyone was eager to get back to their families, the race committee decided to run all five races on Saturday. After several lead changes throughout the day, Marc Eagan won the regatta. Larry Frost finished 2nd, Robert Bernhardt finished 3rd, Team Herman finished 4th, and Clarke Newman finished 5th.
A planning meeting for next year’s circuit was held at SYC after the Sugar Bowl and Circuit award presentation since all of the fleets had members in attendance. The main topic was next year’s schedule of regattas, and after some debate a final schedule was approved (see below). The group felt that expanding the circuit to include more of the gulf coast was a good idea, so stops in Alabama and Florida were added. It was also decided that only 5 of the 6 regattas would be counted for each teams score.
Thank you to the Newman family for donating the perpetual trophy for the overall circuit winner, Bill Buckles & fleet 62 for donating the road worrier perpetual trophy, APS for donating gift certificates to the top three finishers, Don Q & Dieball Sailing for sponsoring social events at two of the circuit stops, and the ILCA for all for their support of our development efforts in the South. I hope to see all of you next year at the first circuit stop in Houston.
2010 Southwestern Lightning Circuit Schedule
April 24th – 25th, Texas District Championship - Houston Yacht Club, Shoreacres, TX (Houston)
May 29th – 30th, Juby Wynne Regatta - Southern Yacht Club, New Orleans, LA
June 5th – 6th, Southern District Championship – Buccaneer Yacht Club, Mobile, AL
September 18th – 19th, Cotton Pickin’ Regatta - Delta Sailing Association, Hernando, MS (Memphis)
October 16th – 17th, Fall Dinghyfest Regatta - Rush Creek Yacht Club, Heath, TX (Dallas)
November 13th – 14th. Jubilee Regatta - Pensacola Yacht Club, Pensacola, FL