2016 Independence Day Regatta

July 2-3, 2016
Lake Norman Yacht Club, Mooresville, NC

Only three races were conducted. One on Saturday and two on Sunday.  Saturday the winds was Northeasterly at 5-8kts and 11:00am and died completely by 1:00pm.  The race committee was able to start one race for all fleets with the race course being shorten for the Flying Scots, Jet-14s and San Juan 21.  Lenny Wells (#1130) was over early, getting tangled up with a San Juan 21 at the start. Tom Grace/Paula Pacheco (#717) took off way to the right.  Connie Berchem/Teri Fosmire (#951) started up the center and was run over by the entire Ultimate 20 fleet—talk about a fleet sucking the wind away from another fleet; they obliterated Connie/Teri.  Connie and Teri was left in a big hole. Lenny with crew Caswell Kern found a slice of air between Connie and Tom and banged the corner on the right side staying away from the bigger fleets and reached the top mark first.  The wind on the left side of the course had all but died and allowed the Jet-14s to catch up and pass the Flying Scot fleet.  Lenny/Caswell came to a complete stop one boat length from the finish line for about two minutes, allowing Connie/Teri to close in to within 5 boat lengths. After the race we all sat around in a circle under the trees waiting for the beer truck to open, one of Tim Porter's duties as regatta chair. Porter was sailing his U20 during this event; his daughter Madison was crewing for a Flying Scot.

Race 2 on Sunday was about sailing with the shifts but being very aware of the pressure, because some of the lifts took you into less wind pressure. The wind was from the northerly direction at 4-6kts. All three boats swapped positions all the way up to the top mark with Lenny/Caswell rounding first with Tom/Paula right on their heels.  Tom/Paula quickly overtook Lenny/Caswell with their quick and expert spinnaker set up and Connie/Teri were right behind Tom/Paula.  At the downwind mark Lenny/Caswell made a great mark rounding allowing them get inside of Tom/Paula and found themselves looking directly at the pin at the finish line and thus setting up a drag race to the finish line. Well that great lift only lasted half way up the finish line and a 45 degree shift came in turning the leg back into a true upwind leg. Lenny/Caswell was able to finish ahead of Tom/Paula by a boat length.

Race 3:  I guess Tom/Paula decided that they had enough of the close racing and dominated this race from the beginning and they led by 100 feet at the windward mark ahead of the other two boats and stayed ahead.  Lenny/Caswell was over early again and I only hope this trend does not continue into the Nationals. Tom later stated that he had tighten his rig up to the medium setting, and Connie determine when she got on shore that she had no tension at all on the rig.

Lenny Wells (#1130)

Independence Day Regatta      Race 1   Race 2 Race 3      Total  
1130 Lenny Wells Caswell Kern 1 1   2   4
717 Tom Grace Paula Pacheco 3 2 1 6
951 Connie Berchem Teri Fosmire 2 3 3 8

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