2017 Dave Irey Regatta

June 3-4, 2017

West River Sailing Club, Galesville, MD

Five teams from three states converged on West River Sailing Club in Galesville, MD, site of last year’s Nationals, for the annual Dave Irey Memorial Regatta on June 3-4. Doug Brown and Susan Mallows brought their recently refurbished #747 down from New Jersey. Fellow Hunterdon Sailing Club members, David and Justin Veno in #1150 also made the trek south. Lenny Wells and Teri Fosmire towed #1130 up from North Carolina in an enclosed trailer that doubled as a camper. Local Annapolis sailors Eric Johnson and Cathy Cotell in #1146, and Gary Mentesana, sailing with his daughter Katie in #1144, rounded out the fleet.

Saturday started off with a light southerly breeze that made for a long, slow sail out to the course, which the RC set just outside the mouth of West River to give the A-Class Catamarans room to run. After a postponement to allow the fleet to make it to the starting area, the wind filled in to around 8-10 knots. Doug and Susan Brown put their lake sailing instincts to good use finishing first in the shifty southerly wind, with Johnson and Cotell in 1146 close behind. The wind continued to build throughout the race, after which Team Mentesana decided to call it a day so Katie could compete in a soccer tournament later that afternoon. In races 2 and 3, the fleet started to feel the effects of the sea breeze, with wind speeds building to the mid-to upper teens. The RC opted to run an Olympic course, and it appeared there as tacit agreement among the Jet sailors to skip the spinnakers on the tight and breezy reaching legs. Doug and Susan earned another bullet in Race 2, and in Race 3, Wells and Fosmire blasted off the starting line and never looked back for a wire to wire win.

Day 2 of the event brought one of the most perfect days of Jet-14 sailing in recent memory, with a rock steady wind out of the south at around 8-12 knots, bright sunshine, and moderate temperatures. Johnson and Cotell found their groove in 1146, and won the first two races of the day,with Veno and Veno taking second, their best finish of the series. At this point, Wells and Fosmire, faced with a very long drive back to North Carolina, opted to head for shore to start packing up boat and trailer. The wheels came off of 1146 in the third race of the day, when a tightly knotted spinnaker allowed Brown and Mallows to pass on the last leg for the win. In the final race of the day, another Olympic course, Johnson and Cotell, in a fit of hubris, made an ill-advised spinnaker set on a tight reaching leg, which led to ongoing distraction and a poor gybe at the reach mark. Brown and Mallows did the sensible thing and abandoned the kite early, which allowed them to sail by 1146 to win the race and the series.

Eric Johnson (#1146)

 Sail Skipper Crew Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Race 4 Race 5 Race 6 Race 7 Total
 747  D. Brown S. Mallows 1 1 (3) 2 3 1 1 9
1146  E. Johnson C. Cotell (2) 2 2 1 1 2 2 10
1150  D. Veno J. Veno (5) 4 4 3 2 3 3 19
1130  L. Wells C. Berchem 4 3 1 4 4 (DNC) DNC 22
1144  G. Mentesana Katie 3 (DNS) DNS DNC DNC DNC DNC 33