2022 Lake Norman Independence Day
Fourth of July Regatta at Lake Norman July 2-3, 2022
The Lake Norman Yacht Club put on great regatta with a Fireworks display on Friday with a band.
As always, we sailors are at the mercy of mother nature and mother nature was not going to provide us with winds over three knots or greater. So, Saturday we sat around and told stories. Four Jet-14s showed up: Ernie and Paula, Tom and Paula, Paula and Eric and Lenny and Teri.
Saturday night there was great bar-b-que, followed by a band, then a nice hour of thunderstorms which provided the only breeze of the day.
Sunday, we woke up to the lake looking like glass then about 7:30am a breeze filled in across the lake and the Race committee decided to go for it. By 8:30am the breeze disintegrated, then PRO put up the “AP” flag for about 20 minutes. The PRO took down the “AP” when they noticed a breeze coming down the lake and started one race with one U20, one Flying Scot, one Highlander, and 4 Jet-14s. Two Jet-14s were over early in this 2,1-knot breeze Paula and Lenny. Lenny was able to get back to the line cleanly and immediately restart while Paula got buried behind two bigger boats. At one point I asked Teri if it appeared the committee boat was getting farther away. The next thing the PRO was overheard over the radio asking the pin boat which was sitting halfway up the course on the right side to move so they would not become a wind shadow. The response was you joking right. All but one boat stayed on starboard tack up to the lay line were a breeze starting to fill in from the left. All the boats rounded the top mark within a couple of minutes of each other with Ernie and Paula leading the Jet-14 fleet. The PRO decided to shorten the downwind leg by half the distance. Just as we were finishing the wind shifted to upwind the last 50 feet. First place came down to who could get the chute down the fastest and Lenny begging the U20 not to take him out of race. The downwind leg saw Tom/Paula go slightly right and almost catching Lenny/Teri and Ernie/Paula by finishing a boat length behind Ernie/Paula.
The PRO held us out for additional 30 minutes as a breeze was slowly making its way out of one the coves. The breeze disappeared as it got closer, and the PRO put up the A over N flags. The regatta was officially over.
Here are the regatta results (only one race):
Lenny/Teri 1st place
Ernie/Paula 2nd place
Tom/Paula 3rd place
Paula/Eric 4th place