2011 Governor's Cup Regatta

Carolina Sailing Club, Kerr Lake, Henderson NC

June 18-19

Team Sampson in Jet-14 #737 (Sail 982) just before the start on Sunday.

The Jet-14 class fielded six North Carolina boats in the North Carolina Governor's Cup regatta at Kerr Lake.  Class stalwarts Tom Grace and Paula Pacheco made the drive in from Charlotte and immediately lowered expectations by stating that this was their first sail of the year.  Jim Hickman brought in two Jets, one rigged with "the good stuff" and one that "floats".  He generously loaned the floating boat to Ron and Shelley Townley from Asheville, who were participating in their first ever regatta.  Barry Saunders, who essentially managed all of the regatta logistics for the class, also brought two boats to the starting line.  The second boat was graciously loaned to Bruce Sampson, a Thistle sailor from Asheville who is considering buying a Jet.  He sailed with his daughter Stephanie, a truly special Father's Day gift.  Yours truly with expert crew Paula rounded out the fleet.

At the skipper's meeting, the 68 skippers and crews of the multi-class regatta were informed by the expert PRO guy that flew in from Pittsburgh that the winds would generally be southerly at 5-10 kt.  Confusion propagated through the fleet as we sailed out in a 5-10 kt. northerly.  Just as the race committee completed preparations for the first race the lake surface devolved into glass.  Finally the promised southerly appeared and the fleet waited patiently for the RC to reset the course.

This would be a regatta of attrition through all the fleets.  The first Jet-14 casualty was Jim Hickman in #768, who expertly determined that it wasn't normal to have water coming in through the centerboard trunk.  Ron and Shelley, who awoke that morning "nervous as cats", were pumped up as the starting sequence began.  Suddenly Ron found himself holding a tiller with no rudder attached and wondered if this was normal for a Jet-14. They got a tow in and had a lot of time to commiserate with Hickman on shore.

After an extensive delay - we would have only one race this day with 3.5 hours of 10-15 kt. winds (don't ask) - four Jets started up the course.  The first leg was tight, with all four boats crossing close together up the first beat.   Tom and Paula pulled ahead and kept the lead all the way around the course until the second run, where Paula H. did some of her magical spinnaker trim work to move #483 ahead at the bottom mark.  Team Hennon kept the small lead up the final beat and crossed just in front of #717 2/3 of the way to the finish.  After the final tack, both boats were dead even.  It looked like #483 had a lead of inches coming to the finish, then #717 pulled ahead, then even.  As the boats crossed the line, confusion reigned on the committee boat.  Apparently #483 was called first, but two of the other members on the boat disagreed.  Chris and Paula's daughter Olivia, placed on the mark boat purposely to sway the committee in situations just like this, failed to convince them this time and #717 took the bullet.

That evening included a nice catered dinner and interesting conversation at the campsite.  It was great to catch up with other Jetters and to make plans for future events.

Forecast called for similar winds on Sunday but it was apparent that the forecast was a bit too conservative.  Heavy air ruled the day, with a shifty 15-20 kt. southerly coming up the lake.  More breakages and other "incidents" occurred.  Barry, always wanting to give his crew the "full Jet-14 experience", swamped with his spinnaker up on the way to the starting line and spent the next 30 minutes bailing.  Team Sampson snapped the traveller halfway through the second race and had to limp home.  Team Hennon also had a catastrophic gudgeon failure, but fortunately after the day's racing.  The heavier air made for some great racing though.  Tom and Paula built a commanding lead in the first race but unfortunately didn't get the RC memo that it was a one lap race, giving the race to Team Hennon.  Barry and Bruce, neck and neck at the top of the course, thought Tom actually knew what he was doing and followed him back down for an unnecessary lap.  

The final race was for all the marbles, as both #483 and #717 had 3 points.  It was another 1 lapper and Hennon knew that Grace would not make the same mistake again.  After a good start Grace lead the fleet up the course until a fortunate shift allowed Team Hennon to gain 100 yards in 2 minutes.  Paula H. once again did an amazing spinnker run to hold the lead and a loose cover up the final beat gave #483 the race.

Despite the challenging conditions and breakdowns, everyone had a fantastic time and are looking forward to the next one.  A big thank you goes out to Barry Saunders for organizing this regatta for the Jet-14s.  We are hopeful that this will be the first of many opportunities to grow the class in North Carolina.     

Chris Hennon, #483

Pictures
 

The winning crews show off their hardware.

Results Posted 6/21/2011

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