2012 Southern Comfort Classic

Asheville Sailing Club, Asheville NC

April 21-22

 The inaugural Southern Comfort Classic introduced Jetters to some wonderful southern hospitality and good wind too.  The festivities began Friday evening as early arrivals gathered at local pub Barley's for some pizza, beer and darts.  Dave Michos had a few too many and challenged host Chris Hennon to that game "where you have to get three of those numbers".  Well, Hennon got all of those numbers much more quickly than Michos to claim his only victory of the weekend.  It was worth it though.

Unfortunately Hennon had to return home to meet his guest for the weekend who was coming in from New Jersey.  Initially told that he would be there "around 9pm", Barbehenn pulled in around 2 am seemingly confused that he couldn't make the 800 mile drive in under 5 hours.  Others arrived the next morning.  Marion Zaugg and sister Barb Joudrey apparently couldn't sleep and were found waiting outside the marina gate at 4:30 am.  Tom Grace and Paula Pacheco were close behind after a quick 2-hour trip from Charlotte.  Barry Saunders and crew David Oldach had a slightly longer trek from Raleigh, and Seth Parker and  Nate Reffner thought that 10 minutes was plenty of time to unload and rig up before the first gun.

After a quick lunch and introductions, PRO Don Read signaled postponement as the fleet waited for the light southerly to fill in.  This was a fortunate development for local club member Julie Brockman and crew Meredith Lovejoy, who thought it would be fun to see how far you can pull a jib halyard up a mast and still get it out in time to race.  Dr. Zaugg was called in and his diagnoses was "halyardtosis-A", which called for a mast extraction.  With the expert help of Nurse Grace and the 24 other people standing around watching, the halyard was saved.

The wind filled in a bit after a short delay and the 10-boat fleet headed out to the course.  However a further longer delay ensued as it was determined that it was difficult to set a square course with a mark boat powered by oars rather than an engine.  Fortunately another power boat appeared and saved the day.  The first race was a 2-lap windward/leeward course with a very short first beat.  Dr. Zaugg nailed the start and was not seen from the rest of the race.  Barbehenn was challenging for the lead around the top mark when crew Paula Hennon went to set the spin pole.  Instead she found a whisker pole and was heard shouting "WTF is this?!?"  Barbehenn later said that he "didn't think there were any big lakes in Asheville" and so a spinnaker was not necessary.

"I'll be sitting about right here when I roll you"

Race 2 on Saturday had a dramatic start, if by dramatic we mean the wind died and everyone was 30 seconds late to the line kind of start.  Hennon tried to port tack the fleet but as usual was thwarted by a couple of Ohio boats.  Dave and Sue Michos pulled away from the rest of the pack to take their first bullet of the regatta.  Barbehenn, blaming his performance on lack of sleep, concluded his day with a 3rd.  

The highlight of the day may have been the barbeque dinner served after racing.  Choices included "white barbeque" pulled pork, turkey, macaroni and cheese, several dipping sauces, cole slaw, and, to the delight of Barbehenn, hush puppies.  In fact, Barbehenn single handily decimated the hush puppy selections by downing 52 of them in 1 hour.  Dinner was accompanied by local Asheville brewery Highland - the Gaelic Ale was a big hit.  Zaugg and Joudrey, who were also staying with the Hennon's, became concerned when Brent also helped himself to two servings of baked beans.  Fortunately the EPA was not needed that night and all made it to the club on time for Sunday racing.  

The wind forecast for Sunday was literally opposite to Saturday - north wind blowing 10-15 kt and building throughout the day.  This made for some exciting starts, crossings, screaming reaches, and one capsize.  After Barbehenn had fully outgassed his dinner from the previous evening, he and Paula brought their "A" game this day, taking firsts in all of the races they sailed.  Zaugg and Michos fought back and forth for the seconds and thirds, while Parker and Reffner had a nice morning by sailing consistently up towards the front of the fleet.  After 5 total races, Zaugg and Joudrey led the fleet with 10 points, Barbehenn and Hennon were one point back, and another point back lurked Michos/Michos.  In another close pack behind the leaders were Parker/Reffner (24), Hennon/Thompson (24), and Grace/Pacheco (26).  Anything could happen.

What did happen was a shocked Team Michos watching both Barbehenn and Zaugg head back in before the start of the last race.  Michos went on to take the bullet and the regatta.  Grace/Pacheco, sailing fast as usual, come in a solid second but were not able to overtake Hennon (3rd) in the final standings.  Julie Brockman and last minute emergency crew Bill Winkler (who crewed for C. Hennon the previous day) steadily improved throughout the regatta and finished strong with a 4th in the final race.  But the B fleet title went to Saunders/Oldach, class veterans who sailed very consistently throughout the weekend.

I think all who attended had a fantastic time.  This regatta has helped to spur a lot of interest in the Jet-14 at the club, and I'd like to thank all of the out of town boats that made the time and effort to attend: Brent Barbehenn, Marion Zaugg, Barb Joudrey, Barry Saunders, David Oldach, Tom Grace, Paula Pacheco, Seth Parker, Nate Reffner, and Dave and Sue Michos.  We also had TWELVE club members skipper or crew during the regatta, which I thought was awesome, especially since we only have 3 Jets at the entire club.  In particular, Bruce Sampson spent many late nights leading up to the regatta getting #977 ready for action.  Julie Brockman, in the market for a Jet, skippered #1130 and showed improvement every race.  Jamie Titus piloted Barry's #737 Saturday.  There were MANY other club members who volunteered their time and energy to help make this event a success, and I am forever grateful for their support.  My daughter Olivia and her friend Emma must be mentioned because Olivia is sitting here next to me and would not let me conclude without mentioning her name.

We will do this again next year.  I hope to see everyone throughout the year at other regattas.

- Chris Hennon

Pictures Here (234 of them!)

 
Thank you ASC!

Results Posted 4/30/2012

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