This regatta was a Star Class qualifier that they generously let us crash; for some reason those guys think we are OK. The weather that greeted the sailors was sunny blue skies, with heat and humidity. Unfortunately this teased the sea breeze, and although we had some great racing, the breeze topped out at about eleven, and sometimes it was lower. We had three good races on Saturday. The first two were modified Olympic courses with finishes downwind, which made for some very tactical finishing legs, running against the tide. The last race was a true Olympic, and no matter where you finished, you were glad when you did, because the RC handed you two beers for the sail in. Of course this is when the breeze came up and you've never seen so many happy crews screaming along on the trapeze with a beer in one hand and the spinnaker sheet in the other. Newcomer to the class Matthew Edwards remarked upon reaching the beach, "man, i knew they were fast, but i didn't know they were that fast!!"
The results showed Kenny Elliott/Alan Kilgore leading the regatta, with Jonathan \Phillips/Mike Smith firmly placed in second. A couple of nice occurrences worth mentioning were North American Champion Macy Nelson crewing for Charles Smith and giving him a thorough introduction to the class, and Ali Meller (absent due to racing in the Canadians and NAs) lent his 7772 to Doug Amthor, who recruited a first time 5o5 sailor, and these two were blazing fast at times upwind. Mike Smith did a great job organizing this event, and the entry fee was only $5.00!
On Sunday, the Star class must have gotten to the RC, because we had some loooong races. The weather mark was invisible from the start line, and after going upwind for about twenty minutes, I almost told my skipper to crack off for the Gybe mark (thinking it was the weather mark) but cooler heads (the skipper's) prevailed and we continued on. The reaches were great, because they were soooo looooong and wet, but the runs were Hot! and I don't mean fast, I mean HOT, despite most teams being dressed in shorts and t-shirts.
After the two races on Sunday, Elliott/Kilgore had won the event. Phillips/Smith were second, with Rene de la Rie/Allan Johnson in 3rd. In probably the oldest and most thrashed boat, with ragged sails, class stalwart Pete Wallio and A.J. Piccillo used consistency to place fourth. A great regatta, a great turnout, and many newcomers to the 5o5 class left WRSC with a big grin on their face.