Low Country Regatta Report
Beaufort Yacht Club
June 26-27, 204

Two weeks before Beaufort, we weren't real sure what was going to develop.  A couple boats had pulled out and the one local Lightning sailor was leaving his boat on shore in favor of another fleet.  Our regular middle crew Tom Martin was not available.  Our luck began to change about week ahead of the regatta.  John Pelosi joined in as did John Sawyer.  We would have a competitive fleet of six boats.  Debbie Baldridge, sailing instructor at Hilton Head Yacht Club, agreed to be our middle crew and fly the chute.  This reunited the team that was going to sail two years ago, but got rained out.

We had a great place to stay in Beaufort, a beautiful marsh front home owned by a school colleague of mine.  There was room for John Pelosi and his crew, so we looked forward to a great weekend of fun and fellowship.  By 1:00 PM Friday, John and I were headed down I-77.  We arrived at 5 PM, unhooked 14620, hooked up with John Pelosi, Pat Terry and Tina Tenret.  Soon, all six Lightnings were parked and team Catawba and team Pelosi took our leave for dinner in town.  We opted for Kathleen's restaurant on Bay Street.  We sat outside under the canopy and enjoyed crab cakes, acoustic music, conversation, and a great view of the river.  Mother nature served up a thunderstorm which just added to the beauty of the evening. 

Saturday morning took us to Blackstone's cafe for breakfast.  We went early and sat outside on the patio.  By 9:00 AM we were back at the yacht club getting ready to race.

I was told the conditions were unusual.  The wind was a steady 10-12 knots with gusts to 15.  The tide was high.  The wind was blowing perpendicular to the river which made setting a good windward leg difficult.  Our fleet was fourth.  We had to watch the flags and course board carefully.  Our gun finally came.  I had a good port approach, tacked into a hole, and got off at the gun in clear air.  We talked about fifth place and hoped for an occasional fourth.  At the first mark rounding we were fourth.  It didn't take long for John and I to realize that Debbie knew her tactics.  She kept track of the compass steadily and called the shifts and tacks.   John and I worked at sailing fast.  The Fisher clinic from Wrightsville was helping as we played the traveler, backstay and jib.  Debbie also trimmed a mean chute.  She kept a constant curl in the luff and our downwind speed was excellent.  By the second beat, she made some great calls on the shifts and we moved up to third, a position we held until the finish.  Not bad, I thought.

Thank-you, Bob.

In the second race, we joined the starboard parade and still managed a clean start.  Debbie continued to call the shifts correctly and our boat speed was excellent.  We rounded the last windward mark in a dead heat with Terry Tyner.  Harkrider was clearly going to win the race.  But, we worked hard and when we hit the finish line, we had Terry by a half boat length.  I heard the horn, but didn't give it much thought until Terry starting cheering he had gotten a second.  That's when we all looked around and asked "Where's Bob."  Bob was sailing downwind.  He either lost track of his laps or thought it was a WL3 race.  We were bumped to a bullet and Bob took a dreaded 7 DNF.  Thanks, Bob.  We've all done it.

Pinch me John, this can't be real.

Well, we were feeling pretty good.  In race three, I went back to a port start and lo and behold, we were off at the gun in clear air again.  And again, we put it all together, this time for a deuce.  Terry did not fair as well finishing fourth.  For the first time in my young sailing career, I found myself contemplating math.  3+1+2 = 6.  We, by golly, were in first place.  Tyner was one point behind.  Pinch me John, this can't be real.  But real it was. 

That night, we drove back to the club for the party.  Mother nature continued to bless us as she served up a cooling 6-8 knot breeze into the evening.  The downshot was it too much for the noseeums.  It was one of those rare combinations of great food, great music, great weather, and great friends.  You just didn't want it to end.  We ate low-country boil.  We sat on the deck and listened to a great blues band.  We walked out on the launch pier and watched the lights up and down the river.  It was the best regatta party I have ever attended.

Sunday morning found us back at Blackstone's for another great breakfast.  We followed that up with a walking tour of the downtown Beaufort residential neighborhoods.  It was a relaxing tour of beautiful homes and gardens.

I had openly hoped for a hurricane!  That didn't happen.  We would have to go back out and defend our position.  Only this time, there was very little wind and I knew it would be anyone's game.  It took a long time to even get a race off, but eventually they did.  Terry and I got great starts and took a big lead to the windward mark.  He got there first and the wind died on me.  We still managed to round second, but it was not my idea of great racing conditions.  In fact it was my idea of a nightmare.   By the time we were all done guessing from shift to dead calm to new wind, we finished in fourth.   Tyner had gotten a huge jump and put up the ace.  Regatta over.  We would have to defend second now.

Race five.

We were on the line with 20 seconds or so to go.  I knew Sawyer was behind me and I defended a pass twice.  On the third attempt he got just below me and came up.  I tried to go up with him, but there just wasn't enough wind. We rubbed and I knew I owed him two circles.  By the time we did our penalty and got going, we were dead last.  But we did not give up.  By the second windward mark, we were hot on the heals of Sawyer and Tyner.  John Pelosi had long put the race away up front.  We needed to finish no more than one boat behind Bob to take second.  As the three of us rounded the mark, a Sea Island One Design came in underneath - between me and the other two Lightnings.  I would have to let him round.  That's when he hollered he was finishing and not rounding .  I was flabbergasted.  I suppose he was within his rights, but what a cheap shot it was.  He could have easily sailed up and avoided getting tangled in our mark rounding.  I threw the tiller over to avoid collision and let fly a string of profanity a mile long.  By the time he was through, we were four boat lengths behind.  This race was over.  We took the dreaded six and fell to third in the regatta.  We would have to be content with an incredible Saturday of racing and the knowledge that we had finished higher than we have ever done in SELD racing against some very good competition.  It still felt pretty good.

We will be back in action at Augusta.  On balance, we are meeting our goal.  We have sailed in four regattas and finished top 50% in two.  At Wrightsville we were 12 out of 18, just a few slots off the mark.  We are improving.  At Catawba, we won our first race in a SELD regatta.  At Beaufort, we won our first DAY of racing in a SELD regatta.  Our time to get up at an awards ceremony isn't far off.