2005 ACCs
Wrightsville Beach, NC
July 29-30, 2005

Report

Lenny Krawcheck dominated the 2005 ACCs with a 2-1-2-2-3 series that earned him a 23 point victory over the nearest competitor. 

Mother nature did not cooperate very well and it made for an unusual race weekend in Wrightsville.  On Saturday, rain and variable winds delayed racing until mid-afternoon when the AP finally came down and the fleet headed out to race.  The race committee set a short windward-leeward once around course.  The RC got in two short races and sent the fleet back in as evening was approaching. Krawcheck appeared to have the early lead with a 1-2 finish on the day.   Back on land, the results were posted and it became evident to all that OCS calls would play a major roll as a number of the top finishers in each race, including Lenny, found they were OCS once or twice.

On Sunday around 8:30 am, the fleet began launching under sunny skies and hopes were high for a good day of racing.  But on the way to  the race course, a dark cloud came up sending many skippers into a 180 turn for the docks.  However, the RC was on the course and called everyone out seeing no immediate danger from the cloud.  Race one of the day was started.  As the fleet rounded the windward mark, a huge shift moved in switching the leeward leg to a beat.  Spinnakers dropped, jibs were hoisted, and the race committee shortened the race to a finish at the leeward-turned-windward pin.  Gary Hurban from NY won the race, but Lenny posted a duece.

As racers contemplated the next start and the RC worked on adjusting the course, a moderate rain shower moved over the course.  About half of the fleet dropped sails and set anchors to ride out the rain.  The other half cut back to mainsail only and attempted to keep some minimum movement going.  Thankfully, there was no lightning or high wind associated with the rain, so when it stopped after 20 minutes, the fleet hoisted sails and the RC moved on to race 2 and 3.  SELD's Jim Harris won race 2 and Pierce Barden won race 3.

Back at the docks, a number of protests were filed including redress for the day one OCS calls by Bob Harkrider and Lenny Krawcheck  Bob explained his redress in an e-mail  "I think the judges realized that there was a problem when the pin boat observers admitted that they could not see the other end of the line.  Lenny and I were both able to demonstrate that we had the time, room and opportunity to duck below the line for a fair start.  In my case I was approximately 3 boat lengths from the pin boat at the starting signal.  I think the pin was favored about 5 degrees.  I had boat speed since I had been accelerating down the line with 10 seconds to go.  There were no boats in front or to leeward of me. From this position I still had to luff up to clear the anchor rode on the pin boat.  Tom sitting on the seat could see the pin boat observer through the forestay at the gun.  I think that is why the committee reinstated me."   Bob and Lenny won their hearings and their day one OCS calls were reversed.  With actual on course scores now on the books, Krawcheck won the regatta with a score of 10.   Bob Harkrider was third and Pierce Barden finished fifth.  Congratulations to all skippers.

Please note that SELD extract scores for the traveling series are posted after the general results.

Results