2013 Adult Championship Report

October 16-20, 2013

US Sailing AGM

Captiva Island, FL

2 events pulled out as qualifiers

1 due to PFD Regulation (Lake Dillon Open)

1 due to race management issues (Annapolis Mid-Summer One design regatta)

Area B/E combined- District 7 Pennant Series Oneida Lake Sailing Club- 11 boats

Area C

Atlantic City Race Week- 6 boats

Area D-Charleston YC Open 12 boats

Area F-

Corinthian Heritage Cup- 13 boats

Dillon Lake Open-pulled out at last minute over PFD requirement

Area J

Ventura Sailing Festival- 5 boats (invite issued to winner who also tied for 1^st in the Cinco de Mayo)

1. 
   An average of 3 boats in each regatta signed up for the qualifier. Lack of participation was due almost entirely to the PFD requirement, even with the addendum to the NOR making it a non-protestable incident by the competitors.
   
2. 
   Need an easier way for the regattas to identify semi-finalists without putting a burden on the registration process.
   
3. 
   Need to have a bullet point document for organizers so they can see quickly what their responsibilities are.
   

Host: Rochester YC

Regatta Chairman: Ed Gardner

PRO- Wayne Bretsch (Area C); Rochester RC Chairman- Tim Breen

Jury-

Chief Judge: Steve Szymanski (Area D)

Rick Sullivan (Area E)

Wind Conditions- light air 3-7 mph;

Fri.- 4 races

Sat.- 2 races

Sun.- 2 races

1. 
   Ventura YC- Deke Klatt/Lane Densborough/Garrett Baum/David Paudler 22
   
2. 
   Santa Barbara YC- Pat Toole/George Witter/Kent Pierce/Dale Turley 26
   
3. 
   Fort Worth Boat Club- Bryan Dyer/Vicki Dyer/Craig Johnson/Chris Rousseau 31
   
4. 
   Lake George Club- Roger Voss/Nelson Snowden/Michael Quaid/Susan Jacobs 32
   
5. 
   Eastern YC- Frank McNamara/Clinton Hayes/Diane Economides/John Powley/Paula Grassberger 37
   
6. 
   Severn Sailing Assoc- Pat Fitzgerald/Bill Fitzgerald/Kelly Fitzgerald/Mel Keen 39
   
7. 
   Columbia Sailing Club- Alex Bolan/Charles Bumgardner/Robert Bush/Crawford Milling 44
   
8. 
   Oswego YC- Russell Cook/Trevor Allen/ Peter Williams/Joseph Snyder 59
   

Regatta Publicity

Lambert Lai (District 7 Governor and J24 owner from Rochester) was instrumental in helping to publicize the championship on the J24 website. He also arranged a sail purchase incentive through North Sails for boat owners to loan their boats for the regatta.
Competitors arrived on Thursday and were welcomed Thursday night by the Rear Commodore of the Rochester YC. The teams were introduced and drew their team letter (A-H). Laminated rotation sheets were given to each team.

All teams and Judges were housed

Charles Mallory was thrilled to be able to see that his grandfather's legacy continued and congratulated the competitors on making it to the finals. He and Tom presented the Mallory Trophy to the winning team.

8 boats tuned by the same 2 people; turnbuckles shrink-wrapped and taped to maintain tuning

8 suits of sails provided by US Sailing

Boats were launched on Thurs.

Rotation was on a float with a port-o-potty. The competitors appreciated this set-up, especially during some of the long postponements
Racing

A practice race was held on Thurs. in the best wind of the weekend. Seven of the teams went out on the water to practice. Only one boat chose to race.

Championship Races:

The light and shifty breeze made for challenging committee work. Wayne, Tim and the rest of Rochester crew were superb at moving marks, shortening courses, and communicating their intentions to competitors, including length of postponement, wind observations, etc. There was one breakdown and no protests.

The racing was close for the entire series. The top 3 places were decided in the last race.
Social-

Light hors d'oeuvres and complimentary beer were served after racing each day. This gave competitors, the race committee, judges, etc. the chance to interact on an informal basis. On Friday, competitors joined the Rochester members for barbeque on the deck. The Scotch tasting by Old Pulteney was a big hit with the group and appreciated after a long day on the water. Sat. night was an open night and gave competitors the opportunity to go out on the town.

Sponsors

Each sailor received a dryfit shirt and water bottle from Gill. Rochester YC had ample recycling bins to encourage sailors to keep the champ a "Clean Regatta". Old Pulteney hosted the scotch tasting and hors d'oeuvres.

1. 
   Racing was superb given the challenging conditions. For those teams that had participated in the Men's Championship in the recent past, they felt the depth of competition was great, even though the fleet was not as large as was expected.
   
2. 
   Many felt that the PFD requirement discouraged more teams from participating in the qualifiers.
   
3. 
   The requirement that the crew be a member of an LSO that is a member of an RSA was restrictive. Being a member of US Sailing and being a member of a National Class that was a member of US Sailing should be sufficient.
   
4. 
   Regatta information should be easier to find. The Regulations aren't easily accessible from the Adult Championship website.
   
5. 
   They liked the qualifier format. Most of the competitors have full regatta schedules and limited vacation time, making it difficult to squeeze in a separate event.
   
6. 
   Rochester YC was a great venue. The Club and its members were ideal hosts.
   

Other Activities

In communication with J Boats and the J70 Class to hold the 2015 Adult Championship in CA. This would be coordinated with a major J70 regatta and another US Sailing championship (Women's Keelboat champ?) so that boats would be available.

Respectfully submitted,

Linda Epstein