Ware River Regatta Report

The Hamptons lost a close show-down with the Buccaneers in the Governor's Cup contest with 8 Hamptons to the Bucaneer's 11. Argggh! The Albacores had 7. Every time the PRO said "Hampton" at the skipper's meeting and awards ceremony we all shouted "Ha!" in unison. Its the new class motto. People thought we were crazy. But other than that, it was a great event with 3 of the 8 Hampton teams sailing their very first HOD regatta. The racing was extremely close with lots of lead changes on both days. The two new father & son teams started off the weekend with a bang in the very first race, with Mike and Aiden Toms winning the start of race #1 and leading the fleet in #706 at various times until late in the downwind leg. Likewise, Joe and Taylor Morgan were also at or near the front of the pack in newly relaunched #412. In race #2, the newcomers showed it was no accident rounding the windward mark well head of 727 and 514 and only succumbing to old-age and trickery of the veteran teams late in the race. Only two races were completed on Saturday due to light air. On Sunday we had a brief postponement on shore to wait for breeze, but were still able to get in 3 races in slightly more wind than we saw on Saturday. Steve Kistler and Bill Carnell/Lars Florio represented PRSA well. Carnell/Florio opened a sizeable lead on the fleet on the first beat of race #3, and held on to lead the McCoys and Team Kistler around the leeward mark of the W/L course and were finally ground down in the shifty parts of the last beat. Steve Kistler with WRYC pick-up crew made the most of the last beat to nail 2nd in race 3. In Race 4 (second race Sunday) the Morgan's showed they still had great speed in marginal trapping conditions and crossed ahead of the regatta leaders up the first leg. Overall, the racing was super close with 1st and 2nd place, and 3rd and 4th places separated only by 1 point. The difference maker for #727 was Kenny Cobb (Anna Cobb's mom), who filled in for Travis Dozier on the wire on Sunday, and was able to dig 727 out of any hole the skipper could put them in. Tim Fallaw and Steven Drake also made their racing debut in newly re-furbished 618, and showed steady improvement throughout the weekend. The Stokes would have certainly been in the mix but had a breakdown after race two that took them out of the mix on Sunday. 721 "will be back" with a vengeance for FBYC this weekend no doubt. Overall, all the new sailors showed they will be forces to recon with down the road and went home with a long list new techniques and tricks, and are pumped to race again at FBYC this weekend.