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AMYA US12 Region 1 Championship, Sandy Pond, Nashua NH

Photo Gallery:

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Annual Sasquatch Footy Regatta Hosted by Back Bay Skippers

The Winners:

Photo Gallery:

Race Results:

Name	Sail #	Place
Tim Wright	58	1
Herb Dreher	734	2
Jim Linville	261	3
Herb Cotterly	31	4
Jack Berglund	65	5
Stephen Doherty	456	6
Bill Hagerup	7	7
Mark Whitehead	27	8
Paul McBride	54	9

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US12’s Get the Ball Rolling
Last Thursday, May 23, we had our opening US12 regatta. The weather cooperated, which this spring means it didn’t rain and there was a little wind. While it’s always shifty on Back Bay, it wasn’t any worse than usual, and some spirited racing ensued.

Bill Hagerup showed he is a force to be reckoned with this year. He would have won the day easily except he lost battery power not once but twice. He’s looking into trying a new charger so his outstanding performance won’t be lost to equipment failure. Of the eight races he finished, he won five.

Name	Class	% Regattas	Score	Diff
Wright, Tim	Sailor	100%	1.00	0.00
Hagerup, Bill	Sailor	100%	2.00	1.50
Leach, Jerry	Sailor	100%	3.00	2018
McBride, Donald	Sailor	100%	4.00	1.00
Brennan, Bob	Sailor	100%	5.00	0.20
Wallace, Paul	Sailor	100%	6.00	0.60

Tim Wright won four races and greatly benefited from the DNFs Bill received. Tim came away with a lucky first place with Bill right behind, even with the DNFs. Jerry Leach got one win and came in third for the day, followed by Don McBride, Bob Brennan and Paul Wallace.
US12 Scoring Details

During the sailing, the other sailors realized Bob Brennan’s performance was adversely affected by his talking, so there was a frequent cry of “Keep talking, Bob.” Spectators provided an attentive audience, and Bob kept talking. I suspect Bob will figure this out soon, but until then, keep talking! Although, come to think of it, Bob is usually talking, so little encouragement is needed. It was good to get the official season started and know we still have all summer to keep going.

It’s a Party
To put the final touches on the 2018 season and to kick off the 2019 season we had our Skippers Party on May 25 at the Whitehead residence in Ossipee. As always, great food, lots of camaraderie, competition for the door prize, and 2018 season awards. The game, of course, was led by the infamous Kathleen Whitehead, with the impressive basket of goodies going to BB Wright, who rose to victory in the challenge.

After a thank-you to all those who made the year a success, we moved on to the well-deserved awards for 2018.

Soling Master Class
1st Place Tim Wright
2nd Place Rick Lalley
3rd Place Mark Whitehead

 

US12 Fleet
1st Place Tim Wright
2nd Place Don Cundy
3rd Place Bill Hagerup

 

Tim Wright reviewed the rules for the coming season to close out the program.

Rain and More Rain
The Solings just can’t get a break. The first two practice sessions were plagued by rain, the third by a super-high wind. Before scoring began, the Solings could hang out with the US12’s on Thursdays, but now that the official season has begun, that’s no longer possible. After this Tuesday’s regatta was ruined by precipitation, no wind and cold temperatures, we have applied for a Wednesday rain-day permit that can be used by either the Solings or the US12’s — maybe that will help.

Join the Fun
We have a wonderful group of participants for this challenging-but-fun hobby. Young and old can join, and those wanting to build a yacht should keep in mind our boat-building class at the NH Boat Museum July 8 through July 12. The link will take you to a sign-up for the building class.

https://www.nhbm.org/model-yachting/model-yacht-building/

If you don’t want to build a boat, we’ll help you find a used one. Don’t want to sail? Just come and watch — we put on a great show every Tuesday and Thursday starting at 1:00 PM, weather permitting. Be sure to bring your camera.

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A Weather Battle
Rain and cold, rain and cold, rain and cold, not good sailing weather in May, but our skippers are a tough breed so we did manage a few regattas. A couple were “sail what you bring” which makes for an interesting show on Back Bay. In addition to the Soling’s and US12’s, the Bay hosted Santa Barbara’s, Marblehead’s, Soling 50’s, J Boat’s, Footy’s and one lobster boat.

The Competition Begins OR Not
We had high hopes of starting the season on May 21 but mother nature had other ideas. We arrived to very strong and gusty wind, twenty mph plus. It is hard on the boats as well as the skippers. Let’s hope the US12’s have better luck on Thursday.

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The US12’s Start Their Season with a Few Companions
Thursday, April 25, the US12 group sailed, bringing an assortment of boats to test out after a long winter. The weather was cool with a nice gentle breeze, and it was good to get together with sailing friends.

There were four or five US12’s sailing, but skippers were eager to try out other boats early in the season. Tom Greig brought his J-Class model of Ranger, which was ready to go but had a gearing issue and never made it into the water. Rick Parent’s Soling 50 was sent on its maiden voyage.

Jerry Leach had his Marblehead, which was in the water for the second time in 35 years — the first being two days earlier! Tim Wright quickly staked a claim for mishap of the year, when his Santa Barbara went over the stern of Paul Wallace’s US12. This put and kept the US12 access hatch underwater, and the possibility of a sinking grew as each minute passed. Fortunately, the boats were close to the dock and were pulled from the water shortly before Paul’s boat went under for good. To his credit, Paul resumed sailing in about fifteen minutes with no long-term water damage. Liquid tape was apparently part of the solution.

It was a very relaxed day of sailing — chilly but enjoyable to everyone there.

Raw and Damp
Word on the street for April 30 said the dock was underwater. Yup, it was! Like most of the lakes in the Northeast, Winnipesaukee is way above normal. We’ve had it rise close to the dock deck but not over.

Although a raw and drizzly day with cloudy skies and temperatures in the low forties, the wind was great for sailing. The skippers were limited and spectators pretty much nonexistent. Eight sailors launched for a very casual regatta, just punching the start button and following Tim Wright around the course.

A lot of boat swapping occurred, mainly to check tuning. This time of year focuses on learning the best boat setup. For the first few races, master builder Anthony Quinn gave Diane Labella’s boat a re-rig. Thank you, Anthony. Diane now should jump to the front of the pack.

Join the Fun
We have a wonderful group of participants for this challenging-but-fun hobby. Young and old can join, and those wanting to build a yacht should keep in mind our boat building class at the NH Boat Museum July 8 through July 12. If you don’t want to build a boat, we’ll help you find a used one. Visit Model Yacht Building above for details. Don’t want to sail? Just come and watch — we put on a great show every Tuesday and Thursday starting at 1:00 PM, weather permitting. Be sure to bring your camera.

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