Phoenix Birthday Regatta
 by Michael Savino

The were eight boats racing in Phoenix. Six from Colorado, one from California and one from New Mexico. The first day started out the 1st race in about 5-7 knots of breeze and temps reaching into the 70's. As the day warmed up the wind was down to a zephyr as everyone tried to keep their boats moving. The wind picked up again before the finish to 5-7 knots. The second race started in about 10-12 knots with most boats finishing real close to each other.

Day 2 was an early start (1st gun at 9 am). The wind on the way out to the starting area was around 15 knots with a few white caps however as the sun warmed up the atmosphere, by 9 am the race started in about 12-14 knots of wind. The wind continued to dissipate throughout the race falling under 10 knots. The fourth race of the regatta started out in 5-7 knots with the wind dropping down to drifting conditions for the finish. Bill Padgett and I traded 1st place positions several times through this last race.

Following are the results from the regatta as posted on the Arizona Yacht Club Web site
http://www.arizonayachtclub.org/Racing/Scores/2003/birthday/Birthday03results.htm

Finish Boat Skipper R1 R2 R3 R4 Total
1 Adrenalin Bill Padget, 2 3 1 2 8
2 couldU wouldU Michael Savino, 1 5 2 1 9
3 High Octane Jon Bockleman, 6 1 4 5 16
4 Pocket Rocket  Marty Christensen 4 2 7 3 16
5 Digger Mike Wilson 3 7 5 4 19
6 Enigma Dave Kitchen 7 4 3 9 23
7 Cultural Infidel Russ Jellison 5 6 8 9 28
8 User Friendly Bill Sabel 8 8 6 6 28

Volvo Leukemia Cup Regatta Winner:, Michael Savino

(Bill should have made that extra donation to the Leukemia/Lymphoma Society - note to everyone else -
there were two entry fees associated with the race. One for the Birthday Regatta part and an optional
donation for LLS part).

Next stops: Cherry Creek Frostbite Regatta in February (assuming the ice is gone from the local lake), the
San Diego NOOD in March; Lake Texoma, Texas in April.