CKOD 2019 in the Books! By Tim Porter
The Carolina Keelboat One-Design Regatta was held over the weekend of Nov. 9th and 10th. This event is also the East Coast U20 Championship. While not as big as in years past we had ten boats entered. Most competitors were local, except for Dave Krausz, who traveled up from Columbia, SC.
The forecast on Saturday called for 0-3 knots of breeze from all directions with a high of 45 degrees. Most boats were able to get off the docks and enjoy some sailing, but the breeze was not consistent enough to get any races off. At 3pm the races were called for the day, the beer taps were opened, and socializing commenced. It was noted by one of the competitors, also an amateur meteorologist, that the isobar map had one bar in Florida and one bar in Ohio, with nothing in between. Everyone was scratching their heads as to how we would have wind anytime in the next week. The competitors enjoyed a Mexican food buffet and some good tunes from the Asplands. We may have opened the taps a little early at least one competitor was filmed stumbling around the club. The video was later destroyed to protect their identity.
The forecast for Sunday was looking much better. The various phone apps were calling for 5-10 knots out of the southwest. In the morning we were surprised to see that we did in fact have breeze out of the southwest. The race committee set up the course and promptly started racing at 10:00 AM. It proved to be a challenging day of racing with some races sailed in 7-8 knots with 15 degree shifts and others sailed in 3-4 knots with 40-degree shifts. With some of the best race management work I have seen, the race committee managed to get six races in with one starting less than 10 minutes before the 3:00 PM cutoff. The racing was extremely close with any one of six boats leading at one point and within striking distance of winning a race. In the end the competition for first came down to two boats, Mighty Mouse skippered by Kathleen Hale and Rumbullion skippered by BJ Jones. The final score had them separated by two points with fifteen-year-old LNYC junior member Kathleen Hale winning with a total of six points. Kathleen was accompanied by her sister Isabelle (trimming) and boat owner Tim Porter (tactics). This was Kathleen’s first time helming a U20 and she proved that she could hang with anyone. BJ with his wife Emily and crew Dave Rink were second with eight points. Places third through sixth traded places most of the day and any one of them could have been third overall going into the final race. With nineteen points John Ketner pulled out a third in the final race which gave him the last spot on the podium.
https://www.regattanetwork.com/clubmgmt/applet_regatta_results.php?regatta_id=19732
