The
Oriental Dinghy Club and the Oriental Laser Fleet hosted the
tenth annual NC Masters Championship June 24th & 25th.
Nineteen Lasers were sailed by competitors from a four state
region (NC, VA, GA and MD). The
Laser is an International and Olympic sailing class. It is
a 14’, one person boat.
Rounding the mark (Marilyn Sechrist
photo)
 |
Racing
on the Neuse River off Oriental, Saturday’s
conditions were challenging for the small boats. The winds
were 10-15 knots, gusting to 20, and a
2-3 ft chop on the water. Martin Willard from Wrightsville
Beach won the first race, serving notice that he did not intend
to be denied the championship. In fact,
Martin’s worst race was a 2nd place on Sat.! The
race committee gave the sailors 5 good races, using all three
of the available courses. Mary Ellen’s famous pig
pickin' Sat. evening made all the pain seem worthwhile.
Sunday
arrived with stronger but steadier winds, still from the
SE, with slightly larger waves. After a quick 3 leg
race, the Race Committee opted for a 6 leg final race. This
was a true test of physical conditioning, and only 11 sailors
attempted to start this race. Martin continued his
hot streak with 2 more wins, while 2nd in the Masters division
was still up for grabs between Henry Amthor from VA and Mike
Schmidt from MD. Amthor prevailed with a 4,2 compared
to Mike’s
2,3.
The age
groups for the regatta were:
35-44 Apprentice
45-54 Master
55-64 Grandmaster
65 plus Senior
All
of the groups receive penalty points in each race except
Seniors, thus evening out the overall results in order to
give the "old guys" a fighting chance. Awards were
given to first and second places in the four divisions, as
well as to Martin Willard the overall winner, as follows:
George
Sechrist (R) presents overall winner Martin Willard
(L) the Championship award. |
Apprentice
1st Robert Frechette
2nd Kent Leverich
Master
1st Martin Willard
2nd Henry Amthor
Grandmaster
1st Bob McCormack
2nd Alain Vincey
Senior
1st Warner
Guedry
2nd Ken
Hopkins
ODC thanks
its sponsors for the race: Triton Yacht Sales and Vanguard
Sailboats, M&M’s, Inland Waterway Provision Company,
and West Marine.
The race will be held again in Oriental in 2007.
Editor's
note: Thank you to George Sechrist and the Oriental
Dinghy Club - their work helps keep Oriental the Sailing Capital
Of North Carolina.
Related
Sites:
Learn more about The Oriental Dinghy Club at their web site - towndock.net/odc
The local dealer for Laser sailing boats is Triton Yacht Sales - online
at TritonYachts.com
The 2005 Laser Masters
The 2004 Laser Masters
~
return to top ~
