2007 Screwpile Special
on Friday July 27, 2007 05:51PM
2007 SCREWPILE
LIGHTHOUSE CHALLENGE SPECIAL
The Southern Bay Racers are
home from Screwpile and what a Screwpile it was! Great wind
(mid-teens all three days) and stupendous parties in an A+ new venue.
LG Raley and his band of unrelenting, hospitality pumping, Mt. Gay Rum punching,
race running volunteers hit the homerun of the year on the Bay. Racers
went at it full bore - a total of 8 races over 3 days packed into the
post-breakfast to pre-party timeframe each day. When you go to Screwpile,
you go to race hard and to party hard, and those "needs" were met in
aces. As Murphy would say, "EIGHT GEAR BUSTIN' RACES AND 4 KNEE WALKING
PARTIES!" Here's some of what happened with our southern Bay
contingent:
WAIRERE and MIDNIGHT MISTRESS WIN FLEETS AT
SCREWPILE
First in PHRF
2 Fleet - Pete Hunter,Wairere,
winner of Southern Bay Race Week this spring, added another significant
trophy to his mantelpiece. The Thompson 30 won 5 of the 8 races to
walk away with the fleet title. Another North Carolinian,
Lloyd Griffin, brought Cash Flow, Hadley 40, in 3rd
overall (2-4-3-2-2-2-2-5), a mere two points behind the 2nd place boat.
Leroi Lissenden's Tripp 38, Voodoo 2,
finished 7th in the 12 boat fleet.
First in
PHRF NS Fleet - Jake and Pat Brodersen and the Midnight Mistress (
C&C 35) crew fought their way back from a downhill first
day (1-6-8) to win an extremely competitive and well sailed PHRF Non-Spinnaker
fleet. Two points out of first at the beginning of Day 3, Mistress
took a 4th and a 3rd to capture the top spot
(1-6-8-2-1-1-4-3). Black Widow, Leo
Wardrup's Irwin 38-1, finished 5th in the 13 boat NS fleet
(3-5-2-7-8-3-1-10 (pen). The pretty black boat found the breeze and sea
state to her liking.
In the PHRF 5 Fleet,
David Eberwine and the Sea Star crew had a great
regatta (1-2-2-3-2-2-1-2), finishing 2nd overall. When all was said
and done, Sea Star was the only boat in the fleet to post a win (they
had 2 wins, actually) over J. White's and Tom Ballard's
nameless Beneteau 34, out of Annapolis. Also, sailing in PHRF 5, were
Alex Alvis' Chilcoot, (finished 7th overall) and
Karl and Senta Petersen's Dehler 39, Valkyrie,
(finished 9th overall), in 10 boats scored.
White
Boat, Dave McConaughy's J/30, staged a gritty comeback on the
last day, coming from 4th place with 2 wins on Day 3, to finish 2nd overall
in the one design fleet. The Screwpile crew for White Boat
included Rusty Burshell and various crew members from his J/30,
Cool Change, and, trimming the main on Day 3,
Dave Gundlach, from Cyrano, (Bob Mosby's
Frers 36, not at Screwpile this year).
In PHRF 9, Jerry
and Andrea Lattell, finished 3rd overall in the largest Screwpile fleet
(17). Old School, the Lattell S2 7.9 had a string of
(4-4-1-3-3-2-5-3) for the 8 races over the 3 days of demanding and
fun racing. Schiehallion, Brad Miller's
Beneteau 30, finished 10th overall in this fleet. Both boats sailed out of
Fishing Bay YC.
Sledd
Shelhorse's Farr 36, Meridian 2, finished 3rd overall
in PHRF 1, battling a southern Bay expatriate, Sanford Richardson's
Kahuna, now sailing out of Annapolis YC, who took a 2nd behind
Narrow Escape, a J/125.
Dennis
Hannick, also a fleet winner in Southern Bay Race Week, brought his
Tripp 26, Radio Flyer in 3rd overall in the PHRF 7
Fleet at Screwpile (3-5-5-1-4-2-1-3). Dennis was 5 points out of
the tie for first in his fleet between John and Linda Edwards' J/29 Rhumb
Punch, and Fleet and Overall Screwpile Winner, App-parent
Tripp, Harrison and Yeigh, out of Annapolis YC.
Three J/105's
from the southern Bay encountered tough competition in a 10 boat one-design
fleet at Screwpile. Brad Davis' Blade Runner,
finished 6th overall, Inevitable, Moyer/Karn, finished
8th and David Clark's Corryvreckan, was
10th.
Double Eagle,
Sam Mitchner's J/109, finished 6th in the PHRF 4 fleet, and in
PHRF 6, Greg Cutter, Gremlyn, Elliott 770, and
Rob Whittet, Wavelength, C&C 37, took 8th and 9th
respectively.
Beyond the
racing there were other happenings:
Eddie
Hornick, skipper of the J/105 Fleet winner, Veloce, said
collegiate sailor (Virginia Tech), Andy Smith, handled
the pit on Veloce, and that he did a great job. Andy grew up
around Fishing Bay.
Patrick
Ryan, who sailed on White Boat (J/30), celebrated his 23rd
birthday and was serenaded at the Screwpile headquarters/party venue (Holiday
Inn Solomons pool and patio deck) by a happy gang of off-key
racer/singers. Keep your day jobs, folks!
The southern Bay relinquished
the Battle of the Chesapeake Trophy this year. Annapolis
Yacht Club won the yacht clubs competition, winning over host Southern Maryland
(2nd) and the defender of the trophy Hampton YC (3rd). All the more reason
for southern Bay clubs to mount a takeback-comeback for 2008!
Question:
How many racers can you fit in the Screwpile party venue swimming pool?
Answer: All who topple in from the sundeck lounges and
then some.
At Screwpile 2007, there were
no throw-outs. Every race counted and the racers raced all 8 like
they did!
Dave and Carol
Gundlach were at Screwpile as a stop on their own personal "Dance
Around the Bay" summer tour. Dave was shanghaied for racing as soon as his
presence was discovered.
Think about it - there was a tiki
bar at every point of the compass at the post-race party venue.
In the PHRF C fleet, on the first day of
racing, one of each of the 3 Catalina 27s picked up the daily
trophy for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place - a clean sweep.
Screwpile officials
announced that the Holiday Inn Solomons, has offered to serve as
headquarters and party venue again for the 2008 Screwpile Lighthouse
Challenge. So, think early ressies because Screwpile '08
is going to be a must on everyone's racing schedule.
Evidently the "weather gods" are sailboat
racers. The day after Screwpile, the wind lay down and
the water went flat. It's all in the timing...
Racers truly did come to Screwpile from
all over the Chesapeake and some from beyond, e.g. North Carolina.
Even the race management at
Screwpile reflected a Bay-wide flavor. Clarke
McKinney oversaw all on-the-water action and the South Circle.
Clarke makes his home and business (Quantum Sails Loft) in the
Solomons area and operates out of host club Southern Maryland Sailing
Association. Taran Teague was Principle Race Officer for the North Circle,
is a long-timer at Screwpile, and hails from the Annapolis Yacht
Club. John McCarthy was PRO for the West Circle and led a team comprised
of mainly southern Bay race officials supplemented by Solomons area
volunteers.
MURPHY'S LAW: Dear Readers, Murphy,
your racing beagle, was unavailable for comment - last seen floating belly
up in the pool with a rum drink in each paw. /S/
Murphy the Racing Beagle, the sailing spirit in us all.