73^rd ANNUAL ONE-DESIGN REGATTA at Fishing Bay Yacht Club experienced thunderstorms and heavy rain on Saturday afternoon, but yesterday brought a gentle 5-8 from the North.  The 112 boat regatta raced on four courses including a special Optimist course for 17 youngsters.  The San Juan 21 fleet of 14 boats was sailing for the class (East Coast) National Championship. Branin Thorn won the spinnaker group title and Mike Evans the working sails group for 2012.  John Aras sailing in the Flying Scot Fleet won the John R. Hawksworth Trophy which recognizes the best sailor in the most competitive fleet. The winners for the classes racing are:  Front Runners (9 boats) – Matthew Braum ;  Typhoons (6 boats) – Frank Birdsall ;  Flying Scots (33 boats) – John Aras;  Albacore (6 boats) – Barney Harris;  Lasers (10 boats) – Dan Herlihy;  Lasers Radial (3 boats) – Luke Hayes;  Thistles (4 boats) – Robert Perera;  Windmills (10 boats) – John Danneberger.   Optimists (17 boats) – Guthrie Braun.     Event Chairmen: David Hinckle and George Burke;   Event Principal Race Officer and Front Runners, SJ21, and Typhoons – Rick Klein;    Race Officer  Flying Scots – David Lee;   Race Officer Albacores, Lasers, Lasers Radial; Windmills and Thistles -  Allan Heyward;   Racer Officer Optimist – A.L. Braun.   For complete results, please go to www.fbyc.net  

At the New England  Sonar Championships, Falmouth, MA, two weekends ago, there was a need for a mark boat.  Noel Clinard, traveling as FBYC team coordinator, stepped up.  In moderate to heavy air and the  massive 3-4 knot Woods Hole current, Noel volunteered to operate the mark boat (16 ft Whaler) alone and to set a mark that required 100 feet of line.  After the regatta Noel towed the boat on to Rochester, NY, for the Sonar NAs August 22-26.  “Have Whaler, will travel!”

REMEMBER!  STINGRAY POINT REGATTA, Aug 31, Sep 1, & 2.  Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of Labor Day Weekend, with Monday left open for deliveries, family activities, etc.  SPR offers a “separate”, i.e., it is not counted in the actual Regatta scoring, distance race on Friday afternoon.  Saturday and Sunday starts are offered for all PHRF class boats, one-design classes with sufficient entries, and a special Cruising fleet.  After racing there is serious shore side activity such as: Friday’s Low Country Boil dinner and musical entertainment; Saturday offers post-race dinner and entertainment; and, Sunday includes a Labor Day cookout.  There are awards for individual racers as well as the coveted Potts Trophy, which is offered to the winners of the interclub competition.  The Brent Halsey, Jr Memorial Trophy is presented to the best boat of the regatta.  For information and entry go to www.fbyc.net or contact event chairman David Hinckle at 804-370-7650   Fishing Bay Yacht Club sponsors Stingray Point Regatta.

CAPE CHARLES CUP, Aug 18-19.  TODAY, MONDAY, AUGUST 13^th, is the deadline for entries for this grand southern Chesapeake Bay event.  Entry form is available at www.CCCup.net  or contact event chairman Hank Giffin at 757-375-1491.  However you are going to enter, get on it. You have until 1500 TODAY.  The skippers meeting and social is at 1800 THIS Friday at Bay Point Marina, Norfolk (Little Creek).  THIS Saturday is the start of the race to Cape Charles City and THIS Saturday evening is the party of all parties at Bay Creek Marina and Resort, Cape Charles.  THIS Sunday is the race from Cape Charles to the finish line off Buckroe, Hampton.  Details are available at www.CCCup.net.   The Cape Charles Cup is for racers who cruise and cruisers who race!  Broad Bay Sailing Association sponsors the CCCup.

HAMPTON ONE-DESIGN NATIONALS – MARK WHEELER AND DAVE CHAPMAN TEAM UP TO WIN THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP.  Norfolk Yacht and Country Club hosted the regatta in lots of to no wind over the three days (Friday through Sunday).    Preliminary reports say there were “. . . 3 full days of racing -  2 races Friday (biggest breeze), 3 races Saturday (big breeze), 1 race Sunday (no breeze).”  The championship was decided in the last race.  RESULTS:  15 boats racing – 1. 2012 HOD National Champions: Mark Wheeler and Dave Chapman (HOD #718), HYC;  2. Latane Montague and Aidan Toms (HOD #727), FBYC;  3. Randy Stokes and Ann Stokes (HOD #721), NY&CC.  Event Chairman – KC Fullmer;  Principal Race Officer – Gary Bodie.

MERIDIAN X,  GREMLIN,  ROCKET J,  and  BLACK WIDOW  WIN FLEETS IN CCV FOUNDERS RACE.  Thirty-one (31) boats and crews raced off of West Ocean View yesterday in the annual CCV Founders Race.  The race was shortened when the air began to go light.  Still, the PHRF A fleet and PHRF B fleet each got in 7 miles and the PHRF C and PHRF Non-Spin 5 miles of windward leeward racing.  Noteworthy on the course  was Rumble’s recovery from an OCS (over early) to finish 3^rd in the largest and very competitive PHRF B fleet.  RESULTS:  PHRF A (8 boats) – 1.Sledd Shelhorse, Meridian X, Farr 400;  2.Bob Mosby, Cyrano, Frers 36;  3.Leroi Lissenden, Voodoo 2, Tripp 38.  PHRF B (11 boats) - 1.Greg and Carie Cutter, Gremlin, Elliott 770;  2.David Taylor, Wham Bam,  Andrews 27;  3.Ben Weeks and Michele Cochran, Rumble, J29.  PHRF C (6 boats) – 1.Neil Ford and Lis Biondi, Rocket J, J24;  2.Alan Bomar, roundabout, J24;  3.Bumps Eberwine, Spray, Olson 25.  PHRF Non-Spin (6 boats) – 1.Leo Wardrup, Black Widow, Irwin 38;  2.Louie Lewis, Incentive III, O’Day 34;  3.Larry Bryant, Whisper, Hunter 40.  Principal Race Officer – Bob Thomas; Mark Boat – Marshall Findley.

USA 2012 OLYMPIC SAILING MEDALS -  0, Zero, Zilch, Nada, None L   Not so good.

Speaking of US Coast Guard rescues:  A southern Bay racer, John Beery, sends the following account of his great grandfather’s harrowing experience.  John Wesley Duddleson was skipper of the LC Waldo when this happened on Lake Superior.    One of the most dramatic rescues ever to take place in Lake Superior history occurred in the waters near Gull Rock. Shortly after midnight on Nov. 8, 1913, hurricane force winds sent a series of large waves over the aft deck of the 450-foot freighter L.C. Waldo, tearing away her pilothouse, damaging her steering gear, and eventually driving her up on Gull Rock’s shoals. Just months before, the federal government automated Gull Rock Lighthouse, so it was unmanned at the time of the Waldo’s beaching. For more than three days 24 people huddled in the ice-entombed forward half of the wreck with little food or heat, as winds howled and waves pounded outside. Rescue teams from two separate life saving stations in Eagle Harbor and Portage, Michigan braved deadly seas to converge on the wreck within hours of each other. The rescuers successfully transported all 22 men, two women, and the ship’s dog to safety. For their valiant effort, the rescuers were awarded the Gold Lifesaving Medal, which remains the U.S. Coast Guard’s highest honor. The 1913 storm that claimed the Waldo is one of the most infamous ever to visit the Great Lakes region. From Minnesota to New York, a total of 10 ships disappeared entirely in that storm (two in Lake Superior) with all hands lost on each vessel. The four-day maelstrom, which was marked by highly unusual hurricane-force winds, also wrecked 26 other ships throughout the Great Lakes. &

Be an Early TURKEY Bird - The Turkey Shoot Regatta is coming up on October 5, 6 & 7.  NOW is the time to start thinking about registering.  Thirty-some boats have registered already. To join the flock, contact Karen at (804) 462-7018 or email her at karen@yankeepointmarina.com or register directly online at www.turkeyshootregatta.com .  Gobble! Gobble!

MURPHY'S LAW:  Yrs Truly, the Racing Beagle,  notes with special affection that the souls rescued from the wreck of the freighter Waldo on Lake Superior (see item above) included the ship’s dog.   ‘Twas a beagle, cousin Rocky McMurphy.  So, in honor of the rescuers here’s the highest pitched beagle “Aaahhhooooooo!”  /S/  Murphy the Racing Beagle, the sailing spirit in us all.