Mount Dora Yacht Club Annual Regatta Reaching Perfection
Each year we look forward to attending this annual regatta which is always eventful.  Typically we find the racing secondary to enjoying downtown Mt. Dora on Saturday night.  But, something was very different this year.  We heard ahead of time that our typical watering hole had closed down and something else was in its place.  Now what!  I hope the Sunfish class didn't cause this by disobeying the noise ordinance the previous year.
In any case, we set out to Mt Dora knowing we'd have to do some downtown investigation and that perhaps this year the sailing itself would have to suffice.  AND did it!
The weather was very cooperative with 80 degree sunshine with winds ranging from 5-12 all weekend.  I won't even endeavor to guess the wind direction as my wind dial pointed (until it actually spun off its cradle) in each direction at some point during our time on the water.  This is lake sailing at its finest.
The sunfish sailed out to the farthest course giving the race committee ample room to set a course.  And, quite unexpectedly they used all the room they had. Each race was a 3-lap (yes 3 laps!) windward-leewards. By Saturday night, everyone was too exhausted to even set out for investigating a new downtown watering hole.  To our amazement the races were quite long. Even James Liebl (the youngest sailor out there) comments "wow, those courses were long."  In preparation for next year we will have to do some conditioning to withstand what the MDYC race committee has planned for us.
It was obvious that the Mt. Dora YC members have invested some time in studying race management as their race committee did an excellent job setting the courses throughout the weekend.  I encourage all to check out this regatta next year (first weekend in April).  
Mount Dora Yacht Club Annual Regatta Sunfish Results
March 31-April 1, 2007
Pl Sail# Skipper From 1 2 3 4 5 T
1 76188 James Liebl Titusville 1 1 3 1 2 8
2 78829 Dan Norton Devils Lake YC 2 8 1 2 1 14
3 76356 Ron McHenry Pymatuning Sail Club  3 10 2 6 3 24
4 3044 Paul Strauley Casselberry 4 2 4 11 6 27
5 80095 Fred Hutchinson Edison Sailing Center 7 3 9 5 4 28
6 84800 Mindy Strauley Casselberry 5 7 5 4 7 28
7 61654 Tony Elliiott Gulfstream Sail Club 9 11 6 3 5 34
8 49333 Chris Gates Melbourne YC 11 5 11 10 9 46
9 88 Curt Harding Boothbay Hbr. YC 15 9 8 7 8 47
10 3336 Steve Winkler N. Fla. Cruising Club 10 12 10 9 12 53
11 79298 Cindy Taylor Titusville 16 4 12 13 10 55
12 59935 Bill Haberland Melbourne YC 6 16 7 12 dns 58
13 79626 Shannon Fox Melbourne YC 13 13 14 8 11 59
14 38066 Don Acker Palm Coast 12 6 15 14 dnf 64
15 27777 Paul Odegaard Bolton Lake Sail Club 8 15 13 dns dns 70
16 888 Bob Harding Naples 14 14 dns dns dns 79