ROCKVILLE REGATTA SUNFISH RESULTS

The largest class in the 110 year old Rockville annual regatta August 7-8 was the 16 boat fleet of Sunfish Masters.  Organized by Tom Macken and sporting special t-shirts for the occasion, many of the Masters were using borrowed boats and sailing a fish for the first time.  A fun time was had by all! There were also 4 Sunfish Seniors.  The two races Saturday and one Sunday were sailed on an incoming tide.  The first with winds of about 5 knots, the second about 8 to 10 knots and the third (on Sunday) with winds of 15 to 20.

In 1890, some of the South Carolina Lowcountry's first families of sailing competed off the tip of Wadmalaw Island. This was the beginning of the Rockville Regatta. Today, the regatta, hosted by the Sea Island Yacht Club, is the social event of the Charleston area sailing community. The two days of races is a time for intense competition but there's also the party.  Spectators line the banks of the course and choke the river in boats and rafts.

"It's got so much heritage, it has a regal flavor." said Dan Dickison, who knows something about sailing. "On one side of the river you have a stately charming village and on the other side, you have 400 boats who are there to party. They've even had a shrimp trawler with a band on it." Dickison was an associate editor of Sailing World Magazine in Newport, RI before moving
to the Lowcountry. Rockville, which concludes the Lowcountry regatta season, is different because of the party atmosphere and its prestige of being the oldest Lowcountry regatta. It also is different because the other local regattas are held in the Charleston Harbor. At Rockville, the course is more constrictive as sailors navigate against riptides, currents and spectators
on the Bohickett Creek and the North Edisto River.

Classes at Rockville included E-Scow, Y-Flyer, MC Scow, Sunfish (Masters and Seniors) and Sea Island One Design (SIOD).

MASTERS: 1. Charles Frasch. 2. Jimmy Townsend. 3. John F. Townsend. 4. Meta Frasch.

SENIORS: 1. John G. Townsend. 2. Harry Grimball.