2000 United States Sunfish
Masters Championship
October 7 & 8, 2000
Bay-Waveland Yacht Club
Bay Saint Louis, MS
Atypical of conditions on Bay St. Louis, the 2000 U.S. Masters were greeted by the first cold front of the year. Instead of blowing through in one day, the front was side-swiping the Gulf Coast and the winds didn't relent until Monday evening.
Friday's practice race was cancelled due to rain from the leading edge of the front, but that didn't dampen the spirits of the competitors who watched from the club. As the rain ceased, plans for the evening came together and sailors (under the brave leadership of the Regatta and Race Committees) ventured to the International Food Fest and the local watering holes. The Crusing the Coast week-long event brought some incredible vintage cars to the area for us to see.
Saturday opened with steady 15-17 kts out of the north and temperatures lingered between 55 and 60 - even Ash Beatty sailed of the beach with a Jens in. Occasionally, the winds dipped below 12 kts, but never for long. Local, Marc Eagan, took the pin end in race one with Donnie Brennan right off of his hip. They had the top two spots around the entire course and finished 1, 2. The interesting thing was that they were just about the heaviest and lightest competitors on the course.
Marc led race 2 again for a leg and a half, but reaching and downwind on a Sunfish, as we all know, can be tricky, and the regulars eventually reeled him in. Ash was the first to get by him and held on to win race 2. Ash led wire to wire in race 3, but while the wind was steadily increasing each race, Tom Whitehurst continued to improve as the conditions became more difficult, winning the last race in 22 kts to overcome the consistent sailing of Rod Koch and Dick Tillman. Incidently, Rod was leading at the bottom mark of the Gold Cup last race, when an autotack shift knocked three of the top six out of thier boats!
Conditions deteriorated through the night and Sunday's races were cancelled.
Some of the local Sunfish regulars who helped out; Clinton Edwards, Ann Edwards, Todd Edwards, Anne Buccella, Bishop Stieffel, Hank Saurage, Melissa Chapoton, Gilly Chamberlain, Andrew Eagan and David Blouin.
Pos Name R1 R2 R3 R4 Pts Div |
1 Ash Beatty 3 1 1 4 9 Top 40's 2 Tom Whitehurst 6 3 2 1 12 2nd 40's 3 Rod Koch 4 2 4 2 12 4 Dick Tillman 5 5 3 3 16 Top 60's 5 Marc Eagan 1 4 7 5 17 6 Donnie Brennan 2 6 8 12 28 7 Chris Friend 7 13 6 9 35 8 Peter Wuerscher 9 9 9 8 35 Top 50's 9 Jon Wedemeyer 11 8 10 10 39 10 Tony Elliot 10 10 13 11 44 11 John Dane 8 32 5 6 51 2nd 50's 12 Rick Pantel 15 14 15 7 51 13 Connie Miller 25 7 11 14 57 Top Woman 14 John Spray 17 23 12 13 65 15 Bud Narveson 18 16 18 17 69 Top 70's 16 Vic Manning 13 11 16 32 72 17 Tom Katterheinrich 20 17 20 15 72 18 Jerry Blouin 32 12 14 16 74 19 Joe Sullivan 12 15 19 32 78 2nd 60's 20 Lee Parks 19 20 17 32 88 21 Gail Turluck 23 18 21 32 94 22 Paul Strauley 14 19 32 32 97 23 Malcolm Jones 16 22 32 32 102 24 Leslie Dane 32 21 32 32 117 25 Warren Fitzpatrick 21 32 32 32 117 26 Mindy Strauley 22 32 32 32 118 27 Dick Heinl 24 32 32 32 120 2nd 70's 28 Linda Tillman 26 32 32 32 122 29 Mike Carron 27 32 32 32 123 Sportsmanship 30 Pat Manning 28 32 32 32 124 31 Rose Rowland 32 32 32 32 128 |
Standing: Bud Narveson, Peter Wuersher, Dick Tillman, Tom Whitehurst,
Marc Eagan
Kneeling: Ash Beatty, Mike Carron, Connie Miller, Rod Koch