Dogwood Regatta
March 13-14,2004
Fairhope Yacht Club

A race committee's nightmare.  The forecast called for 10-12 offshore and for the first start, it appeared that it would be true.  That lasted for half of the starting sequence when a 60° righty came in.  The RC tried twice more before the wind settled enough to let the first race go.  When Bishop was OCS, he returned to the line and bailed right, away from the fleet, hoping for a break to get back in the race.  The 30° lefty created by what had to be a geothermal effect was certainly not what he had in mind.  From that point on, favored or not, the pin end was the place to be and 90% of the upwind legs turned into drag races to the left.

Three races into the first Gulf Coast Sunfish Racing Circuit Regatta, juniors, Alex Boudreaux, Andrew Eagan and Paul Keith were all top five.   In fact, Alex never scored higher than sixth through the entire seven races nor did he ever fall out of the top three overall and in those trying conditions, that is impressive to say the least.

Donny Brennan, the 2003 Circuit Champion, was fast, winning four of the seven races, but missed a few of the big shifts, costing him several boats.  In the sixth race, there were at least two shifts of 30° or better and Donny ended up on the wrong side of the last one.  Losing six boats on that shift cost him the regatta and a great start at repeating as Circuit Champ.  A second place in a best 4 of 7 regattas would certainly be a keeper with the level of talent here in the GYA.

Tom Whitehurst, as usual, never allowed himself to get into too much trouble.  Staying close to the front, he kept piling up low scores and though he only managed to win one race, his ability to stay in the lead group consistently was enough to pull off the win.

The Circuit regattas usually draw 18 to 25 boats, but one week after the Sunfish National Midwinters may have been asking a bit much, in fact, only seven of the fourteen sailors in this event attended both.  The next Circuit event will be the Spring Regatta at Buccaneer Yacht Club in Mobile, AL on the weekend of May 15 16.

Results:

Pos Sail Name Club R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 Net Drop Total
1 8689 Tom Whitehurst PBYC 2 3 2 3 3 1 4 18 4 14
2 8 Donny Brennan BucYC 8 1 4 1 1 9 1 25 9 16
3 2 Alex Boudreaux BWYC 4 2 3 6 4 6 3 28 6 22
4 6 Bishop Stieffel BWYC 13 7 1 4 5 2 8 41 13 27
5 78269 Andrew Eagan BWYC 1 4 10 5 6 13 2 41 13 28
6 86522 Ellis Ollinger FYC 7 8 5 2 2 8 11 44 11 32
7 790 Paul Keith BWYC 3 6 11 10 9 7 15 61 15 46
8 8471 Lauren Whitehurst PYC 12 9 6 11 11 4 5 58 12 46
9 79167 David McCrary ShreveYC 5 11 9 8 10 5 10 59 11 47
10 79021 Lauren Lambuth FYC 9 5 12 9 7 11 6 59 12 47
11 78634 Granston Boxx BWYC 11 10 8 7 8 10 12 67 12 54
12 79305 Chris Rogers PCYC 6 13 7 12 13 12 9 73 13 59
13 77376 Carl Wainwright FYC 15 15 15 15 15 3 7 82 15 70
14 78283 Courtney Whitehurst PYC 10 12 13 13 12 15 15 90 15 75