Sonar Fleet 1 News: October 2011

ATLANTIC COAST CHAMPIONSHIPS:

Noroton hosted the Sonar ACC's on October 1-2. We had 23 boats participating on a variety of conditions.

Saturday saw gusty winds out of the north. The breeze varied between 8 and 18 knots making for quite a challenge. PRO Chris Zaleski and his RC did a tremendous job getting in four races. Unfortunately, at the end of the day, the first race was thrown out leaving three races and a lot of smiles at the dock after racing (except for Scott Harrison who won the first race :-)).

Sunday was really interesting. The first race started in about 10 kts but the wind slowly died out. 19 boats managed to finish before the time limit expired. Then we drifted around for over an hour waiting for the breeze to return. When it did, it did! The wind went back to the mid teens and allowed Chris to get two more races in before calling it a day.

With six races completed, allowing for one throw-out the winner of the 2011 ACCs was Peter Galloway with 14 points. Second went to Rick Dominique from fleet 22 who finished with 15 points. Third was Scott Harrison with 20.

Full results can be seen at the Noroton YC website. When there go to Regatta Info and Results.

Here are some photos of the regatta:

SEASON RECAP:

2011 was a high mileage, successful year for members of Sonar Fleet 1. In August, Steve Shepstone won the World Championships over in Rhu Scotland. Then in September, Peter Galloway won the North American's sailing on Lake Minnetonka in Minnesota.

Here is an excellent report from Steve on the Worlds

The 2011 North American Championships, hosted by Fleet 5 and the Wayzata Yacht Club took place on Lake Minnetonka, Minnesota, from September 23-25. 27 boats competed, including three from Canada. A total of five races were completed. After four races, Peter Galloway from Noroton YC and Skip Shumway from Fleet 9 and Shumway Marine, were battling for first, with Skip only two points behind Peter. Unfortunately for Skip, time ran out...he had to leave and miss the last race. It would not have mattered though because Peter Galloway took his fourth gun in five races and sealed the victory.

Full results are here: Wayzata Yacht Club

Another champion from Noroton was Rick Doerr who won the US Disabled Sailing Championship held at Larchmont YC on September 22-25.

Rick was quoted in US Sailing...“It was a challenge all weekend,” said Doerr. “The breeze was up and down, and there was a ton of current. I think we did a good job keeping the competition in our sights. We wanted to make a statement that to go through the Trials you have to go through us.”

If only Rick had a little confidence to go with his great skills!

FLEET 1 SEASON SUMMARY:

In 2011 we saw a variety of conditions...what else is new...during the season. In the end, we held a total of 36 races over 16 days.

In our usual competitive fashion, a total of 10 different boats took the gun at some point during the season. Cathy Hoyt join the fleet and came out with guns blazing finishing her inaugural season in 7th place overall. Team Vespa also had a breakout year, placing third in the Rear Commodore's race and tied for third with Norton/Schultz for the Commodore's Cup.

Here are the top results:

Season 1 went to Galloway, Linville, Steinborn: