Valentine's Day Regatta

2021 Valentine’s Day Regatta


The 2021 Palm Beach Model Yacht Squadron Valentine’s Day Regatta was sailed on February 13 and 14, imagine that!  It was the first EC-12 of the 2020/2021 regatta series.  Due to COVID-19 pandemic, The Sun Coast Holiday Regatta and the Village Gator Regatta were canceled.   In fact, most all AMYA regattas were canceled – some still are.  The club was able to acquire a permit from the City of Palm Beach Gardens to hold the regatta because the Club pledged to follow CDC guidelines which included facemasks, temperature checks, individually wrapped food and social distancing. 
 

The Notice of Race for this regatta went out late, but the regatta was planned to have a low turnout and it did.  We had 11 entries.   Noteworthy sailors who participated were Peter Feldman, a 2 time and current defending National Champion in EC-12, Soling National Champion and reigning DF95 National Champion.  Peter is an amazing Sailor.  We also had Reichardt Kahle who also is a Multi EC-12 National Champion and Soling National Champion.  
The weekend forecast was for sunny skies South Southwest winds ranging from 12-18 knots.  Saturday’s forecast was close to what was predicted.  An army of PBGMYS volunteers were at the club setting up by 7:30. The courses were set based on the predicted winds.  Conditions opened with winds South to Southwest around 10 -12 but with very intense puffs and it was forecasted to increase and trend slightly back to the South Southwest as the day went on – and it did.  The tree was in play! The Race committee led by Admiral Dick Reinke set a Windward Leeward Course of 2 ½ laps and later extended the course to 3 laps.  The entire pond was in play and the 3 long and shifty beats made for lots of catch up and passing opportunities.
With 11 boats, one fleet was run.  Sailors sailed 3 races and took a 15 minute break.  All started with A- rigs, but as the day progressed B rigs were put on for most of the racers.  Because of the intense puffs, there were plenty of wipe outs on the downwind run.  17 great races were sailed on Saturday.  Sailors were on their own for dinner Saturday night.  The competition was very close between Peter and Reichardt. 
 
The top 5 after 17 races were:

Kahle        50
Feldman    51
Luscomb    69
Van Cleef    72
Walters    78

Sunday’s forecast was similar to Saturday’s.  Sailors stayed with the A rig for the morning.  Will Van Cleef did not sail on Sunday. The increase for a short time, but later faded as the morning rolled along.  The game was really on now between Reichadt and Peter.  Reichardt strung together a string of top two finishes in the final 8 races to edge Peter out and win. 

 After throw outs, the final results were:

R. Kahle    52
P. Feldman    54
J. Luscomb    62
J. Walter    96
D. Zahn    107
R. Greer    135
W. VanCleef    138
G. Balaschak    174
C. Obara    186
W. Brewer    191

The regatta was a hit and was run smoothly. Sailors sailed very cleanly and there were a lot of smiles.  It was so nice to see some of our EC-12 friends and volunteers after such a long time in lock down.  Thanks to all of the PBMYS volunteers who helped, they all know what they are doing and make it look easy!  These regattas take a lot to pull off and as usual PBMYS members came through.  


Hope to see everyone soon!

Submitted by:

Jon Luscomb