The Woodlawn Racing Team was back in action March 16th - 18th, 2007 at the  Victoria White Rock Cup X Regatta on beautiful White Rock Lake in Dallas, TX!  Updates on the adventures of our sailing hero's are posted below.  – Good Sailing, Eric Gregory.

For Best Results - Read This Page Section by Section From Bottom To Top

 

Final Report - By Brig North

On March 16, 17 and 18, Dallas' Corinthian Sailing Club played host to the tenth annual White Rock Cup benefiting Spina Bifida of North Texas.  A total of 25 sailors arrived from Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio, TX; Detroit, MI; Wichita, KS; Toledo, OH; Mesa, AZ; and Toronto, Ontario to compete in the longest running annual regatta in Victoria history.

We were fortunate to have six of the top ten ranked Victoria skippers in attendance at our regatta, including no. 1 Peter Siek, no. 2 Craig Mackey, no. 4 Ray Dagenais, no. 6 Charlie Mann, no. 7 Charles Sudduth, and no. 10 Mark Cooper.  Many of the usual suspects also attended, including several Pirates and other supporters of the class.  We had several new folks making their first start in Victoria racing.  As will be discussed later in this report, one might have chosen a different weekend to jump into a boat for the first time!!

Friday afternoon a course was set and about 15 skippers arrived for practice races which took place in the 10-12 mph wind.  Pleasant conditions allowed for good practice and the renewal of friendships.  Several sailors got together for dinner after practice, and there are unsubstantiated rumors that one attending sailor had a bit too much grog and bunked on the deck of a pirate ship Friday night!

The next morning racing was scheduled to begin early, but the sailors were met with little to no wind.  As last minute details were straightened out, a bit of wind appeared on the water.  Our RD for the event, David Eldridge of Australia by way of Dallas and an IOM regular, provided the instructions and announced that Head Pirate Ray Seta would be called over early for the first race regardless of where he was on the course!!  We were divided into two fleets as modified HMS with six promoted/relegated was being used to conduct the regatta.  At this point the wind filled in, David called out the skippers for the seeding race and started the clock. 

The wind for the seeding races wasn't too bad -- about 12 from the southeast with building chop.  As the class' no. 1 ranked skipper, Peter Siek noted about the venue he affectionately named "the Mudhole", when the wind is out of the south, there is a long fetch that allows the chop to build.  By the time the second race rolled around, the wind had piped up to 15-20 with more in the puffs, which combined with the building chop, created survival conditions for everyone except the hands-down master of heavy air, Craig Mackey, who reveled in the chop and high wind.  Craig laid down the gauntlet early that there would be no competition for first place -- that was his private domain.  The rest of the sailors did their best to control their boats downwind, praying they could survive the run to go back upwind as one could regain some semblance of control.

The rescue boat got one heck of a work out!  As racing progressed, attrition took its toll.  After the fifth race in the brutal conditions, five boats had retired, so RD Eldridge called for the fleet to start as one.  Twenty boats on the line was quite a sight, particularly in light of the wind and waves.  While the wind subsided a bit over time, attrition continued.  The Assistant RD, Leah Gregory, wife of Victoria regular and Woodlawn Pirate Eric Gregory, had the line of the day when she announced "Anyone who has a working boat, you're in the next race!!"  It was that kind of day as boats succumbed to electrical and mechanical problems, continuing to decimate the fleet.  By the end of day one, only 15 of the 25 boats that started the day were sailing.  Having a water resistant hull, good protection for electronics and a sound rig were all key to surviving the day.

Saturday's racing concluded with a total of 20 races having been run, with Craig Mackey completely dominating the event, followed by Ray Dagenais, Brig North and Peter Siek.  The sailors then went to Baker's Ribs, a greasy spoon bar-b-que joint, to rest their weary bones and share war stories.  With Saturday also being St. Patrick's Day, the stragglers from the afternoon Greenville Avenue Parade were also in the place, making it a bit more festive.

Sunday dawned with a scary forecast of a lot of wind.  Fortunately, the wind came up only after we had finished the regatta.  As it was, the conditions were great for Victorias with southerly winds of about 7 to 12 and small rolling chop.  Ten additional races were completed, to bring the event to a total of 30 races!  This was in no doubt due to the efforts of David and Leah, who kept things moving.

Craig loosened his vise grip on winning every race and allowed a few others to experience a first place finish, but he was pretty stingy in doling those out as he won 25 of 30 races.  He was far and away the class of the field with complete and total command of his boat, dominating boat speed, an ability to be on the right side of just about every shift, and an ability to get great starts.  What more could your winner possess?

Prior to the presentation of the awards, a raffle was held and Joanne Cafiero, Grand Dame of the regatta, thanked the sailors for their contributions to Spina Bifida.  To a hearty round of applause she announced that $1,055 had been raised!

Craig Mackey's crushing victory was his fourth on the trot, and his fifth in his six attempts.  Besides his boat, he also built the boats, including the rigs and sails, of the second, third and sixth place finishers.  Wow.  Methinks Mr. Mackey has this heavy air stuff down!

Thanks to Corinthian Sailing Club for providing a fantastic facility to race model boats.  Also, thanks to David Eldridge as RD, Leah Gregory as Assistant RD, Chuck LeMahieu, who when he wasn't racing, helped a lot, Ralph Kelley for helping get the course set, and the sailors for their generous contributions to Spina Bifida.  Thanks also to the following folks for donating items for the very successful raffle: Aris Tsamis of Mariner Sails, Inc., for a Victoria kit and a Hi Tech sail winch, and Charlie Mann of Toronto, Ontario for a very-much-in-demand bottle of rum.  It should also be noted that Charles Sudduth, the heart and soul of the Victoria fleet in Dallas and organizer for the WRC, did a marvelous job of event planning.  Thanks Charles!

Scores of the top ten of 25 sailors after 30 races and 4 discards:

1)      Craig Mackey                           27

2)      Ray Dagenais                           76

3)      Brig North                                 81.5

4)      Peter Siek                                  83

5)      Chris Macaluso                       120

6)      Bruce Zemke                            147

7)      Ray Seta                                     185

8)      Armando Rivera                     218                 

9)      Chuck Porth                             242

10)    Mark Cooper                            254.3

Official Score Sheet -

Sunday, March 18th -

Craig Mackey has won the White Rock Victoria Regatta X for the 4th time in a row .... WOW!!!!

Here are the top 10 finishing places:

Craig Mackey......Mesa, AZ.............1st
Ray Dagenais.......Detroit, MI...........2nd
Brig North............Dallas, TX............3rd
Peter Siek............Toledo, OH...........4th
Chris Macaluso....Houston, TX..........5th
Bruce Zemke........Detroit, MI............6th
Ray Seta..............San Antonio, TX....7th
Armando Rivera...San Antonio, TX....8th
Chuck Porth.........Houston, TX..........9th
Mark Cooper.......Houston, TX..........10th

A full report will be posted soon....

Sunday's Photo Gallery
(Click Each Thumbnail for a larger photo)

 

Saturday, March 17th, 8:30pm - 

Saturday started off with hardly any breeze but quickly turned into pure Survival Sailing in 15 to 20mph winds!   The clubs rescue boat was running non-stop as several DNF's would occur with each race.  The 25 starting sailors dwindled down to just 15 by the end of the day.   By race 5 we no longer had enough boats to race two heats so we combined into just one to complete 20 races by 5pm.    At every turn you could hear an IOM sailor who had attended the previous weekends Blowout IOM regatta bemoaning that these winds did not blow for them.  Woodlawn favorite Lea Gregory stepped up to the plate and recorded the following scores for us.  This is totally unofficial and does not record DNF's and DNS's.  

Eric Gregory