Late Nova Scotia Entry Gives Wayfarers Numbers for 2018 Mayor's Cup


Hot and sunny summer weather and light to medium winds from various directions were the order of the days June 2-3 as the Lake Townsend YC hosted its 41st Annual Mayor's Cup Regatta on Lake Townsend (above) near Greensboro, North Carolina. The late addition of Iain Tulloch and wife, Lesley, who had come all the way from Hubbard, Nova Scotia, via Crisfield, Maryland, and the Chesapeake Cruise, tilted Mayor's Cup status to the Wayfarers who thus outnumbered the Flying Scots 13-12. This meant that the Wayfarer Class would be the 2018 Mayor's Cup champions and the first-place Wayfarer got dibs on the trophy.

the Mayor's Cup (l), the Bryan Cup and their "keepers"

The Wayfarers were in fact the only fleet that scored five races. Our second Saturday race was initially scored a wash-out when an approaching thunderstorm forced the RC to abandon the race. This seemed especially unfortunate since nine of the W's had already finished, including a well-earned horizon job by Richard Johnson and Michele. And Trish McDermott with Annelies Groen were just inches from finishing when the three abandonment "guns" went. Well entrenched in 11th and 12th at that time were Mitch Krazowski with Steve Freyaldenhoven, and Annette Grefe with Gail Walters. It seemed a real pity that the RC couldn't give those boats a "Finished On Course" (though the alphabet code might sound a bit harsh: FOC). Always a fan of "where there's a will, there's way", Uncle Al spoke with our RC, Alan and Pat Backus, nicely with a view to getting the Wayfarers' race re-instated, FOC's and all. To make a long story short, Alan and Pat equally nicely sent me to the regatta chair, Robert Bouknight, who invited me to put the request in writing and get as many Wayfarers as possible to sign it. The response in favour of re-instatement was nearly unanimous, enough that at the awards, Robert commented on the Wayfarers' fine attitude and sportsmanship.



The Wayfarer winners were not determined until the last of three Sunday races in which top-seeded Uncle Al of Oakville, ON, sailing with his like-minded pal, Tony Krauss  of Cleveland, OH (above) took a convincing first and moved past local stars, Jim and Linda Heffernan (seeded 2nd), by a single point to win both the Wayfarer division and the Mayor's Cup. Rounding out the top three were Richard Johnson and Michele, sailing Black Skimmer out of Oriental, NC.


Jim and Linda lead the way in Sunday morning race action.

In the 12-boat Flying Scot fleet, winners Ray Merrill and Garreth Ferguson, also needed a final-race win to to snatch victory from Steven Jones and Wendel Grundlach by just one point. For club commodore, Robert Bouknight, and Nancy Torkewitz, it was a case of "too little, too late" as their 1-2 in the last pair of races could do no better than move them up the standings to 3rd overall.

The lovebirds warm up the Bryan Cup for Eric

The other big trophy up for grabs in this regatta was the Bryan Cup, which goes to the winner of the Open Class, scored on corrected time using the the Portsmouth Yardstick. The Bryan Cup was - Upon re-examination of the times - convincingly won by Eric Rasmussen, sailing his Isotope catamaran. The battle for the runner-up spot in the Open Fleet was hotly contested as no fewer than five teams ended up within two points of each other. In a tie-breaker, it was the ever-so-happy newlyweds (above), Alan Taylor and wife, Stephanie, in their Windmill taking series 2nd (3-1-4-9) ahead of David and Paul Mobley in their Tanzer 16 (4-6-1-6). Just one point back was another Tanzer, Pete Thorn with Calvin Megginson (5-2-8-3). Tied one point further back wre a Tanzer (Ken Whitt with Derek Hoar: 7-3-5-4) and a Highlander (Patrick Rykens with John Wilson: 1-10-6-2).

Other Wayfarers winning a 1/13th share of the Mayor's Cup

Series 4th in Wayfarers went to Lake Townsend's AnnMarie Covington and Bob Williams, the current Eastern Wayfarer champions. They were one of three teams that beat their seed by one position , which in this event was good enough to rate as Most Improved.

Also beating their seed by one place and placing 5th overall were LTYC's Phil and Cathy Leonard whose series was highlighted by an excellently sailed 2nd-place finish in the finale.



Iain and Lesley Tulloch in Up-Spirits

Tied at 33 points were Charlotte's Jim Cook in a borrowed boat with Sheri Foresman and our Downeasters, Iain and Lesley Tulloch from Hubbard, Nova Scotia in their Wayfarer clone Up-Spirits.  Jim and Sheri won the tie-breaker with a better "best finish".

Jim and Sheri



Two more Lake Townsend teams followed as Ken Butler (host of our fine Friday evening jam session above) with Jeannie Allamby took series 8th ahead of Mike Sigmund with DeDe Richardson who were sailing Jim Heffernan's composite Wayfarer, #2458.

Mitch and Steve in their composite beauty Virginia Skye

Another composite Wayfarer came in from Smith Mountain Lake. By now a regular and most welcome fixture at Lake Townsend regattas, the team of Mitch Krazowski and Steve Freyaldenhoven took 10th overall. This left them one place better than their 11th seed, and they, too, got their share of Most Improved bragging rights.

Trish and Annelies in race trim aboard St. Elmo's Fire

Uncle Al's fellow-traveller on the Toronto-Crisfield-Greensboro-etc. trip, Annelies Groen, not only joined in the jam session on a borrowed guitar, but also teamed up with Trish McDermott for the racing. Word is that they had a great time together and learned a lot.

Series 12th went to Annette Grefe of LTYC and Gail Walters sailing the oldest boat in the fleet, W276. If not blindingly fast, Gail and Annette looked competent.

Last but not least, we had Kim Durack and Ryan Collins of the Carolina SC who missed Saturday's racing but arrived just in time to help Wayfarers cop biggest-fleet honours.

Like every Lake Townsend regatta I have been at, this one was tons of fun, and I want to express my heartfelt thanks to all the many volunteers! See you this Fall at the HOT.

Uncle Al  W3854