Brian McGinnis

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Spring Break was a blast. Harpoon Harry’s and Spinnaker Beach Club were good times. Camping at the St. Andrew’s Bay Yacht Club was the popular thing to do, I would estimate at least half the sailors camped out for the week, making the experience all the more fun. Thanks again for all the hospitality.

Team Racing Nationals:

3 races were contested on Wednesday, March 12th, 2008. 3 teams consisting of 4 team members each dualed it out for the Team Racing National Championship.

At the end of the day, Chip Clifton, Peter Wuescher, Lee Montes and Brian McGinnis were crowned the new national champions. Each race of the day was closely contested. In the first race, our team would have appeared to have the race all locked up by the first mark having 3 team members (Chip Clifton, Lee Montes and then myself) leading the race. However, the first 2 sailors missed the offset mark, and by the time they went back and rounded, a comeback was certainly necessary. As the 3rd sailor around the mark, I did my best to slow up all the sailors and allow my team members to get back in it. By the leeward mark, Chip had made it back to 2nd and was on the chase after Rob Eberle for 1st. By the end of the race, Chip won it, Rob Eberle finished 2nd, and we took the 3 and 4 positions to clinch the race.

The other race pitted Chip Clifton vs. Karl Kleinschrodt. However, Karl backed off the sprint race to assist his teammates, this strategy ultimately backfired. Karl basically crushed me, however in the process, we were able to spring Peter Wuescher into 2nd, with Karl ultimately finishing 3rd and myself hanging on for a tightly contested 4th place. Our team finished undefeated on the day and received nice trophies in the end.

US Nationals at Midwinters:

10 races total were held over the next 3 days for the Sunfish Singlehanded US National Championship.

The first day’s racing brought us out into the big bay, having 40 sailors sailing over an hours sail out to the course. 3 races were held that day, the first 2 races in 7-8mph conditions and the last race building to 10mph. The first 2 races were dominated by Chip Clifton (1998 US National Champion) who worked his speed and smarts to the left side of the course and finished with 2 bullets to show for it. The last race of the day was a bit breezier and saw the rise of Hank Saurage’s run to the ultimate championship.

The next 5 races were run in even breezier conditions, around 14-18mph. Due to the lingering T-storms in the area, the race committee brought us back to the little bay out in front of the yacht club. The top sailors scores grew fiercely close by the end of the day, with Hank Saurage coming out on top after grabbing 2 more bullets (races four and six) and remaining consistent throughout the day. 2002 US National Champion Todd Edwards also won 2 races that day (races five and eight) and at the end finished the regatta in 3rd place overall. Greg Gust (5th at the 2007 Worlds) won race 7 that day ultimately finishing the regatta in 4th place overall. Greg’s win was especially impressive considering he had to re-start after being called over early at the start. Unfortunately for Greg, he did have to accept a 20% penalty on that race (scoring him a 9 for the race). Chip Clifton remained in the hunt but an OCS that day had done some considerable damage to his victory hopes, and at the end finished in 5th place overall.

The last 2 races were a showcase of the talents of 2-time World Champion (1995, 2006) and 2001 US National Champion David Loring as he scored 2 bullets to finish as the regatta runner-up. David sailed consistently throughout but really came to form on the last day. The last 2 races were also sailed in the little bay in front of the club due to lingering T-storms in the area. Best guess on the wind would be somewhere around 10-14mph for the day.

Rounding out the top ten were Karl Kleinschrodt and Don Brennan in 6th and 7th place overall. 1976 US Olympic 470 Class Representative and 2008 International Masters Champion Tom Whitehurst finished 8th overall. 2000 US National Champion Zane Yoder finished 9th place overall. 1980 North American Continental Champion Joe Blouin rounded out the top 10.

Yours truly finished in 11th place overall and was the top sailor from North of the Mason-Dixon line.

Additional Notes:

Big improvement over past performances for me at Midwinters regattas. It was a very top-heavy fleet and was some fast racing on the course. Current was a major factor in all sailing areas there. In the small bay, there was also a point off to the left upwind that had many of the top sailors racing towards it looking for the lift that they received coming out of that corner. It was possible to compete at the top of the fleet by going right upwind if you were committed enough to get all the way up into the current one would find there in the small bay. Conditioning was pretty good for me at this regatta. Areas of improvement are leg strength and bicep muscles (was tough 2-blocking). I was actually surprised how much people were trimming the mainsheet upwind as the wind strength grew. I rarely sheet in as much as I was seeing the top sailors do so there in Panama City. The larger version mainsheet block might be helpful in this scenario.