Governors Cup Regatta / Eastern Regionals

George McKim

My report needs a little explaination/clarification before I start. There were 2 sets of scoring, one for the Govenors Cup Regatta (in which all Fireballs were eligible) and one for Fireball Eastern Regionals (in which only Fireballs that have had a valid measurement certificate were eligible as stated in the Regatta NOR) and I will attach 1 set of scoring results and that is for the Fireball Eastern Regionals. If you want to see the results of the Fireballs in the Govenors Cup Regatta you can download the PDF here.

I have to begin by thanking Pat Crump, Gary Van Tassel, Mark Matthews, Mark Millar, Conrad Wineland, their crews, friends, families, and dogs for making the trek to Kerr Lake in North Carolina. And a special thanks to Devin McKim for organizing the Eastern Regionals and motivating Fireballers to attend.

This report will cover the racing in the Govenors Cup Regatta.

Friday afternoon Fireballers began drifting into the remote Kerr Lake Regatta location from as far away as Tampa, Florida and Annapolis, Maryland and continued to drift in until 1:30 am (Gary overshot the mark by several miles). The weather Friday was in the mid 90's and humid, but a cold front (or a "not as hot front") moved in early Saturday morning making for near perfect racing for both days for the 8 Fireballs in attendance.

Races 1-3 were sailed in 10-15 mph winds from the Northwest, variable in strength and direction as is typical for lake sailing, plenty of sunshine, low humidity (a rare occasion in the South in the summer) and temps in the low 80's. Shifting winds both days made for some interesting tactical upwind sailing and if you played the shifts right you could really gain on the competition and conversely if you got played by the windshifts you paid the price. The three races were sailed on a triangle windward leeward windward course with plenty of trapeze action and some exciting reaches. There were several capsizes with yours truly taking a swim at the gun at the start of the second race. Pat Crump / Ned Goss and Gary Van Tassel II / Gary Van Tassel I battled it out for first in all five races, which were won by Crump / Goss in all five, with a sometimes large, sometimes small gap between the first two boats and the rest of the fleet who were trying to cop a third place finish and that usually went to Mark Matthews / Glen. The team of Mark Miller / Julian continued the time honored Fireball tradition of mid-regatta boat repairs after they had to abandon Race 1 with a cracked centerboard, but they were back on the water Sunday for rounds 4 and 5.

Saturday night everyone enjoyed a little Southern hospitality with a cook-out at the sailing club and then retired to the lakeside cove campsite area to relax, have few beers, and enjoy the evening.

Races 4 and 5 were sailed on windward leeward windward courses. The wind clocked to the east right before the start of race 4 making it possible to lay the mark from the start, with the wind in the 5-8 mph range. The course was re-set for the last race and the wind picked up to a nice 10-15 and Crump / Goss and G2 /G1 were packing up their boats when we crossed the line for our best finish of the regatta in third.

A good time was had by all and we look forward to doing it again next year with even more Fireballs.

George McKim US6381

Eastern Regionals