Shoe Regatta

(As reported by guidrynews.com)

Lakewood Yacht Club Race Committee Chairman Dwight Bengtson announced at the Sea Lake Yacht Sales Shoe Regatta awards ceremony that “Tejas”, a J-22 owned by Terry Flynn captured the first over-all winning position which awarded him the coveted Shoe Regatta Challenge Cup.

Held in the ballroom of Lakewood Yacht Club on Sun., May 17, approximately 200 racers were on hand for the ceremony which awarded 31 trophies to the winners. First place winners in all classes received gift cards for the skipper and crew to purchase in-stock shoes from Free-Ur-Feet shoe store in Seabrook. “This is why we call it the Shoe Regatta,” explained Bengtson. First place winners also received a gift certificate from Banks Sails worth $500.

An experienced racer and regatta winner, Flynn has placed first in the J-22 World Championship, earned four first place wins in the North American J-22 Championships, and has also won the J-22 Mid-Winter Championships four times.

When asked about his first place for the Shoe Regatta Challenge Cup, Flynn replied that although it was the first time that his crew of Even Smith and Larry Blankenhagen had raced together, they did a good job. “The wind conditions were unbelievably good on Saturday and even stronger on Sunday,” he related. There were six races total with one thrown out. Not only does Flynn sail for fun, he works for Quantum Sails in Seabrook and is a resident of League City since Hurricane Ike.

Hosted by Lakewood Yacht Club, the Shoe Regatta is presented by Bay Access, Inc., a not-for-profit charitable organization that sponsors amateur and youth sailing. In addition to the Title Sponsors as Sea Lake Yacht Sales, Gold Sponsors were Free-Ur-Feet Sandals & Boat Shoes and Bank Sales with Mount Gay Rum as the Silver Sponsor.

Lakewood racers earned a total of twelve awards. The five first place awards were the following: Bill Zartler on “Solaris, a J/105; Al Goethe on “Hamburg”, a J/109; Uzi Ozeri on “Infinity”, a J80; Ashley Walker on “Tenacity”, Cruising Non-Spinnaker; and Steve Rhyne on “Mojo”, PHRF Spinnaker A. Second place awards went to Tom Sutton on “Leading Edge”, a PHRF Spinnaker B. Third place awards were earned by Al Poindexter on “Andale”; Jack Seitzinger on “Asylum:, Cruising Non Spinnaker; John Barnett on “Sirly”, PHRF Non-Spinnaker A; Laird Cogburn on “Loopy”, PHRF Non-Spinnaker B and John Butler on Millennium Express, PHRF Spinnaker B. One fourth place award went to Tom Macaluso on “Pro-Re Nata”, Cruising Non-Spinnaker.

A special appreciation award was presented to Lakewood member Jack Tshupp who has reported weather conditions for the Lakewood racers for over ten years and who has written numerous weather related articles for Telltales magazine. He is moving to Tucson, AR to be closer to his daughter.

Complete Race Results

Dinghy Invitational 2009

(As reported by www.norcalsailing.com)

A haven for racing sailboats of all sizes and well set up for small boat racing, Richmond Yacht Club hosted yet another dinghy regatta this past Saturday. Race Committee Chair Tony Castruccio described the conditions: “The wind was predominately out of the south to south southwest, which made for ideal conditions on Keller Cove. Good wind pressure and flat water was helped by the flood tide. The wind range was between 6 to 10 knots with a brief period (half an hour) as the fog pushed into the Gate when readings reached 15-16 knots.

“A total of 27 boats, predominately Lasers and Bytes made it to the regatta,” said Tony. “We had two Snipes and three Weta trimarans. The developing Weta fleet is working to show more presence at more dinghy regattas.

“Most of the volunteer Race Committee was made up of the Wylie Wabbit Fleet. Kim Desenberg contacted me and said that the Wabbit fleet wanted to help out on this regatta and give some volunteer time to the club as a fleet. How we can pass that up? You watch them race and you begin to think, ‘They are going to make for a top notch Race Committee team.’ They provided good information on the race course and kept the races rolling on the Pelican. We were able to fire off multiple races as boats were finishing.”

Kevin Kuhn showed up Saturday morning, looked up Tony and offered to work race committee, or if there was a boat available he'd also like to sail.

Having all the committee he needed, Tony introduced Kevin to Gail Yando who set him up with the fleet's Charter Byte. Big Mistake. Kevin sorted things out in the reasonably sedate (8-10 knots of breeze) first race. He took a third. Then came second or as Kevin put it, "My speed and tacks got better." Last two races: two bullets. The last race was particularly difficult with lots of shifts and lulls as the cove started to ease down from the 15-knot wind. Not keeping the pedal off the metal was runner-up Trish Sudell who at least for today didn't have her mojo. But here's the best part. Kevin developed his talent through intercollegiate sailing at the Coast Guard Academy (class of 2008). He's currently the Damage Control Officer on the USCG Cutter Morganthau, and his next deployment is in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands. Dan Ouellet and Michele Logan tied for third.

No surprise in the 15 boat Laser fleet. Drake Jensen nabbed two bullets and did well enough for a three point win over Mike Bishop. Nick Burke took third.

Full Results Here

Southwest Circuit #3 & Leukeima Cup 2009

(As reported by www.leukemia-lymphoma.com)

The 2009 Leukemia Cup Regattas Results are in!!

In case you missed it, the event for Dinghies at Corinthian Sailing Club at White Rock Lake will be April 24-26, 2009 and the event for Keelboats and Multihulls at Dallas Corinthian Yacht Club on Lewisville Lake will be May 1-3, 2009. For more information, please contact Stacey Russell at The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society at (972) 996-5913, toll free (800) 800-6702 or Stacey.Russell@lls.org.

Celebrating Succes

The 2009 Leukemia Cup Regatta was a success raising over $120,000 to support The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's mission to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma and to improve the quality of life of patients and their families. Thank you to all the committee members, sponsors, participants and donors who helped to make this year a great year despite the weather conditions!

Top Fundraising Participants for this year are:

Charles and Janell Hoffman $16,200
Red Dog and Sally Jones $15,000
Jay Hoppenstein $3500
Joe Sircely $1400
Mike Simpson $1036
Jeff Doutaz $651

Thanks for your amazing efforts!

Thanks and Recognition
We wish to thank our co-hosts, Corinthian Sailing Club, Dallas Corinthian Yacht Club, and co-chairs for the 2009 Leukemia Cup Regattas, Red Dog and Sally Jones with Diane and Bob Van Buren at CSC and Rich and Vida Peregoy at DCYC. We appreciate support of the sailors, sponsors and volunteers for their dedication and generosity. Special thanks to our 2009 LCR Planning Committee and Gary Jobson, National Regatta Chair, for sharing their love of sailing and committment to the Society's mission.

A speical thank you as well to our sponsors, REd Dog and Sally Jones, The Spangenberg Family Foundation, IAMCP, Tenet Healthcare, Doctors Hospital at White Rock, Texas Instruments, The Dallas Rowing Club, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Coca Cola, The Olive Garden, Outback Steakhouse, Starbucks, Chick-Fil-a, Einsteins Bagels, Ben E Keith, Gorman Foy Promotions, American Foods, Mattitos and Prairie House Restaurant!

Way to go on your outstanding efforts to raise funds and awareness for our quest to find a cure!

Full Results Here