Photo provided by Diane Kampf - Massapoag Yacht Club Teams - Eckarts, Sharps, Kampf, Gary Werden and Brandon Dickerman

Photos by Diane Kampf and Wanda Visnick are here. Full resullts are here.

Sandy Bay Yacht Club in Rockport, MA, hosted the 2023 Flying Scot New England Districts on 7/30/2023. Rockport is a charming New England Town with lots of shops, restaurants, bed and breakfasts and lots of fisherman. It is always fun to visit Rockport and we are lucky that they hold Flying Scot events that get us there from time to time.

The forecast during the week showed beautiful weather every day EXCEPT Saturday. The predictions for Saturday were for storms, thunder and lightning, heavy wind and maybe even hail. Well that did not stop Fleet 11 from continuing the planning given that the forecast might be wrong. We all love going to Rockport just for the views and the shops and restaurants, as well as the Fleet 11 hospitality,

The weather also did not stop the out-of-town boats who planned to attend – we were all there. We had 14 boats from Sandy Bay Yacht Club, Massabesic Yacht Club and Massapoag Yacht Club. Greg and I drove up to Rockport on Saturday morning and most of the way the sun was out or just a little behind some small clouds. We got there at 7:00 AM and luckily had no traffic at all getting there. It was already a good day and we had not even hit the water yet.

We got our boats in the water, had a little breakfast then had the skippers meeting at 9:00 as planned. Fleet Captain Margot Hintlian welcomed us and mentioned hope for the wind to fill in. But PRO Steven Ouellette had to put up the postpone flag when the wind did not come. But at least it was not thundering and lightning – not even a sign of rain. And it was a beautiful sunny day, a good day to get out on the water.

I give this PRO a lot of credit for perseverance and patience. When it looked like the wind was finally beginning to fill in, he took advantage of the opportunity and got us out on the water. Three or four attempts were made to set a course as the wind came and went but just would not hold. Finally, after a couple of hours on the water, the wind shifted and we were able to get racing! We sailed a 5-leg W-L race and at the end of the race, the wind died and we all headed back in. It was tough on many of the boats in the fleet trying to finish with only a little wind, but everyone managed to finish.

There were 4 boats from Massapoag Yacht Club and we were 1, 2, 3, 4 for most if not all of this race. First place changed a few times, but in the end John and Connie Eckart were 1st, Roger and Kate Sharp were 2^nd, Greg and Diane Kampf were 3^rd and Gary Werden and Brandon Dickerman were 4^th, all from Massapoag. Full results are here.

We were treated to a cookout followed by awards for the top 3 teams. Margot thanked the Race Committee and all the volunteers who helped make the event possible. We got out of the water and packed up just in time for the rain to start so our timing was impeccable. We drove home mostly in the driving rain, grateful that we got in a race and got off the water before the thunderstorms came. Another New England Districts was in the books.

Thanks to Sandy Bay Yacht Club for a fun event, we can’t wait to go back there! Next year’s Districts will be at Massabesic Yacht Club in Manchester, NH, and we always have a fun time there. We want to thank our District Governor Tim Maillette for his years of service as our Governor. Tim continues as the Scots n’ Water Editor. We are currently looking for someone to take on the District Governor role which Tim will fill until a replacement is found, so if anyone is interested, pleae let Tim know.