by Richard Obst, Fleet 196 Captain

The New England District event was hosted by the Massabesic Yacht Club at Lake Massabesic in Auburn, NH and was planned early in the year (for us Northerners).  This may be one of the reasons the event was lightly attended. Often you have to choose race dates early before the race calendar is completely booked and the thought was to make this a tune-up race for upcoming Northeast events including the North American Championship in Connecticut. 

Skippers and crews from four Flying Scot fleets competed in this event: Fleet 196 (Massabesic Yacht Club, Manchester NH); Fleet 11 (Sandy Bay Yacht Club, Rockport, MA); Fleet 76 (Massapoag Yacht Club, Sharon, MA); and Fleet 124 (Duxbury YC, Duxbury, MA). We were fortunate to again have our Race PRO Larry Christian, a national champion in the Windmill class, run the races with the support of our MYC Club RC Chairman Jack Cartland and his team.

Racing started after a small delay waiting for the wind to settle in. The Race Committee was able to fit in 5 races consisting of 2 Olympic courses and 3 Windward-Leward courses, the last of which was once around to finish. Forecasts predicted moderate winds from the south west, however racers in this one-day regatta experienced light and variable winds sometimes dropping to near zero mostly from the west that provided challenges for everyone including the Race Committee. There were some exciting moments when the wind picked up a few knots on one side of the course if you were in the right place to benefit. Ned Jeffries handled the difficult light winds very well showing the rest of us how it is done.

The top sailors were Ned Jeffries and brother Will Jeffries (Sandy Bay YC) sailing the most consistent races for a 1^st place finish with scores of 2-1-1-1-4 for 9 points.  Dave Rousseau and Nate Rousseau (Massapoag YC) placed 2nd with finishing scores of 4-2-2-4-2 for 14 points, and John Clark and Drew Strawbridge (Duxbury YC) taking 3^rd place with scores of 1-3-3-5-9 for 21 points. Regatta trophies were presented to the winners with the Perpetual New England District Regatta Trophy going to the Sandy Bay YC team to take back home with them.

The sailors stayed for a catered hot meal and exchanged sailing experiences as is common for all sailing events. Overall it appeared everyone had fun. After all that is the goal. There were no accidents or protests. And, we were fortunate not to have the weather from the previous day where winds were consistent in the high teens and 20’s with gusts into the mid 30’s, reaching 35 mph at one time.

Our on-the-water and ground support were very helpful. They all performed in a way to  make this event a success.

Full results are here