Sail Column May 28, 2002

THE SAILBOATS ARE BACK!

By Dan Muss

It was a grand sight indeed to see the forty-odd sails out on Deep Creek Lake this past Saturday. And it felt good to be out there with them. The first race of the season is a tune-up race called the Steiding Cup, where all boats start together and there is one winner. C Fleet did not race in that one since we race only one race per day. There was a real surprise for the Steiding Cup, a new sailboat on our lake called an “ International 14”. This is a high performance racer that weighs only 280 pounds fully rigged. It carries 250 square feet of main and jib plus 300 square feet of spinnaker. It won the Steiding Cup handily but let me tell you, this is a young person’s boat. Chris Drury and Eric Silverman who sailed it managed to keep it up, but barely.

The Becker Cup Regatta is then sailed with one race on Saturday, two races on Sunday and one race on Monday. As my fearless crew, Marilyn Filemyr, and me sailed out to the starting line, I saw that my old nemesis, Ted Rissell, had institutionalized his role; his boat is now named “NEMESIS”. I laughed so hard I almost dropped the tiller.

One surprise was Larry and Debbie Anderson winning the Flying Scot B Fleet. They are products of the Deep Creek Sailing School and only started racing a few years ago. We are very proud of them. And I’m constantly amazed at Don an d Barbara Griffin who finished second in the flying Scot A Fleet. A second place finish against tough competition demonstrates their skill; what is really amazing is sailing two long races on Sunday in a fairly stiff breeze. Don is in his early seventies; I couldn’t guess his beautiful wife Barbara’s age.

When Ted Rissell and I started the Deep Creek Sailing School nine years ago we attended a one-day seminar in Annapolis, MD on how to run a sailing school, sponsored by the U.S. Sailing Association. That course was taught by Joni Palmer the Assistant Director of the U.S. Naval Academy’s Sailing Program. That course had a great influence on the way in which our sailing school developed. Joni also ran the courses that our sailing instructors took for U.S. Sailing’s instructor qualification, which we needed for our insurance. Last summer Joni and her husband Ray Gauthier came up to sail in our Invitational Regatta. By the end of the summer they had bought a cottage and a Flying Scot, joined our yacht club and are now a part of us.

Race Results

Steiding Cup

Chris Drury with crew Eric Silverman

Becker Cup Regatta

Laser A

First Place, Eric Silverman

Second Place, Tom Johnson

Third Place, Chris Drury

Laser B

First Place, Rebecca Raub

Flying Scots A Fleet

First Place, John Meredith with crew Tom Wolffe

Second Place, Don Griffin and crew Barbara Griffin

Third Place, Joni Palmer and crew Ray Gauthier

Fourth Place, Charles Buffington with crew Sarah Buffington

Flying Scots B Fleet

First Place, Larry Anderson with crew Debbie Anderson

Second Place, Karl Rath with crew Peter Frey

Third Place, Dave Bertsch and crews Ed Peters and Ryan Bertsch

Fourth Place, Heide Kammer with crew Tom Kammer

Flying Scots C Fleet

First Place, Ted Rissell and crew Carol Muss