2001 Sandy Douglass Memorial Regatta

by Ted Rissell

This past weekend was the Sandy Douglass Memorial Regatta held every summer at Deep Creek Lake to honor the late Sandy Douglass, designer and first builder of the Flying Scot sail boat.  There were thirty nine entries.  In addition to many of the regular Deep Creek Lake sailors, there were thirteen from other sailing clubs--three from the Washington/Chesapeake Bay area, eight from the Ohio District, Al Hersey from Sarasota Florida, and one couple from Dallas, Texas!  Several of the Deep Creek sailors have sailed with Al at his home club, Sarasota Sailing Squadron, in the winter.

Saturday was cool and cloudy with a nice breeze from a little south of  east.  Race commander Kevin Rissell set a long challenging windward course through the slot starting near Holy Cross.  Returning downwind towards Holy Cross there was a jibe mark on the first leg near Turkey Point.  The Fleet sailed through the slot and back three times.

After a great lunch at the Turkey Neck club, the sailors returned for the second race.  The wind shifted more to the southeast and freshened considerably to 15 to 20 with many gusts to 25 mph.

The course was shifted so that the start was in the cove just north of Holy Cross.  Just before the start, the windward mark was removed by mistake, but another racing association patrol boat was able to replace the mark, just in time!

Frank Vandal capsized in a strong gust near the leeward mark.  Patrol person Jeanette Dodd, jumped into the lake to keep the boat from turning turtle (upside down).  Patrol Jan Janssen rescued Shelia Vandal, and Frank was able to sail back to the club house unassisted

Sunday the temperature was in the upper 50's, and  it was raining.  The C fleet, which is composed of senior sailors (all over 65) held a phone meeting.  During the Firecracker regatta, the C Fleet had only sailed one race of three due to bad weather.  They were becoming known as the “chicken fleet”. They decided to brave the elements this time.

About a half hour before the 11 AM start, thick fog blew in from the east.  Race commander Kevin Rissell postponed the race for one half hour.  He was concerned that the patrol would be unable to see a boat in trouble as visibility was only about 1/4 mile.  However, by 11 AM the fog had lifted, and the race was on for an 11:30 start.  The wind was about the same as the first race on Saturday, so the same course was used with only three windward legs, rather than four.  Many sailors who were not in contention for a trophy chose not to sail in the cold rain.

After the race, the sailors who returned to the Turkey Neck Club were treated to a warm fire in the fireplace room and a hot lunch prepared by club managers Don and Willie Clayton.  Trophies were presented by Dave Mahan, President of the Deep Creek Yacht Racing Association, Dave Bertsch, Commodore of the Turkey Neck Club, Mo Willey Commodore of the Deer Haven Club, and Jack Rudy President of the Flying Scot Ohio District..

The winners in the Scot A Fleet (Champion Division) were Scott and Natalie Manney from Dallas TX.  They flew up, and Harry Carpenter of Flying Scot Inc. loaned them Flying Scot number one, “The First One.”  And it was.  In second place was John Meredith with his niece Ashley Dodd.  Harry Carpenter and his daughter Carrie were third.  They  were followed by Dave and Jane Mahan fourth, Don and Barbara Griffin fifth, Peter Salmon-Cox and June Schneider sixth, and Charles and Sarah Buffington seventh.  The Sandy Douglass Memorial Regatta has a tradition. The first boat out of the money gets the Monkey Award.  It is a stuffed toy monkey.  Each year the winner adds some paraphernalia or item of clothing to the Monkey.  This year’s winner was Joni Palmer and husband Ray Gauthier from Annapolis.  Joni had been to Deep Creek Lake three years ago to conduct a training program to certify instructors for the Deep Creek Sailing School.  She came back last weekend, and she and Ray liked the lake so much that they returned for the regatta.  The Schubert children, Rachel and Ryan were kind enough to lend Joni and Ray their almost new Flying Scot for the races.  Welcome to Deep Creek Joni and Ray.

The B Fleet (Challenger Division) was won by Meredith Dodd with Alex Kandabarow.  In second place were Steve and Carol Spackey.  Third place was won by Debby and Paul Stipkovitch.  In fourth place was Turkey Neck Commodore Dave Bertsch and crew Ronn Downey.  Nate Coraor with his mother Joan as crew was fifth.  Stan Miley with Jini Bartlett was sixth.  The Wickners were seventh.

The C Fleet (Masters Division) was won by Ted Rissell with Howard Linns as crew.  Ed Peters and Jim Sherrard were second. Phil Hanna with Bob Verkouteren as crew were third, and Barbara Elster and Marilyn Filemyr were fourth.