The North American Championship was held immediately after the World Championship on a large piece of ice in Montreal, Canada. The wind was not very cooperative on the first day, but the mini-qualifiers were held, as well as the first Gold fleet race. The first race for Silver fleet was started in light snow, which soon turned into a total white out during a sudden snow squall.
The next day of racing was started in light but fairly steady wind, which built to around 10 knots during the afternoon. This provided excellent racing, with 6 races in Gold and Silver fleets, and 5 races in Bronze Fleet. There were a few collisions, mostly in the afternoon as the ice softened up a little, but there were no injuries.
The racing was very competetive in all of the fleets, especially at the top of the Gold fleet. Karol Jablonski and Ron Sherry waged a major battle for first place, with Karol in the lead up until the first throwout which let Ron dump a 14 from the second race and created a tie for first place. In the sixth race Ron beat Karol to take the lead. The race committee tried to get a seventh race at the end of the day, but the wind shifted 30 degrees at the last minute, and there was not enough time to change the course before sundown. Later I asked Karol if another race would have given him a chance to take the title, and he replied "No way! That Ron Sherry is too f_____ fast!"
Debbie Sherry made an interesting observation - the ranking point spread in Gold fleet was 23 (from 1 to 24), but the ranking spread in Silver fleet was only 15 (from 25 to 40). This was clearly seen out on the course, because the Silver fleet sailed in a large group with very little spread between the first and last boats - even at the end of the last lap. This made the Silver fleet very competetive, and the racing was exciting to watch.
I had a rather unique experience this regatta - after wrecking my boat by dropping a runner in a crack before the first race, I borrowed a boat form one of the Silver fleet sailors. The boat I was going to use was finishing near the end of the Silver fleet before making any changes, and I was interested to see if the boat could be tuned up and sailed competetively in the Gold fleet. The intention was to sail this boat, tune it up to Gold fleet standards, and the owner would then be able to sail his boat in the Silver fleet and benefit form my tuning. In the first race I didn't make any changes to the boat just to see how it would perform. I had a good start and rounded the weather mark around 30th place. I maintained my position somewhat during the downwind leg, and only lost a few boats. After rounding the leeward mark I had problems with the boat because the runners were dull, and the sail was poorly matched to the mast - by the end of the race I finished in 42nd place.
The next race I put my own runners on the boat and aligned them carefully. I also made a few small changes to the rigging to try and get the boat to point a little higher. I had another good start and I was in decent shape at the weather mark, but I still could not keep up with the other boats downwind, or upwind once I rounded the leeward mark and had to sail "in the pack". The boat would not get up to warp, but it had a decent "feel" and I thought there was still a lot of room for improvement. I managed to hold my position somewhat, but ran over something on the layline to the weather mark on the last lap, and it trashed the edge on my port runner. I lost several boats downwind and finished 37th, which was still an improvement over the previous race.
I noticed that the sail (an old Bosset wide range) did not set well on the "Whip" - at full speed the top of the sail was quite full, and the bottom (at the lowest full length batten) was pulled completely flat. My next change was to put my four year old Boston "FO1" sail on the boat, and I moved the plank three inches forward. The rigging could not be adjusted properly - the mast had too much back rake, and the sail had to be hoisted to the top of the mast. I went for a test sail and could tell the boat had potential since I was finally able to get it up to full "warp" speed, and was ready for the next race. I had another decent start and the boat sailed well upwind. I got to the weather mark in the high teens, and was upwind of all the other boats going into the rounding. As I approached the mark, there was a large group on the layline, with several boats approaching on port tack. I was sailing a borrowed boat, so I stayed 5 or 6 boat lengths upwind of the pack for safety reasons. A boat came through the pack on port tack, causing one of the starboard tack boats to swerve to weather to avoid a collision. Both the port and starboard tack boats were able to stay clear of each other and turned back towards the mark - I was glad that I had left distance between me and the other boats. As I started to peel off around the mark, the starboard tack boat was still trying to regain control of his boat, and eventually spun out to weather. I tried to turn to avoid him, but he came up and hit me in the side in front of the mast step. Both boats were destroyed and ended my experimentation with the silver fleet boat.
I felt that the boat was capable after making a few changes, and it was unfortunate the Silver fleet sailor was not able to benefit from my tuning. After my first couple of changes the boat speed had improved noticeably, but I ran over something which ruined the edge on one runner, and we did not have time to change it before the start of the next silver fleet race. After the final changes, I wrecked his boat so he wasn't even able to finish the regatta. The only significant changes were the runners and the sail. His runners (maximum T's) probably would have been fine if they had been sharpened properly. The sail did not match the mast, and was actually made to fit an aluminum mast. Otherwise it was a matter of adjusting the rig, and Ron supplies a good set of rigging instructions with the purchase of a "Whip" mast - which this sailor had.
All in all it was an enlightening experience and I learned from it, unfortunately at the cost of two hulls.
Gold fleet
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Pos Sail# Name Race> 1 2 3 4 5 6 Points
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1 US 44 SHERRY, RON 3 ( 14) 2 2 1 2 10.00
2 P 36 JABLONSKI, KAROL 2 1 4 1 ( 6) 3 11.00
3 S 81 LINDGREN, TOMAS 9 5 ( 9) 3 2 1 20.00
4 G 107 ZEIGER, BERND 7 2 3 ( 14) 3 9 24.00
5 P 114 BURCZYNSKI(J), MISHAL 4 8 1 ( 15) 10 4 27.00
6 US 183 STRUBLE, MATT ( 11) 3 10 4 4 8 29.00
7 US 4691 DENNIS, JOHN 1 7 5 13 ( 16) 5 31.00
8 US 3456 O'BRIEN, MIKE 8 ( 20) 8 8 7 6 37.00
9 US 3662 SMITH, GREGORY 6 10 7 12 ( 14) 11 46.00
10 US 4379 HARPER, JOHN 14 13 6 ( 18) 5 14 52.00
11 US 118 CARTWRIGHT, CLIFF 15 11 11 ( 30) 8 7 52.00
12 P 154 BURCZYNSKI(S), PIOTR 10 ( 21) 18 5 11 12 56.00
13 US 4175 BRIEDEN, II, BRYAN 13 9 15 ( 28) 9 20 66.00
14 US 1183 GOUGEON(S), JAN 17 17 12 ( 20) 12 16 74.00
15 US 882 GOUGEON(M), MEADE 23 22 ( 28) 10 13 18 86.00
16 US 4055 STRUBLE(S), BOB 24 27 (DNF) 6 22 10 89.00
17 S 85 LONEGREN, FREDRIK 5 4 20 11 (DNS) DNS 90.00
18 S 5 LUKS, AKE 12 6 16 7 (DNS) DNS 91.00
19 H 633 SCHUTTE, DAAN 20 18 17 ( 25) 25 15 95.00
20 G 551 SEEGERS(S), CHRISTIAN 18 ( 30) 26 16 21 21 102.00
21 S 611 CEDERBLAD, ANDRES 16 16 13 9 (DNF) DNS 104.00
22 G 737 BOHN, JOERG 25 29 14 ( 39) 17 19 104.00
23 US 4602 KICKHAFER, DAVID 35 19 24 ( 40) 20 13 111.00
24 H 313 VANDENBRINK(S), HENNIE 22 15 ( 36) 24 27 25 113.00
25 US 4009 BRUSH(S), DON 30 31 ( 33) 17 19 17 114.00
26 US 294 LOENNEKE(S), LOUIS ( 29) 23 19 26 24 23 115.00
27 P 679 SCHNEIDER, JAKOB ( 31) 28 23 21 15 29 116.00
28 US 4975 EVANS, ROB 26 25 21 27 ( 33) 32 131.00
29 US 4695 KIEFER, MARK ( 41) 12 38 31 30 22 133.00
30 H 208 JELLEMA(S), JAN 27 35 22 ( 46) 26 27 137.00
31 US 406 WOODRUFF, PETER ( 37) 33 31 32 29 24 149.00
32 US 3 GROGAN, JIM 21 37 ( 40) 19 39 35 151.00
33 P 111 MACUR(S), STAN 32 ( 41) 32 23 37 31 155.00
34 US 4789 CLARK, CHRIS 38 ( 43) 34 36 23 26 157.00
35 US 610 JONES(M), DONALD 36 26 27 33 (DSQ) 36 158.00
36 US 3283 WILLIAMS(S), J. BRUCE 28 24 25 34 (DNF) DNS 161.00
37 US 4249 KAISER(S), RICHARD ( 44) 32 35 35 32 28 162.00
38 H 369 HOFLAND, JOHN 40 36 41 ( 42) 18 33 168.00
39 US 4811 CHATTERTON, MARKHAM ( 39) 34 29 38 34 34 169.00
40 US 4340 SPALDING, JAY 33 44 37 29 28 (DNF) 171.00
41 KC 4360 BABY(S), ANDRE 34 42 30 ( 44) 35 37 178.00
42 H 148 REEDIJK(M), BART 42 39 39 ( 43) 36 30 186.00
43 US 4690 FORTIER, DAVID (DSQ) 40 45 22 31 DNF 188.00
44 US 4032 SCHUMACHER(S), ROBERT ( 45) 38 43 41 38 38 198.00
45 US 4061 GOODWIN, PAUL 19 (DNS) 42 37 DNF DNS 198.00
46 US 4137 SMITH JR., KEN 43 45 44 ( 45) 40 39 211.00
47 US 4099 CONDON, WILLIAM 46 DNS 46 (DNS) DNS DNS 242.00
48T S 580 KARLSSON, THOMAS DNF DNS (DNS) DNS DNS DNS 250.00
49T US 3535 KENT, JEFF DNS DNS (DNS) DNS DNS DNS 250.00
Silver fleet
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Pos Sail# Name Race> 1 2 3 4 5 6 Points
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1 US 3406 HADLEY, JAMES 7 ( 12) 2 4 1 4 18.00
2 US 4315 MCDOWELL, SCOTT 2 7 4 8 2 ( 28) 23.00
3 US 4626 GERVAIS, PAUL 3 2 ( 17) 13 5 5 28.00
4 OE 222 MULLER-HARTBURG, ANDREAS 5 1 3 14 9 ( 19) 32.00
5 OE 221 MULLER-HARTBURG, NIKLAS 10 4 5 ( 18) 8 6 33.00
6 US 3937 VOUGHT, DANIEL 12 3 13 ( 15) 6 1 35.00
7 US 45 SHERRY(S), WENDELL 8 ( 27) 6 6 3 13 36.00
8 US 4638 LOVEJOY, GUY 11 ( 15) 10 1 12 3 37.00
9 US 2301 BIERMAN, DANIEL 1 9 ( 24) 3 11 15 39.00
10 US 1019 CORNELIUS, GREGORY 4 10 9 ( 27) 13 10 46.00
11 US 4065 HAMILL, THOMAS ( 24) 6 7 12 23 8 56.00
12 US 4949 SCHMITT, STEVEN 16 13 1 25 4 (DNF) 59.00
13 US 2360 JOHNS(M), PETE 9 11 ( 21) 11 21 9 61.00
14 US 3433 CUMMINS(S), ROBERT 13 22 ( 25) 21 10 2 68.00
15 US 4974 JONES(M), STAN 22 8 20 2 ( 26) 18 70.00
16 US 4192 ROGOSKI, RANDY 6 17 16 19 18 ( 23) 76.00
17 US 4738 PARKER, DICK 17 20 11 ( 28) 24 7 79.00
18 US 3460 HALSEY(S), THOMAS 15 21 14 9 ( 25) 21 80.00
19 US 2 MOTE(M), HARRY ( 35) 34 12 7 15 14 82.00
20 KC 4190 WOLFF, MARK 21 ( 23) 15 22 7 17 82.00
21 US 2138 LONG(S), GEORGE 19 ( 31) 18 20 14 20 91.00
22 US 88 BABCOCK(S), BUTCH 18 18 19 ( 23) 19 22 96.00
23 US 1006 VITALE(S), NICK 23 19 ( 29) 16 16 26 100.00
24 G 440 LIXFELD, DIETER 25 29 30 5 (DNF) 11 100.00
25 US 1196 MANCINI, ANTHONY 31 ( 35) 8 10 29 24 102.00
26 US 1202 HARVEY(M), DOUGLAS ( 33) 16 27 31 20 16 110.00
27 US 4512 MADDEN, STEVE ( 27) 26 22 17 22 27 114.00
28 US 5116 CLAPP, DAVE 14 5 23 (DNF) DNS DNS 118.00
29 US 4066 HAMILL, ROSEMARY 20 28 28 24 28 ( 31) 128.00
30 KC 4507 REYNOLDS, BRAD ( 34) 25 26 26 27 25 129.00
31 H 368 MARONIER(S), HARRY 32 24 33 32 (DNF) 12 133.00
32 US 4417 GONIN, IRENE 26 ( 33) 31 30 17 30 134.00
33 US 4794 BLACKLOCK(M), PETER J. 29 32 ( 32) 29 31 29 150.00
34 KC 4071 ANDERSON, GORDON 28 14 DNS (DNS) DNS DNS 156.00
35 US 3705 HOLMAN, ROBERT 30 30 35 34 30 (DNF) 159.00
36 US 4886 TEPAS(S), THOMAS 36 36 34 33 (DNS) DNS 177.00
37 US 4823 BURGESS, BARRY DNS DNS (DNS) DNS DNS DNS 190.00
Bronze fleet
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Pos Sail# Name Race> 1 2 3 4 5 Points
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1 US 4961 DAVENPORT, JOHN ( 7) 1 1 1 2 5.00
2 US 4203 FITZGERALD(S), PATRICK 2 3 ( 5) 2 4 11.00
3 US 4775 WHITCOMB, EBEN 8 ( 10) 6 5 1 20.00
4 US 5048 PARKER(J), BRYAN 9 ( 13) 4 4 7 24.00
5 US 4762 MCCAULEY, MATT 5 6 ( 13) 12 5 28.00
6 US 5082 WEEKS, BRIAN 1 ( 14) 8 13 9 31.00
7 G 55 SEEGERS(J), ANDREAS 4 7 ( 15) 7 13 31.00
8 US 5123 RYAN, ERIK 10 18 3 3 ( 22) 34.00
9 US 3535 BLAIR(S), CHARLIE ( 14) 4 10 6 14 34.00
10 US 5022 BUXTON, LUKE 15 ( 17) 7 10 3 35.00
11 US 4916 CRUCET, RICHARD 12 8 ( 14) 8 8 36.00
12 US 4730 LEONARD, DAVE ( 29) 9 12 9 11 41.00
13 OE 39 BAUER(S), RUDI 13 12 ( 23) 14 6 45.00
14 G 431 SCHRADER(S), ECKHARD ( 20) 2 18 16 10 46.00
15 US 4911 ZOLL, DAVID ( 22) 11 9 17 12 49.00
16 KC 3786 NETHERCOTE(S), WARREN 17 16 11 11 ( 18) 55.00
17 US 150 MUNSELL(S), ROBERT 18 5 17 ( 19) 17 57.00
18 US 365 VENDENTTI, JOHN 11 ( 22) 20 15 19 65.00
19 US 4770 ETZEL, CURTIS 19 ( 20) 16 18 15 68.00
20 G 605 MUELLER-SCHAEM(S), WINFRIED 21 15 ( 22) 20 21 77.00
21 US 2857 BROWN, DUNCAN 3 (DNF) 2 DNS DNS 81.00
22 US 3042 ABRAMS(M), SHELDON ( 28) 23 19 21 20 83.00
23 US 5053 REIS, GEORGE 26 (DNF) 21 22 16 85.00
24 US 4080 PRICE(M), RICHARD 23 21 25 (DNF) DNS 107.00
25 US 3865 BOWEN(S), TED 27 19 24 (DNS) DNS 108.00
26 OE 7 RAKUSCHAN(M), HEINRICH 6 DNS (DNS) DNS DNS 120.00
27 KC 4684 SAMPSON, ART 16 DNS (DNS) DNS DNS 130.00
28 OE 200 HORMANN(M), HERBERT 24 DNF (DNS) DNS DNS 138.00
29 US 3590 FIRMBACH, CATHERINEE 25 DNS (DNS) DNS DNS 139.00
30 US 4643 ZUHLKE JR(S), MARKUS 30 DNS (DNS) DNS DNS 144.00
31T US 3931 KRAUSE JR(M), FRED DNS (DNS) DNS DNS DNS 152.00
32T KC 3033 SNELL(M), BARRY DNS (DNS) DNS DNS DNS 152.00
33T US 2804 CONVERSE(S), WILLIAM DNS (DNS) DNS DNS DNS 152.00
34T US 800 SNODGRASS(M), REUBEN DNS (DNS) DNS DNS DNS 152.00
35T US 1766 NEUMULLER, RONALD DNS (DNS) DNS DNS DNS 152.00
36T US 4 VANDERBERG(S), EVERT DNS (DNS) DNS DNS DNS 152.00
37T US 1712 DREHER(M), HERBERT DNS (DNS) DNS DNS DNS 152.00
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