The
Anacortes Yacht Club, the Port of Anacortes and the City of Anacortes put
Fidalgo Bay on the chart as a great place for sailing when 28 Lido 14’s came to
town to compete in the 55th Annual Lido 14 Championship Regatta
during the week of July 23-27, 2012.
Practice races were conducted on Monday the 23rd to give all
a flavor of sailing on the big bay.
Tuesday was the qualifiers splitting the fleet into the traditional Gold
and Silver Flights, 14 boats in each.
Wednesday and Thursday, 25 and 26 were the Sr. Nationals with Friday
July 27 set aside for the Women’s Nationals.
The wind on
Wednesday allowed PRO Fred Ableman to get off four good races. It also was the day that Dick Rose, Chair of
the ISAF Rules Committee, flew in from
heading the protest committee at the Chicago Mac Race. He performed the same function for this
year’s Lido Nationals. There was not a
single protest filed in this year’s events as all disagreements were solved on
the water. The usually reliable westerly did not fill on Thursday so the Senior
Championship rested on the results of Wednesday’s four races. Jerry Thompson and Mandy Smith, ABYC, won the
Gold Flight with Mark and Kathy Sandifer, Willamette Sailing Club and Steve and
Ann Schpak, Newport Beach, in third. The
winner of the Gold Flight is invited to US Sailing’s Championship of
Champions. The top three Gold Flight
boats sailed with Ullman Sails.
Ron and
Nicole Runyan, also from Willamette, won the Silver Flight. Tony and Catheryn Billera of Langley, WA were
second in the Silver Flight followed by Matt and Maggie Nolan of Seattle in
third. The Salmon Barbecue with
including oysters, salads and local Lopez Island Creamery ice cream dessert
almost delayed the awards presentation with sailors heading for seconds.
“I think the
women had a perfect Fidalgo Bay day as far as wind strength,” said regatta
Chairman Steve Orsini of Friday’s women’s championship regatta.
The wind was a
steady 13-15 mph for the six teams. The
fifth and final race went to the team of Mandy Smith and Amanda Wayne breaking
a two/two tie with Terry Johnson/Stephanie Carroll. The team of Alexis Orsini and Ginger Orsini
were third.
The women were beaming at their awards ceremony complaining of
sore abs but saying they got the best weather day of the week. All the approximately 75 people who made up
the two-person crews, family and other supporters went away pleased with the
regattas — how they were run, the venue and the people, Orsini said,.“We had
just great community support right from the mayor on down,” he said. “Anacortes
Yacht Club did a superior job.”
