Pictures from the Regatta

The second regatta of the 2004 Carolina Series, the Bottom’s Up, was held June 12-13 at Lake Murray Sailing Club, Chapin, SC. From the rum drinks to the monsoon weather—everything tropical ruled.

Tropical weather greeted the 24 Caribbean Thistlers on Saturday. Race one was almost complete when the wind shutoff; however, it finally came back on the last leg and everyone crossed the finish line. As we waited for the next race, the tropics delivered a monsoon sending the majority of the fleet into the storm to get back LMSC. Six boats opted to stay out instead of sailing toward the lightening and rain and a couple even sailed 4-5 miles down the lake before the monsoon passed and they returned the club. They managed to sail in sunshine all day. But racing was abandoned for the day since rumbling could still be heard in the distance and the radar was not clear.

The rain cooled the air temperature but it was still time to boil—a low country boil for dinner and open the "Freaky Hut" Tikki Bar (owned and operated since 5:00 pm). With three blenders going (thanks to Nerissa’s help) everyone who ventured in was served one of the three specialty house drinks. The biggest hit was the bananas, strawberries, and rum mix called the "Lava Flow." Other cold delights included pina coladas and a tasty rum punch. Did you know the metal screen on a bottle of 151 Rum is a flame arrestor? Wow! what are we drinking! Perfect timing had it so as the Freaky Tikki ran dry, dinner was served.

Once again the Gowans, Sweets, and Lockwoods delighted the hungry crowd with a low country boil of corn on the cob, red potatoes, kielbasa, and shrimp. Ceremoniously dumped onto a picnic table, everyone enjoyed as much as of the mouth-watering stew as they liked. The decadence continued with Nerissa’s homemade ice cream and brownies.

Mother Nature made a second appearance and this time with a fury. Torrential rain and big thunder crashed all around with wild winds blowing over tents and quickly dumping 3 1/2 inches of rain. But happy Thistlers didn’t care as everyone stayed inside and watched--you guessed it---Pirates of the Caribbean. Campers found the clubhouse a dry place to crash since several creeks ran through the front lawn of the sailing club.

Sunday morning proved to be a different day altogether with cool temperatures and good wind. RC set up short windward-leeward twice around courses and the steady winds (direction only) allowed three quick races. The downwind finishes provided exciting action all the way around. There is no loose covering to the finish, when the puffs bringing both wind and competitors from behind.

Paul Abdullah, sailing with sis, Krissy, and Mark Gise sailed a consistent 1-1-1-3 series to take top honors. Bryan Anderson and Jennifer Lund sailed a great series capping it off with a spectacular win in what amounted to a baseball squeeze play at the pin end of the finish of race four. The top eight boats all finished with in 3-4 boats lengths of one another with some at the pin and others in the middle. The wind favored the right side of the run, but the boat-end was closer. It was nerve racking to figure out how close to the boat to go without sailing too far from the wind. Newcomer, Vlasta Kunc, from Knoxville is proving the one to watch. In only his second year sailing the circuit, he showed great speed all weekend and finish third. Loy Vaughan, who was unable to defend last year’s title, ended up fourth. And Andy "Tikki hut" Lawrence finished fifth.

New LMSC sailor, Ken Berg, made his debut regatta. Ken bought 3227 last summer and but school and a new baby kept him a way lot. Veteran crew, Maureen Bresnahan, changed positions in the boat and sat in the skipper’s seat in her new boat, 3444. Keowee sailors Bub Dillon and Sam Secrest proved excellent crew for our two new additions to the regatta scene. Welcome aboard!

The contenders for the coveted Bottoms’s Up Award were numerous. While there were no capsizes, we had to search, but not too far, to find three worthy nominees: First was Sean Murphy who was having such a good time in race two that he wanted to go another lap. Unfortunately the leeward mark and the finish mark were the same. The boat on Sean’s starboard side wanted room to pass the mark, but Sean didn’t hear him since he was busy asking for room to round the mark the other way. Corinthian Sean withdrew and for showing such class, removed himself from further consideration for the Bottoms Up Award. 

Special thanks goes to our fabulous Race Committee, thanks Tommy Weaver, Kent Lowry, Burnell Keels, Tom Cobb, Travis Heaton, Rick Schmidt, and Adolph Fabregat. Tommy is a veteran racer, Tom just started racing this year, and hopefully the rest of the crew liked what they saw. Thanks guys.

See ya’ll next year, same tikki hut.

Andy Lawrence