The weather forecast was not encouraging: 'unseasonably cool, rain heavy at times, and small craft advisories likely.'  That's not so bad, we can manage, right?  But, when they also talk of thunderstorms and 40 knot winds, regatta attendance has been known to suffer.  Never-the-less, sixteen stalwart teams braved the predictions and made it to the 11:30 AM start Saturday.

There followed six close races.  The breeze ranged from about five to ten mph all day, with short periods over or under, depending where one was, on the course.  Wind direction varied some, with starts aimed between south and east.  The thunderstorms stayed to the south of us, although we could occasionally hear the rumbles.  The precipitation was intermittent but never heavy.  On the whole, a perfectly good day for racing!  (An old adage holds that the weather is always lovely, when viewed from the lead boat.)

Six races in such unsettled conditions gave everyone a chance to be in the front, and in the rear.  Reversals of fortune were sometimes dramatic.  Catching a puff could catapult one boat out of a hole and into the fore.  After six races, the top four boats were separated by just four points.  Four different teams had won a race, including John Faus, who generously co-skippered with a Junior racer.  After the throwout, the same top four boats were still separated by four points, but we jumped from third place into first!  All right!  Let's party now, for tomorrow there may be more races! 

We seriously enjoyed the Hawaiian Luau theme at the dinner party, which featured an exquisite roast pig.  There were leis, grass skirts, a big monkey(??), tiki masks, and sailors in colorful clothing.  Oh, and games: maybe it was something in the blender, but many people enjoyed the limbo and other games.  Mino Tsutsui was Mr. Limbo, but the Champion was Lisa Maday. 

The front blew through overnight, leaving a powerful northerly in its wake.  We set out again to do battle, and the committee set up a course.  The breeze built, and built.  After a postponement, they decided to abandon all remaining races; the current positions in the regatta became final!  An anti-climactic ending, but we did not object.  Visitor Ted Duffy was consistently fast and smart, and tied for second.  However, he lost the tie-breaker to our own wily Gary Hurban.  Another Nyacker, Judy Hanlon, won the fourth place trophies for skipper and crew.  Joan Hurban finished just out of the money in fifth.

We got the charcoal going and everyone had hamburgers and hotdogs after the awards presentation.  It was a little embarrassing to retire to the safety of the porch and watch the Opti's out there practicing.  Beep, and they all tack.  Beep!  Tack.  We all thank Joan and Gary Hurban for running a great regatta and party!  The Lightning Fleet joins the rest of the Club in heartfelt "Get Well!" wishes to Paul LoGerfo.

See you all in October for the Last Blast!

Bob Sengstacken
14888 'DOG'

Nyack Boat Club			16	Boats contended in series
Lightning Fleet #75			6	Races were sailed,				1 Thowout
Magnus Pederson Regatta
		Race:
		1	2	3	4	5	6		Total	Place
Boat	Skipper
14888	Sengstacken	1	12	7	4	2	1		15	1
14073	Hurban, G	5	7	1	2	8	2		17	2
14175	Duffy	2	4	2	8	5	4		17	3
14781	Hanlon	6	6	10	1	1	5		19	4
15093	Hurban, J	8	5	4	7	4	10		28	5
11519	Benbow	12	3	8	5	9	7		32	6
14850	Faus	7	1	13	11	OCS	3		35	7
14277	Beck	10	13	6	3	10	8		37	8
14514	Sprole	3	9	OCS	6	15	6		41	9
14214	Hutchinson	9	2	9	15	13	9		42	10
14942	Moyer	4	8	12	13	11	12		47	11
14363	Decker	11	14	15	9	6	11		51	12
15178	Parietti	13	16	11	12	3	14		53	13
15059	Mayo	15	11	14	10	7	13		55	14
15057	Logerfo	14	10	3	14	DNS	DNS		58	15
14492	Kent	16	15	5	16	12	15		63	16