2006 MYC Mermaid Regatta - Sunfish
By Mindy Strauley
It was a beautiful day to travel over to Melbourne Yacht Club for their annual regatta. The forecast was for sunny skies with temperatures reaching 90 degrees, with zero chance of rain. So, I packed up the sunscreen, bandanas, and other sailing garb and headed East to the coast.
I was welcomed by seventeen ladies ready to compete for the Mermaid Trophy. What a great turn-out! Some traveled from as far as Sarasota with hopes to get some time on the water prior to the upcoming Women’s NAs.
We grabbed our donuts, orange juice, etc….listened to the day’s rules at the skipper’s meeting and were set to hit the water. Oops I felt a drop of water from above. I looked up to see if rain was coming our way…just a couple of drops but I looked up and didn’t see any rain near us. Maybe it was bird poop.
Off we headed out of the harbor for 4 terrific races. By the time I got to the start line my nerves had settled. It had been quite some time since I sailed and sailing an all Women’s regatta tends to rattle my nerves because the competition is so great in comparison to an open regatta…and this regatta definitely lived up to the competitive nature of an all Women’s starting line.
The fleet was tight most races. What I noticed, and was most impressed with was the improved sailing skills of many of the Melbourne ladies. It seems when I sail an open race at Melbourne the ladies tend to lag or perhaps hold back on their skills. But, there was no holding back this day. Most impressive was Lynde West who sailed in the top 3 for most of the first 2 races. Also, consistently impressive was Marlene Sassaman with good starts and close to the front each race. Beware Men! These Melbourne ladies will rattle your boat next open Melbourne regatta.
Up front Ursula Olson and Mindy Strauley battled it out each race for the top 2 spots. Cindy Taylor worked at shaking it up the first two races with Nancy Fox joining in the last 2 races. Complete results are below.
Winds ranged from 5-10mph throughout the day. The Melbourne Yacht Club race committee, on-shore organizers and dolly boy babes did an excellent job.
|
Sail Number |
Skipper |
Race 1 |
Race 2 |
Race 3 |
Race 4 |
Total Points |
Place |
|
84800 |
Strauley, Mindy |
( 2 ) |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
|
79128 |
Olson, Ursula |
1 |
( 2 ) |
2 |
2 |
5 |
2 |
|
79298 |
Taylor, Cindy |
3 |
( 4 ) |
4 |
4 |
11 |
3 |
|
79256 |
Fox, Nancy |
( 9 ) |
6 |
3 |
3 |
12 |
4 |
|
80064 |
Sassaman, Marlene |
6 |
5 |
( 7 ) |
6 |
17 |
5 |
|
79709 |
Kelchner, Georgie |
4 |
( 9 ) |
9 |
5 |
18 |
6 |
|
79073 |
West, Lynde |
8 |
3 |
( 12 ) |
8 |
19 |
7 |
|
49338 |
Crawford, Jan |
( 7 ) |
7 |
6 |
7 |
20 |
8 |
|
77683 |
Schell, Dottie |
5 |
( 11 ) |
8 |
10 |
23 |
9 |
|
79301 |
Clendenin, Prill |
10 |
( 18 ) |
5 |
9 |
24 |
10 |
|
3511 |
Garber, Loretta |
( 13 ) |
8 |
11 |
12 |
31 |
11 |
|
29535 |
Cook, Alicia |
( 11 ) |
10 |
10 |
11 |
31 |
12 |
|
79074 |
Yates, Rochelle |
12 |
12 |
( 15 ) |
13 |
37 |
13 |
|
49333 |
Lambert, Winnie |
( 18 ) |
13 |
13 |
14 |
40 |
14 |
|
3306 |
Kelly, Sharon |
15 |
14 |
16 |
( 17 ) |
45 |
15 |
|
NNC |
Parker, Charlotte |
14 |
( 18 ) |
17 |
15 |
46 |
16 |
|
59935 |
McIntyre, Barbara |
( 18 ) |
18 |
14 |
16 |
48 |
17 |