District 11 had great representation at Laser Nationals this past weekend at Brant Beach Yacht Club in New Jersey. Eighteen sailors from our district made the trip. This year Laser Nationals was the largest Laser Regatta in North America in the history of the laser class. Over 276 sailors were in town to take part.
The Radial fleet of 142 boats was broken into 4 divisions with two divisions racing each other at a time. The Standard rig fleet featured 105 sailors all starting on the same line.
Friday was the first day of racing and the wind was blowing between 14 and 18 mph with max gusts observed at 22mph. The frist warning was at 11am and all fleets got in 4 races on the 5 mile course. The bay we were sailing in is rather shallow and somewhat well-protected so there was only a little chop.
Saturday the wind was a little weaker, but still over 10mph all day. All fleets got in another 4 races.
Sunday morning sailors awoke to rainy conditions with little wind so racing was postponed 30 minutes while a front moved through. Once on the water the rain cleared and the Standard Rig fleet was started. Halfway up the beat the wind died and the race was abandoned. About 45 minutes later the wind finally filled and all fleets got in one final race.
Radial Rig (142)
23 Matthew Schoene (SSA)
27 Kyle Swenson (FBYC)
41 Ben Buhl (FBYC)
52 Justin Bell (SSA)
70 Madeleine Alderman (FBYC)
76 Margaret Podlich (SSA)
83 Lauren Schoene (SSA)
100 Austin Powers (FBYC)
107 Conrad Roos (FBYC)
121 McKay Hanna (HYC)
140 Mary Peyton Sanford (NYCC)
Standard Rig (105):
35 M. Allen (ODU)
48 Alden Shattuck (SSA)
53 Dave Schoene (SSA)
85 Jon Deutsch (FBYC)
86 Chris Bowne
94 David Sliom (SSA)
95 Karen Long (SSA) – First Woman
ILCA-NA District 11 