William H. Myers Heritage Regatta - Penguin International Championship
Tred Avon Yacht Club | August 24-25, 2019

Series Standing - 8 races scored

Regatta results last updated: Sunday, August 25, 2019 11:46:48 AM CDT


Pos	Sail	Boat	Skipper	Yacht Club	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total	Pos
1	9677	Family Ties	William E Lawson / Colette Preis	Severn Sailing Association/	1	1	[3]	1	1	2	2	2	10	1
2	9657	C-Biscuit	Chris Conway / Campbell Conway	Annapolis Yacht club/	[6]	5	2	2	2	1	3	1	16	2
3	9675	Grey Bucket	Charles Krafft / Donna McKenzie	SSA/	[3]	3	1	3	3	3	1	3	17	3
4	9572	Evelyn	Matt Lane / Annabelle Lane James Ault	TAYC/ /	2	2	5	4	[9/DNS]	9/DNS	9/DNS	9/DNS	40	4
5	9140	Cheshire Cat	Bill Lane / Justin Callahan	TAYC/	4	4	6	5	[9/DNS]	9/DNS	9/DNS	9/DNS	46T	5
6	9632	Spax	Sandy McAllister / Will Donald	TAYC/	7	7	8	7	4	4	[9/DNF]	9/DNS	46T	6
7	9660	Rex	Jonathan Bartlett / Annie Bartlett	Annapolis Yacht Club/	5	6	4	6	[9/DNS]	9/DNS	9/DNS	9/DNS	48	7
8	9694/9729	Otter B	Patrick Hilliard / none	SLPF/	[9/DNS]	8	7	8	9/DNS	9/DNS	9/DNS	9/DNS	59	8

Notes:
Scoring System is RRS Low Point 2017-2020.

- Finishes in [brackets] denote throwouts

The 2019 Penguin Class Championship is in the books and Bill Lawson and his wife, Colette Preis are the new Class champions, repeating a feat they first accomplished at TAYC in 2016. Bill just became eligible for the grandmaster category, so he also was awarded the Tennerstedt Grandmaster perpetual, and, in case their trophy case wasn’t full enough, took home the Lawson Family trophy for the top family team. Chris Conway, sailing with his daughter Campbell on Saturday, and crewing for his son, Chase, on Sunday placed second after an exceptionally strong showing on Sunday. Charlie Krafft, sailing with Donna McKenzie saw their hopes for 2^nd dashed as an outhaul shackle opened up on the final run of the Olympic course on Sunday, to drop from first to third. Matt Lane, sailing Evelyn with his daughter Annabelle, and James Ault (two crew are better than one, and they were only three pounds over minimum), finished fourth even though they had decided ahead of time this was going to be a one day event for them. Bill Lane who sailed with Justin Callahan, but ended up not sailing on Sunday as the wind was brisk and unstable, finished ahead of Sandy McAllister on the tie-breaker, requiring comparing scores of three races to break the tie.

Sandy sailed with Will Donald and they were grateful that the jellyfish count is down as they got caught unawares by a downwind blast and took a swim. Jonathan Bartlett, sailing with his daughter Annie, was on the wrong side of a few of those wind lines on Saturday, and while heading out on Sunday, realized that the Conway boat had become disabled due to a broken tiller, so graciously loaned him the one he was using so Chase would have a chance to sail. Patrick Hilliard made the trek from Chicago and sailed a Freedom Penguin that had been recently donated to the Class. With the stronger breeze on Sunday, Patrick opted to stay ashore and not risk beating up the beautiful Otter B, which looked like it was right off the showroom floor.

PRO Eric Crawford set up a two lap windward leeward, however the breeze which had been strong all morning started to fade, so he changed it to one lap. The northeast breeze kept oscillating, which kept his patrol boat busy moving marks. Bill Lawson figured out a wind strategy which he described as tack on the headers, which might seem obvious but there were other factors at play including an outgoing tide that built as the day progressed, and wind lines that materialized out of thin air, strongly favoring those who managed to get to them first.

Matt Lane took second in each of the first two races, benefitting from a wind line on the right side of the course in race 1, leaving those who followed the shifts to the left, left out to dry as they could only watch the wind fill in on the opposite side of the course. As the wind shifted eastward, the committee kept moving the windward mark, closer to the Oxford town park, which was great for spectators, but the wind hole around the mark, which was extremely close to the shore, made for some interesting strategies to get around the oft becalmed mark.

Sunday, the story was the big breeze. This kept Bill Lane and Patrick Hilliard ashore, and with Bartlett’s sitting it out so the Conways could use their tiller (& rudder), there were only four boats racing. The wind direction was as unstable as it was on Saturday, although the shifts were accompanied by windblasts as well as some pretty big holes, especially at the weather mark. Bill Lawson discovered his shroud cleats didn’t hold well enough, which led to some downwind excitement. Chase Conway, sailing in a Penguin for the first time, showed that the 420 program that he had been active in all summer really paid off, as he got good starts, and sailed well in the big breeze. Hopefully, we will see him, and some of his 420 friends in the Penguin at future events.

Thanks, as always to the Tred Avon yacht club, who in addition to running a course for the Penguins, hosted the Comet Internationals, Hampton One-Design Class Nationals, a Shields regatta, and the Chesapeake Bay Log Canoes, for a total of five separate race courses. The Log Canoes had two capsizes on Saturday, and decided to stay ashore on Sunday, as the conditions weren’t optimal for the canoes.

Chris and Chase Conway displaying their 2^nd place trophies

Bill Lawson receiving the Dick Tennerstedt Perpetual award from TAYC Commodore Ed Cassidy for the GrandMaster (highest placing skipper aged 60 or older)