Lake Murray, SC - April 26-27, 2008 Updated
5-16-08
John Pelosi, foreground, dumps
chute having just crossed the finish line. The four boats astern are, (l-r), skippered
by Jared Lathrop, Bill Sloger, Pierce Barden and Karen Dial.
The combatants
contestants
met in the late morning on the front porch of the CSC clubhouse.....
...to
hear RC chief Dick Dommel ask "Any questions?" Dommel
assumed the skippers had read the instructions.
So, it was off to
the boats to prepare for the first race in what was planned as a six race
two-day series. The sky was overcast and the breezes were from the
SSW.
Eighteen boats were registered
for the District Championships, taking place for the second year in a row
on Lake Murray near Columbia, South Carolina's capital city. The recently
organized Palmetto Lightning Fleet #440 hosted the event at the
invitation of The Columbia Sailing Cub.
They're
off! In fact, half the fleet had already sailed out of the frame
before the photographer got his balky digital camera fired up again.
It had impatiently shut down to save its battery. (We hate machines
that think!)
Augusta's Bob Harkrider
at the wx mark about to pop the chute for leg number two.
Bill Sloger (Charleston)
rounds the weather mark in #11771.
Wrightsville's John Pelosi (#14932) rounds
the mark not far behind Richard Waldkirch.
At left young Will Tyner and his
all-teen crew (#10810) finish the second race and prepare to head ashore.
The RC gave the entire fleet a break to let a heavy rain squall
pass.
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John Pelosi (#14932) and Terry Tyner (#14825) and their crews hang around the
starting line. With the air lightening up nobody wanted to stray too
far.
Karen Dial and her sibling crew didn't wander too far from the starting line,
either, especially when it looked like the line was going to hold and the RC was
about to "do its thing." We believe Karen was the
only grandmother skipper in the event. She and her sister, Kathy Gaddy, and
brother, David Wrisley, took 10th last summer in the North American Lightning
Masters. Their ages add up to 166 years. Does ILCA give AARP
discounts?
Richard
Waldkirch (#14695)approches the finish line with John Sawyer (#14318) breathing
down his neck.
Richard is one of the several
sailors from Wrightsville, NC who have pretty much figured out how to conquer
Lake Murray breezes.
