NESSA News

Academic Magnet wins Gold; followed by 2/Richmond Hill, 3/Wando, 4/Porter Gaud, 5/Bishop England, 6/Lake Norman, 7/Charleston School of the Arts - all advance to the District Championship at Ransom Everglades School (Miami).

The 2013 SAISA Gold regatta was sailed to a full rotation. Harvey McCormick was PRO, assisted by Linda Bowden, Liisa Machowski, and Ken King. Judges were Bob Bowden, Edith Collins (who traveled from Atlanta for us), and Ryan Hamm. Mark boats were John Roberts/ Mark Fanning, John Cameron/Jessica Koenig, and Rich Lea dum / Edith Collins (when not hearing protest). Jessica Koenig also oversaw operations on the dock along with Greg Walters, chair of regatta.

Conditions were an average wind of 18-20 MPH, with peak gust recorded during sailing of 27 MPH. 14 races were sailed on Saturday, with the remaining 6 sailed on Sunday. Winds on Sunday were similar, with the wind decreasing towards the end of the sailing day, which ended around 12:30 PM. The regatta had 3 significant issues:

A drifting start/finish pin within 3 minutes of the finish of race A-1. Two teams filed for redress and were awarded the average of their finishes in the other 7 races sailed on Saturday.

The PRO, chief judge, and chair elected to end Saturday racing at 4:00 PM. The goal briefed at the skipper’s meeting was to attempt a full rotation on Saturday despite the NOR stating it was planned as a 2 day event. As the day progressed, it was going to be close if a full rotation could be completed, while the above redress also had to be heard. In the interest of lengthening the races on Sunday and not rush the regatta, the decision was made to stop on Saturday after 14 races. One sailor was vocal concerning his dissatisfaction with this decision.

The chair, Greg Walters, mistakenly helped a competitor when his main sail halyard came untied on the race course when the sailor did not request help. The competitor initially filed for redress, but withdrew due to the outcome having no impact on the final results.