Great Centennial Regatta : Races by Class

Class president Bill Allen at the regatta party

Class president Bill Allen at the regatta party

Great Centennial Regatta

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of the Bull and Bear

The 100 years celebration of Lake Hopatcong Yacht Club, the Great Centennial Regatta, replaced the tradional Tomahawk Regatta, usually held on this weekend in June.

Sailors stepped back in time with the celebration beginning Friday as crews raced each other aboard the Bull and the Bear, replicas of 19th century gaff-rigged sloops known as sandbaggers. Sandbaggers were built for speed, their name coming from the sandbags tossed from side to side to keep the vessels from tipping as they sailed to the limit.

The Bull and Bear competition pitted crews of the three sailboat classes raced at the club, Stars, Thistles and E Scows, against each other in a round robin. If anyone was counting, the Thistle crew won. At the Bear's helm was a distinguished visiting skipper, Buddy Melges Jr., who has a long list of sailing accomplishments to his credit. These include being the last American skipper to win the America's Cup and a two time Star World Champion.

Report and photo by Magnus Liljedahl:
The lack of wind to fill our sails didn't seem to bother anyone as Saturday's racing had to be cancelled. No wonder with a social schedule like the one LHYC provided. Incredible foods were served for breakfast,lunch and dinner. Extraordinary talented artists entertained at night, culminating with a Reggae band on Saturday.

Sunday morning was beautiful, not a cloud in the sky, but would there be any wind? Well, race committee prayers were answered with a weak NW flow, enough to run two races and establish a winner in each of the three classes. David Cutler gave me the tiller in his Star for the regatta and moved forward in the cockpit to assume the "whipping" position. Some of the worlds best sailors grew up sailing on lakes and what better evidence of that than Buddy Melges. Yes, it was "super" shifty and patchy as we navigated between the shorelines, in and out of the coves. But there was a pattern even though you and I could not see it. John MacCausland and George Iverson won both races of the day, something luck alone will not produce. We improved as the day progressed, beginning to notice flags on shore and other tell tails nature provided, something I'm sure that the winners paid attention to long before the first race.

Star

Place	Boat	Skipper	Crew	Sail #:	Fleet	1	2	Total
1	8184	John Maccausland	George Iverson	8184	CR	1.0	1.0	2
2	7120	Jeff Schuhardt	James Favaro	7120	SL	4.0	2.0	6
3	7756	John Lombard	Mark Sokolich	7756	Mid	2.0	9.0	11
4	7830	Andy Ivey	Rick Rundle	7830	Sun	3.0	8.0	11.0001
5	7729	Hyde Perce	Tom Reid	7729	WH	5.0	6.0	11.0002
6	8086	Jimmie Lowe	Kevin Murphy	8086	N	9.0	4.0	13
7	7709	Dave Ivey	Bob Restrick	7709	Sun	12.0	3.0	15
8	7369	Steve Haarstick	Todd Schumacher	7369	SL	11.0	5.0	16
9	7009	Stu Miller	Jack Winthrop	7009	LH	10.0	10.0	20
10	7998	Magnus Liljedahl	David Cutler	7998	BisB	16.0	7.0	23
11	7463	Werner Holtze	Rick Burgess	7463	SL	7.0	16.0	23.0001
12	7824	Bill Allen	Rick Burgess	7824	WH	8.0	15.0	23.0003
13	7726	Fred Eagles	Bill McMahon	7726	LHYC	13.0	11.0	24
14	7271	Bob Westcott	Kevin Westcott	7271	SL	15.0	12.0	27
15	8083	John Chiarella	Terry Fletcher	8083	Sun	14.0	13.0	27.0001
16	7952	Ben Cesare	Kim Cesare	7952	Mid	6.0	25.0 [DNF]	31
17	7497	Kris Wilson	Bud Elsaesser	7497	An	19.0	14.0	33
18	7127	Bernd Hefele	Karl Hefele	7127	LH	20.0	17.0	37
19	8063	Bert Collins	Guy Avellon	8063	An	17.0	25.0 [DNF]	42
20	8112	J Joseph Bainton	Tod Raynor	8112	CLIS	18.0	25.0 [DNF]	43
21	5551	Don Taylor	Deborah Kelly	5551	LH	21.0	25.0 [DNF]	46
22	6808	Jack Dunnigan	Terry Comerford	6808	LH	22.0	25.0 [DNF]	47
23	7015	Bill Nutzel		7015	LH	25.0 [DNS]	25.0 [DNS]	50
23	8007	William Watson	Sam Turvey	8007	CLIS	25.0 [DNS]	25.0 [DNS]	50