2003 Carolyn Nute Halloween Regatta

October 25th and 26th 2003

George Szabo and Brian Janney followed up their very succesful summer of Snipe sailing with a thoroughly dominating if somewhat controversial victory at the Carolyn Nute Regatta held at Mission Bay Yacht Club last weekend.

Saturday morning's crewing lecture featured three current world champion crews. Julie Redler, the current Women's champ, Graham Biehl, the current Junior champ and Jon Rogers, the current Open champ discussed all their secrets and techniques to a rapt crowd. As they talked, the few clouds cleared away and the sea breeze built. As thirty nine Snipes rigged the breeze continued to gain strength! It has been a long time since MBYC hosted a heavy air regatta but on Saturday the wind made the San Francisco Snipers, who had driven down the coast, feel quite at home. With the constraints of the bay keeping the windward legs from stretching too far, race PRO Stan Betts opted for multiple windward leewards. It seemed to those in the middle of the pack that the course was "windward-leeward until you are dizzy!" After one general recall, race one was underway with Dave Tillson and crew John Fretwell clearly punched in the middle of the line. As all thirty nine boats got to the top mark at the same time, Dave squeezed around in first and got to watch as George and Brian went head to wind, stopping themselves and the fleet. With carnage behind them, George and Brian spun their one circle for hitting the mark and were then able to battle the rest of the way for a second. Dave and John laughed their way to an easy first!

In the second race George won the boat with Mikee Anderson on top of the pin at the gun. With a quick jibe around the pin and a duck of the fleet, Mikee and crew Graham Biehl were off to the favored right hand side and able to pass all but George. Those two matched raced the rest of the way and finished overlapped but with George and Brian able to hang on for the win. During the lunch break most of the teams were tired or broken down but definitely happy!

With the wind holding force in the afternoon, George and Brian were able to continue to exert their control over the fleet. They won both races easily with only Dave and John able to mount any threat by scoring a fourth and a second in the afternoon. Doug Hart with crew Zach Brown had sailed consistently to sit in third place. Lurking in the shadows were Mikee Anderson and the Hallawells who would need both need a throwout to contend. Mikee had recieved an OCS in race four and Rob and Bridget had steered their borrowed boat well clear of trouble at that first race first mark carnage and ended up 32nd.

Saturday night at the Carolyn Nute is always a must attend event. This year's party was as impressive as ever except in the turn out department. As the Lewecks, the Hallawells, the Stewarts, the Harts, the Walkers, the Bowdens, JT, Dave Tillson (Barb gets a mulligan on not partying hard as a Mom-to-be), Shelly Suarez, Michelle Fennell, Don Bedford, Jimmy Elms, and many others (this reporter was in no condition to accurately recount all shenanigans) partied hard, there were notable missing persons. It was their loss as they missed an epic evening. Dave hired a great band, the Lomatones, to facilitate the fun. Shelly Suarez as a sumo geisha girl took third place at the costume judging. Don Bedford's Roy with Tigger around his bloody neck place second. Bridget Hallawell was the winner as a night stand. Since there was no other night stand in attendence she advertised herself as "One Night Stand". In the intererst of fair and accurated reporting I must profess that she is a great "One Night Stand". Although, it seems that everyone was eager to agree. Hmmmm.....

Most notable of the absentees were George Szabo and Brian Janney. Not showing up at a Snipe party when winning the regatta is a very weak gesture and many local Snipers were livid. Said "Legend" Leweck, "This is obscene. I would never be caught missing a Snipe regatta party, espcially one that Dave Tillson threw. Those kids embarass me!" Even husband Craig agreed. "Um, yeah", he said before refilling his coffee.

The fleet never got a chance for revenge, however, as the Santa Ana winds that have fueled the wildfires that have ravaged the San Diego area battled with the sea breeze to produce Atlanta like conditions. Most of us stayed inside as ash snowed down from the east. With everyone's minds preoccupied by the worsening disaster, sailing was canceled early. Most of us live near the coast and are therefore not directly affected by the fires, but many sailors were missing from the club on Sunday morning as they were busy preparing for possible evacuations. Congratulations to George and Brian for an impressive display of sailing. Thanks to people such as regatta organizer Dave Tillson and Stan Betts. Most important, however, our thoughts and prayers are with those whose lives are being upended.

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