The 2012 Lido 14 Senior Class Championships. Article by Tony Billera Skipper, First Woman skipper in the Senior Championship and Overall awards.
The Lido 14 2012 National Class Championships were held on Fidalgo Bay, Anacortes, Washington, during the week of July 23, 2012. Participating in this fun and rewarding competition were twenty-eight Lido 14 teams. Teams traveled from California, Oregon, Washington, and as far away as Ohio and Georgia. This active class regularly attracts 10 to 30 boats at local and District regattas around the country. The National Class Championships are annual penultimate events and this year’s Nationals attracted crews ranging from 13 to 78 years old. Unsettled weather cleared late on Monday, with Tuesday’s qualification series sailed in typically beautiful northwest sunny skies and moderate winds. Mt. Baker and the Cascade mountain range were spectators to three qualifying races. Selection trials were conducted to separate the Gold and Silver Flights as well as determine pairing for the team trophy. The pairing is such that hopefully the top qualifier will be able to help the lowest qualifier improve his skills and boat speed. Lowest total scores for the Championship event get the Team Perpetual Award. Much excitement enjoyed by the crews of the 28 boat fleet, all jockeying for clear air at the starting line. The father/son team of Steve and Andrew Klotz showed their speed and consistency to win the Gold Flight top spot, edging out teams; Jerry Thompson with Mandi Smith, Steve with Anne Schupak , and Kevin Thomas with Amanda Wayne. Team Billera, new Association members from Fleet 78 in Anacortes, finished as the top seed in the Silver Flight. Day one of the Championships was another awesome, cloudless, northwest day. Variable winds challenged both the sailors and the race committee. Sailing the Lido 14 fast demands attention to tactics and crew position, the light and shifty winds rewarded those skills. The majority of boats liked the south side of the course, though there were substantial gains to the north where the wind was clear of interference and the incoming current provided some tactical benefit. Mark and Kathy Sandifer, (husband and wife team from Portland Oregon Fleet 25), demonstrated expert boat handling skills that were honed on the shifty wind of the Willamette River. They preferred the middle of the course, while Jerry Thompson and Mandi Smith (Fleet 6) immediately recognized the South side of the course and were found there all day. Team Thompson/Smith ended the first day with a two-point lead over Team Sandifer/Sandifer and four points over Team Schupak/Schupak (Fleet 1) in the Gold Flight. Ron and Nicole Runyan (Fleet 25) finished the day with a formidable lead in the Silver Flight 10 points ahead of Tony and Catherine Billera who were tied at 17 points with the father-daughter team of Matt and Maggie Nolan (Fleet 80) closely followed by Butch Michel and Melody Wong with 19 points. Heading into the final day (Thursday) of the National Championship the stage was set for close racing by the top three Gold Flight teams, where first and third were only 4 points apart. The Silver Flight looked like an equally close contest for second thru fifth, separated by only 4 points as well! A throw-out would occur if two more races were completed, for a total of six, creating additional uncertainly for all the leading teams. However, winds proved to be fickle, and the typically consistent summer westerly did not arrive in time. After about 2 1/2 hours of delay, racing was finally abandoned and the scoring from the four races of Wednesday became final. It was the correct call by the RC and time for the long awaited and anticipated feast of local salmon was at hand. The Anacortes Yacht Club served up a terrific salmon dinner to top off a great week. A variety of perpetual trophies were presented, including Longest Distance Traveled, Oldest
LIDO 14 CLASS CHAMPIONSHIPS Qualifying Series Tuesday, July 24, 2012 Gold Skipper/Crew 1 Klotz/Klotz 2 Thompson/Smith 3 Schupak/Schupak 4 Thomas/Wayne 5 Fuller/Fuller 6 Johnson/Munch 7 Sandifer/Sandifer 8 Orsini/Orsini 9 Way/Orsini 10 Johns/Lutz 11 Potter/Bright 12 Carroll/Carroll 13 Sterner/Sterner 14 Hartman/Muenz Silver 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
Billera/Billera Estvold/Hill Michel/Wong Estlow/Estlow Nolan/Nolan Ho/Ho Runyan/Runyan Mackey/Roteman Murphy/King Erbele/Lentz Henry/Shogren Glade/King Skubi/Mays
28 Chwalowski/Chwalowski
Tiebreaking procedures were necessary to sort out the team trophy with three teams tied with 37 points each team Runyan had the most firsts in the silver flight and carried team Orsini into the winners circle with him.
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Flt Sail R 1 R 2 R 3 Fin 62 6 1 2 7 6 25 78 78 25 2 7 80 8
6300 4139 6262 3883 3696 2720 5126 6310 5029 4870 4156 4682 5110 4821
3 1 4 8 5 2 6 16 10 11 7 21 13 15
3 2 4 1 8 5 6 9 13 7 10 15 18 21
1 6 2 4 3 12 7 5 11 18 24 8 13 9
7 9 10 13 16 19 19 30 34 36 41 44 44 45
81 78 UN 2 80 62 25 80 78 81 79 78 78
6156 4790 4150 4141 4543 3547 6131 4284 4078 158 4524 6132 6138
22 17 19 14 9 24 12 18 20 23 25 27 28
16 20 12 14 24 11 19 17 26 27 23 25 22
10 14 21 25 23 22 28 26 16 15 20 17 19
48 51 52 53 56 57 59 61 62 65 68 69 69
8 4919
27
28
27
82
Team Trophy Final Points 1 Orsini/ Runyan 37 2 Sandifer/ Mackey 37 3 Johns/ Nolan 37 4 Thompson/ Skubi 44 5 Johnson/ Murphy 53 6 Carroll/ Michel 57 7 Schupak/ Glade 62 8 Sterner/ Estvold 67 9 Hartman/ Billera 68 10 Thomas/ Henry 68 11 Way/ Ho 77 12 Klotz/ Chwalowski 78 13 Potter/ Estlow 78 14 Fuller/ Eberle 80