Making A 100 Boat Regatta Happen

gouvernail

Super Opinionated and Always Correct
On May 1 we have our first local evening races of the season and dinner after. On that night I plan to make a proposal to our local fleet that we host something big , probbaly for masters, the weekend after Easter next year.



The 2013 Easter Laser Regatta will be the thirtieth annual and I would very much like to make it a really fabulous event.



Simply put. 100 boats on the Laser line and maybe just as many on the Radial and 4.7 lines....although it will be really hard to make that 4.7 fleet happen.


1. I plan to contact people over the next couple months ( or hear from you first) such that we can make a deal.



If I can get 100 sailors to say "I will be there" (and only of I have that 100 sailor list) I want to publish the list of names and brag endlessly that these 100 sailors will be there!!!



There is no commitment other than "if 99 others say they will be there I will gladly have my name published as one of the 100.



Tonight I am beginning assembly of the list.



it will remain mostly private until I get my 100 promises.



By mostly private I mean I will not publish any names until I have 100 but I certainly will use my knowledge of those folks who have already committed as I would use, "C'mon Paul Elvstrom says he's coming and you know you want to sail with him."
( I have not heard from Paul...... yet)

I believe it would be better to have a masters regatta the week after Easter so folks can make two regattas in one week of travel. I also would love to be able to use some of those well known masters as "You want to come sail with__________ . He's gettin' old and you certainly want to be able to look back and remember you DID sail with him and even as an old guy he was pretty darned special.



The way I see it, this special event can happen or we can waste one more weekend of our collective lives by failing to make it happen.



Consider this.



Doug Kern won the Easter Laser Regatta in 2012. Doug last won in 1986.

Mike Jordan's Bulls didn't win their FIRST NBA Championship until five years later

.
Britney Spears was five



Derek Jeter was playing little league ball



Emmitt Smith was a junior in high school



Renaldo was nine...and it should be noted that FRED scored a goal in Renaldo's farewell match.



Ron Reagan was president and the Berlin Wall was still there.



Friends would not be on TV for seven more years.


And most important to me?? The youngest kid who sailed in the Easter regatta this year would not be born for another fifteen years!!!


Sailing is very special that way. Given mid range conditions, old folks like Doug and teenagers can have contests those teens can live to remember for years and years and years.



I am not ever going to forget sailing with Whitey on his Snipe and finishing ahead of Fritz Gram and Red Garfield at the 1965 Silver Lake Yacht Club Harvest Regatta.


And I imagine the 11 year old who accepted Doug's winning trophy and held it in the group photo ( he was at his kids' Easter egg hunt by trophy time) isn't ever going to forget winning six bunnies for being an eleven year old 4.7 sailor.



the goal of 100 boats in central Texas is high but certainly not absurd.



Please save me some time by contacting me with the following message>>



As soon as it has 99 other names on it, You can use my name on the list of 100 sailors already signed up.




I will need an email address for you so please use the link on the regatta website to contact me.


Thanks for being part of that which will be a fabulous regatta!! ( or two if we get that masters thing going)
The 30th Easter Laser Regatta is March 30-31, 2013. Visit the website!!
 
2012bunnyhunter.jpg
here's a champion Bunny Hunter with his weapon and catch
 
If I lived in the states I would be very tempted! Having sailed in a 100 boat fleet (single line start) it was great fun but more than a little scary!
 

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