The 2017 Eastern M-Scow Championship Regatta

2017 M-Scow EasternsSeaside Park Yacht ClubSeptember 16, 2017

      The 2017 Eastern M-Scow District Championship was held at Seaside Park YC on September 16th.  It started out with very light winds coming out of the South, and would eventually build in speed, clocking over to the East.  Race 1 started with a one lap windward leeward, with the finish to leeward.  The wind favored the boats going right, building a lead in more wind that died as we approached the windward mark.  As we rounded the windward mark, the wind shifted East for a long reach into the finish.  Kate Faranetta sailed a great race in very tough light conditions to take first, followed by Bill Warner Sr., Janet Davis, and John Dietz, respectively.

      Race 2 featured building breezes, as in building from 2 miles per hour to 6 miles per hour.  Another one lap windward leeward.  Zach Higham quickly took control of the race, getting to the windward mark ahead of Kate Faranetta, and Peter Bentey.  Kate Faranetta may have received some help from her crew, multiple North American Champion Tim Faranetta, as they passed Zach Higham downwind for the win.  So race 2 finished in the order of Kate Faranetta, Zach Higham, Peter Bentey, and Janet Davis.

      Race 3 has to be about junior sailors Zachary Higham and his crew Edward Harrison.  Zach purchased an M-Scow this Summer in August and got 3 races in with the BBYRA Summer Series.  So this was his sixth race in an M-Scow.  They won the race, wire to wire, with Bill Warner, Sr. coming in second and Kate Faranetta in third.   We then sailed into the yacht club for lunch.  The clubhouse completely cut off any wind at the pier.  LA-10 was the only boat with the inertia make it to the pier without bailing out.  That might be the only advantage of sailing an M with 470 lbs. combined crew weight.  The Seaside Park Race Organizers did a wonderful job with lunch.  It was delicious!

      Race 4 was another windward leeward, but with enough wind for 2 laps.  The first windward mark looked like the first five boats were overlapped!  Very close racing.  Bill Warner, Sr won the race, followed by John Dietz in second, and Zach Higham in third.  Frank Ciufa had his best race with a fourth place finish.  

     The fifth and final race again featured Kate & Tim Faranetta sailing fast after a disappointing fourth race.  Zachary Higham was fast all day, taking second.  But the most consistent sailor of the regatta was Bill Warner, Sr in third.  They borrowed Barron Cohen’s red boat.  The racing was followed by a great cookout, and then the trophy presentation.  Peter Bentey then recruited a few sailors to turn his boat over on its deck for the winter.  It was refreshing to see new junior sailors doing so well.  The father-daughter teams took the top two spots.  

FINAL STANDINGS

PLACE	SKIPPER	CREW	YACHT CLUB	FINISHES	POINTS
1	Bill Warner Sr.	Gwen Warner	Toms River	2-4-2-1-3	12
2	Kate Faranetta	Tim Faranetta	Lavallette	1-1-3-7-1	13
3	Zach Higham	Edward Harrison	Pine Beach	6-2-1-3-2	14
4	John Dietz	Liz Hart	Manasquan River	4-5-4-2-5	20
5	Peter Bentey	Kaitlynne Wilhelm	Seaside Park	5-3-6-6-4	24
6	Janet Davis	Bill Rogers	Manasquan River	3-4-5-DNS-DNS	30
7	Frank Ciufa	John Bubnowski	Seaside Park	8-6-7-4-6	31
8	Tom Welsch	Chris Conklin	Lavallette	7-7-8-5-7	34