2010 NJ/LIS Mega District Championship - Lake Hopatcong, NJ

NJ and Long Island Sound Joint District Championship Regatta
June 12-13, 2010
Lake Hopatcong, NJ

Thirty-two Thistles convened at the Lake Hopatcong Yacht Club on June 12-13 for the 2010 NJ and Long Island Sound “Mega” District Championship Regatta.  The forecast for Saturday’s racing called for southwest winds of 10 to 15 knots and a good chance of thunderstorms.  The wind prediction was absolutely accurate and thankfully the rain prediction was not.  The southwest wind direction allowed the race committee to use the entire length of the main section of the lake for the windward/leeward courses.  The overcast skies thankfully kept many of the powerboats off the lake.

Brad Thompson got out to a good lead in race one and held that position for a wire to wire win.  Brent Barbehenn dug back to second place after approaching the first mark on the port layline and being shut out by a bunch of starboard tackers.  His gybe set after the rounding took him to a nice wind line and got him back into contention.  Tom Lawton finished third, with Larry Liggett just edging out Craig Smith for 4th.   Race 2 started in a right hand shift with the committee boat being favored.  After passing several boats by working the right side on the second windward leg, Barbehenn took the win.  Brian Kitchin, also protected the right upwind and finished second.  Craig Smith finished third, Tom Lawton 4th and Brian Joyce finished 5th.  The third race again saw Brad get the win, followed by Brent, Tom, Brian Swingly and Chris Murphy.  All the races on Saturday were twice around the windward/leeward course with the start/finish line in the middle of the course.  The windward legs were about 1.25 NM.  Each of the races lasted about 1 hour in length.

As always, the Saturday night dinner prepared by the LHYC staff was fantastic, which was only outdone by the camaraderie of the Thistle sailors enjoying the sunset together. The evening activities were greatly enhanced by a very talented singing duo which performed outside on the lawn.  

Sunday’s weather provided hot and humid temperatures and no wind.  This allowed us to hold our district meetings and to gawk and the “hot, flaming” paint job on 821 done by Larry Liggett and Meghan Booth. 

Final results saw Brent Barbehenn winning the regatta and the NJ District Championship.  Brad Thompson placed second and won the LIS District Championship.  Tom Lawton (Dieball Sailing Customer) finished third, Brian Kitchin 4th and Craig Smith (Dieball Sailing Customer) was 5th.  Total scores are listed below.

Combined Regatta

1.    4004 Barbehenn 2, 1, 2 – 5
2.    4016 Thompson 1, 6, 1 – 8
3.    1485 Lawton 3, 4, 3 – 10
4.    3785 B. Kitchin 7, 2, 7 – 16
5.    818 Smith 5, 3, 8 – 6
6.    3872 Kreitler 6, 8, 6 – 20
7.    3759 Swingly  9, 9, 4 – 22
8.    3921 Murphy 10, 11, 5 – 26
9.    821 Liggett 4, 12, 11 – 27
10.    1394 Joyce 13, 5, 9 – 27
11.    3860 L. Kitchin  16, 7, 10 – 33
12.    3305 Beihl  8, 13, 13 – 34
13.    830 M. Foster 14, 15, 12 – 41
14.    3874 Ridder 12, 14, 16 – 42
15.    3736 Hussey 18, 10, 15 – 43
16.    4000 Reasoner  19, 16, 14 – 49
17.    4003 McBride 11, 22, 17 – 50
18.    3987 Deermount 15, 17, 25 – 57
19.    3973 McCutcheon 23, 21, 19 – 63
20.    3673 Dexter 20, 26, 18 – 64
21.    3784 Edwards 24, 20, 21 – 65
22.    3732 Brauer 25, 18, 24 – 67
23.    3911 Prozzillo 21, 24, 22 – 67
24.    3823 Scheffler 22, 29, 20 – 71
25.    3954 Richards 27, 19, 26 – 72
26.    1811 Ankers 17, 23, 33/RAF – 73
27.    3840 Connell 26, 28, 23 – 77
28.    1678 Priniski 28, 27, 27 – 82
29.    3721 Gruver 33/DNS, 25, 33/DNS – 91
30.    934 Ballantine 29, 30, 33/DNS – 91
31.    616 Levy 33/DNF, 33/DNS, 33/DNS – 99
32.    3231 Rochelle 33/DSQ, 33DNS, 33DNS – 99

NJ District Results

1.    Barbehenn 1, 1, 1 – 3
2.    B. Kitchin 3, 2, 3 – 8
3.    Smith 2, 3, 4 – 9
4.    Murphy 4, 6, 2 – 12
5.    L. Kitchin 6, 4, 5 – 15

LIS District Results

1.    Thompson 1, 3, 1 – 5
2.    Lawton 2, 1, 2 – 5
3.    Kreitler 4, 4, 4 – 12
4.    Swingly 6, 5, 3 – 14
5.    Liggett 3, 6, 6 – 15