by John Davis

 

 

The 2007 National Championship Regatta was held on August 9 and 10, 2007.  With the first day came unusually light air for Central Iowa, followed by heavy air on the second day. The 2007 V-32 NCR, hosted by the Iowa Model Yacht Racing Club, #142, was a challenging event for all comers with the two extremes of winds at 0–5, then 15–25. The skippers who did not have lowers, now allowed by the Class Rules, came to understand the need the hard way.

 

Bruce Zemke dominated the racing early on, and although Charlie Rhinehart and Dave Haggart were tough competition, they didn’t catch Bruce. Paul Thompson, our Class Secretary, held his own and placed fourth. Hank Evans did well enough to finish as fifth place trophy winner, even with a split hull after he was unfortunately “T-boned.” No boat does well after being hit broadside with the pointy bow of a V-32.

 

As in many regattas, the scores don’t truly reflect the competitive nature of the racing. We were short on judges, so we allowed mark touching. The Southerly wind pattern, both days, offered a lift at the windward mark that set up a situation with starboard-tack boats approaching the mark with an inside overlap to approach the mark too closely and make the rounding (by touching the mark), when they normally would not have attempted that maneuver. The fleet caught on quickly, and the result was consistent crowding at that first windward approach (more so than usual) that caused much disruption and many calls for a “360,” more than if skippers had to be mindful of a mark touch. We have since come to the conclusion it is unwise to drop the mark touching rule.

 

Thank you to George Dornis, Victor Model Products, for providing excellent door prizes for our “welcome” dinner. Many thanks to Bill Inman, our Regatta Director; our Starting Judges, Curt Alber and Dan Fenimore; and our Scoring Crew, Jane Alber and Laurie Fenimore.

 

V-32 NCR Top 5 Finishers:

                Skipper                       Home State        Points

1              Bruce Zemke             Michigan               75

2              Charlie Rhinehart      Iowa                       87

3              Dave Haggart            Nebraska              91

4              Paul Thompson         Indiana                 126

5              Hank Evans               Iowa                      169