Lightning Metro District Championship 2008
If the Lightning Metro Championship at MBC proved anything, it was ‘that it ain’t over til it’s over’. As you can see in the videos, the races were very competitive and in many instances one could never be sure of where any boat would finish until it crossed the finish line. Congratulations to Justin Coplan and his team, Ellen Turk and Fiona Gordon, for winning the regatta. Justin, a fifth year student at RIT, is one of the recipients of the 2008 Lightning Boat Grant Program.
Things didn’t look too promising Saturday morning with racing delayed due to no wind – I mean no wind. At least it wasn’t too hot and we finally got out on the water by late morning. The Navesink was shifty as usual. Kevin (Chainsaw) Robinson along with crew Leah Sammit and Keith Petrosemolo, got off to a great start and were first to round the windward mark. This was a great accomplishment for a team who is only in their second year of racing. Unfortunately, they ran into some problems at the leeward mark.
By afternoon, a decent south/south west wind filled in and PRO Denis Farley set up the course further down the river at Fair Haven right off Jon Bon Jovi's house. We were able to get in three more very competitive races. You can see in the video that the mark roundings were pretty intense at times - with a lot of discussion on and between boats. I’m always tempted to leave the audio in – then again, maybe what’s discussed at the mark should stay at the mark.
Sunday brought more wind and the last two races had one of the longest windward/leeward courses one can set up on the Navesink. As usual, the more wind, the more the camcorder lens gets splashed and the chase boat bounces around causing some fuzzy and jerky video. At least, the power boats were at a minimum (maybe one good effect of recent gas prices?). Both races had very close final legs. On our boat, there was a lot of “He’s got it...I think he’s got it....No, he doesn’t got it.” I’m still not sure about that second place finish in the last race – okay, so I might be a tad biased since my son Paul was crewing for Ted Duffy….but talk about a close finish.
Many thanks to Gary Luisi for driving the chase boat on Saturday and Les Hathaway on Sunday, Brooke Luisi for taking some very nice photos, Herb Schuman for assisting on the committee boat on Sunday and last but not least, PRO Denis Farley. Kudos also to Lyn Watts (‘Mr.’ Watts as well) for providing last minute housing for Justin and his crew and Crissy Van Siclen and Pat Corr for cleaning up.
Doreen
