Cuspidor Regatta 2010

The annual Cuspidor Regatta was held the weekend of July.17-18 at the Willow Bank Yacht Club on Lake Cazenovia. For those that have never attended the Caz regatta you miss a good time – there is fabulous camping on site, great club facilities, good lake racing and very welcoming hosts.

This year Carl Boller was unable to be present and so he passed the organizational baton to Tom and Robbie Lewis who are returning members to Willow Bank and the FD scene. Tom and Robbie did an awesome job ably assisted by Tom’s sister Maribeth and her husband who just happened to be visiting!

As with all lake sailing Cazenovia did not disappoint – for Saturday there was 8-11 mph shifty wind providing a real work out for all the crew with constant gear changes and little rest. The wind came in from the south, the south west, the west but mostly stayed from some westerly direction. The PRO wisely got in 3 races prior to a lunch break as a storm blew in during the break causing a delay in the afternoon racing. Once the thunder and lightening cleared one additional race was held this time in rather light air that tested every one’s ability to find the right wind in the right place.

On Sunday morning we woke to great air – a rarity at Caz on Sundays! The fresh wind from the West ( well sort of!) held the whole morning and the PRO squeezed in 3 races to complete a 7 race series. Team Gorbold in GBR 367 swept the regatta with a string of bullets but conceded a first place to an ex- Gorbold KDV GBR 867 now being sailed by Tom Lewis and crew Jeff Babero who also sailed very consistently with a series of 2nd places. Bill and Janet Hamilton, from Saratoga Sailing club, Chris Liberti with crew Kate Coupland and Zak White with crew Nick Ianaconne from the URI Sailing team had a running battle for 3rd ,4th and 5th places. Exceptional kudos has to be given to the URI teams who have such enthusiasm and an amazing tenacity, to not only learn how to sail FD’s, but to also resurrect and out-fit old FD’s that others would probably place in the dumpster. What is additionally inspiring is that they are all loving every minute of this and seem totally undeterred by boats that are probably not self rescuing or have continual break downs.

Many thanks are due to Bill Desiendorff the Willow Bank PRO, Bob Hague and Jack Howel who provided the Crash boat and water supplies and the management of Willow Bank Yacht club for the use of their facilities for the 2010 Cuspidor FD Regatta.

Cuspidor 2010 Results – One throw out