US A-Cat, Woods Regatta 2021: Bailey White 1st
Photos by Chris Voith Sr – Annual regatta for the US fleet with such a beautiful scenery as always at Lake Lanier . Win in the overall for Bailey White, and Mike Krantz in Classics. Local sailors preparing for 2022 A-Class Worlds to be held in Houston, Texas.
Report by Bill Vinning
After taking 2 years off, the Woods Regatta was held last weekend at Lake Lanier. We had sailors travel as far away as NJ, Canada, and LA to attend the regatta. A cold front on Friday brought cooler temps for set up on Friday. Saturday started out with breeze on out of the east and 45 degree temps. The east breeze at Lake Lanier is very gusty and very shifty, but the sun was out and all 16 sailors braved the cold temps and got in the water. Jose had a break down on the Bim2000 Class boat and had to retire before the first race.
The first race was gusty and shifty, and Bailey took his first bullet. The wind moderated a bit on the second race, and Bailey got another bullet. The wind moderated a bit more on the 3rd race and the foilers all went for displacement mode on the downwind leg until Cam managed to get up on foils and came screaming in from the rear. Bailey who was in second behind MIike Krantz noticed Cam on foils and switched from floating to foiling and got his third bullet.
The fourth race was even lighter and multiple boast struggled to make the top mark in the shifty lighter winds. I managed to catch the offset, and Mac managed to grab the weather mark. Daniel Seagraves pulled off his first win in a big Acat regatta.
Dinner and drinks at the clubhouse next to the fire was a nice end to the day.
Temps warmed on Sunday, but breeze dropped to 4 gusting 5. The majority ruled and racing was abandoned in favor of breaking down early.
A laser engraved cutting board was award to the top 4 in each class. Bailey held onto the perpetual trophy for another year.
Thanks to Mike Krantz for planning the event and having the trophies made, and thanks to Jen Stevens for organizing the dinner Saturday night.
Next year, we plan on hosting this event a couple weeks earlier in the fall for hopes of warmer air temps.
Results are attached
Bill
