2012 Sid Doren Recap
The first major regattta of 2012 hosted 51 teams from CAN, USA, GBR, BER, BAH, GRE, and SUI. Last weekend’s Sid Doren regatta took place Miami and was hosted by Biscayne Bay Yacht Club.
An unreliable wind field led to a dock AP on Saturday morning and eventually to an abandonment of racing as the high pressure in place and moderate temps would not give way to the sea breeze. As a result, PRO Bill Smoke and the RC posted a 1-hour earlier harbor start for Sunday.
Although the fleet sailed out in a dwindling northwesterly under spinnakers, the RC exercised great judgement and postponed for a short while to allow the sea breeze to finally win the battle. By 10:40 the wind had settled in out of the 90-105 magnetic range with pressure from 5-7kts.
Speed and a lane off the line were a premium in the first race with light winds and plenty of oscillations to take advantage of. The leaders came out of the left on the first beat, and Phil Wehrheim (USA12) and team capitalized on the lead and held on for the win, followed by George Andreadis (GRE 1368) in second and Argyle Campbell (USA1375) in third.
The second start saw a big shift inside 1 minute, which resulted in an AP at the gun. With little time left for racing due to a short tide window to haul boats, the RC quickly reset and got underway with a sequence under a black flag. After a strong 4th place finish in race 1, Siegel and team were black-flagged in race 2, while the rest of the fleet got away clean.
Much like race 1, speed and lane were crucial to being able to pick your side and stay out of trouble on the first beat. Marvin Beckmann and team (USA 1232) held on for the win followed by Jud Smith with his daughter Darby; Henry Fraser (USA102) came in 2nd followed by Peter Duncan and team (USA 1397) in 3rd.
With only 2 races in the regatta and no throw out, consistency was key to placing and only 3 of the top ten finishers were spared a finish in the double digits…
See the full results.