District & Fleet Reports - the International Lightning Class

District & Fleet Reports 

CONNECTICUT/RHODE ISLAND 

76 

FLEETS 

6 Housatonic Boat Club 85 Niantic Bay Yacht Club 

126 Cedar Point Yacht Club 129 Madison Beach Yacht Club 

134 Noroton 

District Commodore ..................R Neil Hayes 

Fleet 6—Housatonic Boat Club 

Sailing on Long Island Sound 

Stratford, Connecticut 

Connecticut/Rhode Island District 

Boat# Boat Name Owner 

10801 Woody R Neil Hayes 

14947 Brian Hayes 

Brian Hayes in St Pete 

Fleet 85—Niantic Bay Yacht Club 

Sailing on Niantic Bay, Long Island Sound 

Niantic, Connecticut 



7170 Baby Makes III David G Dickerson & Martin O’Meara 

12069 William A Sebestyen 

13940 Zing James Gardner 

14289 Ciao Tom Emch 

14417 Imp Baby Donald R & Donna Barrett 

14419 Franz R Edson 

14665 April Thunder Gregory & E Jennifer Hall 

14619 Theresa & Larry Colatuano 

14588 Georges Peter 

14900 Kelly Crane 

15130 Vannish Christopher J Vann 

15190 Michael Gooch-Breault 

15215 Nina Cuccio Peck 

15239 Randall Shore 

David Peterson 

Barry Buehler 

Bill Healy 

Fleet Contact ............................................................. Dave Peck 

Fleet 85 looks forward to another summer of racing 

with participation from our regulars as well 

as guest sailors, Dan Hertzer and Dave Spira. 

Although some of our stalwarts have moved on 

to other activities due to burn-out or family obligations, 

we still have about a dozen boats in the 

parking lot. We welcome any Lightning sailor to 

be our guest on Sundays or Holidays. The spirit of 

Sunday racing is for fleet building, family participation 

and helm-swapping while Holiday races allow 

for preparation for regional or national events. 

Our Fleet 85 sailors continue to represent NBYC 

well on the national circuit. Greg Hall made the trip 

out to Wisconsin for the 2005 NAs and qualified 

for the Blue fleet for the very first time. Dave Peck 

and Chris Vann attended the 2006 St. Pete Circuit 

race, while Larry Colantuono along with PJ Schafer 

and Steve Kirkpatrick recently won the 2006 Long 

John regatta in Redbank, NJ. Larry also placed 2nd 

in 2005. 

In addition to our Sunday and Holiday series, our 

fleet hosted both the CT/RI Districts and the 

annual Connecticut Governor’s Regatta in 2005. 

Both regattas were won by Dave Peck and his 

team of Nina Peck and Bryan Lilley. 

2003 North American Champion Bill Healy is resurrecting 

an 11000 series Allen hull, so watch out for 

his return to active competition. 

Best of luck to all in the 2006 season.

Fleet 126—Cedar Point Yacht Club 


Westport, Connecticut 



11385 Ol’ Blue Richard Thackaberry 

11486 Generic Boat Aaron Seymour 

11570 Liviu Vogel 

11674 Scott Potter 

13821 Fast Forward>> Terence D Frimmet 

13832 Ryan O’Grady 

13889 Wind Breaker David Marseli 

14176 Christopher Miller 

14238 Lloyd on Acid Steven Wexler 

14630 Thomas Glynn 

14807 Second Chance Rod Ratcliffe 

14821 Charlie Horse Charles Proctor 

14900 Rob & Brenda Crane 

15057 Al Minella 

15111 Gianni Cuccio 

15116 Doug Latour 

15171 High Cheese Joshua Goldman 

Fleet Captain .......................................................... David Howe 

Fleet Secretary ..................................................... Dave Marseli 

Fleet Treasurer .............................................. Dick Thackaberry 

Fleet Champion ................................................... Gianni Cuccio 

Fleet First Runner-Up ......................................... Josh Goldman 

Fleet Second Runner-Up ....................................... David Howe 

Fleet Third Runner-Up .................................. Dick Thackaberry 

Cedar Point Yacht Club has been home to Lightning 

Fleet 126 for over 40 years. Cedar Point last 

held the North American’s in 2003. The Fleet sails 

every Saturday from Memorial Day through Labor 

Day, with at least two regattas thrown in for fun. 

The Early Bird regatta in the spring is held the 

weekend before Memorial Day, and the Fall Classic 

is the last weekend of September. Overall, the 

fleet had 13 boats in the dry stall area this year. 

Of those thirteen, eight boats managed to qualify 

for the season, meaning they hit the line at least 

50 percent of the time. 

This year the Early Bird winner was Gianni Cuccio, 

with Dave Peck of nearby Niantic Bay YC coming 

in 2nd and Ched Proctor 3rd. Also competing 

from the club were Josh Goldman, Dave Howe, Rod 

Ratcliffe, Doug Latour and new fleet member, Al 

Minella. 

During the year we saw the helm being turned 

over to the next generation in a few boats. Ched 

and his son Charlie were seen switching places, 

as well as Gianni and his daughter Laura. From 

what we saw, they are going to be skippers to 

reckon with as time goes on. Congrats to Laura for 

winning the last cup weekend of the year and for 

helming to a win in the Fall Classic! 


The Fall Classic is held in conjunction with a race 

in the Thistle Fall Series. This regatta has gotten 

quite the reputation for its party on Saturday 

night, as well as the great steak dinner too. We’ve 

had a live band the last few years made up of sailors 

from Cedar Point to rock the house until you’re 

too tired to dance anymore. This regatta is a can’t 

miss for your schedule. 

If you are interested in coming to our club to try 

out a Lightning, we have a very competitive fleet 

boat. Contact Fleet Captain David Howe, and 

he’ll reserve it for you. Or, if you are interested 

in crewing at Cedar Point, contact anyone in the 

fleet and they’ll most likely be glad to have you on 

board. Hope to see you out on the water this year. 

www.cedarpointyc.org 

Dave Marseli 

Fleet 129—Madison Beach Yacht Club 


Madison, Connecticut 



11207 James R Deephouse 

11933 J Michael Sulzach 

14342 Timothy Millhiser 

14441 Katherine Lee 

14509 Early Times James R Deephouse 

Fleet 134—Noroton 

Sailing on Central Long Island Sound 

Central Long Island Sound, Connecticut 



11097 Cygnus Gavin Watson 

14900 Jim Crane 

Bob Crane, Winner of the 1st Deep South, 

with wife Pat, son Jim and grandson Rob 

77


DIXIE 

The year starts with the Southern Circuit. We all 

would love to take 11 days to go sail three very 

competitive regattas down south. In the Dixie 

District, Susquehanna sent four boats, Severn sent 

three or four, and Havre de Grace sent one. 

Our District has decided to rotate the District 

Championships around the District. We sail our 

Lightnings on all types of water and so our championships 

might as well be sailed in equally varied 

venues. This year and for the first time in memory 

the District Championship was on the Potomac 

River in Washington, DC, the home waters of Fleet 

50. The river isn’t very wide there and had the 

wind blown out of the east or west, the racers may 

have gotten dizzy trying to keep track of what lap 

they were on. However, the wind blew out of the 

south and southwest and the race committee got 

off 6 races with some nice long legs. Past national 

champion and new member of the Dixie District, 

Allan Terhune won the Championship. However, 

Neil Fowler, who is partnering with Todd Johnson 

to sail 15202, was always hounding Allan and took 

second. Fleet 50 served steak and salmon at the 

party, which is symbolic of the great event they 

put on. 

The North Americans were way out in Sheboygan, 

Wisconsin, but the District still filled their quota 

and more. Ten teams made the August trip: Nabeel 

Alsalam, Jamie Brickell, Steve Constants, Neil 

Fowler & Todd Johnson, Drew Hudson, Jonathon 

Lange, Ed Michels, Pat Phelan, Allan Terhune, and 

Jason Werner. Neil & Todd place 7th in the Blue 

Fleet. Jason Werner won the Green Fleet! 

The District had a very full schedule of regattas. 

The Purnell Cup (Traveler) Award consisted of eight 

regattas, one at each fleet that had an invitational 

regatta plus the District Championship. Steve Con- 

78 

FLEETS 

50 Potomac River Sailing Association 192 Lower Susquehanna 

253 Susquehanna Yacht Club 314 Sassafras River 

325 Rehoboth Bay Sailing Association 329 Severn Sailing Association 

496 Swift Creek 508 Solomons 

509 Fishing Bay 

District Commodore ............. Nabeel Alsalam 

District Secretary/Treasurer ...... Todd Johnson 

District Champion ........................ Al Terhune 

District Runner-Up ...................... Neil Fowler 

Purnell Cup (Traveler) .......... Steve Constants 

stants went to five of the eight. Honorable mention 

go to Jason Werner and Nabeel Alsalam for sailing 

in six of the eight. 

This report has emphasized the big events and the 

traveling, but the backbone of Lightning racing is 

fleet racing that occurs with less fanfare but which 

produces just as much fun. Read the fleet reports 

for more. 

Mike Wertz—Fleet 253

Fleet 50—Potomac River Sailing Association 

Sailing on Potomac River 

Washington, DC 

Dixie District 


3343 Little Bit Alan R Rogers 

7603 Pandora II Robert Astrove 

10215 Black Adder Ted Oakda 

10226 String Cheese James W Greenwell 

10814 Fast & Loose Denise Malueg 

11369 Big Green Justin Morris 

11767 Thunder Harry Keith 

11792 Rogue Bobby Fulton & Brendan Walsh 

11908 Envy Eric Swanson 

12416 Robert Astrove 

12417 Redline Doug Taphouse 

12588 Tijuana Taxi Greg Virgin 

12743 Chiquita Keith & Paul Hankins 

13977 Lord Jim Suzie Gilbert 

14019 Peter Grimes 

14037 Bony Buns Edgar Hunting & Joe Warren 

14096 Gray Ghost Drew & Sousan Arafeh Hudson 

14100 Moonshadow Red Fehrle & Amee Devine-Wiggins 

14187 !Vaya Chica! Laurie Duncan 

14222 Windchaser Russell Roberts 

14375 Out of the Blue Peter M McDonnell 

14395 String Theory Robert Wilbur 

14485 Deux Poissons et un Chat Ron Buchanan 

14521 Puff the Magic Dragon Joe Anderson 

14532 Boonoonoonoos Robin Tompkins 

14553 Sinistra Richard Welch 

14566 Resistance is Futile Frank & Maryann Gallagher 

14592 Beedobeat John Butler & Benjamin Forman 

14627 No More Excuses James Dillard 

15117 Shamrock Marian Bruno 

15142 Shadowfax Nabeel Alsalam 

15228 Blue Two Walter David Thompson 

15256 Ariel Jeffrey Strock 

Fleet Captain ....................................................... Jeffrey Storck 

Fleet Secretary/Webmaster ........................... David Thompson 

Fleet Treasurer .................................................Frank Gallagher 

Fleet Lieutenant ..................................................Rob Tompkins 

Potomac Cup Regatta Chair .......................... David Thompson 

Fleet Scorer ..........................................................Russ Roberts 

Fleet Champion ................................................ Nabeel Alsalam 

Fleet Runner-Up ...................................................... Pat McGee 

Modernizing the Fleet—Continued 

2005 saw Fleet 50 continue its modernization program 

that started in 2004, with several skippers 

moving up to new boats. First, Marian Bruno joined 

the fleet in January, bringing her newly acquired 

15117, Shamrock, to the marina; then Fleet Captain 

Jeff Storck purchased 15256, Ariel, hoping to 

have her here in time for the Spring Regatta, but 

missing that date by two weeks. 


But that was not all! Steve Gregg left the fleet in 

June, heading for a new job in Boston, but leaving 

behind his beloved 14222 Bathtub Gin, that 

was quickly picked up by new skipper Russ Roberts 

and renamed Windchaser. Ben Forman, previous 

owner of the legendary 12081 Swill Dog, returned 

to Washington and promptly bought a share in 

John Butler’s 14592 Beedobeat. Bob Wilbur sold 

13317 Witcher and purchased 14395 String Theory 

from Jeff Storck. New skipper Greg Virgin acquired 

14588 Tijuana Taxi and brought her to Washington 

from Florida; and later in the season Rob Tompkins 

purchased 14522 Boonoonoonos, from Bob 

Harkrider and brought her into the fleet. Earlier, 

Paul Maher had sold his rust red Rogue 11792 to 

the duo of Bobby Fulton and Brendan Walsh, who 

promptly painted her a new, and very attractive 

midnight blue; and new skipper Keith Hankins 

obtained the bright yellow 12743 Chiquita from 

Jay Gray, and sailed her aggressively this summer 

before heading back to Brown University for fall 

semester. Sam Zadeh found that between his new 

business and a new bride he no longer had time 

to sail, and graciously donated his yellow 12416 to 

the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to be auctioned 

as a fundraiser at the Leukemia Cup. Bobby 

Astrove, deciding that owning one Lightning was 

not enough, turned out to be the high bidder and 

brought her home for a restoration project. We did 

have thoughts of conducting a bright-yellow-only 

regatta for the quartet of Bobby’s new boat and 

Chiquita, Tijuana Taxi, and Jim Greenwell’s 10226 

String Cheese, with of course an invitation extended 

to Starling Mikell of the Susquehanna fleet to 

bring 15118 Yellow Boat down for the competition. 

Maybe next year. 

In the meantime, David Thompson sold 10745, 

EGV, to Frank Gallagher as a fixer-upper, which 

Frank did before selling her to a day sailing skipper 

in Olney, Maryland. 

Regattas (Running and Sailing In)! 

For Fleet 50, 2005 was the year of the Regatta! 

Every spring, on the first weekend in May, we run 

the Doc Gilbert Memorial Potomac Cup on the 

Potomac River south of Washington at Leesylvania 

State Park, where the river is three miles wide. 

This year that weekend spanned the April 30/May 

1 dates, and saw a turnout of 30 Lightnings from 

as far as Buffalo NY and Wilmington, NC. We had 

great winds—although potentially severe thunderstorms 

were predicted for Saturday, they never 

materialized, and we had great sailing in 8–12 

mph southeasterly breezes under overcast skies. 

On Sunday it was even better, sunny with good, if 

gusty 15–20 MPH winds from the northwest. Jeff 

Storck headed a race committee of highly skilled 

PRSA skippers, including Frank Gallagher, Bobby 

Astrove, Red Fehrle, Rob Tompkins, Cathy Bleakly, 

Cathy Feig, Latane Montague and Bill Kleysteuber, 

who showed us how a regatta should be run. Dick 

Hallagan won the event for the sixth year in a row; 

Pierce Barden took second place; Steve Constants 

79


took third; Jamie Brickell took fourth. Pat McGee 

took fifth, and was the top Fleet 50 finisher. Mark 

Grinder from Buffalo won the trophy that recognizes 

the skipper who came the farthest; Phil Lange 

and Dan Pope from Rochester won the “middle of 

the Fleet” trophy. 

Then in June, we ran the 2005 Dixie District Championships 

on the Potomac on our home course 

right in front of Washington National Airport. This 

was the first time ever for Fleet 50 to host the 

Dixie Championships, and it was a roaring success! 

31 boats competed, including 14 from Fleet 

50. The weather was outstanding—highs both days 

were around 85 degrees under sunny skies with 

southerly winds 12–13 on Saturday, and 13–16 on 

Sunday. Allan Terhune from Pine Beach New Jersey, 

sailing with his spouse Katie and sister Kristen, 

took first place with four bullets and a second. 

Neal Fowler, sailing with Todd Johnson and Katie 

Offerman finished in second place. Nabeel Alsalam, 

sailing with Lisbet Kugler and Scott Bradford 

finished fifth. Two Fleet 50 skippers qualified for 

the North American championships in August. Jeff 

Storck brought the same Race Committee that we 

had organized for the Potomac Cup, and Regatta 

Chair David Thompson drew on the same organizing 

talent that brought success to the Doc Gilbert. 

New crewmember Kristen Lopez assisted with Race 

Committee work while taking 312 action photos of 

the racing over the two days, posting the results 

on the Internet for all to see. 

Crewmember Skip Hirsh provided this remembrance: 

Vince Lombardi once said, “If winning isn’t everything, 

then why do they keep score?” But every 

now and then it is good to be reminded that if 

winning was only about the best score, 80% of the 

Shadowfox chasing Greg Fisher as he approaches the finish line 

downwind at the 2005 Dixie Districts 

Photo by Kristen Lopez 

80 

competitors would have no reason to show up. The 

2005 Dixie District Championship was just such 

a reminder. My skipper was Frank Gallagher, our 

foredeck crew was Christy Lavigne, and I held my 

usual seat: “rail meat” up wind and flying the kite 

back down. We hadn’t sailed a race all season. We 

were rusty, clumsy, and slow. We got caught in really 

weird places resulting in two disqualifications, 

one OCS, a boat full of bruises and sore muscles, 

and a 21st place finish in a fleet of 31… but we 

won the Dixie Districts. We won, because Fleet 50 

won. We won, because everyone who sailed that 

weekend won. 

It was perhaps the best two consecutive days of 

racing that the Potomac River has coughed up in 

the 20 odd years that I have been sailing out of 

the Washington Sailing Marina. It was a competitive 

regatta with lots of close finishes in every 

part of the fleet. The wind was solid with enough 

variation to make things interesting; its prevailing 

direction could not have been more perfect for setting 

up courses off of Haines Point. The race committee 

was careful, and correct, but never forgot 

their primary function: to get off as many fair and 

challenging races as possible. The beer was cold; 

the steaks were hot; and, as those of us who have 

spent a lot of time around Lightning sailors in general 

and Fleet 50 in specific have come to expect, 

the camaraderie, inclusiveness, and sportsmanship 

rivaled any sporting venue, at any level of play, 

anywhere in the world. 

I started sailing Lightnings back in the early 80’s 

with John Butler, in an old wooden clunker. Since 

then I have sailed with a ton of different skippers 

and have finished in a lot of places in the fleet. 

I’ve seen Fleet 50 run regattas plagued with raging 

winds that seem to spring up from nowhere, and 

drifting breezes that could not begin to compete 

with even the lazy current of the Potomac in the 

blazing heat of summer. I’ve seen families build 

sailing dynasties; and crews get married and build 

families. I think, among all these losses and wins, 

high points and low, we must mark the regatta on 

June 11th and 12th among the highest of the high 

points for the fleet. 

I have not had much chance to sail this year, and 

I’ve missed the competition, the excitement, and 

most of all the fleet. I’ve missed yelling at Frank 

for yelling at me; I’ve missed cussing at Nabeel 

for sneaking in front of us again. I’ve missed the 

adrenaline pumping excitement and the frustrating 

windless moments. So for me, the 2005 Dixie 

Districts was an unqualified win. As for the score… 

well, we did better the second day than the first, 

so to paraphrase Mr. Lombardi, we didn’t lose, we 

just ran out of races. 

Fleet 50 also saw increased participation in local 

and regional regattas this year. Ten Fleet 50 boats 

competed in the PRSA Spring Regatta, with Nabeel 

Alsalam taking first place. Fourteen Fleet 50 boats 

participated in the Dixie District Championships, 

and Nabeel had the highest Fleet 50 finish, a 5th.

Two Fleet 50 boats went to the Atlantic Coast 

Championships in Wrightsville Beach NC; two to 

the Wooden Lightning Get-together in Syracuse; 

and two to the North American Championships in 

Sheboygan. Two Fleet 50 boats went to the Duck 

Challenge in Havre De Grace, which was won 

handily by Nabeel. Then, to kick off the Fall season, 

fourteen boats competed in the Presidents 

Cup/Leukemia cup regatta on the Potomac, won 

by Rick Welch. Three Fleet 50 boats journeyed to 

Solomons Island later in September to participate 

in the Southern Maryland Sailing Association’s 

Small Boat regatta, and Nabeel took first place 

there. Six Fleet 50 boats entered the wild Frigid 

Digit regatta in Annapolis in October; three went to 

the Borderline regatta; and three to the Hampton 

Fling in November, scoring a second, a third, and a 

fourth in that event. 

Pat McGee won the PRSA Spring series, with Rick 

Welch in second place and Nabeel Alsalam in third 

place. Nabeel Alsalam won the PRSA Fall series, 

with Ben Forman/John Butler in second place and 

Pat McGee in third. For the season, Nabeel took first 

place, Pat McGee took second, and Rick Welch took 

third. An analysis of the results revealed that, for 

the top twelve finishers in the 51-race Championship 

series, eleven of the top twelve were within 10 

points of each other (low point scoring). Contrasting 

this from earlier years, in 2002 only six of the top 

twelve finished within 10 points of each other; in 

2003, eight of the top twelve did. The closeness of 

the finishes in 2005 shows how much more competitive 

the fleet has become, and reflects the results 

of the fleet modernization program. 

An analysis of PRSA racing records for the 2005 

season revealed that 97 different individuals 

served as Lightning crew at least once during the 

season, sailing on 24 different boats, in racing 

events including the PRSA Spring and Fall series; 

the Doc Gilbert Memorial Potomac Cup Regatta; 

the PRSA Spring Regatta; and the Leukemia/Presidents 

cup regatta. 

This year as in last, Joe Warren and Frank Gallagher 

served as coaches for the Maryland Special 

Olympics regatta. 


Kudos to Nabeel Alsalam who stepped up to the 

role of Dixie District Commodore; Jeff Storck who 

was elected Commodore of the Potomac River 

Sailing Association; and Drew Hudson, who won 

the PRSA Fleet Captain’s award for his outstanding 

work in running Race Committees this year. 

Annual End-of-Season Banquet 

David Thompson was named the most improved 

skipper for 2005, and his crew of Barb Thompson 

and Catherine Calvin were named as the most 

improved crew. Nabeel Alsalam took away the 

Iron Skipper award, having raced in a Lightning 

on 42 total race days; Pat McGee and Rick Welch 

each sailed 25 days. Lisbet Kugler won the new All 

Weather Crew perpetual award for her participation 

as crew on 44 different race days; Paul Maher was 

second with 21 days. High Impact Crew nominees 

were Cathy Bleakly; Joe Kimak; Paul Maher; and 

Vince Wawrzynski, with the nod going to Cathy and 

Paul. Best New Crew nominees were Henry Cheng 

and Geof Bishop, with the award going to Geof. 

The Crew’s Choice awards went to Frank Gallagher 

(Mr. Hospitality); David Thompson (Mr. Congeniality); 

Bob Astrove (Skipper of the Year); with Bungle 

Buckets awarded to Pat McGee and Laurie Duncan. 

Pat was recognized for hoisting a spinnaker 

on approach to the finish line (upwind finish) in a 

desperate attempt to block the wind for his closest 

competitors, only to discover that the maneuver 

froze his boat in her tracks, allowing five trailing 

boats to slip by and finish ahead of him. Laurie was 

recognized for a bad day on the water (that was 

still better than a good day in the office) that she 

memorialized in report to the fleet. 

The Bloody Rudder perpetual trophy went this year, 

for the fourth year in a row, to Nabeel Alsalam. This 

trophy goes to the Fleet 50 skipper with the lowest 

number of points (low point scoring) in 3 in-town 

and 7 out-of-town regattas; Nabeel only missed 

one of those 10 regattas and accumulated just 35 

points; Rick Welch was second, with 94 points. 

81


Fleet 192—Lower Susquehanna 

Sailing on Susquehanna River 

Havre de Grace, Maryland 


The sailing season was once again kicked off early 

by Jason Werner and his now fiance Heather Dodd 

and Matt Jay heading to the warm weather for the 

Southern Circuit. This warm weather event has 

the effect of shaking off the rust for the upcoming 

season, which was evidenced by the Werner boat 

accomplishments this year. 

The local sailing season started with fleet members 

helping the local J-24 fleet host their annual regatta. 

The fellowship and good spirits was returned 

later in the season when help was provided with 

the Fleet 192 Regatta. 

Although the number of boats in the lot this year 

was down, the level of participation for Thursday 

nights was consistently better this year leading to 

improved competition. Jason Werner showed yet 

more improvement by sweeping both the spring 

and summer series. Carl Muska and crew earned 

2nd place in spring and Patrick Phelan and crew 

took 2nd in the summer series. 

Several boats attended the various District regattas 

this year enjoying the great camaraderie and 

hospitality, which is pervasive in the Dixie District. 

Both the Werner and Phelan boats placed in several 

of these regattas and managed to qualify for 

the North Americans. Unfortunately, Matt Jay with 

Shamoo’s Ghost never overcame her persistent 

structural difficulties despite her sharp paint job, 

to meaningfully participate in the season. Although 

disappointing for Matt, it was also disappointing for 

82 


Myrl Stone 

Jen Adams 

10302 Blueberries for Sale Mark Hergan 

11240 Mark Daghir 

11248 Piloerection Mark Sanford 

12613 Boat Mike McCusker 

13047 Shamoo’s Ghost Matthew Jay 

13184 Garrett Pensell 

13667 Douglas Fletcher 

14165 Soggy Breakdown Robert McAnally 

14366 T2 Patrick Phelan 

14629 Thomas Compton 

15024 Killer Biscuts Jason Werner 

15131 Just Call Me Names Carl Muska 

Fleet Captain .......................................................... Jason Werner 

Fleet Secretary .......................................................Patrick Phelan 

Fleet Treasurer .................................................Karen L’Empereur 

Fleet Champ ...............................................Jason Werner & Crew 

those of us who enjoyed the stories from Shamoo’s 

exploits. Thus the road warrior title would go 

to…you guessed it, Killer Biscuts. The title of most 

courageous could go to our newest member Tom 

Compton, who purchased Steve Constants boat 

and although new to sailing was consistently racing/practicing. 

His persistence is sure to pay off in 

the not too distant future. 

For the 3rd year running Fleet 192 sparred in 

a team competition with Fleet 253 for bragging 

rights on the Susquehanna River. Hosted in Havre 

de Grace, Fleet 192 ran into a well-oiled team from 

the North which won overall for the first time. This 

writer cannot emphasize enough how much fun the 

two fleets have and encourage others to try this 

unique format. 

The best performance of the year on the racing 

ledger was garnered by Jason Werner, Heather 

Dodd and Jose Montiero, when they won the Presidents 

fleet at the North Americans held in beautiful 

Sheboygan. They overcame the RV ghetto experience 

to shine when it counted! This was no small 

feat given the conditions, which included wind, no 

wind, fog, shifts, washboard waves, no waves. The 

series put a premium on team experience. Congrats 

to Jason and crew for a fine job! 

Racers returned home to host our Fleet Regatta, 

the Duck Challenge. For the 3rd year in a row the 

weather gods were with us and provided many (9) 

races on the lower Susquehanna River. The racing 

was keen, with Nabeel Alsalam (PRSA) winning the 

weekend. Local boats fared well with Werner (3), 

Phelan (5) and Sanford (6) finishing in the top third. 

The format of smaller courses allowed the many 

races, which was well received by the competitors. 

Thanks go to Garrett Pensell for arranging the fine 

duck decoy trophies for places 1–5 including crew 

along with the hospitality of Tidewater Marina. 

Patrick Phelan, Matt Jay, Adam Dolezal at the 

North Americans—great set guys!

Fleet 253—Susquehanna Yacht Club 

Sailing on Susquehanna River 

Long Level, Pennsylvania 



Carol Park 

9897 Jonsella Stephen D Tiley 

9904 Craig & Becky Cassel 

11329 Rare Vos Joseph & Tina Lauver 

11582 Walt Poyck 

12081 Swill Dog Brian Schooling 

13218 Sneak Attack Kenneth C Kuzdro 

13813 Double Whammy Frederick S Bush 

14074 Richard M Doherty 

14156 Starthrower Charles F Noble 

14204 Ma Jolie Neil Clark 

14365 Strikes Twice Thomas Decker & Anita Blackaby 

14525 Spitfire John & Caroline Bates 

14692 Potluck Matt Potvin 

14777 Joseph Deerin 

14902 Miss Conduct Bill Remorenko 

14927 Shark Bite Michael Wertz 

15118 Yellow Boat Starling H Mikell, III 

15132 Temerity Peter Pundt 

15159 Frank Hanson 

15210 Kevin MacNeil 

Fleet Captain ............................................................... Pete Pundt 

Fleet Secretary ........................................................Michael Wertz 

Fleet Treasurer ........................................................... Ken Kuzdro 

Fleet Champion ............................................................ Carol Park 

The Susquehanna Yacht Club and Lightning Fleet 

253 enjoyed another thrilling season sailing and 

racing on the beautiful Susquehanna River. Thank 

you to all of those who participated and helped 

during the 2005 season. 

We hosted our second annual Junior Sailing Day on 

June 18th and the event was once again very successful. 

We had 20 junior sailors this year. There 

were 25 volunteers, mostly Lightning sailors, who 

assisted with land drills and sailing. The weather 

was a repeat of last year, a beautiful sunny day 

with cooperating winds of 6-8 knots. 

During the first half of the Junior Sailing Day, the 

students rotated through four different skill areas 

including sailing basics, knot tying, land-based 

sailing simulators and capsize drills. We used Sunfishes 

and Lasers for the capsize drills, and, since 

it was a warm day, most of the students enjoyed 

doing this in-the-water activity. 

The second half was spent sailing and practicing 

the drills the junior sailors learned on land. They 

had the opportunity to crew on and skipper the 


Star Mikell at the Dixie Districts on the Potomac 

Lightnings. The day was completed with a barbecue 

and certificate ceremony. 

The summer series started well with an average 

of 15 boats on the line for the Wednesday night 

races. The winds were brisk most evenings and we 

were able to race without any cancellations. This 

series was won by Carol Park; second and third 

were Star Mikell and John Bates. 

The fall series was a welcome change from the 

previous two years. There were no hurricanes in 

our region! Although the winds were lighter during 

this series, only one race was cancelled because of 

a lack of wind. Kevin MacNeil took first place in this 

series followed by Carol Park and Star Mikell. 

Congratulations to Carol Park for winning the Frey 

Cup Trophy for Fleet Champion for 2005! Carol has 

won the trophy two previous times, in 2002 and 

2003, and, as always, she had to overcome very 

fierce competition from her fleet members. Carol 

and her crew, Bill and Linda Remorenko, also finished 

first and second, respectively, in the Summer 

and Fall series. 

Fleet 253 hosted the annual Sweet Corn Regatta 

in August. Although we were able to start only one 

race because of a scarcity of wind, the dinner and 

music afterward were bountiful. We have ordered 

more wind for next year’s regatta. 

We attended the annual King of the River team 

racing challenge on the upper Chesapeake. It was 

the Mighty Ducks of Havre de Grace’s turn to host 

this year. The third time was definitely a charm for 

our club as the Susquehanna fleet won the challenge 

after two unsuccessful tries. This team-racing 

event is definitely one of the highlights of our 

racing season. 

83


Boats from our fleet continue to maintain a presence 

at the Dixie District regattas and others: Dixie 

District Champion (5), Duck Regatta (4), Solomons 

Island Regatta (5), Potomac Cup (1), and the Annapolis 

Frigit Digit (3). In addition, we had more 

boats (4) attend the 2005 Southern Circuit than 

any other Lightning fleet. 

We had another new skipper join the Fleet this 

year: Matt Potvin. That brings our Fleet up to 

twenty boats. 

Our membership remains strong and committed to 

the spirit of Lightning racing. Until next year, see 

you down at the river. 

Frey Trophy Standings: 

1. Carol Park 

2. Kevin MacNeil 

3. Star Mikell 

4. Tom Dexter 

5. Mike Wertz 

6. Rick Doherty 

84 

Rick Dogherty chases Rick Remorenko and Star Mikell 

on the Susquehanna 

Carol Park and Mike Wertz at the Dixie Districts 

Fleet 314—Kentmore Park 

Sailing on Sassafras River 

Chestertown, Maryland 



9391 Les Moorhouse 

12381 Robert B Horne 

12710 Alfred B Mast 

12964 John D Farquhar MD 

13926 Peter Austin 

14218 Howard S Edson 

14265 Ted Ganley MD 

14648 F Thomas Hopkins MD 

14651 Alfred B Mast 

15023 Star O’Dust Robert B Horne 

David J Horne 

Fleet Captain ...............................................................Ted Ganley 

Fleet Secretary ...........................................................Dave Horne 

Fleet Champion ............................................................Bob Horne 

We followed our typical racing format this summer 

by splitting the season into four series of four 

races each. Each series winner is awarded one of 

the Fleet’s perpetual trophies. Our numbers have 

dwindled this season to an average of four boats 

out on the water most weekends. That is a far cry 

from the late 70s and early 80s when we would 

see a fleet of fifteen Lightnings and scores of 

juniors sailing Lightnings, Lasers, and Sunfish. Although 

our community has evolved over the years 

into a majority of non-sailors, a few “old-timers” 

still faithfully race every Saturday morning, includ-

ing more children this year than in the recent past. 

And due to some new enthusiasm, we have even 

re-activated a dead Sunfish fleet with the hopes of 

getting our new sailors into the Lightnings. 

The season started off with first of our two annual 

Bay Races. Tom and Jim Hopkins won the race, 

followed by John Farquhar, Bob Horne, and Ted 

Ganley. 

Ted Ganley was awarded the Walbert Cup for the 

first series of the season with a 1-2-1-2 series, 

with Bob Horne and Jim Hopkins finishing in second 

and third. The second series was won by John 

Farquhar (Buss Neff Cup) after posting finishes of 

2-1-3-3. Les Moorhouse and Ted Ganley finished in 

second and third, respectively. 

The third series of the summer (The Skippers Cup) 

was won by Ted Ganley with finishes of 1-2-1-1. 

Bob Horne took second and John Farquhar followed 

in third. The Commodores Trophy was awarded 

to Bob Horne for final series of the season with 

a sweep of 1-1-1-1. Ted Ganley and Jim Hopkins 

finished in second and third. 

The final race of the season was our Fall Bay Race, 

which for the second time this year saw light and 

variable winds, causing numerous changes of position. 

Jim Hopkins pulled out the victory, followed 

by Ted Ganley, John Farquhar, and Bob Horne. 

The James V Ganley Fleet Champion Trophy went 

to Bob Horne this year. His consistency over the 

years has finally paid off. It’s great to see Bob 

and John Farquhar out on the water almost every 

weekend, and it hasn’t been unusual to see both of 

them up front this year. 

This season’s annual Banquet was once again held 

at the Granary in Georgetown. The day concluded 

with the presentation of the Forrest R. Schussler 

Award for Outstanding Service to the Kentmore 

Park Sailing Club, which was fittingly presented to 

John Farquhar. 


Fleet 325—Rehoboth Bay Sailing Association 

Sailing on Rehoboth Bay 

Rehoboth Beach, Delaware 



11899 W David Racine 

12160 Turtle Alex Stein 

Fleet Contact .....................................................W David Racine 

While our numbers are few, I’m glad that the Lightning 

Class keeps coming back for the Delaware 

Governor’s Cup. Rehoboth Bay is a great place to 

sail and race. This year we had ten boats and two 

beautiful days. Too bad the wind would pick up for 

the start only to die before the finish. Next year, 

we’ll have the regatta later in the summer when 

the sea breeze should be more reliable. 

Fleet 329—Severn Sailing Association 

Sailing on Chesapeake Bay 

Annapolis, Maryland 



C B Currier 

9655 Sundance James Bielefeld 

10860 Still Crazy Gregory & Jo Ann Fisher 

14049 Diana Lohmeyer 

14096 Anthony Vernon 

14139 Boatbox Robert Harmon 

14191 Newfie Spencer Abbot 

14221 Iwakuni Mark Whitson 

14548 Pain Killer Johnthan S Guth 

14581 E Joseph Friebele 

14950 Ultra Lightning Ed Michels 

15016 Loon James B & Susan C Brickell 

Kimberly Brickell Flank 

15054 Blue Highways Jonathan I & Derek Lange 

15202 Todd Johnson & Neal Fowler 

15240 Got Moe Joe Stephen Constants 

15252 Alan Terhune 

Fleet Captain ................................................................Ed Michels 

Fleet Treasurer ........................................................Todd Johnson 

Fleet Champion ..................................................Steve Constants 

85


Fleet 329—Severn Sailing Association 

2005 was a year of change and progress: the 

schedule was evened out across the season, 

another weekend was added, socials were added 

Saturday evening for every racing weekend, and 

participation was up significantly. 

The schedule was changed to have the Lightnings 

race the third weekend of the month; an August 

weekend was added to have a weekend of racing 

from May through October. (April is being added 

in 2006.) The regularity of “the third weekend” 

helped skippers, crew, family and friends to keep 

the dates free for racing. (The pattern is being 

continued into 2006.) SSA has been described as 

a “club of one-design fleets”; there are 11 regular 

fleets, and three others trying to get big enough. 

SSA races every weekend, April into November, 

but usually only three or four fleets on any given 

weekend. At SSA, we also have Tuesday evening 

racing May through early Sept., and the District 

has 9 regattas at other clubs during the season. All 

but one is within a 75-minute drive of SSA. 

Mark Whitson and Bob Harmon arranged for socials 

every racing Saturday night; formats varied, but 

knowing there would be something every time 

drew racers and family in good number. 

The average number of fleet racers per local weekend 

went from 6.4 in 2004 to 8.0 in 2005. 

Steve Constants won the No Gas Regatta, followed 

by Jamie Brickell and Todd Johnson. The Spring 

Series: Steve Constants, followed by Todd Johnson 

and Jamie Brickell; Summer series: Todd Johnson, 

followed by Steve Constants and Jon Guth; Fall 

Series: Jon Guth, followed by Steve Constants and 

Todd Johnson. Steve Constants was the overall 

Season Champion. 

The fleet was really competitive in 2004, now it 

is even more so. Allan Terhune, now a coach at 

the Naval Academy, joined Greg Fisher, the local 

One-Design North guy, at the top. The fleet continues 

to send four to six boats to the Southern 

Circuit and the NAs, and dominates the top of 

the District Championships. 

Diana Lohmeyer (in addition to Allan) joined the 

fleet in 2005; several potential new members are 

in the wings for 2006. 

86 

Jon Gluth placed 4 th at Dixie Districts 

Under the Regatta Chairmanship of Jon Guth and 

the help of the entire fleet, the Frigid Digit Regatta 

was better than ever. Two years in a row now the 

wind really blew; Sunday was wisely cancelled due 

to excessive conditions. (The “I Survived the Frigid 

Digit” bumper stickers from 2004 were spotted on 

local (Chilean) boats at the World Championships 

in Chile!) 

Frigid Digit attendance was up by 1 to 46; the fleet 

was led by Al Terhune, Neal Fowler, and Jamie Allan. 

For 2006, Severn Ssailing Association and the 

Fleet will help its next-door neighbor, EYC, hold the 

final Pan Am Games Lightning Trials. They will be 

on the 4 weekdays preceding the 2006 Lightning 

Frigid Digit. With the 20 or so trials boats anticipated 

to stay around for the Frigid Digit, the Frigit 

Digit field will probably be larger and more competitive 

than it has ever been. Come join us!

Fleet 496—Swift Creek 

Sailing on Swift Creek Reservoir 

Chesterfield County, Virginia 



14292 Macerator Jim Richards 

Fleet Captain & Swabee ........................................Jim Richards 

Fleet 508—Solomons 

Sailing on Patuxent River and Chesapeake Bay 

Solomons, Maryland 



9991 Spartina Lindsay Bach 

10096 Boat Jake & Diane Layer 

11271 La Cochon Rouge Chuch Collins 

11951 Banana Boat Matt Oster 

11983 Lolly Jeff Kumke 

13640 Bolt’a Dan Schneider 

14028 Permanent Accessory Don Behrens 

14800 Sofa King David & Jacki Meiser 

15101 Patriot Dan & Alice Liston 

Fleet Co-Captain ......................................................Don Behrens 

Fleet Co-Captain .......................................................Dave Meiser 

Fleet Secretary ......................................................Shawn Stanley 

Fleet Champion ..........................Dave Meiser/Crew on Sofa King 

The 2005 Thursday Night Race Series again saw 

Lightnings as the biggest one-design fleet with 4-5 

boats normally found on the start line each Thursday. 

The Thursday evening racing was much more 

competitive this year with there being no run-away 

winner of the summer Thursday Night Series as 

in years past. This years winner was Dave & Jacki 

Meiser and Barry Friedman on team “Sofa King”, 

proving that the go fast “BBQ Pork Rinds” were the 

secret to Thursday night speed. They still won’t reveal 

the brand-name and the rest of us have tried 

many various brands to no avail. Dan Liston and 

crew finished a close second just barely beating 

out Don Behrens and crew. 


Only three of us managed to travel to various 

District regattas this year, but each reports having 

a great time, as expected, out enjoying the friendship 

and competition of our Dixie District friends. 

Dan Liston started the year traveling to the Doc 

Gilbert Cup on the Potomac. Don Behrens traveled 

to the Rehobeth Beach regatta. Both Dave Meiser 

and Dan Liston made it to the District Championships, 

and then Dave Meiser closed out our traveling 

year by going to the “Duck” regatta in Havre 

de Grace. 

The Southern Maryland Sailing Association (SMSA) 

Small Boat Invitational was again held in mid-September. 

The Lightnings were again (for the 9th) 

year the largest one-design fleet with 14 boats 

competing. Four races were held and the racing 

was excellent. Although on the first day there was 

a bit of carnage between the Lightnings fleet and 

several multi-hulls racing in another fleet. One 

of these incidents resulted in a newly installed 

starboard side window and a modified (read as 

severely shortened) rudder on the defending 

champ (from 2004) boat “Permanent Accessory”. 

This also resulted in an early retirement from day 

one of racing. A bunch of help repairing the hull 

and a nearly all-night session by Don and faithful 

crew Shawn Stanley rebuilding the rudder wasn’t 

enough to even get team PA back into the top half 

of the fleet. While Don played with his boat the onthe-water 

activities continued, with Nabeel Alsalam 

(PRSA) winning the weekend. 

The biggest news is in the outstanding crew development 

program that is occurring within Fleet 

508 (and we promise it has nothing to do with our 

proximity to the Tiki Bar). Dave and Jacki Meiser 

(14800) are the proud parents of Henry J. who 

joined the ranks of future crew in January. Dan and 

Alice Liston (15101) are the proud parents of Brett 

who joined the ranks of future crew in July. 

87


Fleet 509—Fishing Bay 

Sailing on Fishing Bay 

Deltaville, Virginia 


2005 was not the banner year we had hoped, but 

it still was a good year. Ron Buchanan moved to 

DC but is still active in the District, and I have now 

moved to an at sea Navy job that limits my sailing. 

However we look forward to resurgence in 

2006, starting with the Dixie Districts to be held 

at Hampton Yacht Club. The club is fully behind 

the event and it will be a spectacular one. Hampton 

has hosted US Sailing Championships, several 

National Championships, and host the Annual Black 

Seal Cup. 

As always we look forward to hosting the Hampton 

Lightning Fling. Once again this year was a spectacular 

event. Short course racing kept everyone 

close. Although the winds were a little bit light we 

had five outstanding short races providing close 

quarters, and tactics that made your head spin. After 

four of five races, there were three teams tied 

for first: Ben Forman, Nabeel Alsalam and myself. 

The last race proved to be a great race that went 

down to the wire. Nabeel rounded the last mark in 

second and I was a close third while Drew Hudson 

was out in front. With a short last leg a tacking 

duel ensued and when everything was done we still 

were not positive who crossed the line in second. 

Fortunately for, us we got the nod by about a half 

inch. I was excited as this was the first time Rich 

Morris and Mat Jay enjoyed a victory. But the great 

part was that everyone had a great time and the 

racing was always close. Additionally, the oyster 

roast and fried turkey at Leigh Morgan’s house 

was great. A party that everyone enjoyed. Plus the 

entry was a measly $20! 

We are excited about hosting both the Districts and 

the Hampton Fling. We look forward to showing everyone 

our hospitality and great racing. So, if you 

are even thinking about it, come on down to the 

Hampton Roads area and enjoy some great sailing, 

the beaches and everything the area has to offer. 

88 


14485 Deux Poissons et un Chat Ronald R Buchanan 

15084 Irie Joe Buczkowski 

Fleet Captain .....................................................Joe Bucakowski 

Fleet Champion ..................................................Joe Bucakowski 

ECUADOR 

FLEETS 

405 Salinas Yacht Club 447 Club Nautico San Pablo 

District Commodore ..Juan Rafael Santos Dillon 

Fleet 405—Salinas Yacht Club 

Sailing on Pacific Ocean 

Guayaquil, Ecuador 

Ecuador District 


8513 Roberto Campoverde Abuelo 

9411 Enrique “Kike” Granja Huevo Frito 

10114 Rafael Quintero Finesse 

11153 Francis Parker 

11928 Ratonera Sebastian Herrera 

14099 Desencuentro Miguel A Plaza 

14145 Flota Azul José “Pepe” Gonzalez-Rubio 

14150 Plastico Fantastico Francisco J Sola, Sr 

14163 Julio Velez 

14379 Extreme Jaime “Pincho” Calderson 

14383 Alegato II Jimmy Pazmiño 

14461 Alberto Maspons 

14541 Colo Cesar “Colo” Baquerizo 

14671 Magia Juan R “Juanra” Santos, Jr 

14673 Black Beauty Juan M Santos, Sr 

14674 Marraqueta Alfredo Ochoa 

14676 Garufa Carlos L Lecaro 

15094 Culilla Juan C “Culilla” Plaza 

15095 Mazmorra Santiago Romero 

15096 Pataki Xavier Monge 

15150 For Sale Francisco X “Paco” Sola 

Our efforts to increase participation in the fleet 

have paid off, and we are proud to report that we 

have three junior skippers who are currently training 

to participate in the 2006 Youth Worlds. These 

skippers have lowered the average age of the fleet 

by, well, a lot of years! 

Our fleet division has also paid off. We are in the 

third year of awarding prizes to winners of the 

blue, green and junior fleets. Even though all 

boats sail together, we carry separate scores for 

each fleet, thus keeping both top level sailors and 

weekend sailors enthusiastic and able to win some 

silver. The rules are simple, those that are in the 

green fleet will be automatically upgraded to blue 

status when they win three regattas in a row. 

Likewise, when a blue fleet member finishes last 

in three consecutive events, will be demoted to 

green status.

Carlos Lecaro, Oscar Viteri & Paco Sola representing 

Ecuador at the World Championships in Chile 

The Ecuador-Brazil Challenge and Salinas Tominé 

(Ecuador-Colombia) were two highlights of the 

sailing season. The first one was a regatta that 

was born at the 2004 South Americans in Brazil, 

when at the warmth of caipirinhas, this challenge 

was born. Great participation from both countries, 

excellent sailing and even better social activities 

made everyone promise to keep this one regatta 

on our calendars. Lets hope we can keep it going, 

despite the distances between our fleets. The 

Salinas Tominé is now in its 15th year and running 

strong, having become a tradition deeply ingrained 

in the roots of both Club Nautico del Muña and 

Salinas Yacht Club Members. 

Our traditional club regattas were also huge successes: 

the Regata de la Amistad, a multi-class 

event that is, above all, a celebration of the joy of 

sailing, in which most boats sail with family mem- 

From top to bottom: Paco Sola, 

Arturo Iturralde, Rafael Lecaro 


bers; Copa Genesis, which is starting to become 

a classic that nobody wants to miss, especially 

because of the hostesses at the party; the Salinas 

Yacht Club Cup, which gives the winner bragging 

rights by allowing them to put their boat’s name on 

the Lightning bar’s Lightning; the Copa Santiago 

Romero, sponsored by Santiago himself, usually 

held on or close to his birth date, which makes for 

interesting parties. 

From left to right: Julio Velez, 

Maria Beatriz Gonzalez Rubio, Gabriel Moran 

So yes, our fleet is all about fun, both on and off 

the water! We pride ourselves of being able to sail 

in close-to-perfect conditions all year round, and 

this fact alone makes the friendships among our 

fleet members very strong. 

Roby Campoverde, his wife Alexis in the middle 

and Daniela Heinert doing bow. 

That is a fine woodie, it belonged to ILCA past President Paco Sola’s 

grandad (the first Paco), its hull number is 8513. Paco’s dad gave it 

to Roby sometime after Paco’s grandfather passed away and Roby 

did a beautiful job restoring it with his own hands. 

89


Fleet 447—Club Nautico San Pablo 

Sailing on Lago San Pablo 

Quito, Ecuador 

Ecuador District 

90 


11661 Santiago Aguirre 

12338 Speedy Diego Leon 

14405 Lars Dyck 

14558 Ernesto Martinez F 

14765 Quicky Olaf Dyck 

Marcelo Leon, Maria Clara Ordonez, Ole Emmick 

FINLAND 

166 Helsinki 

FLEETS 

328 Jyvaskyla 

456 Tuusulvanjarvi 468 Valkeakoski 

District Commodore ................. Sakari Pesola 

Fleet 166—Helsinki 

Sailing on Gulf of Finland 

Helsinki, Finland 

Finland District 


13130 Masi III Juha Savela 

13413 Pertti Pyy 

14352 Sini Riitta Kangas 

14406 Amarillo Pertti Pyy 

14535 Snow White Antero Punttila 

14638 Matti Leppanen 

During the sailing season 2005 the Helsinki Fleet 

166 continued to work in close co-operation 

with the Tuusulanjärvi fleet 456. Kimmo Aromaa 

with Masi V and Lauri Hemming were our active 

sailors. For Kimmo and his crew the season could 

not have been more succesful—a first place in all 

eight regattas they sailed in Finland, the District 

Championship and first place in the ranking 

series. The District Championship was Kimmo’s 

third. Lauri was fifth in the Districts, sailed couple 

of good ranking regattas and was sixth in the 

overall ranking series. 

In the middle of the summer crew of Masi V was 

also involved in training of less experienced sailors. 

Tuning, sailing safely in strong wind and righting a 

capsized Lightning were the most important areas. 

Did you know that when you are trying to deliberately 

capsize a Lightning it can be quite difficult? 

In the Europeans in Porto San Giorgio “Masi” 

was the best Finnish boat, finishing in fifth place. 

Kimmo´s final analysis was: “An even series with 

good races will not give medals. You need to have 

top races.” 

Kimmo sold his trusty old Masi V and is now working 

with new wooden Lightning project. The boat 

construction is based on laser-cut frames and epoxy 

bottom. It is now 50 years since the first boat 

5544 was built for the Aromaa family. The newest 

boat will have a number almost 10000 higher and 

15281 will sail actively in 2006.

Fleet 328—Jyvaskyla 

Sailing on Lake Paijanne 

Jyvaskyla, Finland 



14364 Nikea Sampa J Salminen 

Jyväskylän Veneseura Yacht Club, Jyväskylä 

Fleet 456—Tuusulvanjarvi 

Sailing on Tuusulvanjarvi 

Tuusula, Finland 



13130 Masi III Juha Savela 

13413 Pertti Pyy 

14352 Sini Riitta Kangas 

14406 Amarillo Pertti Pyy 

14535 Snow White Antero Punttila 

14638 Matti Leppanen 

Our fleet was very active this year. In Heinosniemi 

we joined the Jyväskylä fleet in a training session 

for new sailors and crew members. The idea was 

that a professional crew would have a skipper with 

little or no sailing experience and vice versa. It 

was fun and useful for both members and coaches, 

especially the demonstration on how to turn the 

boat up again after swimming. 


After Heinosniemi, we packed our boats for the 

Italian Europeans. In Porto San Giorgio we had 

five boats from Finland, two of them from Tuusula. 

14331 Shark was the 15th and 14352 Sini the 

20th. When driving in Germany, it was raining all 

the time and when we entered Italy as well. Then 

we totally agreed with the famous Finnish javelin 

thrower Seppo Räty what he thought about the 

German weather. Before the race it was worrying 

to look at the boats planning to go out in a rather 

heavy wind. As there was no landing stage, the 

result was a hole in one boat and only a boat out. 

However, in the Europeans the hidden sun started 

to shine again. The sailing conditions were perfect, 

but for some reason most of us did not find our 

maximum boat speed. 

For our team, it took some time to notice that 

there was more wind even closer to the breakwater 

side. 

In November, we (this time team Pesola, Bollström 

and Kangas) participated in the Chile Worlds. According 

to the organizers the prevalent weather 

pattern was moderate wind for three days and BLH 

for the next three. BLH means blows like hell. In 

our lake, even when it is blowing, there are almost 

no waves at all. 

However, we were satisfied with our results, at 

least we did all we could. We capsized once but 

certainly we were not the only ones to do that. In 

the 6th race there were eight DNFs out of 45 boats. 

But we had fun with the Sur 35 wine and without. 

Sakari Pesola, Riitta Kangas, Pekka Bollstrom representing 

Finland at the World Championships 

91


Tuusulan fleetin vuosi oli aktiivinen. Yhdessä jyväskyläläisten 

kanssa järjestettiin Heinosniemessä 

uusille purjehtijoille koulutusleiri, jonka ajatuksena 

oli, että kokenut miehistö saa kipparikseen kokemattoman 

tai vähäisen kokemuksen omaavan kipparin 

ja toisin päin. Leirillä oli hauskaa ja erityisesti 

kaatumistreeni oli hyödyllinen kouluttajillekin. 

Heinosniemen jälkeen veneet pakattiin kohti Italian 

EM:iä. Porto San Giorgiossa oli 5 suomalaisvenettä, 

joista kaksi Tuusulasta. 14331 Shark oli 15. 

ja 14352 Sini 20:s. Saksassa ajaessamme satoi ja 

aluksi satoi perilläkin. Saksasta totesimme Seppo 

Rädyn olleen oikeassa: “Saksa on p- maa”. Näin 

ainakin pelloilta tulevan hajun ja sään perusteella. 

Ennen varsinaista kisaa katselimme huolestuneina 

rannasta treenaamaan pyrkiviä veneitä. Laiturin 

puute hankaloitti lähtemistä ja lopputuloksena olikin 

vain yksi harjoittelija ja yksi paikattava vene. Mutta 

lopulta varsinaisina EM-päivinä kadoksissa ollut 

aurinko alkoi paistaa. Sääolosuhteet olivat lopulta 

loistavat, mutta jostain syystä useimmilta meistä 

oli venevauhti hieman kateissa. Omalta miehistöltä 

meni lisäksi vähän aikaa uskoa, että tuultakin on 

haettava vielä lähempää aallonmurtajaa. 

Marraskuussa me (tällä kertaa Pesola, Bollström, 

Kangas) osallistuimme Chilen MM:iin. 

Kisajärjestäjän mukaan tavallista on, että ensin 

puhaltaa kohtuullisesti 3 päivää, jonka jälkeen on 

3 päivää BLH:ta. BLH eli blows like hell eli puhaltaa 

niin hemmetisti. Tuusulanjärven tuulissa ei aaltokokemusta 

oikein synny, mutta olimme silti tyytyväisiä 

tulokseen. 

92 

World Championship in Chile 

Ainakin annoimme kaikkemme. Kerran uitiin, muttei 

todellakaan oltu ainoita. 

Kuudennessa lähdössä 8 venettä 45:stä sai tulokseksi 

DNF:n. Mutta hauskaa meillä oli joka tapauksessa, 

sekä viinisponsorin suosiollisella tuella että ilman. 

Fleet 468—Valkeakoski 

Sailing on Lakes Mallevesi and Vanajavesi 

Valkeakoski, Finland 


Team Finland In San Giorgo, Italy for the European Championship

FLORIDA 

FLEETS 

226 Biscayne Bay 502 The Suncoast Fleet 

District Commodore ....................... Bill Mauk 

Commodore Bill Mauk 

Fleet 226—Biscayne Bay 

Sailing on Biscayne Bay 

Coconut Grove, Miami, Florida 

Florida District 


10700 James Mellor 

11702 Glockenspeil Larry J Ames 

14309 David Kurtz 

14374 Free Beer Yesterday Carol Stout Ewing 

14684 Scare Tactics Bill Johns 

14708 Booby Trap Fay Regan 

14930 Widespread Panic Stephen Horwitz 

15151 Palindrome Frank Atkinson 

Steve Horwitz—Winner of 

2005 Thanksgiving Regatta, Davis Island YC 


Fleet 502—The Suncoast Fleet 

Sailing at the Davis Island Yacht Club 

Tampa, Florida 

Florida District 


2 Fisk Hayden 

2924 Dream On Kenneth See 

6350 Uncle Mills Cortland Steck 

9098 Zapper Mark Rodgers 

10338 Salsa Picante Andrew Hayward & Rod Koch 

10565 Go Dog Go! Amy Smith Linton 

10944 Black Watch Cameron Carlin 

11346 FOB Christopher (Kip) Hamblet 

11379 Jonathan Rukhaver 

14006 Fired-Up William H Meyer, III 

14414 Emeline Michael S Maher 

14428 Yellow Kitten Sandy Scheda Klaus & Robby Brown 

14730 Dave White 

14748 Jim Alman 

14752 Calvin Steve Hayden & Fisk Hayden 

14780 Comedy Central Colin & Karen Park 

15083 Jeff Linton 

2005 was a quiet year for the Lightnings of the 

Suncoast. Notably, Robby Brown began sailing 

the Lightning this year, adding the Lightning to 

his dance card, which includes J-24s and Flying 

Scots. Jonathan Rukhaver moved to the St. 

Petersburg area and began campaigning #11379, 

and Jim Alman (hurrah!) finally replaced his missing 

Lightning (#14748). 

Our Districts were held in Miami, with a scant 

ten registrants; Frank Atkinson of Fleet 226 

topped the leader board, while Robby Brown 

finished third, Jeff Linton fourth, Bill Meyer, and 

Jonathan Rukhaver rounded out Fleet 502’s 

numbers at the Districts. 

We sent crew to the NA’s in Sheboygan: Jeff Linton 

crewed for Bill Fastiggi, Claudia Aguado and Dan 

Weidenhoft sailed with Bill Mauk, Kip Hamblet 

sailed with Stu Nickerson, and Charlie Clifton 

sailed with Bill Hofmeister. Additionally, Jeff Linton 

sailed with Bill Mauk and Tito Gonzalez to win the 

Etchells World Championship in September. 

While several local skippers went walkabout—Bill 

Meyers spent the summer up North, while Steve 

and Fisk Hayden have been busy with family and 

work this year, and Mark Rodgers has been focusing 

on his son’s sailing career—Colorado skipper 

Steve Davis made several trips to the area, for 

fishing and sailing. The fleet is, however, growing 

its own: we look forward to the addition of Baby 

Sailor Batzer, and the first races of the youngsters 

from the Taylor, Hayward, Hayden, and Scheda- 

Klaus dynasties. 

93


GREECE 

94 

251 

FLEETS 

Yacht Club of Athens 286 Parthenon 

District Commodore ........... Costas Limberakis 

Fleet 251—Yacht Club of Athens 

Sailing on Phaleron Bay 

Piraeus, Greece 

Greece District 


14211 Manthos Sikiniotis & Nikos Bikakis 

14377 Antonis Manolakis 

15077 Alexandros Dimou 

15144 George Andreadis 

Fleet 286—Parthenon 

Sailing on Phaleron Bay 

Piraeus, Greece 

Greece District 


13968 Renata 

14211 Manthos Sikiniotis & Nikos Bikakis 

14377 Antonis Manolakis 

15077 Alexandros Dimou 

15144 George Andreadis 

Our crew—Marialena Kamilou ((17) (fore) Demetre Tellios 

(Mid) (16) and our Captain John Giannopoulos (17) 

INDIANA 

FLEETS 

154 Wawasee Yacht Club 270 Silver Fox Squadron/Indianapolis 

District Commodore ....................... Billy J Allen 

Our Indiana District in 2005 continued with our 

normal pattern with one exciting new twist. Like 

all other regions of the Country, we have experienced 

a certain amount of lethargy in recruiting 

additional sailors to our regattas. Many reasons 

are presented to explain the erosion. The most 

alarming is that most families are working longer 

hours and in what free time they have, they prefer 

to spend watching others play football, baseball, 

tennis, soccer or what have you, rather than 

participate themselves. 

At one of our Clubs, strong promotion of adult and 

junior training programs combined with on the 

water sailing races with the new sailor as skipper 

and/or crew has brought a trickle of new and enthusiastic 

sailors into the Sunday racing crew pool. 

In three cases, this has stimulated the purchase of 

three new Lightnings into the Fleet. 

Another reason given for lower turn-outs at regattas 

is that more and more Fleets cancel each other 

out because two or more in the same geographic 

region are scheduled on the same weekend. 

To attack this problem, Mike Brock, the Ohio District 

Commodore, took the initiative to contact us 

in order to explore ways to increase attendance at 

major area regattas. The agreed upon solution was 

to “scratch each others back” by committing some 

Indiana boats to attend Ohio regattas in return 

for more Ohio boats coming to Indiana. The first 

experiment included the Cowan Lake Regatta north 

of Cincinnati on October 22nd & 23rd. In return, 

some Ohio boats will participate in the Indy Open 

regatta on May 6th and 7th, 2006. 

The District Regatta was hosted by Fleet 154 on 

Lake Wawasee on June 18th & 19th. Nine boats 

braved the 90-degree plus weather with extremely 

light air. Two races were completed on Saturday 

afternoon followed by one more on Sunday morning. 

Brad Wagnon with crew Kevin Keller and Steve 

Miller as crew, in his brand new boat, eked out a 

win by one point over Bill Allen with crew Peggy 

Lehman and Tom Hadley. Both Brad and Bill made 

the most of their strong finishes by continuing on 

to the North Americans in Wisconsin. 

At the annual District business meeting, Bill Allen 

from Fleet 154 was elected unanimously to replace 

Ken McGinity from Fleet 270 as District Commodore. 

All Lightning sailors are invited to visit with us 

at our two major regattas, the Indy Open in May 

and the Hoosier Regatta held annually on the last 

weekend in September on Lake Wawasee. 

Ken McGinity–Bill Allen

Fleet 154—Wawasee Yacht Club 

Sailing on Lake Wawasee 

Syracuse, Indiana 

Indiana District 


11181 Dale Fulkerson 

13895 Brandywine II Douglas Schmahl 

13910 Bill Allen 

13975 Divine Wind Virgil Snyder 

14024 Ronald Lester 

14125 Millers Merry Manor Stephen Miller 

14173 Thor Play Jim Sabens 

14600 Wolf Cookies Edward Bradley Wagnon 

14835 Alan Fox 

14870 Con Brio Herbert Snyder 

14940 Craig Cobbum 

15213 Jeffre Schmahl 

15251 Debbie Probst 

15259 Edward Bradley Wagnon 

Fleet Captain ...........................................................Brad Wagnon 

Sitting here in the middle of February, I’m caught 

in between seasons. I need to recap last year, but 

I am so ready for this coming season, it’s hard to 

remember the details from last summer. I should 

have kept better notes. 

Last year was pretty typical in many ways. We had 

some beautiful racing days but there were to many 

no wind days sprinkled in during the season. Steve 

Miller had foot surgery and was unable to sail most 

of the season, Herb Snyder and Jim Sabens were 

also not able to sail much. Gee, we sound like a 

bunch of old codgers. 

And in December, we lost one of our longest 

yacht club members and Lightning skippers, Doug 

Schmahl. Doug had been a fixture in fleet 154 

since long before I joined. Doug will be missed by 

all of us, but he leaves his legacy in good hands 

with Jeff and his grandsons Michael and Andrew. 

On the plus side, Jeff Schmahl and his two sons, 

Michael and Andrew, sailed with him in some 

pretty big winds for such young kids. These kids 

are going to be kicking some serious butt in the 

not-to-distant future! I’m sure Doug will be looking 

down and smiling and cheering them on as they 

leave the rest of us staring at their stern. 

I was lucky enough to win the 2005 season again 

for the first time in many years, thanks in large 

part to my crew Michael Richey and Kevin Keller. 

Kevin has sailed with me for 10-11 seasons and 

Michael joined us in 2004. All three of us are looking 

forward to this coming season. 

2006 looks promising for the addition of one or two 

more boats. I hope to see you all on the water. 


2005 Final Standings 

1 Brad Wagnon 

2 Bill Allen 

3 Craig Cobbum 

4 Jeff Schmahl 

5 Keith Swihart 

6 Alan Fox 

7 Virgil Snyder 

8 Ron Lester 

9 Debbie Probst 

10 Jim Sabens 

11 Herb Snyder 

12 Doug Schmahl 

13 David Schmahl 

14 Steve Miller 

Fleet 270—Silver Fox Squadron/Indianapolis 

Sailing Club 

Sailing on Geist Reservoir 

Indianapolis, Indiana 

Indiana District 


1342 Thunder Mike Naughton 

8679 Weirdly Manor Andrew C Harmon & Steven D Hayes 

12296 Sochaint Peter J & Moira McGinity 

12392 Yikes! Daniel Ramsey 

12896 Norman L Cubellis 

12963 Navigo Mark A Cudworth & Andrew C Harmon 

13279 Andrew Cook 

13657 Michael R Franceschini 

13954 L’eclair Rouge John B Heath 

13958 Brian & Ellen Huckabee 

14359 Sundance II Joseph A & Michele S Lassaux 

14449 Dale Kreck 

14537 Winsome Paul Vos 

14610 Kenneth D Woods 

15097 Elaine Carlton Simmons 

E Anne Foster 

Ken McGinity 

Joan Naffzinger 

Sigrun Roberts 

Bill Robinson 

Steve Tinsley 

Ann Vaughn 

Fleet Captain ................................................... Carlton Simmons 

Fleet Secretary ...................................................Joan Naffzinger 

Fleet Champion .................................................... Pete McGinity 

95


Fleet 270—Silver Fox Squadron/ 

Indianapolis Sailing Club 

Our fleet enjoyed another great year of sailing 

and expansion. Our fleet participated in 60 races 

stretching from April to October. At the end of our 

season, less then one point separated first and 

second place. Third place was not far behind. Our 

fleet also returned to having two divisions, a Gold 

and Silver fleet. This was due in part to the increase 

in number of boats but also to help those 

skippers and crews new to the Lightning and to 

racing. Still the big story of the 2005 season for 

our Fleet was the increase of four additional boats 

Dale Kreck picked up his Lightning in Michigan and 

has been coaxing his family into crewing; Frank 

Wilder got his Lightning from Ohio after sailing a 

Snipe for a number of years. We hear that Bill 

Saeger selected his Lightning partly because the 

color matched the color of his daughter’s car and 

he needed her to help crew. Brian & Ellen Huckabee 

also joined the fleet in 2005 but didn’t make 

it out on the lake during racing season. The up 

coming year looks to be another growth year 

for Fleet 270 with the addition of still one or two 

more boats. 

We kicked off our racing season with the Burl 

Harmon Memorial Indiana Open Regatta on April 

30th and May 1st. Spring blossoms, good wind and 

very few motor boats made this a great time to be 

sailing in Indiana. This was the 43rd year for our 

regatta with twelve boats competing with seven 

traveling in from out of town. While most other 

Fleets are still only dreaming about sailing, boats 

from Illinois, Ohio and Michigan joined the Indiana 

District boats for this early season race. This year, 

James Taylor from Ohio finished first besting Brad 

Wagnon and Bill Allen from Wawasee by three and 

nine points respectively. The 44th installment of 

the Indiana Open Regatta will be May 6th and 7th 

2006. Mark your calendars now and don’t miss this 

great time to get a jump on the racing season. 

Reigning Fleet champ Pete McGinity, who had 

just knocked off perennial champ, Joe Lassaux, 

the year before was hoping to avoid the dreaded 

sophomore jinx. In addition to Joe wanting to get 

his crown back, competition from Mike Franceschini 

and the newcomers made Pete’s task that much 

harder. It took the final racing weekend of the season 

to determine our Gold Fleet champion for 2005 

with Pete making it two in a row by less than a 

point margin of victory over Joe and Mike, less the 

eight points behind. The Silver Fleet trophy went 

to Carl Simmons sailing his “new” Woodie. 

In June was the 50th Anniversary celebration of 

the founding of Indianapolis Sailing Club as well 

as our Fleet since it was one of the charter Fleets. 

96 

We also honored two of our own, Dr Walter Tinsley 

Jr. and Paul Vos. Both of these skippers have been 

sailing Lightnings at the Indianapolis Sailing Club 

since its founding in 1955. Fifty years later they 

are still racing and participated in 41 races, third 

only to Joe and Pete in the total number of races. 

Also in June, Fleet 270 sent two boats to the 

Indiana Districts, this year hosted by Fleet 154 at 

Lake Wawasee. 

Late in July, Carl Simmons trucked his Woodie to 

Syracuse, New York, for the third annual Woody 

get-together on Onondaga Lake. Fleet 10 hosted 

the event and a great time was had by all. The 

event helps celebrate the evolution of the Lightning 

and those dedicated to keeping these early 

boats in racing condition. 

In September, Mike Franceschini took his boat to 

the Red Flannels Regatta hosted by the Chicago 

Corinthian Yacht Club at Montrose Harbor. 

A month later, Fleet 270 had three teams travel to 

the Hoosier Regatta at Lake Wawasee. Pete McGinity, 

Mike Franceschini and Carl Simmons all made 

the trip this year and enjoyed, as expected, the 

great hospitality of Fleet 154 putting them all up 

for the night. Eighteen boats sailed in five races 

despite the winds being generally light with some 

threatening conditions late on Saturday and very 

light conditions on Sunday. 

Late in October, Pete McGinity and Dale Kreck sailing 

in only his second race traveled to Cowan Lake 

for the Fall-in Regatta. They joined 16 other boats, 

mostly from Ohio, for some spirited late season 

racing hosted by Fleet 303. The very gracious host 

fleet plans on joining us on Geist by sending boats 

to Indiana for our Indy Open Regatta on May 6th 

and 7th, 2006. 

Carl Simmons 

Elaine

IRELAND 

ITALY 

FLEETS 

427 Killyleagh Yacht Club 

District Commodore ..............Raymond Killops 

Fleet 427—Killyleagh Yacht Club 

Sailing on Strangford Lough 

Belfast, County Down, Northern Ireland 

Ireland District 


77 Mean Machine Rachel Bennett 

FLEETS 

312 Lega Navale Italiano Anzio 449 Marsala 

453 Flotta Del Trasimeno 466 Flotta Del Conero 

District Commodore .............. Franco De Regis 


Marsala, Itay 

Fleet 312—Lega Navale Italiano Anzio 

Sailing on Tirrenian Sea 

Anzio, Italy 

Italy District 

Fleet 449—Marsala 

Sailing on Mediterranean Sea 

Marsala, Sicily, Italy 



12027 Wanted I Giovanni Pellegrino 

Fleet 453—Flotta Del Trasimeno 

Sailing on Trasimeno Lake 

Perugia, Italy 



14228 Sergio Rustichelli 

Fleet 466—Flotta Del Conero 

Sailing on the Adriatic Sea 

Ancona, Falconara and Senigallia, Italy 



13346 Bibir Bruno Roccheggiani 

97

District & Fleet Reports - the International Lightning Class

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