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Dear Fleet Members,
The Nationals Regatta is now over and we won't get it back for three more years. Time to concentrate on the remainder of Wet Wednesdays and the High Point Series. However first let's talk a little about Nationals.

It was all set up to be a memorable regatta. Everything was in place to make it legendary. The stuff they talk of and write books about. The competitors were in place (12 boats. More than any local Nationals or Regionals in over 15 years), six former National Champions on the line, numerous competitors within striking range of the lead, a world class PRO and race committee, a prestigious yacht club serving as host/sponsor, social activities that were the envy of all, a sailing venue equal to any, a first day of great racing with winds getting up to sixteen knots, close sailing competition with competitors giving it everything they had. That's right, we had everything.

But then we had nothing. The wind gods decided to abandon us on Sunday and twelve competitors floated around in steaming conditions for over three hours waiting to compete. It never happened. We came close several times as the winds cruelly taunted us only to shut down before we could get a race started. What irony. Never before in my experience had we failed to get a single race in. The midwest crew of "Draco" Brian Shenstone and Bob Orr were salivating. They had spent four days figuring out the Long Beach winds and with the prospect of getting lighter winds, closer to their home conditions, were probably beginning to love life a little bit. We all saw what they could do with light winds on the previous Wednesday night. But it wasn't to pass. We had no winds with emphasis on the "no". Many thanks to Barney Flam and his crew. They tried to get a race in but it just wasn't there.

Thus, the regatta had to be abandoned. I felt like I got punched in the stomach and I'm sure many of you felt the same. But, that's our sport. Congratulations to Jane's Addiction who were fast on Saturday and prevailed over second place Xiphias via a tie breaker. One Time took the third position being one point behind. Discovery was fourth by a point. Draco took the fifth spot but left Long Beach with a lot of new friends and a measure of respect.

I solicited Dave McBride to take photos of the regatta. He did a great job and took over 200 action photos. I am attaching them to this message. I encourage you to peruse them and purchase the ones you like. Dave assures me that the attached photos are print quality only-that the final proof will be of much greater quality. You can purchase them via instructions on his web site.

http://www.pbase.com/davesuemcbride/cal25nationals2006

This year's final dock party will be held on the final Wednesday of this series. By my calendar that's August 16th.

Cal 25 Nationals 2006
copyright By Bob Daniel

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