Flying Scot Sailing Championship Back in Edenton
By Dave “Sailordave” Batchelor, Flying Scot #5164
September 22nd and 23rd twenty two Flying Scot sailboats, from as far away as Pennsylvania, converged on Edenton to
sail in the Atlantic Coast Championship regatta. The Scot is a 19’ trailerable sailboat that is raced in many areas of the
USA and there are 4 active fleets in North Carolina. Fleet Captains Alan and Pat Backus of Flying Scot Fleet 27 in the
Carolina Sailing Club in Raleigh, NC did a terrific job organizing the event. This regatta would not be possible without the
tremendous support from the Edenton Yacht Club and the Town of Edenton working through Nancy Nichols at the
Chamber of Commerce. Brian FitzSimmons, Gil Burroughs, Rolf Schroder, Bill Pepper, Mimi Reiheld and Suzanne
Burnside of the EYC were instrumental in running the regatta setting up tents for the regatta headquarters and helping
on the water. Suzanne played harbor mistress directing activities around the hoist used to launch the boats. Jim Baker,
Miles Cox, Bud Powell, Larry Tynch provided support boats and manpower. Running a regatta at a remote location is
only possible when we have this kind of support. Many thanks also to all the folks in town who supplied housing for the
visiting race committee members. A special thanks to Joe Wright who donated a framed chart as a special award for the
regatta.
The race committee members were from the Carolina Sailing Club and Lake Townsend YC working with PRO (Principal
Race Officer) Joleen Rasmussen who is a US Sailing Regional Race Officer and has run many regional regattas including
several in Edenton. Other members were John and Brenda Chaplinsky plus Jerry Thompson from the Buccaneer fleet,
Kirk and Pat Kitchin from the Thistles, Alan Taylor from LTYC, Eric Rasmussen, US Sailing Senior Judge and Steve Chobot
from the Isotope fleet, along with Kathy Sisk our photographer. Joleen and her team did an outstanding job.
This regatta started in 2000 when the class first held district championships in Edenton. Sailors from the district just to
the north of us in Virginia and Maryland started sailing with us and the event has now become a major Flying Scot event.
The regatta moves to various clubs up and down the east coast each year but everyone loves Edenton and we’ll be back
in 3 years.
Our guests are always impressed with the town as a venue, the hospitality of all the people and the great racing we
enjoy. For the best winds we sail out in the river and this year we had great winds and long race courses which led to
some close competition. Winds averaged around 12 mph with gust to 15 out of the SW on Saturday and then turned to
the North overnight as a cool front moved through. Winds were higher at the start of the first race Sunday averaging
close to 15 mph with gust to 18+. These are exciting conditions on a small sailboat which get up on some great planes
when under spinnaker. They slowed down a bit for the second race averaging around 12-14.
Saturday night we enjoyed a great supper of barbeque and flounder from a local caterer under the tents set up by the
Edenton YC members at the Barker House by the harbor. It doesn’t get much prettier than that as we socialized and ate
overlooking the bay as the breezes cooled us down after our afternoon workout. Socializing after the racing is a big part
of our racing weekend and as an old timer to the sport it’s like small homecomings as I travel to different regattas.
Sunday afternoon the scores were tallied and we saw how close the competition really was. This year, in addition to
marble plaques we also awarded gold, silver and bronze medals provided by the Flying Scot Sailing Foundation. This was
the first time these have been awarded and judging by the smiles I’d say they were a hit. There was a tie for first place
and Harry Carpenter Carpenters from Deep Creek, Maryland was our gold medalist. Harry is the builder of the Scot and
supports the class at regattas all over the country. The Carolinas District Championship was also awarded, after another
tie breaker, to Ed Summerfield from Washington, NC as the highest placing skipper from North Carolina.
Atlantic Coast Championships
Atlantic Coast Championships - Overall
Sail No.
5248
5310
5055
5037
Skipper
Harry Carpenter
John Aras
Len Guenther
Jay Buhl
Crew
Adam Keen
John Blonski
John Wake
Mike Karn
Club
Deep Creek YC
Annapolis Yacht Club
Fishing Bay YC
Fishing Bay YC
Total
10
10
17
26
Place
1
2
3
4
Washington, NC
31
5
Greater Richmond SA
Selby Bay Sailing Center
Carolina Sailing Club
55
63
64
11
12
13
Carolinas District Championships
4736
Ed Summerfield * Herb Lindsay
Atlantic Coast Championships - Mid Fleet
4104
5678
5818
Chris Cookson
Bob Strang
Jack Griffin
Pete Cookson
Janet Nelson
John Tucker
Jim Baker’s Boat with PRO Rasmussen
Leaders Battle it Out