Race Results

Coco Seemann 2005

The Coco Seemann, women’s one-design keelboat regatta, was sailed at Southern Yacht Club (SYC) April 15-17^th.  The event began with a dockside rigging party where most teams were making final preparations on their J-22’s. The Lake Pontchartrain Women’s Sailing Association (LPWSA) hosted a seminar on Sail Trim by Benz Faget.  About 20 people attended his informative and animated presentation. 

The first race Saturday began at 12:30pm. PRO Wallace Paletou and crew set-up windward/leeward race courses. The initial breeze was for 10-12 kts from the east and was predicted to shift right. As the boats worked their way up the first windward leg, wind shifts and pressure differentials caused the three-boat fleet to separate significantly. At one point all three boats were on the same tack, but had about a 30 degree difference in heading.  Lani Sybert-Wielke sailing Blew By You with crew Priscilla Duffy, Michelle Hitter and Louise Bienvenu led at the first mark rounding and never relinquished. The breeze shifted left and the RC set a change course mark accordingly.

By the second race, the breeze had strengthened (15-17 kts) and shifted more northerly. For the second race, the competition was much closer. Cayenne, sailed by Debby Grimm with Holly Collins Casanova, Janice Griglack and Pam Brierre, had good upwind speed and managed to round the weather mark in the lead. However, Blew by You was close on their heels and closed the gap with good downwind speed. Things got very exciting on the last downwind leg as Blew by You and Cayenne got tangled up nearly abeam of the finish line. After minor contact, both boats had to set jibs to get back to the finish. Cayenne did a 720 and Blew by You crossed the line slightly ahead. Protests were filed by both boats, and Blew by You was later DSQ’ed for the race.

For the third race, Cayenne and Blew By You were maneuvering at the start both wanting to start at the committee boat. In the meantime, Elaine Boos sailing Stars and Bars with Catrina Swafford, Debbie Ellis and Dee Mollenkopf elected to do a port start and got to the right first. Blew By You initiated a tacking duel with Cayenne who tried to cover from in front. By the final leg, Cayenne was desperately hanging onto a half boat lead and called for room to finish at the mark just squeezing out Blew By You. A protest filed by Blew By You was disallowed.

The two races on Sunday were also very competitive. In the first race, Cayenne led early and for most of the race, but on the second lap especially, Blew by You worked the shifts carefully upwind and worked hard to sail in clean air. Cayenne had about a 2-boat length lead going into the final downwind leg. Blew By You sailed hotter angles and with good boat speed managed to pull even with and pass Cayenne just before the photo finish.

The final race of the regatta definitely showed the improvement of Stars and Bars as they steadily closed the gap in the fleet. Cayenne again managed to pull out an early lead. The shifty conditions would open and close leads on each tack up the ladder. However, this time Cayenne was able to hold on to finish just ahead of Blew By You.

Regatta Chairman, Pam Brierre, and Rear Commodore, Jim Wade, presented trophies afterwards at SYC. Trophies of monogrammed towels were presented to each skipper and crew-member. Debby Grimm, Holly Collins Casanova, Janice Griglack and Pam Brierre also won the perpetual Coco Seemann trophy.

The competition was excellent and all that participated gained valuable experience and time on the water.

Debby Grimm

	Bienvenu	Boos	Slavich	Griglack	Mollenkopf	Win-Loss
Bienvenu		W	L	W	W	3-1
Boos	L		W	L	W	2-2
Slavich	W	L		W	W	3-1
Griglack	L	W	L		L	1-3
Mollenkopf	L	L	L	W		1-3

First Place

Macho Slavich Louise Bienvenu Elaine Boos Dee Mollenkopf Janice Griglack

Second Place