Dawg Blog

2.4mR Midwinters,
Miami OCR Tune-up

2.4
W-L Paul Tingley, Helena Lcas, Megan Pascoe, Nick Scandone and Stellan Berlin

I was debating on calling this article “Mid-Fleet Crisis” or “Look Ma No Arms”. The former, where most of my finishes were give a few in the top tier and the latter, well I’ll allude to that later. IN all, this fleet is the first International grouping I have sailed my 2.4mR in and many of their resumes are impressive both for the Able and Disabled sailors. Yes it was a mixed fleet and a disabled sailor smoked the able. I won’t write too much but I’ll have quite a few photos for you check out.

Friday started with light shifty winds where getting the puffs made the difference. After a good start and sailing with the top of the fleet and taking a header half way up the course Nick and I tacked on to a lift. But the wind filled from the other side and we got smacked, ouch. Nick was able to catch back up but I held on to my spot trying to not lose any more ground (I really need to get some light air sails). I did manage a 6th place while the rest were mid-fleet, so I know I can do it. One f my main issues, is not having my boat home so I can sail and get comfortable in. When I do race I have to think about my placement in the boat and I loose concentration on the race and vice-versa. But I am feeling more comfortable as time marches on.

Saturday saw more wind for the day, though it shifted a few times before settling in. Shifts and puffs were mostly to the right. There were OCS’s every race and many of the top sailors had to eat them. But the to top dogs were always the top finishers. Finally by the last race I was feeling comfortable in the boat, concentrating on the racing more than me in the boat, and it paid off with my top finish, a 6th place. Not bad for only sailing the 2.4mR for 4 months with very little practice before each regatta, against a fleet of world champions.


L-R Helena Lucas, Bjornar Erikstad, Roger Cleworth, Peter WIlson and Alan Leibel

So earlier I said I considered calling the piece “Look Ma No Arms”, well the reason for that is evident in the photo of the winners.  The winner “Bjornar Erikstad “ has no arms, that right where most of use have arms he has just hands coming out of his torso. This little guy has been sailing the 2.4mR for 9 years and whooped ass on a fleet of World Champions and former Olympians. So any of you guys that think the 2.4 is for disabled people think again. Following up in second, Allen Leibel is the former Olympian I mentioned. He sailed the Tempest and Dragon in previous Olympic campaign. Then the little Brit Helena Lucas, not only cute but deadly on the water, she too opened a can of whoop ass. Below the results are some more photos.

Pos
Sail
Skipper
1
3
4
2
5
6
7
8
Total
Points
Pos
1
NOR 102 Bjornar Erikstad
4
1
4
3
[8]
1
3
1
17.00
1
2
CAN 8 Allan Leibel
[8]
2
6
5
4
3
1
4
25.00
2
3
GBR 75 Helena Lucas
6
7
2
2
2
[8]
7
2
28.00
3
4
CAN 99 Paul Tingley
1
5
7
[23/OCS]
1
5
15
3
37.00
4
5
GBR 60 Megan Pascoe
5
3
1
13
3
4
[23/OCS]
8
37.00
5
6
SWE 379 Stellan Berlin
2
13
3
4
5
2
[23/OCS]
11
40.00
6
7
USA 114 Nick Scandone
[10]
4
9
8
6
6
2
7
42.00
7
8
CAN 39 Bruce Millar
3
6
8
9
[18]
12
11
5
54.00
8
9
USA 116 Jerry Thompson
12
8
5
[23/OCS]
9
13
4
9
60.00
9
10
USA 139 David Trude
[11]
10
10
6
10
11
8
6
61.00
10
11
CAN 96 Jerry Wendt
7
11
11
[12]
12
10
6
10
67.00
11
12
USA 137 Mark LeBlanc
13
9
[14]
7
11
9
10
14
73.00
12
13
USA 88 Carl Horrocks
9
16
16
1
13
14
5
[23/OCS]
74.00
13
14
USA 109 Roger Cleworth
[15]
14
13
11
7
7
9
13
74.00
14
15
USA 15 Charles Rosenfield
[17]
15
12
10
15
15
13
12
92.00
15
16
CAN 9 David Millar
[23/DNS]
12
15
15
19
16
16
16
109.00
16
17
USA 14 Carwill Leroy
16
17
18
14
14
19
12
[23/OCS]
110.00
17
18
CAN 66 Alan Humphreys
14
[18]
17
16
16
18
14
17
112.00
18
19
USA 66 Patrick Koar
[23/DNC]
19
19
23/DNC
17
17
23/OCS
15
133.00
19
20T
CAN 1 Danny McCoy
[23/DNC]
23/DNC
23/DNC
23/DNC
23/DNC
23/DNC
23/DNC
23/DNC
161.00T
20T
20T
USA 32 Mark Bryant
[23/DNC]
23/DNC
23/DNC
23/DNC
23/DNC
23/DNC
23/DNC
23/DNC
161.00T
20T
20T
US 117 David Humble
[23/DNC]
23/DNC
23/DNC
23/DNC
23/DNC
23/DNC
23/DNC
23/DNC
161.00T
20T

The many faces of the 2.4mR MIdwinters
Photos by Betsy Alison and Jim Pancero


Group shot
Start

Mark Leblanc
Jerry Wendt

Paul Tingley
Helena Lucas

Roger Cleworth
Megan Pascoe