2015 DOC FELLOWS, IN-DEPTH….

The place:  Sebago Lake.

The Date:  Last Saturday.

The Event:  The Doc Fellows Regatta.

Now imagine how cool that would sound if Howard Cosell said it!

The Doc was pretty cool this year-  light breeze in the morning, faded to nothing mid-day for awhile, built nicely in the afternoon-  Was nice to have a break to nap and/or socialize on the ice for awhile-

Ice was good in AM and softened as the sun rose and temps went up-

Harry Richardson and Eben Whitcomb had close racing-  seemed like they match raced pretty much every lap-  Harry pipped Eben to take third.

Chad Atkins and your author had a bit of match race going as well-  Chad spent the light air part of the day going around the course and staying in the zone and it paid off after the breeze filled back in-  heading into the last race, winner-take-all finale’ he was able to get his nose out front and extend around the course for a convincing win.  He gets style points for doing it in his new boat, home built last fall-  if you see this craft you will be impressed!

I think he was using full-length, 100 degree runners which stayed on top of the soft ice better than my short 100’s.  Maybe I should have tried my full length 90 degree runners or even 90 degree max inserts-  those work well in soft ice sometimes.  Chad said the extra length no doubt was a little painful in tacks and gybes but it certainly didn’t hurt when he was going in a straight line!  We both used Kent (CSI) 4.1 rigs and Chad had a North F-01 sail while I had a 1D Power Gold.  Wish I could say what the difference is but to my eye they look pretty darn similar….  Anyway he sailed well and gets his name on a very cool-looking trophy!

We had a few older boats out racing-  John Hayes and Richard Gluckman had a little battle of their own going on as well-  Brett Reis, Ramblin’ Roger and a few other sailors also had a good day cruising the lake-

Following an awesome fireworks display at the launch ramp dinner was at the Run Of The Mill on the Saco River.  22 oz prime rib.  Rare.  Phenomenal.  Yeah, I slept like a rock that night-  thanks to Dave Fortier for letting us all crash at his house and also for keeping score!  And thanks to Kelly Klicker for the wrap-around photo of the launch area-

All in all a good day!  This season is far from over-  the ice is thick and the snow is melting-  reports from up north sounding good-  We are still hoping to get the Easterns, New Englands and Canadian champs in the books-  Stay tuned to this site and don’t mothball your gear yet!

Scores, as best as we can tell…

2015  DOC FELLOWS REGATTA

Chad “Chazzz” Atkins  US 4487             1  (S)  2  1  1     5

James  “Irving” Thieler    US 5224         (S) 1  1  2  2      6

Harry “Divider” Richardson    US 5148    2  2  3  3  (3)    10

Eben “Nice Guy” Whitcomb   US 4775    3  3  4  4  (4)     14

Dave “WHO?!?” Fortier    US 4690          4,  5,  S  S  S

John “Authority Figure” Stanton US 5023 6, 6, ?????

John Hayes and Richard Gluckman had some good racing here but the scores get a bit fuzzy at this point-  sorry guys, we will try to do better next time and will work on some nick-names for you both!

Think Ice!   T