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Menantic Yacht Club hosts national women’s sailing championships

BOB HARRIS PHOTO A start for the Women’s North American Sunfish Championships held by the Menantic Yacht Club in West Neck Harbor last weekend.
BOB HARRIS PHOTO
A start for the Women’s North American Sunfish Championships held by the Menantic Yacht Club in West Neck Harbor last weekend.

The Menantic Yacht Club hosted the largest Women’s North American Sunfish Championship (WNA) in history this past weekend in West Neck Harbor with 39 sailors participating, ranging in age from 12 to 72, and hailing from as far afield as Arizona.

The regatta was a great success, notwithstanding a broken support boat motor and one trip to the emergency room requiring a plastic surgeon. (Cheryl Rogers is fine, by the way, and won the award for the most damaged sailor).

In 2014, after Jim Koehler mentioned that the MYC might get the 2016 WNA, Melissa Shepstone put together a 15-page PowerPoint talk and the National Sunfish Association was sold. That was the easy part. Coordinating a successful regatta took Melissa over a year and cost a few gray hairs, even with the able assistance of her husband, Steve Shepstone, her father, Commodore Pete Bethge, and a host of others.

The MYC is a small, informal group that gathers on Sunday afternoons in the summer to race Sunfish. Unlike most yacht clubs, the MYC does not have a clubhouse or dues and is open to all. In order to get the WNA, we became an official yacht club and joined United States Sailing Association, Eastern Long Island Yachting Association and the National Sunfish Association.

Melissa organized the Race Committee, judges, support and spectator boats, and loaner and charter boats. Commodore Bethge coordinated housing in private homes for all the sailors, their friends and families. All members of the MYC and many members of the Shelter Island community helped with everything, including food and accommodations. One MYC member in particular, Charlie Modica, provided three boats, two for the judges, and his Shelter Island Runabout for the committee boat.

Although the weather prediction was iffy, Mother Nature cooperated, and we had a perfect weekend in all respects. Saturday saw light winds, between 5 and 8 knots from the southeast, but strong enough for racing. Sunday brought heavier winds, between 10 and 12 knots from the south southwest, which the sailors really enjoyed.

Normally in Sunfish regattas, the Race Committee likes to run 11 races lasting 30 to 40 minutes each. Thanks to light traffic on the water last weekend, the Race Committee was able to utilize most of West Neck Harbor for fairly long courses. All 11 races were run.

Tony Weiner, Charlie and Lynn’s son, was the Principal Race Officer, with absolute power over all races, deciding how many races to run, the courses and when to end racing. He was joined by Betsy Colby, Penny and Peter Zahn, Charlie Modica and Susie Massie. They all did a superb job.

Steve Shepstone, Lee Montes and MYC regular Paul Zinger crewed the mark boat, moving marks between races as the wind shifted. Lee, who sails with the MYC, is the Sunfish Association representative for all of New York State. Steve is an umpire and judge for US Sailing but was not acting as one last weekend because Melissa was racing.

Billy Sulahian and I ran the rescue boat, assisted by William Lehr on Saturday. Fortunately, we were not all that busy. Several boats flipped, but only Melanie Coronetz needed our help, so Billy jumped in the water and righted her boat. We also helped Melissa when her halyard came loose, and were constantly on the lookout for any boat in trouble. Being a full service rescue boat, we were able to provide Ruth Hakanson with an ice pack when another sailor accidently jibed and she was hit in the head.

Tom McMahon and Brant and Debbie Davison ran Tom’s Boston Whaler as the pin boat for most of Saturday. The pin boat is responsible for moving the starting line pin with every wind shift, and reporting any over early boats before the start of each race. During Saturday’s sixth race, a rope floating in the water wrapped around the boat’s prop, knocking it out of commission, at which point the rescue boat also became the pin boat for the rest of Saturday. Billy and I quickly picked up the Davisons from Tom’s boat and made it to the start line so they could check for over early boats. On Sunday, the Davisons ran the Weiner’s Grady White as the pin boat, assisted by William Lehr. All told, there were a total of three general recalls for boats over early during the weekend.

Many thanks to Deno Fischer, Jonathan Brush and Dick Nystrom, who took spectators out in their boats. And a special thanks to Bay Constable Butch Labrozzi.

This regatta was different from most in that there were US Sail judges on the water in two boats looking for infractions. As a result, there was only one protest, and that was thrown out.

With Melanie’s permission, I can report that at 72, she was the oldest sailor in the fleet. When she crossed the finish line as the last boat to finish the last race, the entire Race Committee and the support boats were on hand to give her a big cheer.

Friday night there was a welcoming cocktail party in Charlie and Lynn Weiner’s beautiful barn, sponsored by Bacardi Rum. Saturday night there was a dinner at the Endless Grille for sailors, judges and the Race Committee. The awards banquet on Sunday was hosted by Tom McMahon and Linda Gibbs.

The competition was intense, with only four points separating the two top sailors. Gail Heausler placed first with 21 points, followed by Anne Patin in second place with 25 points. Gail has several WNA’s under her belt and will be going on to the Worlds’ next summer. Her sailing pals rewarded her first place finish by dunking her in the pool.

Abby Howard won the youth division with 98 points. The camaraderie among the sailors was terrific. When one sailor needed help rigging her boat, several offered assistance. The hosts reported that their weekend guests became new friends. A good time was had by all.

On behalf of the MYC, good luck at the World’s, Gail!