The final race of the National Regatta proved to be the key to winning the championship. With the wind on the start measuring 14-16 and with some small gusts rolling in, the fleet left the starting line pretty bunched up. As everyone hiked and worked their boats up the course the fleet started to spread out. A small pack broke away with Alec and Miles just eating up water The next two boats were Stefan Schmidt and the H-20.  On the downwind, things got exciting with the H-661 tipping on their first jibe. At this point, we were all in a 32 mph puff hammering (and I mean "hammering") towards the leeward mark. Said race officer Dan Mather, "The first three-quarters of the boat were out of the water, so I dropped the binoculars and grabbed the camera.  You could see air under the hull!" Now it became survival and after watching Stefan round the mark and go over, we rode the puff out and doused the 'chute after going almost an extra 1/4 mile. The wise skippers now leading the race took the 'chutes down before the puff hit and rode almost dead down-wind on the jib and main alone. The lead had changed with Kyle and Liz in the H-1 now in first, Andy and Anne Gratton in second and Mike Peters and Aaron Lynn in third.  Paul Bates and Brad Koehn were in fourth, but closing in fast. The last down-wind had Captain Mike augering in on the final jibe with three hundred yards to go and Paul and Brad with H-660 moving up into third.

Overall, this Nationals was a great test of the sailors and many people sailed better than they ever have. The socials events and raffle were great and thanks go to all who donated raffle items. I hope that next year's regatta will be just as much fun. Thanks to everyone for the great time. I would also like to thank my crew, Hovey Tinsman, for all the hard work and hiking he did, it paid off with a great regatta win. See you next year!!