AYC Crowns Champions!!

By Mike Ferring

Mike Hester and crew John Mayall repeated as AYC Club Champions Saturday at Lake Pleasant. Mike was ahead by seven points after 8races and, in a gesture of sportsmanship, second place finisher Skip Kempff (seven-time club champ) chose to concede and let everyone head home.

Even though in the Championship Race there's only one prize--first--here are the other finishers: Rick Johnson, third; Jim Douglas, fourth; Dennis Martinelli/Pat Blumm, fifth; Steve Brown,sixth; Stacey Loula, seventh; Will Zornick, 8th; and Joe Motil 9th.

Fleet Captain David Rawstrom was the PRO and organizer for the event and C22 fleet captain Steve Brown turned out 9 C22s for the day of racing that began with rigging and skipper's meeting at 8 am and ended after 7 pm as the C22 owners finished getting their boats ready to tow back home.Racing got underway with just one shot to the north before the wind slacked and the competitors were left drifting until about 1pm,waiting for the wind to fill in from the south. From then on the breeze varied from a low of 3mph to a more typical 8, making for some close, hard-fought races. Rick Johnson took an early lead, but then fell back, as Skip and Mike kept it very close until the very end. Many thanks to the C22 fleet, to the large RC, and to the competitors for a great day on the water.