2006 EYC Memorial Day Regatta

Memorial Day Regatta

May 27 & 28, 2006

“It’s never like this.” Sure… A little weather is not a-typical for Eugene’s Memorial Day Regatta, but this one was wet. The forecast showers didn’t keep twenty-six Santana 20 teams from turning out for the highly anticipated Western Regionals. Memorial Day is usually Fleet 19s biggest local regatta, and this year drew in boats from both Washington and California. Last year’s regatta was cancelled as the Army Corps of Engineers kept the lake dry to do repairs on the dam, but this year, the lake is at full pool and we have had some great racing.

Fleet 19 kicked off the party Friday night with a keg and barbeque hosted by Cool Cat skipper Hector Rosado. This was a loosely veiled attempt to dull the edge off some of the out of town competition by sousing them with some high alcohol micro brew.

The prayed for break in the weather did not materialize, and Saturday morning was time to break out the foul weather gear. The wind was good overall, if a bit shifty. The race committee had some difficulty keeping the course and the start line square with big wind shifts and only one chase boat to move marks. Saturday evening is the traditional Salmon feast, this year prepared by Kevin Goodrich and served with assistance from our local troop of sea scouts. Yet another keg was tapped courtesy of Fleet 19 to kick off the party.

Sunday morning was even wetter and windier than Saturday. As the weather moved through the course, we saw gusty winds, rain and squalls. Nate Edgecomb recently joined the fleet after flying army helicopters in Afghanistan and was sailing in his first regatta as skipper. His boat “Dustoff” was dismasted by a strong gust on the upwind leg of race six. “I was sailing along fat, dumb and happy and all of a sudden I’m sailing backwards.” Nate saw the squall knocking boats on their side upwind from him, so when it hit, he eased the mainsheet. Unfortunately, the backstay also popped loose and the stopper knot ran out through the cleat. The only damage was a few scrapes and a bent bolt at the mast step.

On #931 “Q,” we had lost the jib halyard up the mast when the shackle came loose before the start of race three. We dropped the mast to retrieve it that evening, and didn’t notice until we were on our way to the next race that the spinnaker halyard had hooked itself around the upper shroud bolt. After thinking and tinkering, it became clear there was no way to fix it without sending someone up the mast. We had to sail races 4, 5 and 6 with only the genoa halyard, which meant an extra 20 seconds or so at each mark rounding to move the halyard from the genoa to the spinnaker. It cost us a couple of boat lengths at each mark, but was surprisingly effective.

Almost as soon as race six ended, the weather broke and the sun dried out sails and sailors alike. Disaster Area claimed the Western Regional title once again, albeit with a new team at the helm. Two time class champion Bruce Golison sailed with DA veteran Andrew Kerr and new co-owner Lance Purdy. Second place went to Eugene locals on “H20 Boa;” Gordon Mattatal, Don Southwell and Mike Merrifield. Third place went to “One Eye Jacq” with skipper and EYC Commodore Doug Smith with his crew John Lee Ward and Shannon Clune.

Thanks to all the out of town boats for coming and we hope to see you again next year!

Report by Mark Forrest

Want to read more? Read Andrew Kerr's detailed racing report.

Pos	Owner	Boat Name	Yacht Club	Sail #	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Discard	Total
1^st	Bruce Golison	Disaster Area	Alamitos Bay	GBR138	1	1	3	3	3	1	3	9
2^nd	Gordon Mattatal	H20 Boa	Eugene	649	14	8	2	2	7	2	14	21
3^rd	Doug Smith	One Eye Jacq	Eugene	264	11	3	1	5	16	4	16	24
4^th	Mark Erdrich	Fusion	Folsom Lake	927	13	12	4	1	1	8	13	26
5^th	Chet Bowers	Cia Pacha	Eugene	924	4	6	6	8	8	3	8	27
6^th	Jason Crowson	SeaBear	Richmond	497	6	2	8	7	5	10	10	28
7^th	Chris Murschel	Loose Nuts	Triton	908	3	4	16	11	10	6	16	34
8^th	Jerald Skeen	Atomic Punk	Eugene	906	2	13	5	10	6	13	13	36
9^th	Nicholi Lenn	Crash Test Dummies	Eugene	82	7	14	10	4	15	5	15	40
10^th	Ross Cooley	Joriann	Eugene	474	9	5	15	6	11	14	15	45
11^th	Paul Stephens	Aquila	Eugene	656	12	15	11	12	2	9	15	46
12^th	Mark Forrest	"Q"	Eugene	931	10	11	dnf	9	13	12	dnf	55
13^th	Kim Magers	Fast Forward	Eugene	735	17	9	13	17	4	15	17	58
14^th	Kevin Swackhamer	Hitched	WINSA	24	8	7	14	14	18	17	18	60
15^th	Rick Gilstrap	Chicken Boat	Eugene	551	15	18	7	13	9	18	18	62
16^th	Jim Hill	Faux Pas	Eugene	586	19	10	9	20	20	11	20	69
17^th	Blair Wallace	Tinker Toy	Tahoe City	911	18	17	12	19	19	7	19	73
17^th	Leeanne Bale - Fish	Giddy Up	Eugene	779	5	16	21	23	12	19	23	73
19^th	Mark Fortier	Hot Rod	Eugene	99	16	20	18	16	17	dns	dns	87
20^th	Hector Rosado	Coolcat	Eugene	777	20	22	19	18	23	16	23	95
21^st	Don Ericson	Spy	Eugene	314	23	19	17	21	22	20	23	99
22^nd	Denise Murschel	Pizzazz	Triton	331	25	21	22	22	14	23	25	102
23^rd	Nick Genovese		Eugene	907	21	23	23	15	24	21	24	103
24^th	Nathan Edgecomb	Dustoff	Triton	271	22	25	20	24	26	dnf	dnf	117
25^th	Lyle Mayer	Guano Girl	Triton	9061	24	26	25	25	21	24	26	119
26^th	Adam Mazurkiewicz	Eve	Triton	706	26	24	24	26	25	22	26	121