2023 Penguin Internationals
August 26 & 27, 2023
Tred Avon Yacht Club, Oxford, MD
The 2023 Penguin Internationals are now in the history books with the team of Jonathan and Annie Bartlett unseating 4-time winners Bill Lawson and Colette Preis to claim their 5th International Championship. Bill and Colette got off to a good start taking a bullet in the first race and it seemed like they would sail away to an easy victory, with Jonathan and Annie taking 5th in the shifty northerly. However, in race 2, the Lawson team found themselves at the back of the fleet recovering to an 8th place finish, which was going to typify the weekend with a jumbled scoreboard for most of the fleet. The first four races featured four different race winners with Charlie and Cairn Krafft leading wire to wire in race 2 and Chris and Diana Conway doing the same in race 3. Jonathan and Annie took a bullet in race 4 and then held onto that formula to win all of the subsequent races, despite some close challenges from the Lawsons and Jeff and Ellie Cox. Sandy McAllister sailing with Athena Arnold had a couple of 4th place finishes and ended up 6th overall. Bill Lane, sailing with his granddaughter Annabelle Lane took the Len Penso Classic Penguin award home, besting Scott Leppert sailing with his son Elliott. Read Beigel sailing Zoom Zoom solo remembered to bring knee pads on Sunday, as getting around in the Burtis Penguin is tough on one’s knees. Mike Baugh, sailing with his son Rodric had a 4th in race 2, beating out Martin Krafft sailing with Stephanie Larson on a tiebreaker. At 91, John Majane, sailing with LeAnn Myhre was the oldest sailor in the fleet, and the regatta as well, reported he found tacking difficult, although his super crew LeAnn managed the mainsheet at times, which made the process much smoother. It was good to see Tripp Ewers, sailing with his daughter Caroline in Chesire Cat ( a boat he acquired from Bill Lane a couple of years ago) back on the race course. And kudos to our youngest skipper, 8-yr. old Heneage Baugh, sailing with his mother, Sarah. Sailing in a fleet of senior Penguin sailors didn’t phase him as he competently navigated the course. Jonathan was awarded the Dick Tennerstedt GrandMaster award for the highest placing skipper over age 60, and he and Annie took home the Lawson Family Team award for the highest placing family team. It is worth noting that 10 of the 13 two-person teams were eligible for the family award.
PRO Eric Crawford and team did a superb job of keeping the course as square as possible given the oscillating winds we encountered on both days, northerly on Saturday and northeasterly on Sunday. As the tide starting ebbing strongly Saturday afternoon, the weather mark layline became a bit of a challenge, with many boats finding themselves short of the mark. Sunday, the northeasterly breeze also proved problematic with more pressure generally on the right side of the course, but large oscillations in the direction and velocity. Race 7 was shortened to finish at the leeward mark, as the wind had shut down. Unfortunately the Comets, with whom we shared the course were headed to their finish while the Penguins were finishing at the leeward mark, just upwind of the finish line, leading to some unnecessary congestion with boats going to different marks.
|
SAILORS |
SAIL
NUMBER |
BOAT
NAME |
CLUB/ORG |
NET |
TOTAL |
R1 |
|
R2 |
R3 |
R4 |
R5 |
R6 |
R7 |
1 |
Jonathan Bartlett |
USA
9660 |
Sister Mary Stigmata |
Annapolis Yacht Club |
11 |
16 |
[5] |
|
3 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
William Lawson |
USA
9677 |
Family Ties |
Severn Sailing
Association |
14 |
22 |
1 |
|
[8] |
2 |
2 |
5 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
Charles Krafft |
USA
9694 |
Otter B |
Severn Sailing
Association |
21 |
29 |
7 |
|
1 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
[8] |
4 |
Chris Conway |
USA
9657 |
C-Biscuit |
Annapolis Yacht Club |
24 |
31 |
6 |
|
5 |
1 |
4 |
3 |
5 |
[7] |
5 |
Jeffrey Cox |
USA
8823 |
Evelyn |
TAYC |
27 |
39 |
2 |
|
[12] |
5 |
9 |
2 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
Sandy McAllister |
USA
9662 |
Against The Grain |
TAYC |
35 |
47 |
4 |
|
6 |
|