The Comeback Circuit!
This year’s Lightning Southern Circuit was full of comebacks. Not on the race course, necessarily, but more so with the teams participating and sailing the circuit (or in the class) for the 1st time in many years. That being the theme it seemed only appropriate that the two of the “comeback kids” took the top 2 spots overall on the circuit.
Greg Fisher, with his wife JoAnn and Jeff Eiber, after a few years away from sailing Lightnings while settling in to his new role as Director of Sailing at the College of Charleston, showed he had not forgotten much. Sailing consistently throughout all three venues the Fisher team took the top spot and are the 2012 Lightning Southern Circuit Champions.
While Team Fisher had a fairly short layoff between circuits the 2nd place team really had been away for quite a while. David Dellenbaugh re-assembled his 1991 World Championship winning team of Hale Walcoff and Kip Hamblet and, after a 21 year “rest period”, came out of retirement to finish the overall circuit in 2nd. They had so much fun Hale told me they are planning to sail more Lightning events..
Rounding out the top 5 was Todd wake, Kristine Wake and Neal Fowler in 3rd followed in 4th by Eric Oetgen with Laura and Will Jeffers. In 5th place a family sailed boat and another “comeback” team of Jim Crane and his brother Bill at all the events, daughter, Kelly, at Savannah and Miami and wife, Brenda, at St. Pete.
1.Greg Fisher - MF2, JF2, R2
2. Dave Dellenbaugh - M5, 5A+, R2
3. Todd Wake - M5, 5A+, R2
4. Eric Oetgen - MF2, JF2, R2
5. Jim Crane - M5, 5A+, R2
North Facts
Top 16 boats used North Sails
24 of the 27 teams doing the whole circuit used North Sails
Every race winner used North Sails
Teams using North Sails finished 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,18,20,21,22,23,24,25,27
Results at: http://www.lightningclass.org/racing/results/2012/southerncircuit.asp
Leg 1 - SAVANNAH
The 2012 Lightning Southern Circuit started off great with 45 teams descending upon the Savannah Yacht Club for 3 challenging races in the Wilmington and Skidaway River junction. Puffy NE breezes held throughout the weekend with velocities from 6-18mph and shifting up to 30 degrees. David Starck once again proved he is the master of the river as he won for the 5th time in the past 7 years with an amazing score of 7 points! Team Starck was followed closely by Dave Dellenbaugh and his team with an as spectacular 8 point total. 3rd and 4th were taken by the Fisher brothers with Matt besting Greg on a tiebreaker. Ryan Ruhlman sailed solidly to hold off 5 other teams for the 5th and final trophy position.
North Notes:
>> North Sails finished 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15…..
>> North Sails were used on 42 of the 45 boats!
1. David Stark -RHM5, RH5A+, R2
2. David Dellenbaugh - M5, 5A+, R2
3. Matt Fisher - MF2, JF2, R2
4. Greg Fisher - MF2, RJF, R2
5. Ryan Ruhlman - MF2, JF2, R2
6. Tom Allen - M5, 5A+, R2
7. Todd Wake - M5, 5A+, R2
8. Eric Oetgen - MF2, JF2, R2
9. Brian Hayes - MF2, JF2, R2
10. Josh Goldman - M5, 5A+, R2
Leg 2 - MIAMI, MIDWINTERS
Just a quick note about the regatta in Miami.
40 boats at Miami for the Lightning Midwinters. Greg Fisher won the 6 race series with 39 points in nice 10-15 mph
breeze.. Keep tuned for a complete report soon!
- 1. Greg Fisher - MF2, JF2, R2
- 2. Jim Ward - MF2, JF2, R2
- 3. Felipe Robles - M5, 5A+. R2
- 4. Eric Oetgen - MF2, JF2, R2
- 5. David Starck - RHM5, RH5A+, R2
Leg 3 - ST. PETE
St. Pete wrapped up the 9 day tour of the south with 3 very light air races over 3 days..
Our own Al Terhune won the event in impressive fashion with a 2,4,2 to best Matt Fisher by one point..
53 boats entered the event which was down a bit but the class has been very proactive and has committees formed and are discussing changes to the circuit in 2014 to maximize participation.
That said 28 teams qualified for the circuit and 30 boats did all 3 events.
- 1. Al Terhune - MF2, JF2, R2
- 2. Matt Fisher - MF2, JF2, R2
- 3. Todd Wake - M5, 5A+, R2
- 4. Bill Faude - RHM5, RH5A+, R2
- 5. David DallenbaughM5, 5A+, R2
Learn more about the fast Lightnning designs from North. Don't hesitate to contact the Lightning experts if you have any questions.