2004 Harry Wood Memorial Regatta
March 28, 2004
Hosted by Balboa Yacht Club
It came down to a competition between sunny and warm versus windy. The sunny and warm team won. The regatta got underway on schedule at noon with the winds at 9mph and a temperature of 80 degrees. Perfect! Then the wind took a major siesta, crashing down to about 4mph, holding briefly, before failing completely and clawing its way back up to 4mph - and changing direction all the while. It took a lot of patience and work by the racers and the race committee to keep things going but everyone hung in there and the racing ended up being fair and reasonably enjoyable - as much as one can expect in such circumstances. In the end, the usual suspects were atop the scoreboard.
The son/father team of Freddie and Fred Stevens had some tight racing with the husband and wife team of Kurt and Anne Wiese but the victories mostly went to the Stevens as they racked up an almost perfect score.
In the Grand Master division (skipper's over 50), defending GM racer Barry Wood, son of Harry Wood, wasn't able to hold off Mission Bay's Roger Patterson. It should be noted that the oldest skipper, Roy Woolsey, is 86!
The A and B divisions were sailed together but were scored independently. There were no throw-outs in the five race series.
The wind never quite shut off - at least not until after the races. The racers sailing back to BYC from the main basin of Newport Bay found themselves becalmed with a long way to go. The race committee gathered up the sailors like a flock of ducklings and towed them all back to the club where a hot meal and libations awaited.
A special thanks to all those that helped on the race committee: Al Oleson, Stephanie Faillers, Wendy Bell, and Ed Heath.
As reported by John Papadopoulos - Regatta Chair & PRO
| Place | Skipper & Crew | Sail # | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | T | Fleet |
| 1st | Freddie & Fred Stevens | 2614 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | A |
| 2nd | Kurt & Anne Wiese | 6240 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 9 | A |
| 3rd | Nancy Davidson & Missy York | 5127 | 3 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 23 | A |
| 4th | Larry Walter & Sarah Angell | 4000 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 27 | A |
| 5th | Craig McCabe & Kim Zuelsdorf | 6200 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 28 | A |
| 6th | Jordan Varon & Chris Cantu | 4686 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 8 | DNS | 39 | A |
| 7th | Bob & Kevin Martin | 4179 | DNS | DNS | DNS | DNS | DNS | 65 | A |
| 1st | Rander Carper & Tania Alexander | 1967 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 26 | B |
| 2nd | Ryder Nesbitt & Dennis Potts | 6048 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 37 | B |
| 3rd | Bob Hartung & Anne Brandvold | 4602 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 5 | 39 | B |
| 4th | Jeff & Gina McLaren | 4817 | 6 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 44 | B |
| 5th | Robert Spieler & Chad Herr | 6195 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 52 | B |
| 1st | Roger Patterson & Steve Howes | 6127 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | GM |
| 2nd | Barry & Heather Wood | 5100 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 12 | GM |
| 3rd | Jim Jackman & Dennis Holland | 6158 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 16 | GM |
| 4th | Roy Woolsey & Karyn Greene | 4110 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 18 | GM |
| 5th | Al Perez & Nick Brunet | 5115 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 23 | GM |
