2021 Freeze Your Butt Off Regatta – FYBOR XI

by Dave Branning

For December 5th we couldn’t ask for better conditions at Laurel Acres Park in Mt Laurel, New Jersey. It was such a nice day that the spectator fleet outnumbered the racing fleet. Host club, Mid-Atlantic Model YC, concluded the 2021 EC12 racing season with an 18-boat fleet enjoying sunshine, the usual light air, and a great lunch feast of crab soup & chili. Perfect! This is one of our fondest events because it always reminds us of David Brawner, who kept this event casual enough to remind us about men racing toy boats. The winner gets an aluminum garage-sale ice bucket with a sharpie pen inside to “engrave” your name and the year. Everyone else gets the same runner up award and this year it was an etched old-fashioned cocktail glass.

The regatta started late due to no wind but, when mother nature showed up, we sailed the balance of the morning using the CESS-POOL method of rotating six skippers out for one race of a three-race set. This keeps the starting line to a manageable size. At the break we all had sailed four of six races held. Danny Thomas was sailing his first FYBOR regatta and led by three points over Dave Ramos & Mark Reinhart who were tied for second. Scott Graf was a point behind in fourth and Domenick Bonanno, in his new CPM boat, rounded out the top five after two firsts to start the day.

For lunch, Chesapeake Bay Waterman, Scott Todd, heated up his signature crab soup and Judy Bonanno had two chili crock pots, powered by a generator, to add to the festivities. Add Michele Sysyn’s corn bread and Cookies by Elaine and you have a wonderful cool weather feast. The 3-6 knot winds showed up again and it was back to racing.

The fleet had dwindled to fifteen so we went to one-fleet and all skippers were on their best behavior given a generous starting line and tight mark rounding. At the top, Thomas, Ramos and Reinhart kept up the tight duel and that’s the order at the end of the day. We were glad that Tyler Raven, Drew Beach were able to join us and it’s always great to have alumni, Chris Bock, join us from Durham, NC with his shark boat.

A big thanks to Skip Hall who ran the starting line and race course as PRO and to Judy Bonanno & Roni Brandt-Simkins who kept Dave Branning focused on calling the finish line. Judy, who does it all, managed to wander about taking a ton of pictures and here is her link:
https://judybonanno.smugmug.com/Sailing/EC-12-regattas/FYBOR-Regattas/FYBOR-11

Date: December 5, 2021

Location: Laurel Acres Park, Mt. Laurel, NJ
Host Club: Mid-Atlantic MYC
Entries: 18
Winds: Variable; 3-6 mph
Races Completed: 12
Scoring: Low Point, one throw-out
Committee: PRO, Skip Hall; RC: Roni-Brandt-Simpkins, Judy Bonanno, Dave Branning; Mark Boat: Scott Graf and Danny Thomas