2020 Freeze Your Butt Off Regatta – FYBOR X

by Dave Branning

The tenth edition of the Freeze Your Butt Off Regatta (FYBOR X) was very successful as all the necessary planets aligned for the day. After a frozen pond last year, we welcomed soft water, clear sunny skies, brisk NW winds, a full fleet of bundled up and masked skippers plus great food. Eighteen skippers showed up to try and race in puffy winds, stay warm and just enjoy the end of our Mid-Atlantic MYC racing season, honoring our former leader, David Brawner. The wind chill put us in the mid 30’s for most of the morning so hand warmers and layers of clothes kept us comfortable.

David Ramos had Scott Graf and son Alex in the northbound car, pulling a trailer of boats, and all three finished in the top three. Must have been the coffee on the way up from Annapolis. We started the morning by using the CESS Pool heat scoring system (a David Brawner legacy) to keep the starting line volume to a minimum. At the break Alex Ramos held a slight lead over his dad, David, and Doug Wotring. Top skipper Jamey Betz was able to finish the first race but boat problems sadly kept him out for the rest of the day. He was a great help with the marks. As we evolved through six morning heats, there was some additional attrition, so the post lunch fleet was reduced to one longer starting line and a full fleet start. It worked and but further attrition ensued through the last six races of the afternoon. This was a crazy wind direction for this pond as a “double auto tack” was not infrequent so one had to be on your toes to avoid boat contact and maintain boat speed. Lead changes were frequent. David Ramos won the day handily as his two throw outs were a fourth and a second. He won by nine points over Scott Graft followed by Alex Ramos three points behind Scott. Results below.

The break for lunch was the high-light of the day as Scott Todd, famed Chesapeake Bay waterman, with help from Roni-Brandt-Simkins, treated us to his Chesapeake Crab Soup, chili, and cornbread. But wait, there’s more. Dom and Judy Bonanno eagerly brought additional chili, French bread and Skip Hall donated the drinks. Lisa Brawner addressed the fleet with holiday wishes at the skippers meeting and graced us with individual skipper cookie bags and additional bags of cookies for the top four skippers. Lisa also added a new brownie recipe that received high marks at our lunch break. Judy Bonanno presented the fleet with little sloop boat pins with FYBOR X on the sail. Thanks to all these generous and creative people for making it a spectacular day.

Thanks to Skip Hall for his crisp PRO leadership and to Roni Brandt-Simkins for scorekeeping and, of course, to Judy Bonanno for her scoreboard excellence and all her help with the lunch break as well as her videos and still pictures here:
https://judybonanno.smugmug.com/Sailing/EC-12-regattas/FYBOR-Regattas/FYBOR-10