51st Annual Liberty Bell Regatta

by Dave Branning

Finally, Spring T-shirt weather showed up in Southern New Jersey. Laurel Acres Park in Mt. Laurel, NJ was awash with legions of families enjoying the jogging/biking paths, fresh water fishing, multiple playgrounds, and a RC regatta. Quite the crowd adding to the excitement of the day.

This was the home pond for David Brawner, former AMYA President, Hall of Fame recipient and a stickler for Corinthian behavior. The AMYA board most recently has been dealing with “behavior” incidents as well as corrective measures and are looking for all of us regatta/race directors and participants to wake up and stress sportsmanship and honorific behavior.

After Glenn Chalder, former EC12 Class Secretary, won the David Brawner Corinthian Spirit award at the Marco Island RC Laser NCR last month, he was emotional in his appreciation of such a recognition, having known David in the 90s. Glenn suggested we perpetuate the “Sail Like 53” theme with a constant reminder of good behavior. The Sail Like 53 wrist band was a solution, in Brawner boat colors, ironically introduced the day after David Brawner’s birthday. Glenn, from region 1 and I hope to distribute the Sail Like 53 wrist bands at regattas throughout our respective regions of AMYA. When you wear it and look down at the transmitter you are holding, there it is.

And now, the regatta report:
We established a five-leg windward leeward course that never altered all day. The puffy SW winds were at the high end of the A-rig with constant shifts to keep it interesting. Standard at Laurel Acres Park. Glenn Chalder brought the donuts & helped Judy Bonanno, handled the finish line while she entered electronic scoring while juggling periodic photography while I called the starts. The regatta brought out four multi-national EC12 champions who love to compete and enjoy the years of being together racing EC12s.

The first race saw David Ramos, Jarl Wathne, Sean Bradly and Mark Reinhart at the top while Jamey Betz logged a DNF and sadly, had to retire for the rest of the day with a servo issue. David Ramos, winning six of the 13 races, kept the pressure on all day but Mark and Jarl were able to win the other races until the final race when Sean Bradley got his first bullet in his new boat. We also welcomed new skipper, Tom Sollas, from Metedeconk River YC, to the EC12 class, having bought Sean Bradley’s first EC12. Glad to have you aboard, Tom.

Location: Laurel Acres Park, Mt. Laurel, NJ
Host Club: Mid-Atlantic MYC
# of Entries: 12
Winds: 10-18
Races completed: 13
Scoring System: Single fleet; one throw-out
Regatta Committee & Valuable Assistant: RD, Dave Branning; Scoring
and photography, Judy Bonanno; Jack of all trades assistant, Glenn
Chalder; Fleet Captain: Ray Szulczewski

Judy’s Pictures: https://judybonanno.smugmug.com/Sailing/EC-12-regattas/Liberty-Bell-Regattas/2024-Liberty-Bell-51st-Regatta