2006 Levin Memorial

Results listed below

Report by Mark Mendelblatt

Like last year, the 2006 Levin Memorial regatta was to be a qualifying event for the US sailing team. So all the top US guys who have been making efforts toward the 2008 Olympics were in attendance, and then some. This was to be a 3 race series, so there would be no room for bad races, or letters on the scoreboard.

A rather strong cold front was passing over the Miami area on friday and the winds were picking up to around 20 knots the day before the regatta, giving the star sailors plenty on the day before the event. Some guys went out, some did not, and some of the one's who went out had to be towed back in. By the time Saturday morning came around, the temperature was down in the 50's and it was still blowing hard. The fleet was treated to a great downwind ride out to the course in 15-20 knots of breeze, but by the time the racing started, the wind had died down a bit, and would continue to do so as the day went on.

Andy Horten and Brad Nichol came out strong with a bullet in race one. As usual, they worked the shifts up the favored side of the first beat, then showed superior downwind speed and tactics to take the lead and extend throughout the course of the race. Also posting good scores were Auggie Diaz, Brian Cramer, Mike Milner and myself and Strube. Sorry about not having all the crew names. John Kostecki and Haus Sperry had made a stealth comeback for a 6th in the first race.

For race 2, the winds had gotten a bit lighter and as we started in a very light spot, it could have been anyone's race. You had to get to one side or the other on the first beat as the middle was nothing but a big hole. The leaders from the right and left sides came together at the top mark and a few were informed of their status of being OCS at the start, Andy Horten and Mark Reynolds included. We started just below Reynolds on the line, and must have been very fortunate to not get called. But leading from the right side was John Kostecki and super crew Sperry. These guys sailed a phenomenal race, extending their lead constantly on every leg to win by miles. Behind them the battle for second raged between Brian Cramer, Henry Filter, Phillipe Presti and us. Eventually we came back for a very keepable 4th and were in good shape after day one, two points back from Kostecki in second overall.

Sunday saw much lighter, but steadier winds for the final race. Can't tell you much about what was going on up front, but from the results, I saw that Auggie won the race. Kostecki made a fantastic comeback from the 20's at the top mark to secure the regatta win. We rounded in the 20's after getting caught in the middle left up the first beat and pretty much stayed there the whole race, and dropped to 6th in the standings, not too agreeable. Second place in the race and regatta went to Will Stout and Daryl Hiatt, and the French made a comback as well to take the final place on the podium.

Congratulations to John and Austin for winning the regatta, and thanks to Coral Reef and their veteran race committee who never fail to please the Star sailors.

Place	Boat	Skipper	Crew	Fleet	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Total
1	USA 8230	John Kostecki	Austin Sperry	WSFB	6	1	7	14
2	USA 8067	Will Stout	Darrell Hiatt	SDB	10	14	2	26
3	FRA 7879	Philippe Presti	Jean Phillipe Saliou	FdeSA	12	5	9	26
4	USA 8045	Augie Diaz	Bruce Hatfield	BisB	4	22	1	27
5	USA 8222	Rick Merriman	Rick Peters	SDB	7	12	8	27
6	USA 8157	Mark Mendelblatt	Mark Strube	TaB	5	4	25	34
7	USA 8162	Andy Macdonald	Brian Fatih	NH	3	10	22	35
8	NZL 8187	Hamish Pepper	David Giles	Isol	14	16	5	35
9	USA 8136	Henry Filter	Will Wagner	AN	22	3	11	36
10	USA 8061	Andy Lovell	Magnus Liljedahl	NOG	8	8	23	39
11	GBR 8025	Andy Beadsworth	David Carr	SO	13	25	3	41
12	CAN 8143	Brian Cramer	Tyler Bjorn	LOC	9	2	31	42
13	USA 8195	John Maccausland	Shane Zwingelberg	CR	17	13	15	45
14	USA 8177	Karl Anderson	Scott Norris	BH	24	9	16	49
15	USA 8080	Fotis Boliakis	Phil Trinter	CLIS	25	24	4	53
16	USA 8176	Erik Lidecis	Michael Marzhal	NH	15	26	12	53
17	USA 7995	George Szabo	Eric Monroe	SDB	16	19	19	54
18	CAN 7899	Mike Milner	Matt Johnston	LOC	2	21	38	61
19	USA 7515	Ross Adams	Stewart Hall	WH	19	17	26	62
20	BER 8044	Martin Siese	Bill McNiven	Isol	35	18	10	63
21	USA 8215	Bill Allen	Brad Lichter	WH	27	5	21	63
22	USA 8043	Jock Kohlhas	Mickey Nielson	BisB	37	7	20	64
23	USA 8156	Andy Horton	Brad Nichol	NB	1	bfd	13	67
24	USA 7640	Arthur Anosov	David Caesar	TaB	11	6	dns	70
25	USA 8235	Larry Whipple	Darin Jensen	PS	31	11	30	72
26	USA 7763	Bear Hovey	Lee Dayton		20	29	24	73
27	USA 8239	Mark Reynolds	Hal Haenel	SDB	18	bfd	6	77
28	USA 7713	Peter McChesney	Paul Anlong	An	32	31	14	77
29	USA 8217	Todd Gay	Scott Anderson	LS	21	35	36	92
30	USA 7986	Hyde Perce	Chris Rogers	WH	30	34	29	93
31	USA 7228	Joe Zambella	Eric Beckwith	BH	29	32	33	94
32	USA 8095	Gunti Weissenberger	Chris Brown	NCB	34	36	27	97
33	USA 8153	Eric Doyle	Brian Sharp	SDB	bfd	27	18	98
34	USA 8231	Sam Rowse	Rob Bowers	Sun	33	30	39	102
35	BAH 8236	Steven Kelly	Bill Holowesko	N	bfd	23	28	104
36	USA 7370	Rob Emmet	Guy Avellon	AN	23	49	42	104
37	USA 8175	Jim Babel	Jon Vandermolen	GL	28	38	40	106
38	USA 8072	Doug Smith	Mike Moore	SMB	bfd	37	17	107
39	FRA 7714	Jimmy Pahum	Vincent Berneguier	FdeM	36	40	34	110
40	USA 8037	Peter Wright	Don Wright	BisB	26	bfd	32	111
41	USA 8128	Bill Culberson	David Reich	MoB	bfd	20	41	114
42	USA 8038	John Vanderhoff	Rowan Perkins	NCB	dnc	28	35	116
43	USA 8063	Bert Collins	Angelo Buscemi	An	dns	33	47	133
44	CAN 7988	Brad Anderson	Larry Scott	LOC	dnc	dns	37	143
45	USA 7434	Bill Parks	Clark Anderson	WH	dnc	dns	43	149
46	USA 7369	Steve Haarstick	Chris Haarstick	Sen	dnc	dns	44	150
47	USA 7934	Karl Von Schwarz	Rich Wharton	AN	dnc	dns	45	151
48	USA 7521	Jay Tyson	Ian Ciough	BisB	dnc	dns	46	152
49	USA 7193	William Joyce	Matt Freeman	WLM	dnc	dns	48	154
50	USA 7964	Charles Kohlerman III	Charles Kohlerman IV	NCB	dnc	dns	49	155
51	IRL 8028	Maurice O'Connell	Edmund Pezz	Isol	dns	dns	dns	159
51	USA 8163	Tom Vandermolen	Dave Jackson	GL	dnc	dns	dns	159