Regatta Chairman: Jim Forrester; RD: Dave Branning;
Scoring and Photography, Judy Bonanno; Scoring: Amy Forrester and Liz Anger; Buoys and Chase
boat, Steve Ward, Conrad Nuss, Bob Herzog and Jay Kopp. Race committee, Roberta Nuss

Photos Link: https://judybonanno.smugmug.com/Sailing/LASER/2024-Dead-Crab-regatta

The annual Spring arrival of Horseshoe Crabs shedding their shells on Cape May and Delaware Bay beaches has prompted this RC Laser regatta to be named after the event. It's a local thing. Dodging dead crabs occasionally floating by is part of the ambiance of the racing.

The Corinthian YC of Cape May hosted 20 RC Laser skippers from New England to North Carolina for the regional championship. We also had skippers sailing their new RC Laser for the first time as well as very experienced RC skippers showing the way. The forecast for the day was SW 5-10 in the morning with increasing winds in the afternoon. Mother nature got serious and accelerated that forecast as skippers went through the sail bag of all four RC Laser sails before the lunch break. The afternoon puffs were in the 20s with an annoying chop to entertain the spectators viewing the run to the leeward mark.

At the break, defending regional champion, Stuart Challoner, of Toms River, held a 6-point lead over Raritan's Frank Scalisi with Metedeconk River's Sean Bradley and Raritan's Kevin LeCompte a few points back from Scalisi. In the afternoon almost everyone had their D sail on and one needed to be patient and just keep the boat driving and limit the nose dives on the run. Enjoy the action by viewing the videos in Judy Bonanno's picture link which follows.

Frank Scalisi hung on and nosed out Sean Bradley by one point to win his third Liberty RC Laser Regatta of the Spring. Frank is pitching a shutout, with two regattas to go in the Fall. Sean Bradley nosed out buddy Stuart Challoner by two points with Kevin LeCompte and John Santoro in fourth and fifth respectively.

Region 2 has taken a step to remind us of the importance of sportsmanship and respecting each other. At regattas we are handing out Sail Like 53 wrist bands to skippers to remind all of us of our mentor, David Brawner, who's legacy was to honor and respect your fellow competitor with Corinthian behavior. This regatta had absolutely no deportment issues. Personally, I would like to thank all the skippers who actively grabbed a screwdriver and stuck their nose into cockpits helping folks with connectivity or servo issues. This is the way our hobby grows.