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by Pam

NBA write-up
Results

Seven races.  Started with light winds and progressed to some heavy stuff ... in Gary's words, 'makes White Rock look tame.' Dallas was well represented and brought back most of the trophies pictured below. Congratulations guys! 

Doug was wearing a hat cam and captured some of the wet and wild day. He won't let me see the footage yet but I hear he had a race where he made just about every mistake he could make and then had to come through the fleet and finished first. Then, he had what Paul called a close to perfect race and wouldn't you know it, the battery died so there is no evidence of what that looks like. I look forward to seeing the videos when he's done editing.

Paul and Geoff were headed to another regatta before heading home. I hope they do well.  Gary was visiting with family. Doug had just come from visiting family and the Canadian Laser Masters where he came 2nd and now he's home passed out cold sleeping in the floor with the dog.  

The Dallas Crew

The Trophies

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Update:  3 more races on day 2, lots of wind, Doug had 3 bullets and is bringing the trophy back home to Dallas.  Don't know about the rest of the guys yet.

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by Pam

The Butterfly Single-Handed Nationals are being held June 19-21 at Spring Lake, Michigan.  Doug, Gary, Paul and young Geoff will all be heading North to compete.  Apparently, Geoff's birthday is this coming week and he will no longer be a junior and will be sailing in the adult class.  That's okay though, because he took 3rd in the recent Wrangle Regatta and then the next weekend, he sailed a full rig Laser in his first Laser regatta and took third as well.  I suspect he can hold his own against the adults and may very well come home with some trophies, if not the big trophy.  If he gets his wind, he'll be hard to beat.

For those that would like to keep up with the racing, the Nationals are being hosted by Spring Lake Yacht Club and they have a fantastic webcam that you can manipulate from your computer and move it around to watch the comings and goings, rigging and even some of the racing.  

Enjoy - http://www.springlakeyachtclub.com/OurClub/WebCam.aspx

For those watching from home, I'm told Doug has the colored sail

Update:  4 races on Thursday - young Geoff appears to be in the lead with a 2 3 3 4. 

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by Cathy

And they're off to the races ... the Nationals that is

Photos

It was a fun day. 

I had race duty with Burton and he encouraged me to take some photos and write about the day. As is his habit, we started out by discussing the weather and making some notes about it at the top of the race results form. For the record, it was warm, very humid, and the wind was from the southeast about 5-8 mph starting out, but later dwindling to nearly nothing. There was a chance of scattered showers but they never materialized though there were some occasional sprinkles.

It was a nice day to sail, though basically a light air practice day.

The race course was set up promptly and two Olympic races were run back to back before the lunch break, then one short Windward race after lunch.

Bowman sailed well and took the lead at various points, but others managed to slip by her. She placed 2nd in the first 2 races. 

John improved quite a bit in the 2nd race, managing to stay in the midst of things for the most part and stayed up closer in the starts. 

Bruce claimed his watch died, but it didn't seem to hold him back.

Gary and Paul were out for their last Saturday practice race before attending the Single Handed Butterfly Nationals on June 19-21 in Spring Lake, Michigan. Or, I hope they both attend. Gary said he was not sure they would have a boat for him. Paul, I think, is taking his Butterfly and was packing it up to put on the trailer for the trip north with some help from Burton. And Doug, also from Butterfly Fleet 20, will be defending his 1st place win from the last two years.

Wishing them all good luck and thanking them for representing our Butterfly fleet at the Single Handed Butterfly Nationals for 2013!

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by Pam

Single-handed champion trophy and new women's trophy

The Butterfly Single-Handed Nationals now has a new women's trophy.  

NBA Post

The Fighting Lady Trophy is being donated by Pam, the 2012 winner of the “Top Woman Singlehanded Butterfly Championship” trophy. Both engraving plates were full and there was no room to add another name. It appeared to be the proper time to replace the trophy with a more suitable “Woman’s Single-Handed National Champion” trophy that can grow the same way as the overall National Champion trophy has grown over the years.

The Fighting Lady is a Butterfly that has remained in the same family and has a history that goes back to the mid-sixties. The boat sailed in her first nationals in 1973 at White Rock Lake in Dallas, TX. She was sailed by Robert Balboa Jr. and came in 28th. 

A few years later she was moved to the shores of Lake Ray Hubbard in Forney, Texas where she was left outside and subjected to weather, kids and makeshift repairs until she struggled to even remain afloat. For 30+ years, Robert and Pam’s father kept her in the hopes that she would be raced again. 

In 2008, Pam began sailing Butterflys and also ran into Robert’s best friend from his sailing days. Ben Miller from BM Boatworks in Kemah, TX had even sailed the boat a time or two as a kid and agreed to try to restore her to racing condition. The fiberglass was soft, the hull warped, and the floatation waterlogged but Ben worked his magic. Wanting to restore her to her original color, the closest color available was Interlux’s Fighting Lady Yellow. So the boat sort of named herself … and when she and Pam won the top woman trophy in 2012, almost 40 years after sailing in her first nationals which coincided with it being time to replace the trophy, she sort of named the trophy as well. 

This trophy is dedicated to Robert D. Balboa, Sr. (1929-2003) and the Fighting Lady, both of whom never gave up the dream of racing again.

https://picasaweb.google.com/ButterflyFleet20/PamSButterflyProject

http://fleet20.blogspot.com/2009/01/sailing-piece-of-history.html

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