Danny Pletsch and Kari Sachs Repeat as

Interclub National Champions

April 17-18, 2010

New Bedford, MA

LYC sailors ruled the top of the podium at the 2010 Interclub National Championship.  Danny Pletsch and Kari Sachs repeated as champions by four points over two-time national champions John and Molly Baxter.  LYC frostbiters also placed fourth through sixth overall at the hotly contested regatta hosted by the Community Boating Center. 

 

   The Baxters (bow 66) and Danny Pletsch/Kari Sachs (bow 50) neck

   and neck at the 2010 IC Nationals.  Photo by Fran Grenon.

 

Eleven LYC teams made the trip to New Bedford.  The turnout in 2010 was smaller than expected with only 21 teams attending due to a dire weather forecast.  Most of the top teams in the class were there, making for a very competitive fleet and the forecasted severe weather never materialized.  A shifty NNE 7-10 knot breeze that died to 5-8 knots later in the day dominated Saturday, with some light rain mixed in.  After Day 1, four LYC teams were separated by four points at the top of the leaderboard, with winter member Simon Strauss and Donna Marie Cippollone in first, one point ahead of the Baxters, with Pletsch/Sachs one point behind them, and winter member Steve Benjamin and Mark Ivey in fourth.  The team of Ted Ferrarone and Meredith Killion also won a race on Saturday and was in fifth overall, seven points back.

 

   Pletsch/Sachs fight for a lane off the starting line with Steve   

   Benjamin and Mark Ivey (bow 60) to leeward.  Photo by Fran Grenon.

 

Sunday’s racing was even more challenging in Clark’s Cove, with the lighter northwest breeze bending around old mill smokestacks and the New Bedford seawall, creating large wind shifts and pressure differentials on the racecourse.  The Baxters and Pletsch/Sachs quickly separated from the pack, with Pletsch one point ahead after Race 7, tied after Race 8, and the Baxters ahead by five points after Race 9.  In Race 10, Pletsch and Sachs were able to sail around the Baxters on a large left shift on the first beat to put the defending champs four points behind.  The battle continued in Race 11, with the same left shift allowing the Baxters to put several boats between themselves and Pletsch/Sachs on the first beat, but the race was abandoned, giving the regatta to Pletsch and Sachs and to an LYC team for the fourth consecutive year. 

The Baxters placed second overall and won the Wharf Rat Challenge for their performance in a series of national-level Interclub regattas.  Results and photos.

 

   The 2010 Interclub National Champions: Danny Pletsch and Kari     

   Sachs.  Photo by Fran Grenon.