Sept 6-7, 2025
Lake Rooty, Richmond, Virginia
PRO Rob Brodsky
Photos & Video: Rob Brodsky & Sheryl Saindon.
Fifteen sailors competed in the DF95 Virginia State & Region 3 Championship. Eight from North Carolina, one from South Carolina and one visitor from the UK joined five sailors from the host club, Richmond Model Yacht Club. Saturday was forecasted to be hot, in the mid 90’s with a late thunderstorm possible.
Instead the temperature stayed in the 80’s with a nice 5-8 knot breeze, with some big gusts, from the southwest for the morning. A surprise heavy downpour interrupted racing for an hour after lunch followed by a long wait for the breeze to resume. During the late afternoon races the heavy drainage water flow moved algae clumps onto the course causing major problems for some boats who were leading or near the lead at the time.
With a very long course set, and light winds only 11 races were completed Saturday, and with two drops, Martin Bowers held a 2 point lead over Skip Allen, followed by Michael Saindon and Charlie Fawcett, not too far behind.
Sunday dawned with a light rain and very light winds out of the fluky north, northwest. The rain let up a bit, then increased a lot, driving everyone to their cars for lunch. Sunday’s races were incredibly fluky with lots of major lead changes. Through it all, the top four boats from Saturday held on. Martin solidified his lead, never scoring worse than 4th on Sunday and finishing with a 1 – 2, giving him an 18 point cushion to win the regatta. Skip Allen finished second, Mike Saindon third and Charlie Fawcett fourth. The top four retained their positions from the first day. Over 20 races nine sailors won a race, including four who won 3 races and Martin with 4 wins.
The Podium: L-R: 3rd Mike Saindon, 1st Martin Bowers, 4th Charlie Fawcett, 2nd Skip Allen
