2023 South East Florida RC Laser Winter Regatta Report

By Barr Batzer
The Sabal Pines Model Yacht held their 10th Annual RC Laser SEF Winter Regatta last Sunday. It was a gorgeous warm day with a light breeze but solid. Some flirted with the idea of using B rigs, but A rigs were used the entire day. After 9 heats of seeding races using the Brawner System, skippers had 6 scores and were able to throw out one for the seeding. The skippers were then divided into two fleets.

The A fleet got 6 races with Bill Bentz dominating the fleet with 8 firsts, followed by Tim Clark and Scott Rice in a battle for second and third place. B fleet got in 5 races, with Jim Knape narrowly edging John McDonald for first, followed by Bobby Kiesz in a close third.

When asking Bill how he got the convincing win, he replied… “I learned that to do well, it’s mostly mental. After watching the good guys, it seems to come down to getting a good start and then extending. It’s much easier at the top with only a few boats to get to lead. I feel that I have good boat speed and wanted to be in a strong position coming off the starting line and get my hitch onto port early rather than later. Staying clear of the port tack lay line always on the first approach where so many boats get tangled up. The RC Laser is an awesome boat to sail. You can’t really fiddle with it much, so it really comes down to the basics. But having your boat set up properly and making sure your servos, batteries, receiver, and control lines are in good order is a huge help…as well as making sure your electronics are dry.”

It was a super fun day, and the sailors are excited to travel across the state to attend the next three regattas in the Southern Circuit next week. We hope to see some more join us next year.

Check out the video on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/rclaser.org/permalink/6146282602102396/?mibextid=S66gvF

GOLD FLEET
Place Skipper Points
1 Bill Bentz 22
2 Timothy Clark 38
3 Scott Rice 43
4 Robert Tallman 49
5 Charlie Sumner 52
6 Henry DeWolf 58
7 Tim Follette 62
8 Hal Steward 63
9 Andrew Rauch 74
10 John Yates 75
SILVER FLEET
Place Skipper Points
1 Jim Knape 49
2 John McDonald 50
3 Bobby Kiesz 51
4 Myles Loesel 53
5 Anthony Corkell 58
6 Mike Campbell 72
7 Sharon Crocket 73
8 Karl Petersen 96
9 Freddie Sambolin 104
10 Dorian Goldberg 105