WEEKEND IC24 REGATTA IS A RACE TO THE FINISH
by Carol M. Bareuther
January 20, 2002

Roller coaster seas and a stiff breeze packing blustery gusts created conditions in Cowpet Bay that made the all-alike sailboats look like bucking broncos at the starting line. But the excitement at the IC24 Invitational Regatta, hosted by the St. Thomas Yacht Club Saturday and Sunday, wasn't just at the start; it went right down to the last race.

Throughout the weekend's nine races, it was "consistency and being focused" that earned the St. Thomas team with Carlos Aguilar at the helm the regatta win, crew member Verian Aguilar said later. Twelve teams from St. Thomas, St. Croix, Puerto Rico and Dallas competed in the event, with local IC24 owners pitted against visiting skippers in two heats of multiple races.

On Saturday, six teams chosen by drawing competed in the morning and the other six raced in the afternoon. The top three finishers in the morning and top three in the afternoon advanced to the finals Sunday. The other six boats from Saturday moved into the "petit finals" to determine who would finish in seventh through 12th place.

First-day racing with winds over 20 knots didn't faze visiting skipper Doyle Sherman, from the Rush Creek Yacht Club in Dallas. "I like a big breeze," he said later. "Having learned to sail in Corpus Christi, where it's always blowing, made it easy to fit in here. Plus the shifts of the inner harbor were reminiscent of the lake sailing that we do." Sherman, who is known back home as "the barefoot sailor," named his regatta crew Team Barefoot. He learned about the regatta from St. Thomas's Chris Rosenberg, who co-implemented the IC24 program with boatbuilder Morgan Avery. Sherman sold four J/24s to Rosenberg for conversion to the IC specifications, and "Chris invited us to come down and sail," he said. "It's been a blast." One of the J/24s from Texas was formerly owned by Paul Foerster, a member of the Rush Creek Yacht Club and silver medalist in the Men's 470 at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.

Conditions calmed slightly for the second day of competition, which saw St. Thomas's Bill Canfield and Ed Drury finish second in the petite finals with 12-year-old Taylor Canfield at the helm, while St. Thomas's Mike Williams and Skip King finished first. Brothers Jose and Tony Teixidor from Puerto Rico finished fourth in the petit finals but enjoyed the event as a learning experience for themselves and their sons, Marcos and Carlos. "Sailing Optimists, the boys had never worked a winch before," Jose Teixidor said afterward, "but it was great fun."

In the finals, Chris Rosenberg sailed to the top of the fleet but was disqualified on a breach of race rules. This put Aguilar in the winner's slot. Set to round the windward mark for the last time, Beecher Higby, skipper of the St. Croix team, collided with the Sherman's boat after Team Barefoot failed in its attempt at a tight rounding. The result was disqualification for both, knocking them from a tie for second place to a tie for fourth. "We were too high on the port layline," Higby said afterward, "and in retrospect I should have ducked behind the red boat [Sherman's] -- but never saw them off my starboard."

IC24 class competition both within the St. Thomas Yacht Club and elsewhere seems to be on the increase. "We'll have another six to seven boats soon," regatta organizer Drury said Sunday at the regatta awards ceremony. "And what seemed to be a lot of close calls and collisions as we learned to sail these boats last spring has turned into cleaner racing, with only a couple of close calls. The class has matured. I'm pleased and proud." The IC24 might even become one of the single-design fleets at the Rush Creek Yacht Club. "This design is a winner," Sherman said. "It doesn't bite. It's extremely crew friendly, yet highly competitive."

Results
Finals (for positions 1-6)

1. Carlos Aguilar and Jim Hindels, St. Thomas
2. Chris Thompson, St. Thomas
3. Doyle Sherman, Texas
4. Beecher Higby, St. Croix
5. Phillip Shannon, St. Thomas
6. Chris Rosenberg, St. Thomas

Petit Finals (for positions 7-12)

1. Mike Williams and Skip King, St. Thomas
2. Ed Drury and Bill Canfield St. Thomas
3. Dick Johnson, St. Thomas
4. Jose and Tony Teixidor, Puerto Rico
5. Jackson Roberts, St. Thomas
6. Chris Curreri, St. Thomas