Leaders tied at Thistle Nationals

Sandusky, OH (August 8, 2013) – PRO Jim Tichenor had his work cut out for him today at the Thistle U.S. National Championship. After successfully completing the qualifying series on schedule, and with day 3 (Wed) stormed out, he had to catch up today and he did just that.

It was a long 3 race day. Winds were 8 to 13kts with lots of chop. Half the chop was from the Sandusky Bay being so shallow (~ 6ft deep), with the remaining chop from the wake of 109 Thistles and all the support boats related to the regatta.

The wind was from the left of the Cedar Point roller coasters mostly oscillating between 35 and 45 deg. Sure there were a few outlier shifts out of that range, but not too many.

After a rough start in the qualifiers, Sam Ingham with Delia Ingham and Dan Fien won the day convincingly with a 2, 2, 1. I spoke with Dan after the racing, and he noted a few keys to success for the day.

First was deciding whether a shift was truly a shift or whether it was a velocity shift. For example, when getting a header, they had to be patient and decide if it was really a header or if they were bearing off because of the lull. And if it was a lift, the key was to decide if it was a lift or just good pressure

But he said the real key was to decide when to head to new pressure. And he said the answer was, more often than not, to head to pressure. That and keeping the boat moving super fast through that chop.

With only one race remaining on the final day of Friday, Chris Laboard and Al Terhune are tied for first. Eleven points back is Steve White in third, with Skip Dieball in fourth and John Baker in fifth.

The Presidents division got to start over in the scores. The Joyce brothers are winning the division followed by Conor Ruppin then Craig Smith.

Click here for complete results.

Source: Mike Ingham