Final race shuffle decides Lido 14 Nationals

Long Beach, CA (August 3, 2014) – Competing within the confines of Alamitos Bay, the 23-boat Gold fleet needed all 12 races to decide the 2014 Lido 14 National Class Championship. Entering the day in the lead, Kevin Thomas/ Amanda Wayne still held a four point lead over defending champion Christophe Killian/ Jack Martin before the last race, but both tanked it in the no discard series, opening the for 2010 champ Mark Ryan and Sarah Schaupeter to take the title. Thomas finished second with Killian in third.

Report by Rich Roberts…
They sailed the oldest boat but it was a special boat that Mark Ryan and his crew, sister Sarah Schaupeter, drove to their second Lido 14 National Class Championship on Alamitos Bay on Sunday.

“Grandpa’s boat,” they call it, number 2506 in the line of more than 7,000 W.D. Schock dinghies dating to the late 50s when Roscoe Orin Butcher launched it decades before the birth of his grandchildren, who christened it the “Orin B.” on the transom.

In 12 races over two days, following a Qualification series that split the 45 entries into Gold and Silver fleets, the Orin B. lurked closely in the shadows of the top contenders until surging into first place by a single point with finishes of 6-4-2 in the last three races.

First-day leaders Kevin Thomas with crew Amanda Wayne and defending champion Christophe Killian with crew Jack Martin both scored 77 points; Thomas/Wayne won the runnerup tiebreaker on a pair of first-place finishes along the way. Killian’s only first place was erased by his starting penalty, which he appealed to no avail, as did 4-time winner Chris Raab.

Ryan, 25, said, “It was the toughest regatta I’ve ever sailed in. There were 10 or more world champions [from various classes] out there.”

Schaupeter (her married name), 27, said, “I was just glad to sail with Mark in our Grandpa’s boat.”

But it was their first time together in the boat since the 2010 Lido 14 Nationals, when they resurrected the craft.

“We did it in Grandpa’s garage with his tools,” Mark said.

They couldn’t afford any errors. Killian, with three second places and Raab, with two firsts, seemed to be building to a final day showdown until both were nailed with 24-point penalties for jumping the start in Saturday’s last race. They struggled to stay on the pace Sunday; Raab won one race while Killian scored a second.

The sailors also battled light breeze of 5 to 9 knots, shifting repeatedly between southeast and southwest, creating a challenge for the race committee to maintain a balanced, two-lap windward-leeward course on the small bay.

In the end, Ryan and Schaupeter pulled it off with a close second place behind Chris Vilicich in Race 12. The latter’s crew was Greg Dair, who crewed for Killian’s title win at Marina del Rey last year.

Final Results – Top 10 of 45 (12 races, no discard)
1. Mark Ryan / Sarah Schaupeter , USA – 14, 3, 12, 2, 1, 5, 12, 6, 9, 6, 4, 2, ; 76
2. Kevin Thomas / Amanda Wayne , USA – 5, 9, 4, 1, 8, 2, 8, 2, 17, 8, 1, 12, ; 77
3. Christophe Killian / Jack Martin , USA – 2, 5, 2, 8, 2, 24/OCS, 2, 7, 4, 5, 8, 8, ; 77
4. Bob Little / Lisa Little , USA – 1, 6, 11, 4, 12, 6, 4, 8, 1, 14, 9, 4, ; 80
5. Chris Raab / Scott McKeiver , USA – 3, 1, 1, 7, 3, 24/OCS, 7, 10, 14, 1, 12, 3, ; 86
6. Bruce Golison / Dina Corsi , USA – 16, 2, 3, 5, 5, 1, 10, 4, 15, 18, 3, 7, ; 89
7. Mark Golison / Beth Golison , USA – 11, 10, 5, 3, 20, 12, 5, 1, 2, 7, 7, 11, ; 94
8. Chris Vilicich / Greg Dair , USA – 4, 21, 13, 6, 17, 15, 3, 11, 3, 3, 6, 1, ; 103
9. Kevin Taugher / Katie Taugher , USA – 7, 13, 6, 17, 9, 14, 6, 3, 19, 17, 10, 9, ; 130
10. Kevin Kirk / Susannah Kirk , USA – 6, 17, 8, 11, 16, 4, 1, 15, 10, 22, 13, 13, ; 136

Event website: http://www.yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=1123