Ding Schoonmaker honored at Star Winter Series

The seventh annual Miami Star Winter Series got underway November 10-11 on Biscayne Bay with the Schoonmaker Cup in Miami, FL.

Hosted at Coral Reef Yacht Club, the two day, five race event tried to kick off Saturday morning but the wind was not cooperating at all. During a two hour postponement at the club, the sailors gathered around the Cup itself for a picture to send to its namesake, Ding Schoonmaker, who was inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame during the regatta.

After the delay, the race committee sent the fleet out to the sailing grounds as the light easterly began to fill in. After a short delay on the water, the 15-strong fleet was on its way to the first mark. The breeze, while filled in across the course, was still shifty with relatively wide oscillations.

The shifts were played perfectly by the team of Arthur Anisov and Brian Fatih, followed across the finish line by past World Champ Augie Diaz and Roger Cheer. After a few breakdowns on the part of the race committee, it was decided to head in a touch early for the day and schedule an early start for Sunday.

Prior to Sunday’s start, a brief ceremony was held on the water to commemorate the signing of the Armistice at the 11th hour (in Nova Scotia, we had a schedule to keep!) of the 11th day of the 11th month 100 years ago to end World War I.

Rain clouds were traveling across the racing area for the first race, producing some wild oscillations for the first leg of the first race, and after they passed there were two 20 degree right shifts to the race course needed. The team of Kevin McNeil and Arnis Baltins mastered the chessboard for this one.

The breeze settled down out of the northeast, and for the second and third races of the day, Biscayne Bay put on her best. Nice 8 to 10 knot breeze with the occasional puff to 12, 5 to 10 degree oscillations around the axis, and mid-80 degree temperatures are about all anyone can ask for.

Arthur and Brian (above) showed great speed, winning the final two races to take the no-drop event. Augie and Roger booked a 2nd and 3rd to ice second after a tie-breaker, and Kevin and Arnis sailed well to take 3rd, two points behind the leaders and 9 points over the next.

Star Winter Series – Schoonmaker Cup

Final Results (4 races)
1. USA8000, Arthur Anosov / Brian Fatih – 1 -9 -1 -1 ; 12
2. USA8509, Augie Diaz / Roger Cheer – 2 -5 -2 -3 ; 12
3. USA8408, Kevin McNeil / Arnis Baltins – 6 -1 -3 -4 ; 14
4. USA8246, Shane Zwingelberg – 12 -2 -4 -5 ; 23
5. USA8440, Jim Buckingham / Mark Strube – 4 -16 -5 -2 ; 27
6. ARG8285, Erich Mones Ruiz / Maximo Smith – 3 -8 -9 -7 ; 27
7. USA8045, Alan Campbell / Matt Rajacich – 5 -7 -6 -9 ; 27
8. USA8530, Bert Collins / Jake Doyle – 7 -13 -8 -6 ; 34
9. BRA8495, Fabio Prada / Cristiano Ruschmann – 8 -15 -7 -10 ; 40
10. POR8413, John Orneberg / Afonso Domingos – 11 -12 -10 -8 ; 41
11. GER8396, Lothar Geilen / Carlos Miquel – 10 -10 -12 -12 ; 44
12. USA810, Mike Phinney / Alex Baker – 9 -4 -16 -16 ; 45
13. USA7982, Zachary Hansman / Charlie Koules – 14 -6 -13 -13 ; 46
14. USA8507, James Revkin / Guy Avellon – 13 -14 -11 -11 ; 49
15. USA8484, Larry Whipple / TC Belco – 16 -3 -16 -16 ; 51

2018-19 Miami Star Winter Series
Nov 10-11, 2018 – Schoonmaker Cup
Dec 1-2, 2018 – Commodore’s Cup
Jan 5-6, 2018 – Levin Memorial Regatta
Feb 7-8, 2019 – Walker Cup
Feb 7-10, 2019 – Star Midwinters

For the overall Winter Series results, the Low Point Scoring System, RRS A, will apply. Points shall be determined from the finishing place at each regatta. The sum of the best three of the four weekend regattas plus the Midwinter regatta place multiplied times two will determine the winner of the Winter series.

Source: L. Carl Schellbach, Jr.