Regatta Report from the Shore
by Janell Hoffman
Hard to believe that 1 week ago Dallas Corinthian Yacht Club was beginning to set up for the arrival of J/24s, Catalina 22s, and assorted classes for our annual regatta. It was our 61st Heritage Cup and the 12th Annual J/24 Corinthian Cup, otherwise known as the Corinthian Heritage Cup Regatta 2017.
We had 35 boats registered in 6 classes.
But while everyone was preparing for the excitement on the water, many hands went in to make sure that the onshore preparations were adequate to entertain more than 200 people for the weekend. The tent was set up, port-o-potty in place, and truck full of ice, donated by Reddy Ice Pilot Point, was on site and ready. On Friday evening, Sloppy Jos were served to any and all who came hungry. Also, Peter Brigaitis prepared a feast for the J/24 personnel. That’s why the sailors like to come to DCYC. We go the extra distance!
Saturday and Sunday mornings, coffee and a continental breakfast was out and ready at 7am. Thanks to Jessica Hancock and Dick Peters for running registration all weekend. Thanks to Leslie Maynard, Nassif Kaldawi, April Harpold, Lara Ruzevic, and Pauline Chelat. Following breakfast, sailors were invited to pick up their lunches. Thanks to Subway in Aubrey for providing the sandwiches at a reduced cost.
John Pherson and Lindsey Pherson served as our official regatta photographers all weekend. You can find almost 900 of their images here (the password is 2017). Thank you, John and Lindsey!
After the races, the sailors came ashore, grabbed a cup and drew a beer from the tap. The beer for the weekend was donated by Denton’s own Audacity Brew House. Next came The ever popular Happy Hour, starring the DCYC Rumminator prepared by Phyllis Hankins and her team. The rum was donated by Don Q. The servers were able to raise about $300 in tips (to encourage them to open early which were donated to the Youth Program.
As Happy Hour was winding down, Charlie Hoffman led a team of expert fish fryers, organized by Ross Glorioso, to fry up about 100 lbs of Louisiana channel catfish. That was accompanied by potato salad, coleslaw, hush puppies and cobbler, all of which was donated to the regatta by Norma’s Café in Frisco. Of course, it was expertly served up by the Fox Hollow Farm Hands, including members Janet Bilhartz and Susan Crittenden.
During dinner, the DJ Manny geared up his equipment and played music during and after dinner. As the evening wound down, people were sailing and camping out. Steve Utz pulled out some Chinese lanterns and they floated out in the darkness over the water, while the music played on. A great end to a great day of racing.
Sunday morning, bad weather threatened and races were delayed, but the storm passed and the races went on. As the races ended, sailors began loading up their boats and heading in for some lunch. Pam and Jim Hancock grilled up some delicious burgers. They were so delicious that we had to pull out some extra ones to meet the demand.
After lunch, the awards were given and the winning raffle ticket for the Quest 13 Kayak, graciously donated by Mariner Sails, was announced. After selling over $1,800 in raffle tickets, the winner was Graham Marshall, one of the J/24 racers.
By 5pm, the club was pretty much cleaned up, sailors were gone and the regatta was all but a memory, and a good one at that. We had good weather, good races and we are pretty sure that we will have a good amount to donate to our Youth Sailing Program when everything settles out.
We would be remiss to not mention Marie Nuchols and her amazing gift for promotion. From the minute she said yes to heading up the promotional piece of the regatta, she tirelessly worked to encourage the leadership team and members to take part in this important event.
And a special word of thanks to our Commodore, James Hankins, for having confidence in us and in his club. He was supportive at every turn. Because of his due diligence, we were able to collect many cash and in kind donations from members and businesses and even the docks.
We are so grateful to all who helped make this regatta a success. DCYC is a definitely a member-driven club.
dcyc1956 