Rally in Raleigh, October 14, 2007, hosted by the Triangle Model Yacht Club, Raleigh, NC.

Oh what fun we had here in Raleigh. It started with picking up Bill Hagerup, our illustrious class secretary, at the airport on Saturday night. We finally get to meet and yet I feel like I've known him for years. We tracked down Paul Taylor and Graham McAllister and should have dragged Scott Spacie out of his motel room. He said he needed rest but we never should have let him have it.

The morning dawned bright and beautiful at Lake Johnson, even a bit of wind. Ten Footy skippers arrived and many boat comparisons occupied the morning. After measuring the boats as we gathered and prepared, we got down to business. Carl Olbrich, TMYC Commodore, served as RD and did a fine job even though we weren't sailing his beloved EC12s. That early wind had died down to just a few unpredictable puffs for the first few races. Even so it was enough to keep the fleet moving and fighting for advantages. Scott Spacie was keeping all the bullets but the rest of us weren't far behind. Big rigs were definitely helping those that brought them. The wind picked up from the north but the stronger gusts were even less predictable. Scott gave up finishing first for a few races as the fleet adjusted to conditions. As the day progressed the wind direction switched to the west, picked up some, and became much more consistent. The bigger rigs were getting harder to control but still dominating. After 15 races (2 throw-outs) we called it a day.

Scott Spacie was the clear winner showing incredible sailing skill with a very well prepared boat. Bill Hagerup took second ahead of Dick Proseus. A special mention goes to 4th place. Chris Argenta, who only began sailing in the spring, borrowed one of Scott's spare boats and did a fine job of getting around the marks. His own boat was completed too late to overcome some design issues discovered in it's first 30 minutes on the water. That was only one example of the very generous spirit from these skippers. We had other borrowed boats sailing, borrowed transmitters, batteries, and we even tried to charge a dying battery between races to keep everyone going to the end. I had a great time and it sure looked like there were plenty of smiles all day long.

Another memorable moment was giving our thanks to Charles Hall, an active TMYC member. He had showed up to help keep the regatta running smoothly. What many might not know is that he's also the Footy Class webmaster. Angus Richardson, Bill Hagerup and I had joined forces and presented him with a small token of our appreciation for all the dedication and hard work he's given to the class.

Thanks to everyone that participated, we hope to do this some more.

John Amoroso

Name	Sail Number	Points	Hull Type	Rig Type
Scott Spacie	25	15	American Footy	McRig
Bill Hagerup	20	37	unnamed	McRig
Dick Proseus	98	40	V12	sloop
Chris Argenta*	26 (Spacie boat)	44	American Footy	sloop
Graham McAllister	65	55	Siren	sloop
John Amoroso	41	67	FatBob	McRig
Paul Taylor	144	91	507	sloop
Chris Kakavas**	75 55 (Taylor) 25 Swingrig (Spacie)	103	Pipsqeak 507 American Footy	sloop sloop swing
Jock Gault	47	108	Kittiwake	sloop
Chase Thomas	112	116	Micron	sloop

* His new Razor with cat rig failed to sail. Scott loaned him a nice boat. He's only been sailing a few months.

** 1st borrowed boat took on water. 2nd had rudder linkage failure. 3rd boat sailed well in spite of swing rig
learning curve. He's a very good EC12 skipper.