Southwinds Local News for Southern Sailors - August 2000          Next Story
Linton wins Sunfish North American championship on Mobile Bay
By Joni Plomp

sunfish photo by nancy haberland

Nancy Haberland (77388) tops the women's fleet.           Joni Plomp photo

Fairhope Yacht Club played host to the Sunfish North American Championships this year as 72 competitors met in the picturesque town of Fairhope on Mobile Bay. The international field included skippers from all parts of the country, plus Colombia and Bermuda.
     Jeff Linton of Tampa, FL, was the fastest skipper in the Championship fleet, edging Bermuda's Malcolm Smith by one point with Mike Gable, also from Tampa, finishing third.

Jump to results below

     Smith didn't go home empty-handed as he topped the Master fleet while Nancy Haberland of Annapolis, MD, was the top female sailor. Sixteen-year-old Karl Kleinschrodt of Mobile, AL, walked away with a trophy for First Junior Sailor, Jonathan Bean of Oriental, NC, took top honors in the Founders Fleet, and 11-year-old Ryan Hamilton of Covington, LA, was a double winner as the top Midget sailor and was also honored with the Sportsmanship Award.
     In the best six out of eight races over a five-day schedule, skippers ranged in age from 11 to 76 and competed in fleets of Midgets (under 14), Juniors, (14 to 17), a Founders fleet and a Championship fleet. The top ten from the Championship fleet qualified for the Sunfish World Championships to be held in Sarasota, FL, in mid-November.
     Competitors were treated to good winds and sunshine all week. Commodore Tony Chavers said, "When we put the bid in for this event, I said we really need to have it in June because that's when we have our best sailing. The skippers really got what they came for."
     The closing day of the event was the only time the wind didn't originate from the Gulf of Mexico, and the competition was more reminiscent of light-air lake sailing--a different kind of challenge from the windy conditions earlier in the week.
     "We had all types of wind conditions, but on Friday we saw more females round the marks in the top ten positions," recalled race official Carl Wainwright. "These sailors had to know their stuff, and it wasn't all muscle power. They had to have good tactics and strategies. It made for a great event."
     Linton and Smith were locked into a battle for top honors throughout the series with Linton leading by one point going into the final race.
     "In the last race, it was easier to push Malcolm back in the fleet than try to win it," Linton said. "I pushed him back to about 45th, then he quit."
     Linton finished 15th in the final race and maintained the one-point margin as Smith was forced to use the last race as one of his two throwouts.
     Describing his long-running rivalry with Smith as "friendly," Linton--now a five-time North American champion, will aim for the world title in November with hopes of dethroning Smith , who has held the title the past two years.
     The Junior winner also had his strategy well in hand. Karl Kleinschrodt is more experienced competing in Lasers but during these championships, he excelled in the Sunfish.
     "The key element is to get a good start," said the teenager. "If you get a good start, you'll almost always be at the front of the fleet. Out of the eight races, I had only two bad starts, and one of them I used as my throw away race. On the other race, I came back and made it up to the front. It's a whole lot different than racing in the Lasers, but I plan on continuing to race in the Sunfish."
     Fairhope resident and competitor Stuart Adams of Fairhope, AL, was impressed by the level of skill he witnessed during the event. "There was some real competition out there," said Adams.

     Malcolm Smith of Bermuda has been a world champion about four times, and there were some excellent sailors here from all over. I also think the race committee did an outstanding job with organizing the event."
     The race committee was determined to make the race courses challenging for these world competitors, and they also made sure the local sailors didn't have the home court advantage.
     "We leapfrogged the courses down the bay, and as soon as the last competitor finished one course, we had a new starting sequence ready," said Wainwright. "By doing this, skippers didn't have the same current conditions, wind conditions, or the same tree line. Chris Christman was the guru for that idea, and I believe it equaled the playing field for everyone. We took the familiar waters out of the equation."
     Rivers French was one of 17 female sailors competing in the 14-foot boats. She fell into the novice end of the local competitors who were racing for the experience.
     "It was great and I learned a lot," she said. "I hadn't raced in a Sunfish for about ten years so it was all new to me. I enjoyed myself, and it's a wonderful craft. You can learn everything you need to know about sailing with a Sunfish."
     Patty Johnson, a nurse from Daphne, AL, didn't take home an award, but she joked that she could have received something for the most persistent.
     "It was windy, windy windy," she said with a laugh, "and I was excited whenever I came in third from last. I didn't do very well, as far as racing, but I sure had a good time."



Sunfish NA Championships
Fairhope YC Fairhope, AL June 19- 23
Championship Fleet (After 8 races/2 throwouts - top 30 of 71 boats)
1. J Linton 28; 2. M Smith 29; 3. M Gable 39; 4. H Saurage 41; 5. T Edwards 53;6. A Beatty 62; 7. T Whitehurst 63; 8. N. Haberland 67; 9. Z Yoder 71 10. B Stieffel 72; 11. J Weberlein 83; 12. K Northrop 85; 13. J Olson 89; 14. R Koch 103; 15. P Douat 107; 16. E Ollinger 115; 17. K Kleinschrodt 119; 18. R McHenry 126; 19. VanCleef 139; 20. K Lovell 151; 21. Waller 159; 22. J Bergman 165; 23. P Wuescher 168; 24. S Hassinger 170; 25. P Hassinger 170; 26. A Buccella 178; 27. K Remmer 180; 28. Ch. Clifton 184; 29. D Wilson 188; 30. P Christman 189



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