Last Kid Picked in No. 1
Press Republican
July 10, 2005
PLATTSBURGH - The skipper of the Last Kid Picked, Alan Ouellette, was able to repeat as the J-24 class champion Saturday in the 28th Annual Mayorís Cup race.
This year, however, the Stowe, Vt. native did himself one better ó winning the coveted Mayorís Cup trophy.
Ouellette perhaps was as surprised as anyone with his victory. He was not in attendance at the post-regatta awards ceremony.
Ouellette skippered Last Kid Picked in last yearís race and finished third, overall, with a time of 2 hours, 23 minutes, 6 seconds, behind champion K2 and runner-up Ragtime.
With a time of 2:41.30 for this yearís two races, Last Kid Picked sailed to a 45-second victory over Chris Morganís Gingerbread Man and John OíRourkeís Ragtime. OíRourke finished second for the second straight year. Both boats sailed in at a time of 2:42.05.
Two Plattsburgh sailors rounded out the top five with Shakedown Street, skippered by John Trombley, taking fourth in a time of 2:42.15 and Mike Parsonís Witchcraft, the 2003 winner, finishing in a time of 2:46.12.
Last yearís champion, K2, helmed by Luis Gonzales took the sixth spot with a time of 2:49.29.
Not only were the skippers having to deal with each other and a ticking clock, but with unfavorable weather as the rain didnít let up for most of the event.
"At the beginning it was raining and there wasnít any wind," race organizer Kjell Dahlen said. "The rain never stopped, but the wind did eventually come up.
"It was a good challenge for the sailors today. The conditions were continuous; there werenít any wind shifts. There wasnít a lot of luck involved today, the weather really tested everyoneís skills."
Even though K2 did not repeat as Mayorís Cup champion, it did manage to win the Racing A division with two second-place finishes in their races to give them a total of four points, edging out Evoked Potential (John Kimura) and Peregrine (Fritz Horton/Judy Bond) who finished tied for second with six points.
Shakedown Street took two firsts to tally two points and the victory in the Soling division as Shadowfax (Dan Inhelder) and USA 811 (Tye Krester) both finished with five points and the runner-up position.
Allen Johnsonís Swan Song, seventh overall in the Mayorís Cup standings, captured the Racing D division with two firsts. Ginny Marie (Gerry Couture) tallied four points for a second place finish and Impulsive (Michael Ray) took third with six points.
Late addition Witchcraft was guided past the competition for two firsts to capture the Racing B division. Shockwave (Tris Coffin/Tom Moody) grabbed five points and second place while Realescape (Donald Duley) took third with seven points.
In the race of the day, Ragtime and Gingerbread Man squared off in the Racing C division. In the first race Ragtime took first with a time of 1:30.09 while Gingerbread Man finished in second at 1:32.23. In race No. 2, Gingerbread Man took the honors in a time of 1:10.42 with Ragtime finishing second at 1:11.42. Both boats proved to be dominate and each tallied a total time of 2:42.05 to share the first place award.
"There were no major upsets today," Dahlen said. "I think that the people who did well had a great time and for those who did not do well it was cold.
"You needed to have some adrenaline to keep going out there. Everyone became very wet and cold."
In the Cruising classes Moody Blue, skippered by Chris Hathaway raced to first place in the Cruising A division. Wingdam (Michael Barker) took Cruising B, Oriel (Bill Rogers) won the Cruising C and Moondance (Shawn Whalen) captured Cruising D.
And finally in the Portsmouth Monohull division, Dave Japikseís Zazu and Bill Metzís Little Wing tied for first with 14 points in the seven-race event.
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