Thistle Oyster Roast
Annapolis Thistle Fleet #34 and Severn Sailing Association hosted the 2023 Oyster Roast regatta, held on October 7th and 8th. A strong cold front was forecast to pass through the region on Saturday morning which was a factor in holding down the attendance, and kept 2 of the 12 boats registered ashore. There was a 1-hour postponement ashore Saturday morning as the leading edge of the front passed through with gusts to 30+ knots and rain showers. Since the Harbor 20’s had canceled for the day, PRO Steve Podlich took advantage of the now open Area C off of Bembe Beach and set up a windward leeward course. Pat Flinn from Lake Hopatcong, sailing with rock star crew of Brent Barbehenn and Mark Makielski (Brent is a 3-time Thistle National’s champion skipper and Mark has won as crew) won the first race. Chris Murphy sailing with his ten year-old son Nate and Jon Duffett (another Thistle National’s champion crew), finished second. This order was repeated in each of the 4 races. The wind picked up for race 2 on Saturday, capped off by the boats on screaming planes headed towards the finish. Team Yanelli (Vince, his brother Ben, and Lilla Salvesen) had been in 3rd but unfortunately capsized on a gybe on the final run. Charlie, Cairn, and Martin Krafft finished just ahead of Bill Lawson sailing with Bruce Empey and Sandy Westphal, catching them close to the finish.
Sunday, the temperature was significantly cooler for the 10AM start, and the breeze was significantly friskier with higher highs, but punctuated with some pretty dramatic lulls. Added excitement was the ORC fleet of big boats beating up the Severn, right through the race course. Not much one can do when one of those boats takes your wind as they sail overtop to windward, or creates a huge wind shadow downwind. Fortunately, despite the interference, they did move through rather quickly. Team Lawson took 3rd in both the Sunday races, although just missing out on a race victory in a 3-boat photo finish in race 3.
Dave Hudson, sailing with Steve Olson and Andrew Murnan from Saratoga Lake Sailing Club took 5th in race 1 and 6th in race 2. Ed John, sailing with Tory Gibb and Craig Smith took two 7th’s on Saturday and two 5th’s on Sunday to finish 5th overall. Bill Krafft, sailing with Jono Roberts and Molly Ratz, finished 6th overall. John Majane had intended to sail with LeAnn Myhre and John McGrane but at age 91+, decided it was best to stay ashore given the conditions. Rosemary Foltis, who planned to sail with her husband, Doug Freeman and sister Chris Robinson, also stayed ashore, which gave them plenty of time to fetch the oysters from Wild Country Seafood and roast a significant number of the 300 ordered over the fire pit they set up adjacent to the Opti dock. Bill Kitchins from the Greater Richmond Sailing Association sailed with his daughter Erin and David Toussaint. John Gilmour sailed with Stephanie Gajar and Ryan Barone. They managed to capsize in race 2 and decided conditions were a little too sporting after sailing out to the race course on Sunday, so ended up only finishing one race for the regatta.
The Oyster Roast is famous for the fall sailing in Annapolis but more so for the after party and dinner on Saturday featuring steamed and raw oysters. Bill Lawson whipped up an over-sized batch of oyster stew, which was also a tremendous hit. Numerous appetizers and a catered dinner from Red Hot & Blue rounded out the food offerings.
The Parramore Perpetual trophy, which resides in the SSA trophy cabinet, was awarded to Pat Flinn. The trophy was dedicated to Paul Parramore and sailed for in the Jet 14 fleet for many years before being repurposed for award at the Oyster Roast. Paul started out in Thistles before switching to the Jet 14 class.
The regatta was registered with Sailors for the Sea as a Platinum level clean regatta, their highest level. Cairn Krafft organized the green team of volunteers and coordinated the efforts for the event. Although platinum level requires a high degree of effort, many best practices have been enabled by improvements at SSA and are starting to catch on with other fleets.
