The ninth Western Shore Round Up hosted by Randy and Barb Bruns on September 18-19 was a huge success with over 30 sailors in attendance and eight Dickersons racing. Events started on a beautiful Friday with beverages and a cook-out at the West River Sailing Club and included a competitive race on Saturday followed by a lively reception at the Club and dinner at Pirates Cove.
Eight Dickersons varying in length from 35 to 41 feet raced on Saturday in a light southeasterly breeze. A golf type handicap system was used to level out the playing field.
Congratulations to Jeff and Sandra Gray, Pleasance II, on their first Dickerson event. They finished second on overall time and won the 37 fleet trophy. Sandra Gray remarked they didn’t quite figure out the rabbit start and were a bit behind at the start. She now knows that it took most of our Dickerson sailors several years to get it straight.
It took eight years but the hosts Randy and Barbara Bruns on Rhythms in Blue finally won the race and the skipper is the Sheriff of the Western Shore for this year. The main reasons for this unexpected outcome is the skipper didn’t screw up for a change and he had some very good sailors, Mary and Dick Cusick of the Maryland Yacht Club as crew.
It was a good race for everyone; we mostly finished within about 10 minutes of each other. Previous Sheriffs, Joe Slavin on Irish Mist, and John Freal on Rainbow, had their typical close duel and Parker Hallam, Frigate Connie, was there as usual and finished third. dickersonowners.org
by Joe Slavin
