Sun Coast Model Sailing Club
Punta Gorda, Florida
March 7-9, 2025
September 6, 7 and 8
By Greg Norris
This year we were back at the Azura Model Yacht Club in beautiful Paonia, Colorado. And as always we had a great time! We had 14 skippers and used HMS due to the small size of our pond. Al Stiewing from the West Valley RC Mariners in Phoenix was our (superb) race director. He was assisted by Azura member, Bain Weinberger.
At Friday check-in it rained all day. (Highly unusual in a town that has been in a drought for over a decade). We also had a total mudbath of a parking lot and a bunch of wind.
As many of you know, the Azura MYC lies at about 5800 feet of elevation with a number of 11,000 foot mountains not far to the east. As such, in typical weather (meaning bright sun), we have a strong cold nighttime and early morning easterly blowing down the mountains through about 10 am, then 2 to 3 hours of calm, followed by a westerly of variable strength until the sun goes down. Therefore, we start racing early at 8 am, break until 12:30 or 1 pm, and sail again all afternoon.
On Saturday, our first race day, we had typical weather with a moderate then light easterly in the morning, and a light then moderate westerly in the afternoon. Mountain winds are shifty and puffy by nature, and Azura’s topography accentuates this, so that becalmed boats surrounded by rail down competitors are a common occurrence. Despite this, Al Lehmann, Jr., won almost all of the races on Saturday. The courses and racing were just excellent, and all of the rest of us spent lots of time passing and being passed by everyone else.
In the evening, as usual we met again at Azura Winery (just above the pond) for a beautiful white tablecloth dinner. Helen Gillespie, co-owner of the winery, is an excellent cook, and we
had delicious local salad, paella (saffron rice with seafood, chicken, and sausage), and English cream with fresh local cherries for dessert, all accompanied by the delicious Azura wines.
Sunday dawned with strong easterlies. At 7 am it would have been D or E rig weather, but by the 8 am start we were using C rigs. Just as shifty, though. Happily for the rest of us, Al personally enjoyed the much heavier wind, but let the rest of us win most of the races. The wind went away at 10, and returned at 1pm, from the SW, light, modified by a large thunder head passing immediately north. The last B heat was a drifter, but just as the A fleet counter started (all of us with our A rigs), the thunder head released its rain, and the wind shifted immediately to the north and blew at about 25 knots. A very short, but exciting last heat!
Al Lehmann, Jr won by a landslide, Ray Seta was second, followed by Ron Stephanzin third, who beat me by a point. Mike Eades was fifth.
Summary of the 2024 Micro Magic NCR:
Gold Chevrons
Dates: June 22 and 23, 2024
Location: Paonia, CO
Host Club: Azura MYC
Entries: 14
Winds: 1-25 mph
Races Completed: 16
Scoring: Low Point
Race Committee: Al Stiewing, RD and Bain Weinberger, Assistant RD
Food: Helen Gillespie, Greg Norris, Sandy Chetnik-Norris
Helpers: Ty Gillespie, Sandy Chetnik-Norris, Mary Jursinovic, Marie Pena, Rebecca Norris and Julie
Chambers
2020 Micro Magic NCR Results:
Place Skipper Sail# Points
1 Al Lehman, Jr. 106 32
2 Ray Seta 88 60
3 Ron Stephanz 27 65
4 Greg Norris 378 66
5 Mike Eades 315 82
6 Tony Zimmerman 279 123
7 Richard Azzan 62 140
8 Jacon Amesquita 45 142
Remaining finishers in alphabetical order: Jack Chambers, Chris Doerr, Bob Piper, Joe Roddy, Jim Tarr, and Mike Wyatt.
updated 6/24/24
Regatta Report - Ron Stephanz
Regatta Report - Mike Wyatt
Regatta Report (with photos)
Regatta Report (with photos)
The 2020 Micro Magic National Championship Regatta was held in Paonia, Colorado on July 24 and 25, 2021. It was hosted by the Azura Model Yacht Club on the grounds of the Azura Gallery and Winery, owned by our good friends, Helen and Ty Gillespie.
February 8 - 9, 2020
Hosted by the Sun Coast Model Sailing Club
Punta Gorda, Florida
The 2019 Micro Magic NCR was held in Phoenix, Arizona in Spring, 2019. It was hosted by our good friends, the West Valley RC Mariners, who have hosted many past regional and national championship regattas in both the MM and Seawind classes.
RACE REPORT by Al Stiewing
The 2018 Micro Magic Region 5 Championship was to be held at Azura MYC in Paonia, Colorado on Saturday and Sunday, October 6 & 7, 2018. It is now cancelled.
We had to close down Azura MYC for the season on 9/2/2018. Our pond is a (very small) part of the local irrigation system. The irrigation ditches had been empty for a couple of weeks due to the Colorado drought, but we were optimistic because our pond is naturally clay lined, and there have been some afternoon mountain thunderstorms. But the pond lost 14-16" over last week, from an already low level, and more importantly, the regional Water Commissioner is coming over on 9/3/2018 to empty further water out to the pond.
Obviously, this implies that we will need to cancel the MM Region 5 Championship Regatta. We apologize to all of you!!
Our next big event will be the MM 2019 NCR in Phoenix. Much more on that to follow soon.
Thanks!
Greg Norris
MM US Class Secretary
The Sun Coast Model Sailing Club hosted the 2018 Micro Magic National Championship Regatta in beautiful Punta Gorda, Florida. The dates were Saturday, February 17 and Sunday, February 18, 2018.
Punta Gorda offers one of the best sailing venues in the entire country, and they have a long history of top level events. This regatta was lots of fun!
2017 MICRO MAGIC CLASS REGION 5 CHAMPIONSHIP REGATTA
(Friday), Saturday, Sunday, October (5), 6, and 7, 2017
Hosted by Azura Model Yacht Club – Paonia, Colorado
The Trophys
Race Director Charlie Hall
Sandy and The Boys
Our Podium