by Tom Chapman and Jerry Latell
Bob and Lisa Fleck in Orion won the 29th annual Hospice Turkey Shoot Regatta (HTSR) Saturday, October 5, on the Rappahannock River off Carter Creek.
Mother Nature had other plans for the fleet assembled for this annual regatta to benefit Hospice, and she allowed only one day of racing instead of the usual two.
Saturday’s forecast predicted winds building from 6 knots from the north at the start, to 13 knots as the race went on. When the signal boat was setting up the starting line, still a cloudy morning, the expected 6 knots was coming in. After the first eight divisions started, the wind lightened and after the Typhoon division started the wind went to nothing. With the flooding current running west, the boats in the last division were being driven away from the starting line. After about 20 minutes a light wind came in from the south giving the last division a chance to get across the starting line.
Eighty seven boats registered for the regatta and 71 made it to the starting line. Proceeds of the HTSR go to Hospice Support Service of the Northern Neck and Riverside Volunteer Hospice.
There were two courses for Saturday, the faster A Fleet raced a seven leg triangle course of 12 nautical miles while the B Fleet raced a four leg 6.7 nautical mile course.
As the clouds cleared and the sun came out brightly, the predicted north wind started coming in at the top of the course. The Flecks in Orion had made the strategic decision to head toward the western shore of the Corrotoman which turned out to be the right….
