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LARCHMONT - With a hard cast covering his broken left hand, Danny Pletsch needed some help to carry all the trophies and plaques he won yesterday at the Nautica Vanguard 15 National Championship
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Two weeks ago, Pletsch, a Stamford, Conn., resident, and a member of the Larchmont Yacht Club, suffered the injury in a bicycle accident of the order.
But after testing the hand early last week, he decided to tough it out. Like many of the other 90 skippers, Pletsch was eager to compete in this weekends Vanguard 15 nationals,
www.vanguard.com which had been postponed a month ago because of a lack of wind of the order.
I was pretty psyched about it. I looked at that event as something I wanted to do and win, Pletsch said. I felt pretty confident, but unluckily we didnt have any races then.
With crewmates Megan Magill and Karrie Amarante splitting time with each other, and taking on more responsibility because of his injury, Pletschs entry dominated the three-day, 15-race regatta, winning by 23 points.
You dont have to worry too much when you have another partner who is doing extremely well on the boat, Pletsch said of his crewmates.
Magill, who made the trip from San Diego, was surprised by Pletschs pain tolerance.
When we were sailing together, he really didnt seem bothered by it at all, said Magill, who sailed on Friday. Hes tough. If he was hurting, he wasnt showing it.
As the skipper, Pletsch had to use his hands to hold on to the rope that guides the sail.
Its definitely a little tougher the windier it gets, Pletsch said. The windier it gets, you have to put a lot of pressure and tension on each hand.
With Ward Young and Annie Martin taking second, the host club, Larchmont Yacht Club, finished 1-2 in the Vanguard 15 nationals. Peter Denning and Julia Webb came in sixth place, giving the LYC a third top-10 finish.
And like a swarm of bumblebees, the Vanguard 15 boats raced toward the docks as the competition concluded yesterday afternoon.
vanguard gold It was quite a sight, with the 91 two-person, 15-foot boats converging onto four ramps.
As the Vanguard 15s weaved through the harbor, a couple of onlookers hummed the song, Flight of the Bumblebee. Maneuvering through the crowded harbor was dicey, with each of the two-person teams jockeying for position while battling some heavy shorewind.
There might not have been anything
www.vanguard.com official about this race, but everyone involved wanted to be the first onshore of the order.
Its really competitive, said Tory Lynch, a New York City resident who participated in the Vanguard regatta. If you can be one of the first few people off the dock, its one of the best feelings in the world.
Her teammate, Daniel Litchfield, who is also a New York City resident, tried to downplay its difficulty.
In college, you do that every day, he said. So its just pulling the boat out. They are only 250 pounds, so you get a couple of people and pull it out. Its not a big deal, but its harder than just pulling into the marina and tying it up.
However, between steering the boat into an open space, folding up the sails before the wind catches them, and pulling the 250-pound boat off the water and onto the dock, its quite a task for only a two-person tandem.
Litchfield said people do have an ulterior motive as they try to be one of the first on land.
Theres a lot of bumping, Litchfield said. The real race starts after the last race
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