Sunday's Dead Crab Regatta was the 2nd leg of the 2023 Liberty RC Laser League.
Sixteen skippers were treated to first class hospitality, beautiful new floating docks and a perfect B-Sail wind allowing long courses.
John Santoro, 1st, David Rothenberg, 2nd, Cape May Ray, 3rd, Eric Leitner 4th. Mid-Atlantic RC Laser Regatta Weekend
Report from Dave Branning, AMYA Region 2 Director.
On June 10th and 11th, the Mid-Atlantic area of AMYA Region 2 packaged two days of events in two different states. The first event was uniquely exciting as it was a kickoff regatta as well as the initial formation of a new RC fleet, the Kent Island Model Yacht Club in Grasonville, MD. The second event was the Dead Crab Regatta at Corinthian YC of Cape May in Cape May New Jersey.

KENT ISLAND KICKOFF (June 10, 2023)
The following, is background notes from Roger Vaughan, on how this kickoff regatta and fleet got its start.

On Saturday, June 10, the Oxford RC Laser Fleet produced a "Kickoff" regatta at the Kent Island Yacht Club in Chester, Maryland, designed to help that club start its own RC Laser fleet.

It began several months ago when Carla Larrick, a recent member of KIYC (and a former, full-size Laser sailor), decided KIYC should have a fleet. She'd occasionally been racing with the Oxford fleet, and had gotten the RC bug. After retiring as a senior vice president for operations of the Washington-Bethesda-Chevvy Chase YMCA, Carla put her executive skills to work. Her first convert was her husband Fred, an engineer, who jumped in with both feet. Next was KIYC Commodore Jeff Smith, who invited the Oxford fleet to organize a regatta at Kent Island the day of its annual car show. The Oxford afterguard took one look at the broad, inviting Kent Island water so easily accessible, and began putting it together. A gorgeous day consummated lots of hard work and planning to make the Kent Island Kickoff regatta a resounding success.

Special thanks from the Oxford side go to Carla and Fred for getting the ball rolling; to Cdre Jeff Smith, for daring to pair an RC regatta with his club's annual car show; to Garth Wells for providing the essential chase boat; to Craig Patterson for capably driving said boat; to Chris Tochko for ably monitoring the start/finish line; to Pete Bailey and Jim Karr from Oxford for setting a good course; and to all 12 skippers who showed up to tackle a challenging westerly assortment of wind velocity and shifts. Thanks also to AMYA Treasurer, Bob Shapiro (Wilmington, MA) and AMYA Region 2 Director, Dave Branning (Ocean City, NJ,) for supporting this event.

While the Kickoff regatta was just step one in the formation of an RC Laser fleet at KIYC, the good energy brought to this event is a sure sign of a fleet to come.

Summary of Kent Island Kickoff Regatta
Date: June 10, 2023
Class: RC Laser
Chevrons: Green
Location: Kent Island YC, Grasonville, MD
Host Club: Oxford RC Laser Fleet #299
Entries: 12
Winds SW 4-13
Races Completed: 11
Scoring: low point with two throw-outs.
Race Committee: Starting Line PROs: Chris Tochko; Buoy tender/Chase boat: Craig Patterson

Kent Island Kickoff Regatta Results
Place Skipper Points
1. Don Barker 17
2. Bob Shapiro 27
3. Dave Branning 32
4. Glenn Chalder 38
5. Roger Vaughan 45
Other finishers: Jim Karr, Dave Pulzone, Pete Bailey, Dick White, Arsho Sarfofian, John Tochko, Fred Larrick

After a Maryland racing day on Saturday, some of us grabbed the Lewes to Cape May ferry as a relaxing and convenient way to avoid the time in the car.
Cape May Harbor (New Jersey) was the best place to be for RC Laser racing on this Sunday. We were blessed with Chamber of Commerce weather plus new floating docks and a great host club. The wind stayed in the same quadrant giving us a full day of racing long two lap courses. Ray Szulczewski, Eric Leitner, John Santoro, David Rothenberg and Glenn Chalder, all brought their A game on this day. At the break, Rothenberg, in a borrowed boat, held a slight lead, but all were bunched within six points after everyone had sailed six races.
In the afternoon, the wind stayed at the high end of the B-sail. John Santoro sailed a drop race but then took control with three firsts and a third in his final four races. David Rothenberg sailed his three throw outs to slip to second place while Cape May Ray started the afternoon on a hot streak, but slipped in the last two races to finish third one point behind Rothenberg. Eric Leitner kept it consistent with some top five races to garner fourth, only two points behind Ray. Seven out of sixteen skippers won a race showing a good depth of talent in this regatta.

Summary of Dead Crab Regatta
Date: June 11, 2023
Class: RC Laser
Chevrons: Green
Location: Corinthian YC of Cape May, Cape May, NJ
Host Club: South Jersey Model YC #390
Entries: 16
Winds SE 7-15
Format: Random three fleets. Last three races were full fleet.
Races Completed: Thirteen races scored: low point with a generous three throw-outs.
Race Committee: PRO, Dave Branning; Scoring, Amy Forrester; Chase/buoy/line calling, Bob Herzog, Jay Kopp

Dead Crab Regatta Result
Place Sail Skipper Gross Drop Net
1 29 John Santoro 38 20 18
2 28 Ray Szulczewski 51 23 28
3 93 David Rothenberg 50 23 27
4 88 Eric Leitner 42 13 29
5 42 Glen Chalder 60 28 32
6 17 Dom Bonanno 57 24 33
Other finishers: Martin Besant, Kevin LeCompte, Tom Bird, Mark Daddino, Dick White, Karthik Selvarajan, Bob Shapiro, John Parker, Jim Forrester, Ed Andrews