Tom-Burden.com
  • Home
  • What's New
    • 2022 PICYA Lipton Cup >
      • 2022 PICYA Lipton Cup Slideshow
    • 2022 Delta Ditch Run
    • 2022 Big Dinghy Regatta
    • Gallery El Toro North Americans 2021
    • RYC Junior Program
    • El Toro North Americans 2021 >
      • Awards Ceremony El Toro Nationals 2021
      • Results El Toro Nationals 2021
    • 2021 El Toro Stampede
    • High Sierra Regatta 2021 - Article >
      • High Sierra Regatta 2021 - First Weekend >
        • Slideshow High Sierra Regatta 2021 - First Weekend
      • High Sierra Regatta 2021 - Second Weekend - Sunday >
        • Slideshow – High Sierra Regatta 2021 - Second Weekend - Sunday
      • Map of Big Creek Hydroelectric Project
      • Regatta Cup
    • 30th Delta Ditch Run Gallery >
      • 30th Delta Ditch Run Slideshow
    • Beer Cans Week Four >
      • Beer Can Racing - Week Four - Slideshow
    • Meet Seven of Nine
    • Beer Cans Week Three >
      • Beer Can Racing - Week Three - Slideshow
      • A Bird's Eye View
    • Beer Can Racing Is Back! >
      • More Beer Can Photos
    • Moss Landing, CA
    • UnRegatta >
      • UnRegatta Gallery
      • UnRegatta Slideshow
    • Like a Boss
    • Social Distancing Adventures
    • Spaulding >
      • Spaulding Slideshow
      • Spaulding Gallery
    • Women of RYC >
      • Women of RYC Gallery
    • Midwinters March 1
    • Three Bridge Fiasco 2020 >
      • Three Bridge Fiasco 2020 Gallery
      • Three Bridge Fiasco 2020 Slideshow
    • New carbon Antrim 27 >
      • Io Under Construction
    • RYC 2020 Small Boat Midwinters >
      • RYC 2020 Small Boat Midwinters Gallery
      • RYC 2020 Small Boat Midwinters Slideshow
    • Women's Sailing Seminar >
      • Reflections of a beginning sailor
      • On The Water
      • Race Day
      • Awards Ceremony
      • Shared Photos Day 1
      • Shared Photos Day 2
  • Videos
    • Sending It
    • Like a Boss
    • Wing Flap Attack
    • How to Parallel Park an El Toro
    • Riding on a RIB at 35 Knots
  • El Toro Sailing
    • RYC Junior Program >
      • RYC Junior Program slideshow
    • 2021 El Toro Stampede >
      • Gallery 2021 Stampede
      • Gallery II 2021 Stampede
      • Slideshow 2021 Stampede
      • Slideshow II 2021 Stampede
      • Results 2021 Stampede
    • 2021 Totally Dinghy Regatta >
      • 2021 Gallery Totally Dinghy
      • Slideshow - 2021 Totally Dinghy
    • Wing Flap Attack
    • The 2019 El Toro Stampede >
      • before lunch
      • After lunch
      • Soda Special Race
      • Green Bottle Race
      • Stampede Awards >
        • Results
    • 2019 El Toro Worlds >
      • 2019 El Toro Worlds Results
      • 2019 El Toro Worlds Photo Gallery Saturday
      • 2019 El Toro Worlds Gallery Sunday
    • 2019 El Toro North American Championships >
      • North American Championships Gallery
      • North American Championships Results
      • Sailing anarchy article
    • 2019 Hawaii Bullship >
      • Hawaii Bullship Results
    • 2019 Clearlake >
      • Race Results
      • Day 1 - Part 1
      • Day 1 - Part 2
      • Day 2 - Part 1
      • Day 2 - Part 2
      • Day 2 - Part 3
      • How to Parallel Park an El Toro
    • Fremont Relays 2019 >
      • Fremont Relays Gallery
    • Bullship Bust
    • El Toro Stampede
    • Totally Dinghy Regatta >
      • Totally Dinghy Gallery
    • El Toro Worlds >
      • El Toro Worlds - Article
      • Day One Photos
      • Day Two Photos
      • Scores
    • 2018 El Toro North Americans >
      • Day One
      • Day Two
      • Day Three
  • Cal 40 Sailing
    • Iconic Cal 40 Images >
      • Iconic Cal 40 Images Gallery
    • Cal 40 Rendezvous
    • A Journey Into The Pacific
    • The Cult of the Cal 40
    • Cal 40 Shaman Photos >
      • Cal 40 Shaman Gallery
      • Cal 40 Shaman 2021 Haulout
    • Cal 40 Shaman Restoration >
      • Cal 40 Shaman Restoration gallery
    • Cal 40 Design >
      • Cal 40 Design gallery
    • Double Angle Race Article >
      • Double Angle Race Results
  • Places
    • Huntington Lake
    • Water Street
    • KKMI Sausalito
    • KKMI Richmond
    • Richmond Yacht Club >
      • Totally Dinghy Gallery
    • Kaneohe Yacht Club Gallery >
      • KYC Slideshow
    • Moss Landing, CA
    • Point San Pablo Yacht Harbor >
      • Point San Pablo Gallery
    • Washington Avenue Miniatures
Picture

            Totally Dinghy Regatta

2021 September 11
gallery
slideshow
Picture
by Tom Burden
September 11th, 2021 was a day of mourning and remembrance, the 20th anniversary of the American national tragedy of 9/11. As we remembered the first responders, those who were lost and the “Let’s Roll!” heroes who brought down Flight 93 in Pennsylvania, a hearty band of El Toro sailors ventured out into Potrero Reach for the Totally Dinghy Regatta.
​

Richmond Yacht Club stages this perennial event for centerboard boats under 20’ in length, and this version brought out 68 boats. The RS Aero class made a big splash with a fleet of 11 boats on the water. There was also an excellent group of 15 ILCA 7’s, aka Lasers, ten ILCA 6’s, aka Radials, and seven Thistles plus the other assorted Open Fleet boats.

In the Toro Fleet, conditions were at the extreme edge of the El Toro envelope.  The first race started at noon, late for the Totally Dinghy Regatta. When we got out to the course, it was already blowing 15 knots, and gusting up to 17. For the second race it nuked up further averaging 17 and gusting over 20. It’s no surprise how the results turned out with a tie between Fred Paxton and Tom Burden, the two big guys who specialize in heavy weather sailing.

The first race was a one-lap hot dog. Tom Burden and Chris Sullivan were the only two competitors who understood the current situation, with a big flood in the middle of the channel. These two went right on every weather leg, and it always paid. In race one, Tom got a great start, crossed Fred Paxton and Buzz Blackett, the two leaders of the boats that had gone left, and held on to win, with Fred in second place.

The second race got off to a first lap that was later abandoned because the weather mark shifted location. Chris Sullivan was in the lead and was very disappointed to see the checkered flag. The restart of the race saw Buzz Blackett and Fred Paxton get a great start and achieve an insurmountable lead against the rest of the fleet. Tom Burden was trying to claw back in third place while Fred and Buzz dueled downwind with each other.

At the end of the second lap, Fred and Buzz were way ahead, with Buzz in the lead as they came to the bottom mark. Buzz blew the gybe and filled his boat with water while Fred made a rough rounding but successfully escaped to win the race. Tom finished second to tie Fred and lose the regatta on a tiebreaker.

Tom Tillotson sailed a consistent pair of races for a third place score, with Chris Straub in fourth. By the end of the second race the boats were rounding up into irons, luffing sails were making a deafening roar, and the waves were big enough that sailors were scooping out Clorox bottles full of water. The group informally voted with their tillers to end the regatta by pointing their boats back to safe harbor. And that was the end of the El Toro fleet's Totally Dinghy Regatta on 9/11, twenty years later.
RESULTS
home
Home
What's New
Videos
El Toro Sailing
Cal 40 Sailing
Places
Contact
Copyright © 2021
  • Home
  • What's New
    • 2022 PICYA Lipton Cup >
      • 2022 PICYA Lipton Cup Slideshow
    • 2022 Delta Ditch Run
    • 2022 Big Dinghy Regatta
    • Gallery El Toro North Americans 2021
    • RYC Junior Program
    • El Toro North Americans 2021 >
      • Awards Ceremony El Toro Nationals 2021
      • Results El Toro Nationals 2021
    • 2021 El Toro Stampede
    • High Sierra Regatta 2021 - Article >
      • High Sierra Regatta 2021 - First Weekend >
        • Slideshow High Sierra Regatta 2021 - First Weekend
      • High Sierra Regatta 2021 - Second Weekend - Sunday >
        • Slideshow – High Sierra Regatta 2021 - Second Weekend - Sunday
      • Map of Big Creek Hydroelectric Project
      • Regatta Cup
    • 30th Delta Ditch Run Gallery >
      • 30th Delta Ditch Run Slideshow
    • Beer Cans Week Four >
      • Beer Can Racing - Week Four - Slideshow
    • Meet Seven of Nine
    • Beer Cans Week Three >
      • Beer Can Racing - Week Three - Slideshow
      • A Bird's Eye View
    • Beer Can Racing Is Back! >
      • More Beer Can Photos
    • Moss Landing, CA
    • UnRegatta >
      • UnRegatta Gallery
      • UnRegatta Slideshow
    • Like a Boss
    • Social Distancing Adventures
    • Spaulding >
      • Spaulding Slideshow
      • Spaulding Gallery
    • Women of RYC >
      • Women of RYC Gallery
    • Midwinters March 1
    • Three Bridge Fiasco 2020 >
      • Three Bridge Fiasco 2020 Gallery
      • Three Bridge Fiasco 2020 Slideshow
    • New carbon Antrim 27 >
      • Io Under Construction
    • RYC 2020 Small Boat Midwinters >
      • RYC 2020 Small Boat Midwinters Gallery
      • RYC 2020 Small Boat Midwinters Slideshow
    • Women's Sailing Seminar >
      • Reflections of a beginning sailor
      • On The Water
      • Race Day
      • Awards Ceremony
      • Shared Photos Day 1
      • Shared Photos Day 2
  • Videos
    • Sending It
    • Like a Boss
    • Wing Flap Attack
    • How to Parallel Park an El Toro
    • Riding on a RIB at 35 Knots
  • El Toro Sailing
    • RYC Junior Program >
      • RYC Junior Program slideshow
    • 2021 El Toro Stampede >
      • Gallery 2021 Stampede
      • Gallery II 2021 Stampede
      • Slideshow 2021 Stampede
      • Slideshow II 2021 Stampede
      • Results 2021 Stampede
    • 2021 Totally Dinghy Regatta >
      • 2021 Gallery Totally Dinghy
      • Slideshow - 2021 Totally Dinghy
    • Wing Flap Attack
    • The 2019 El Toro Stampede >
      • before lunch
      • After lunch
      • Soda Special Race
      • Green Bottle Race
      • Stampede Awards >
        • Results
    • 2019 El Toro Worlds >
      • 2019 El Toro Worlds Results
      • 2019 El Toro Worlds Photo Gallery Saturday
      • 2019 El Toro Worlds Gallery Sunday
    • 2019 El Toro North American Championships >
      • North American Championships Gallery
      • North American Championships Results
      • Sailing anarchy article
    • 2019 Hawaii Bullship >
      • Hawaii Bullship Results
    • 2019 Clearlake >
      • Race Results
      • Day 1 - Part 1
      • Day 1 - Part 2
      • Day 2 - Part 1
      • Day 2 - Part 2
      • Day 2 - Part 3
      • How to Parallel Park an El Toro
    • Fremont Relays 2019 >
      • Fremont Relays Gallery
    • Bullship Bust
    • El Toro Stampede
    • Totally Dinghy Regatta >
      • Totally Dinghy Gallery
    • El Toro Worlds >
      • El Toro Worlds - Article
      • Day One Photos
      • Day Two Photos
      • Scores
    • 2018 El Toro North Americans >
      • Day One
      • Day Two
      • Day Three
  • Cal 40 Sailing
    • Iconic Cal 40 Images >
      • Iconic Cal 40 Images Gallery
    • Cal 40 Rendezvous
    • A Journey Into The Pacific
    • The Cult of the Cal 40
    • Cal 40 Shaman Photos >
      • Cal 40 Shaman Gallery
      • Cal 40 Shaman 2021 Haulout
    • Cal 40 Shaman Restoration >
      • Cal 40 Shaman Restoration gallery
    • Cal 40 Design >
      • Cal 40 Design gallery
    • Double Angle Race Article >
      • Double Angle Race Results
  • Places
    • Huntington Lake
    • Water Street
    • KKMI Sausalito
    • KKMI Richmond
    • Richmond Yacht Club >
      • Totally Dinghy Gallery
    • Kaneohe Yacht Club Gallery >
      • KYC Slideshow
    • Moss Landing, CA
    • Point San Pablo Yacht Harbor >
      • Point San Pablo Gallery
    • Washington Avenue Miniatures