The Seabrook Sailing Club held its annual Club Championship Regatta on Saturday, November 19. The Club Championship is the capstone event held at the end of every race season in which the winners of the spring and fall series (18 races each) from each class of boat race each other to determine the Club Champion. This year's participants were John Fricker, James McTurk, Peter Hansen, David Morgan, and Ty Gieger. Hansen and Fricker have won the Club Championship in previous years, and McTurk won the 2011 Texas District 15 Laser Championship after moving to Houston this year. Unfortunately, due to business travel, Morgan and Gieger were unable to race.

Sunfish were chosen to be the racing boats for the Championship, which would typically benefit the participant who campaigns a Sunfish throughout the year (Hansen). However, this year, a good breeze of 8-15 knots provided the advantage to the Laser full rig sailors who carried 50-75 lbs more than Hansen and allowed them to keep the boat at full speed in the heavier wind. The race was designated a round robin, where the racers swapped boats after each race so differences in boats would be evenly shared.

In the first race, Fricker got off to a bad start when, misjudging the venerable Sunfish's ability to point, he hit the pin end of the starting line and had to circle around to restart. Hansen struggled to keep his boat flat in the stiff breeze, while McTurk got off to a clean start and nice lead. Fricker slowly made up ground on McTurk throughout the race.

After covering McTurk for most of the final downwind leg, Fricker caught a wave with a nice puff and surfed past McTurk shortly before the finish line for the win.

In the second race the wind dropped off a bit and Hansen and McTurk traded places several times until the wind picked up again and Hansen dropped back. Fricker had the benefit of a fast boat and, once out ahead, built up a nice lead to finish first. McTurk finished second and Hansen finished third.

In the final race, the wind was up and down several times, and when up, McTurk and Fricker pulled away from the lighter Hansen. Fricker established a lead and held it to finish first, with McTurk second, and Hansen third. Congratulations to Mr. Fricker, Seabrook Sailing Club's 2011 Club Champion.