The excitement began with the Macalpine Downie/Gibbs Regatta at Kerr Lake, Henderson, North Carolina. This regatta, held in honor of the designers of the Buccaneer 18, boatsted 14 Buccaneers on the starting line, one of the largest turnouts of any one-design class I’ve seen this season. Four teams from Southern Maryland attended the event, Jimmy and Kristi Yurko, Mark Gyorgy and John Durniak, Eric and Eric Smith, and Brian O’Hara & Debbie Wessler.
Buccaneer base camp was set up at the home of local Bucc sailor Tom Wille. There folks enjoyed the BBQ, hot tub, pool side party telling tall tales till the wee hours of the morning put them to bed in their tents.