The first ever Blokart East Coast Championships was held at Loring AFB in Limestone over October 10-12. We had 33 Blokarts registered and 30 of them actively racing. The venue at Loring is amazing with 3 runways that are 2mi long and one of them is 300’ wide. There are four "crossovers" the organizers use to design interesting courses like "around the block" and "figure 8".
Sailors came from not only New England states, but also NY, NJ, PA, WI and as far away as CA.
The winds were excellent with a buildup over Thursday and Friday before Saturday came on with gusts of 50mph recorded. The PROs for the event were Deb Whitehorse and Nina, and Nina showed up limping a bit after she twisted her ankle leaving home for Loring. A day after arriving she went to a local hospital to discover she’d broke a bone in her foot. Being the tough Maine native she is, Nina got a boot fitted and carried on running the races, skippers meetings and the awards ceremony flawlessly!
Racers were divided into GOLD (advanced sailors) and SILVER fleets, and the GOLD fleet had two weight divisions (heavy and light), wherein each weight group had ~10 karts racing. Competition was outstanding with many battles on the race course and for the podium positions.
Josee Mayrand from Canada dominated the SILVER fleet in her first ever Blokart event. She regularly sails her kart on a set of skis she custom mounts on her kart and while she wasn’t familiar with all the racing rules (yet), she got out in front of the fleet often so didn’t have much traffic to deal with! Well done Josee! Bela Berberi from the Blokart rental operation Tidekite in Nova Scotia (originally from Albania) took 2nd place after a late surge of wins in the 11 race event, but it was not easy to secure that spot! She had many battles on the race course with Jim Turner from Maine and they ended up tied with Bela having enough wins to decide the tie. Sam Lemay from Canada secured the 4th spot nearly making the 3 boat podium an all Canadian podium.
Kate Morrone in excellent form, with John Stanton in the background.
In the GOLD lightweight fleet, Bill Buchholz from Maine secured the top spot with consistent sailing with his worst race a 5th place. Bill is the individual that discovered Loring 4 years ago when he explored it sailing on his Standart class land sailor. He runs land sailing regattas here twice per year and invites the Blokarts to participate, which has spawned this event. In 2nd place, BB Hredocik sailed very well after a race 1 collision took him out of that race. He came back in race 2 and sailed consistently on what is now his "home field" after moving to Limestone permanently just a couple of weeks ago. BB is also the Blokart world record holder for sailing the most miles in 24hrs (here at Loring) at 366mi. Close behind in 3rd place was Steve Madden from Massachusetts who sailed very well and was also very competitive on the indoor pickleball courts.
Above, BB squeeks across the finish line just ahead of Bill in the Gold Lightweight class.
The GOLD heavyweight fleet also had great competition with Dave Lussier taking the top spot, but he was often challenged by Chad Atkins who took 2nd and AJ Laurent (16yr old youth sailor) taking 3rd. Chad, a DN Iceboat GOLD fleet national champion, skipped a couple of racers to help his son Mason (our youngest sailor at 12yrs old) get comfortable in his first racing in the SILVER fleet. AJ Laurent sailed a very consistent 11 race regatta with a 6th being his worst finish. It was noted that the heavy division podium was an all Rhode Island team which is the smallest of the 50 US states and 7hrs away driving.
The participants had awesome local hospitality with the Bunker Inn lodging right on the venue, and awesome group dinners at the Northern Maine Brewing Company and the nearby Limerock Country Club. Friday afternoon had many sailors do a circumnavigation of the entire venue which is about seven miles, some of it sailing up hill, which was then followed by our "traditional" dark and stormy cocktail party in the hangar with fire pits keeping everybody cozy.
With the wind too strong for racing on Saturday, the racers had time to enjoy some of the Octoberfest festivities that the Chamber of Commerce arranged, including some pickleball action in the adjacent hangar that had two courts recently installed. The local postmaster even made post cards and a custom cancellation stamp just for the event that will be a collectors item. Some sailors braved the big winds for more full base touring.
The awards ceremony was held in the hangar with our warming fire pits. Nina and Deb organized a bunch of additional fun awards to recognize our youth sailors and the volunteers that helped run the event.
The next regatta will be in mid May 2025, and will include the usual combination of BloKarts and Unlimited classes. Hope to see you there.
And the poem, to the tune of California Dreamin’:
All the cones are down
And the wind is high,
I’ve been for a sail
But don’t ask me why.
I’d be safe and warm,
If I was in the in the Inn.
Loring Runway Dreamin’
On Such A Windy Day.
The black asphalt keeps calling
To my urge to play.
So let the wind keep blowin’
On this amazing day.
Loring Runway Dreamin’
On Such A Windy Day.
Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club 