Carol Park of Wrightsville won two races on Saturday, October 18th to clinch the overall Lightning fleet championship at the Susquehanna Yacht Club for 2003. Park narrowly beat out Kevin MacNeil of Lancaster for the title.
Park, 45, repeats as the club's Lightning fleet champion, winning the coveted Frey Trophy for the second consecutive year. In 2002, she became the first woman skipper in club history to win the trophy. While Park is the only woman to skipper a Lightning at the Long Level based fleet, many of the 19 foot sailboats carry women team members, reflecting a continuing trend of increasing participation by women in the sport nationally.
Park credits her victory in part to the collegial nature of racing among fleet members at the club. During a brief storm two weeks ago, the mast on the Lightning she skippers broke, and could not be replaced in time for yesterday's races. Another fleet member graciously loaned his own boat to Park so she could continue to sail through the end of the season. It was in Pete Pundt's "Temerity" that she won two of the three races held Saturday. Pundt, of Marysville, agreed to serve as race chairman for the day and allow Park to sail. Regular team members Bill and Linda Remorenko of Leola joined Park and shared her victory.
Park noted that while she is pleased to have won for a second year, she was much less certain of her victory this time around. Her 2002 triumph was capped by an unprecedented string of victories. "Other skippers in our fleet have improved tremendously this year, especially Kevin, and I knew I had to beat him today to win." The top three skippers for the day's racing were separated by only two points in total score.
Park's successful season caps another year of expanded racing at the Susquehanna Yacht Club, sailing on Lake Clarke at Long Level. The club added racing in two fleets - Flying Scots and Lasers - this year, and is hoping to add more participants in all three fleets in 2004. The club starts its sailing season in May, following a boating course co-sponsored with the Coast Guard Auxiliary, and racing continues until the end of October.