More than 30 boats raced in what was the last Lake Hopatcong Yacht Club regatta weekend of the season, with the locals finishing toward the top of the standings in both the Thistle and E-Scow fleets. 
In the Thistles, a 17-foot, three-person boat, LHYC sailor Lloyd Kitchin III finished first, sailing all five races just double-handed with son Brian at crew. Brad Thompson, out of Westport, Conn., came in second; Chris Pollak, a past national champion also out of Westport, finished third; LHYC sailor Brian Murphy, who usually competes in Stars, finished fourth; and Bill Wilson of Seneca, N.Y., who also sailed double-handed with just his son, finished fifth. The 20-boat fleet sailed three races on Saturday and two on Sunday, all of them in heavy breeze of 10 to 15 miles per hour, with shifty conditions keeping all of the competitors on their toes, many of them in a tight pack at the front. In the E-Scows, which are fast-moving, blade-like boats that are typically sailed by four people, Bobby Koar of Bay Head won a decisive victory, finishing the five-race series with just seven points. LHYC sailor Tom Wiss finished in second, followed by another local, Chris Norman, in third. In all, 12 boats competed in the two-day event. The simultaneous regattas have been sailed every fall out of the yacht club for decades, and since 1963, the Thistle event has been named after Henry Goetz, whose son and grandson, Fritz and Adam, sailed together this year. The weekend marks the last official LHYC event until the 2010 season begins.
