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22 boats today as weather was perfect compared to yesterday.
Winds NW at 5-12 and sunshine. We were not quite dry from yesterday
so the sun was nice to see. For more information on MC Scow sails, contact our MC Scow experts.
North Sail Sweep - 1,2,3 at Big Inland Championship,
Winnning All 5 Races Too! The Inland Championship was held this past weekend and North MC Sails dominated another major championship. Mendota Yacht Club in Madison, Wisconsin was celebrating 100 years of scow sailing at this awesomve venue. North Sails was celebrating complete dominance in this championship! 5 Races were sailed in conditions of 3-10mph so power and speed were the key to victory. The North Z Max Mainsails are the most powerful sails and they displayed the speed dominance this weekend winning ALL FIVE RACES in this huge regatta. Race winners in order were: Bill Colburn, Eric Oppen, Andy Burdick, Jeff Annis and John Emory. North MC Sails are their choice! The top three were well ahead of the pack too. The top three all were racing with North Sails. Andy Burdick, Bill Colburn and David Harrison set the pace in each race. Burdick and Colburn never placed out of the top 8 in the entire regatta. This was hard to touch as the shifts ranged from 30-60 degrees on virtually all legs of the course. Wind velocities varied as much as well making boat placement on the course an important thing. "It was stressful", says Colburn. "You had to be patient for the new breeze and then take full advantage of it when it hit. I had a brand new sail and I will tell you that it was a huge key to my success. My speed out there kept me in every race." The best sail for the money - A North MC Sail! Get one!
Day 1
A very strong turnout of teams for the Butterfly, Laser, M20, C, E and MC classes this year. About 20 Lasers, close to 40 Butterflys , high teens for the M20s, 16 C Scows, 26 E Scows and 64 MC Scows. Regatta Chairman Jeff Hoch welcomed the group at this mornings 9am skippers meeting With a lake this clean and facilities this nice the Torch Lake Yacht Club puts in a lot of extra effort to have everything perfect on this perfect lake. The race management, parking, launching, meals , our first party at Jake Detars were outstanding. Even if the weather went bad (not supposed to) I think everyone just loves being here much less having great racing. Jeff also recognized former WMYA and TLYC Commodore Bob Turk as this years honorary Commodore. The neat thing about the WMYA Championship is that the schedule is set up such that you can race multiple classes if you wish. For example, today there was one MC and E race but two C races. The schedule flips each day. Tomorrow is the two race day for the MCs. We had a nice northwest wind today that ranged from 10-17 m.p.h. throughout the day. The lake runs north and south, is over 20 miles long and over a mile wide. Waves though were not too bad today. It certainly was a concern though and you had to stay powered up with the bow down to maintain speed and get through the larger than normal waves. This was true regardless of what class you were in. Another thing I learned today and others were also talking about was the water color. The water is so clean and so bright blue that you sometimes mistake cloud shadows for velocity coming down. Velocity changes on the water were very hard to read. You had to really pay attention to the boats around you to pick up on changes in velocity and direction. We were far enough from shore during a large part of the race so you did not have near shore references to help make decisions on whether you were up or down. It all gets back to racing the boat next to you. Here are some race results. In the C Scow class they had two great races today. While a smaller fleet it was a tough fleet for sure. C Scow Blue Chip Champion Cam McNeil had a 1-2 to win the day. Brett Hatton had a nice day with a 4-1 and is close to Cam. Also right there is Tom Keenan with a 2-4. We are using the bonus point scoring system during this 5 race regatta for all fleets. Also, the C Scows had the most wind today during their afternoon races. After 2 races: Cam McNeil -3, Brett Hatton – 8, Tom Keenan -11, Chris Craig -17.4, John Bolling -s22.7, Joe Schaub – 23, Birch Bayly – 24.7, Jim Flood – 25, Karl Lanka – 28, Todd Bosgraaf – 32, Holly O’Brien – 34, Gregg Whipple – 34, Don Wagner – 38, Beth Windemuller -41, Erik Peterson – 41, Perry Oslund – 44. The E Scows had a great morning race with winds 10-15 m.p.h.. The courses were long today. W2&1/2s. Big Wave Dave Fox and Jonas Saunders had a solid victory today really sailing well. Brian McMurray and Jerry Gill from White Lake had a very nice 2nd with Paul Wickland sailing a solid race finishing third. The E Scows race once tomorrow and then twice on Saturday. In order after one race: Fox -Saunders, McMurray-Gill, Paul Wickland, Jeff Hoch, Doug McNeil, Art Brereton, Rob Terry, Steve Johanson, Tom Munroe, Pete Price, Neil Gerrity, Kevin Watrous, Tad Welch, Charlie Turk, Jack Rillema, Terry Schieber, Glen Hallett, Kevin Malone, Isaac Leetsma, Andy Powell, D.J. Edgerle, Curtiss Miller, Fehsenfeld/ Grant, Brien Fox, John Knape, John McNeil. For the MC class we had a real shoot-out . Lots of leaders. Great starting line from Midge Verplank and Chuck Harrett Sr. After a postement on the first line-up , then a general from the pushy crowd the black flag came out and we had a clean start. We had boats come off all ends of the line in good shape but as we worked into the first five minutes of the race with the group on starboard tack the left started paying off and those who started left came out on top. Keeping your bow down in the big waves was really important today and having a clear lane in the big fleet. About 1/3rd of the fleet had crews as the wind was right on the edge of going with or without crew. I was without my regular and full-time crew Beth Jacobs today so I took along 10 year old Dan Chappel. Sailing with Dan reminded me how important it is for all of us to help bring along the young sailors. I talked to Dan throughout the race and by the end he was totally in phase with were good moves and bad moves. Dan was quick to point out my mistakes at the end which actually made me feel good because I realized he was getting the message on what was happening. Anytime you can take a crew you are helping the sport grow. So anyway, here are some results from this steady air. All the way from Augusta, a seven regatta winner from last year was Jeff Annis winning race one. Jerry Gill from White Lake led a portion of this race and really sailed well finishing second. Bob Miller our top Grand Master today had a incredible second beat going up the middle moving from 15th to 2nd at the top second mark and finished third in the race. Top Junior was Jamie Kimball finishing 9th. Top Master was Alan Hickman finishing 13. Top Woman was Lynn Walborn at 35th. Here are some positions in order after one race: Jeff Annis, Jerry Gill, Bob Miller, Brian McMurray, Rob Kimball, Matt Cassady, Brien Fox, Scott Caston, James Kimball, John McNeil, Kyle Verplank, Chris Eggert, Alan Hickman, Todd Bosgraaf, Ted Keller, Cam McNeil, Dan Chappell, Andy Molesta, Birch Bayly, Craig Hupp, Eric Hood, Steve Johanson, Walker Wynkoop, Pete Price, John Knape, Joe Rotunda, Bob Milne, Jeff Cornetet, Bob Currier, Ryan Gates, Rob Terry, Charlie Lind, David Fox, Brett Fetter, Lynn Walborn, Tye Nordberg, Curt Bradley, Paul Eggert, Pete Comfort, Ben McNeil, Eric Wynsma, Dave Bedeau, Casey Christensen, Will Forgrave, George Friend, Andy Powell, Jeff Minore, Kevin Anderson, Terry Malone, Jamie Welch, Danielle Ralston, Tom Wurster, Teddy Knape, Suzi Molesta, Graydon Megan, Ken Bandstra, Ben Martin, Graham Allan, Bo Manning, Dan Lorimer, David Wickland, Eley Thompson, Brent Solomon, Joe Honer. Day 2
The MC Scows and Lasers had the double race day today while all of the other fleets had one race a piece. First up today were the C Scows and Butterflys taking off in a light medium northeast shifty breeze. Strategies for these early morning races were simple. Stay in the dark water. Velocity ruled over direction for these two classes today. Cam McNeil continued his winning ways today as his team won another race. The Hattons finished 2nd and are still easily within reach only eight points behind on the bonus scoring system here at Torch Lake. The Craigs had a nice race finishing third . In order for the C Scows after three races with two to go. The E Scows had a little more wind for their mid-day race today. Winds were also a little more consistent and more northerly coming down the lake. Doug McNeil from White Lake won today with Michigan Invite Champ Jack Rillema finishing second. Rob Terry from Crytal Lake finished third. Here are some positions after two races and positions are in order top to bottom. Doug McNeil, Fox-Saunders, McMurray-Gill, Rob Terry, Art Brereton, Jeff Hoch, Paul Wickland , Jack Rillema, Steve Johanson, Pete Price, Tom Munroe, Kevin Watrous, Neil Gerrity, Charlie Turk, Tad Welch, Glen Hallett, Terry Schieber, D.J. Edgerle, Kevin Malone, Andy Powell, Brein Fox, Fehsenfeld-Grant, Isaac Leetsma, Curtiss Miller, John Knape, John McNeil. The MC Scows saw some big breeze roll through right at the start of
race one. Most teams were caught off guard and had to sail solo for
this very windy and wavey race. With the winds shifting back and forth
but eventually rolling to the left and more northwesterly this made
for a brutal port tack going up to the weather mark. Not only did you
have to sail on port tack most of the time but you were facing the
old wave pattern left over from the north-northeaster. The trick was
to really put the bow down a lot on port tack, traveler down a lot
, tons of vang and a little ease on the mainsheet. Also, pulling the
board up a little made a huge difference in how the boat power-beat
through the big waves. Sailing flat and footing got you up and over
the waves. If you tried to point you sank you boat quickly while going
upwind. Downwind saw a lot of submarine skippers. More technique problems
than the boat not being able to sail in the larger waves. You had to
make a choice, either reach up or sail by the lee. If you even attempted
to go straight downwind then you were going down. Same conditions for
race two but windier. Good courses and good starting lines for the
large course open water racing. Nice job to Midge, Chuck, Happy and
the rest of the crew who set the races up for us. Jeff Annis – 15, James Kimball – 26, Brien Fox- 28.7, John McNeil 44.7, Kyle Verplank – 48, Rob Kimball – 48, Matt Cassidy – 49.7, Jerry Gill – 51.7, E.Hood 54, Rob Terry- 60. The rest in order . Andy Molesta, Steve Johanson, Ted Keller, Bob Miller, Chris Eggert, Birch Bayly, Cam McNeil, Todd Bosgraaf, Pete Price, Brian McMurray, Scott Caston, Bob Currier, Pete Comfort, Tye Nordberg, Alan Hickman, Dan Cappell, David Fox, Jeff Cornetet, Walker Wykoop, Paul Eggert, Joe Rotunda, Lynn Walborn, Eric Wynsma, Tom Wurster, Kevin Anderson, Graham Allan, Jamie Welch, Ben McNeil, Bo Manning, Dave Bedeau, Will Forgrave, Charlie Lind, Ryan Gates, Teddy Knape, Jeff Minore, Curt Bradley, Andy Powell, Danielle Ralston, Craig Hupp, Ben Martin, Casey Christensen, John Knape, David Wickland, Bob Milne, George Friend, Brett Fetter, Joe Honer, Eley Thompson, Terry Malone, Suzi Molesta, Ken Bandstra, Graydon Megan, Dan Lorimer, Brent Solomon. Day 3 & 4
Before we get into the racing I would like to just give you a quick note about the big WMYA Banquet on Saturday night. This is an annual affair at the Westerns on the last night of the regatta. This year there was a special send off for retiring Executive Sec. Midge Verplank. For thirty-seven years Midge has guided the WMYA. Happy Fox gave the group of several hundred a little history, some humor and then presented a very special gift from the WMYA, Art Brereton and others. The gift was a plaque with small half models of the boats Midge has sailed over the years while with the WMYA. Midge then took to the podium and gave a very nice speech which included some history but more a speech of thanks to the group. Midge then handed the keys over to new Executive Sec. Joan Manny of White Lake. It was a great evening at Shanty Creek Resort. Great place to ski in the winter and also great for other winter sports I might add. One other note. This is very important. Next year’s Championship at Crystal Lake is August 5th-8th. Put this down on your calendar. For the first time their will not be a conflict with the Inland Championships. When you consider the possibilities of combining the 150 plus boat from the WMYA Championships and the 300 plus boats from the Inland Championships (all classes) then you have something with real growth potential. There is no doubt the C Scow Class should benefit the most. We could pull a lot of boats from the Inlands with early promotion of this event. Put it down on your calendar now and make reservations early in the Frankfort / Beulah area of Michigan near Crystal Lake. Now some races. Day three saw some really nice medium air for the morning and mid-day races. Later in the day it diminished a little for the last E Scow race. The key to success today in the flatter water was being quick off the line and hitting the first shift. The winds were just light enough that you got caught around five or six other boats you were actually sailing in less air pressure because of that grouping of boats around you. Torch Lake was fun this past week because we were given long open water courses. You had lots of room to operate but you had to make those decisions quick in the beginning. Again, clear air was critical downwind. The water is so blue and clean at Torch that you actually had trouble reading the water when the sun was out. If you did not have polarized sunglasses you were really in trouble. But anyway back to clear air. Downwind the wind shadows seemed to run very deep from one boat to another. You had to have your telltales free if you wanted to make money downwind. Also, when the waves were up you wanted to try and sail aggressively down the waves which required some sailing by the lee at least in the C Scow and MC Scow classes. One other note on sailing in the big waves would be to make sure you emptied your backbone of water after each race. I finally sailed with my backbone plug out during the windiest race and that seemed to work much better. Lots of starting practice this week especially for the MC Scows who had at least two start attempts before each race and the E Scow experienced much the same. Starting lines were very good just aggressive sailing on the part of many teams. We saw black flags, I-flags, Z flags, postponements and general recall. The laundry was flying but it was all good and very well done by Chuck Harrett and Midge Verplank. Thanks to Judy Linn on Midges boat, Stu Soule on Chuck’s boat plus the many others including Happy Fox on Team Beluga for running our races. I will give you scores for all seven classes. Hopefully the complete race results will be posted soon on www.wmya.org . Many thanks to Matt Young for all of his work here. MC Scows. The last race was a tough one for many as it became a drifter complete with a 180 degree direction change and velocity to zero with a fill from behind. So luck was order of the day on race 5. Points accumulated through the first four races pretty much kept the order though. Jamie Kimball (overall and top junior, survived the drifter) – 47.7, The above three boats really sailed well throughout the series. Fourth on and in order Jerry Gill 70.4, John McNeil 73.7, Rob Terry 85, E.Hood 85, Cam McNeil 92, Ted Keller 95, Steve Johannson 96.7 (Rookie of the Week- sailed well for first time doing it), Kyle Verplank (good regatta but had a 45th in the drifter) 108, Matt Cassady, Brian McMurray, Todd Bosgraaf, Rob Kimball, Tye Nordberg, Andy Molesta, Bob Currier, Bob Miller (Top Grand Master), Alan Hickman (Top Master), Chris Eggert, David Fox, Scott Caston, Jeff Cornetet, Walker Wynkoop, Birch Bayly, Dan Chappell, Joe Rotunda, Pete Price , Pete Comfort, Dave Bedau, Graham Allen, Jamie Welch, Eric Wynsma, Paul Eggert, Andy Powell, Lynn Walborn (Top Woman), Tom Wurster, Will Forgrave, John Knape, Kevin Anderson, Casey Christensen, Curt Bradley, Teddy Knape, Jeff Minore, Craig Hupp, Ryan Gates, Bob Milne, Ben McNeil, Danielle Ralston, Bo Manning, Charlie Lind, Terry Malone, George Friend, Ken Bandstra, Ben Martin, David Wickland, Eley Thompson, Suzi Molesta, Joe Honer, Graydon Megan, Brett Fetter, Dan Lorimer, Brent Solomon.
The C class was up a little in attendance this year which is positive. Hopefully the date change of the ILYA may give us another 10-15 boats if we really ramp up the promotion of the event going into 2004. I was talking with Betty Harrett about C Scow regattas of the past within the WMYA and they used to have 60 boats on a regular basis. It would be great if we could get back to that. Rumor is that few Torch Lake sailors are bitten by the C Scow bug. Melges builds 40-50 new C Scows every year. The Inland and National Championship see 70 plus boats on a regular basis. Now on to the E Scows. A great shoot-out here on the last day with
less than nine points separating 1st through 6th by the end of the
regatta. That is nine points of the old bonus system still being used
by the WMYA so it was close. The E Scow and Junior fleets had the biggest
spectator crowds. We counted 40 spectator boats once for the E Scow
races; it was cool to see that. Here we go with the positions in order
and their points. The M20 fleet had 10 boats sailing this year. Everyone there seemed to have big smiles as this group enjoyed the long open water courses too. WMYA Commodore and local Torch Lake ace Pete Comfort had a good battle with Andrew Tapper for the top spot. In the end Pete was crowned champion. Here are some results: Pete Comfort 3-3-3-3 =12 (these are the bonus points not the actual
race positions 3is really 2nd)
Lasers. Fourteen boats sailed for this year’s championship. Charlie Knape had a great week and won this class with 3 bullets, a second and third place finishes. Just behind Charlie was Casey Christensen with good scores that included a 2-3-2-3-1. Gregg Hatt had scores of 5-2-5-4-2 to finish third. The rest in order were: Mike Knape, Jim Knape, Alan Walborn, Maggie Shea, Spencer Powell, Lindsay
Gates, Jordan Hatt, Eric Anderson, Matt Crites , Dylan Slater, Sam
Gill, Leah Varga, Morgan Greve, Harry Malone, Brie Hatton, Reid Monroe,
Katie Couyoumjian, Connor Davis, Laura Grueber, Stuart Anderson, Betsy
Grant, Sammie Hoch, Lex Hejna, Holly Rillema, Megan Nelson, Allison
Powell, Jonathan Glimp, Maxwell Watrous, Reid Walborn, Sarah Malone,
Ted Busch. Just a quick recap. Torch Lake was awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Do not forget. Plan ahead for 2004 watch the calendars and event information posted on sites like www.wmya.org , www.ilya.org , www.melges.com , www.onedesign.com , www.mcscow.org Thanks to all at TLYCC. The organization and hospitality were fantastic.
Day 1 MC ILYA Invitational Jamie Kimball Blasts Past The Competition Jamie Kimball threw two bullets at the 50+ boat field today. Two races, two bullets. Let me be the first to tell you that it was a "start first and increase your lead situation". In both races MC 2141 had the start of the fleet and just kept going from there. Both races had slightly leeward end favor and Jamie took advantage of the situation pacing the fleet from start to finish. Congratulations. Excellent Sailing! A deep field had some trouble with the 10-15mph race in the morning and the 12-25mph wind race in the afternoon. Some noteable MC sailors tested the water in race number two. Of course, names cannot be mentioned. Andy Burdick tried to track down Kimball to no avail. Burdick at a 2, 3. Tim Krech a Pewaukee native went solo and netted himself a 5,2. Dave Harrison splashed his new boat for the championship and showed he was 'out of the box' fast with a 4,7. Brian Porter Jr. had a 8,9 in his first MC event ever. Some hot young sailors are showing there stuff. Wow, can those young guys sail these MC's FAST! What was FAST: The breeze was on today. With these big, full sails
Cunningham was certainly fast. We had lots on upwind. Moderate vang
in the first race and then Heavy vang in the second race. Downwind, to stay in control and avoid nose diving in the very large waves we elected to reach downwind which was fast and fun - also, we never nose dived (is that a word....you know what I mean). We were in control while many were sailing deep downwind - nosediving and death rolling. Lots of vang was on downwind to keep the boat more stable (less rocking). It was an exciting day of MC racing. What an awesome boat when there
is wind!!! It was a lot of fun! FINAL DAY Pewaukee, Wisconsin Native Wins ILYA Invite on Geneva Two light air races challenged the 58 boat ILYA invite fleet on Saturday morning. A high pressure system brought in light, very shifty winds that drove many sailors crazy. Not Tim Krech from Pewaukee. No doubt his college sailing experience has taken his sailing to a new level. Tim finished out the regatta with a 1,2 to dominate this years Invitational Championship. Both starts were port favored and Tim won both starts to put him in the first shift and in the front of the group today. Great sailing Tim! Five of the top 10 sailors were younger, collegiate sailors and their boathandling and tactical skills really prevailed in the 4 race regatta. Krech, Jamie Kimball, Kelly Reese, John Porter, Rob Kimball, Cameron McNeil, John McNeil all have this type of experience and their race results showed it. The top 5 looked like this: What was fast today: Sailing Lifts toward new breeze: No matter where you were on the lake - you had to sail the lifted tack and then be sure you were sailing that lifted tack fast toward the next new breeze line. You had to look way up the lake (past the weather mark placement) just to see where the new breeze was coming from. This combination was the answer to todays difficult racing. Be on the outer edges downwind: in clear air. You needed to leverage yourself out to a side downwind and keep your air clean as much of the fleet sailed down the middle of the course where it was quite congested. Clear air was essential. Moving your weight around: You had to be agressive with moving your weight around on the boat. When the breeze was in you had to hike, hike hard - as soon as the breeze went away you had to be quick to slide in so that the boat would stay on a constant angle of heel - sometimes you even had to jump to the lowside. Sailing the boat flat through the transitional breeze and powerboat waves was not a fast thing today. Other noteable good races come from: Peter Wright - winning race number 4! Kelly Reese getting second in race 3. Milt Haeger a 6th in race 3. John McNeil a 4th in race 4. Todd Faulkner a 5th in race 4. Bill Colburn had a 4th in the 3rd race. Lake Geneva Yacht Club ran another excellent scow regatta. Thank you
for attending!
Final Day Perfect conditions for the final day of racing at Shreveport. Winds were full hike weather with a few breaks, maybe 25% of the time going up the beats. Two races were held on Friday and the full slate of seven races were easily completed. I know I speak for the group when we say the PRO Bob Gough and his team gave us a great championship. We have not had many championships in the last 10-15 years that went the distance and had such a wide variety of conditions coupled with very fair race courses. The lake and conditions were just shifty enough though you really had to be on your toes tactically. Remember from Day 1 and 2 we were racing with winds from an average of 280 or westerly. Today we had a true southwest wind, solid velocity and temps that reached 100 degrees. You really did not feel the heat though until the race was over.
Justin Hood, 2003 MC National Champion,
leading the pack powered by his new North Z Max Main Strategically you had to know where you were on the scoreboard going into these last two races. Andy, Harry and Buddy would just say go win the race. However, with a drop after the seventh race is completed you had to keep an eye on those close to you. I have always struggled watching all of our customers and friends race. Today was no different and there were some fun situations on the course. Sailors putting moves on other sailors who were trying to put moves on other sailors. It was another day of playing hardball in the big leagues. These last two races saw the tightest racing for sure. Some of the runs on both races we would have the top 20 all within 75-100 yards of each other. Race 1 had a big right in the upper half of the course, which was there in practice. Then for race 2 a 20-degree shift left was present for a totally different look going upwind. Like all the previous days port tack was the hard tack and if you dropped your traveler car 1-2 car widths going upwind the boat did not face up to the port tack chop so much and you were much faster. Starboard tack you could keep your traveler on center. Some neat things happened today. Kevin Neal of Lake Geneva who had struggled in the lighter airs for much of the event won the morning race going away. Kevin ended up 19th in the event. Lenny Krawcheck who was really having a tough event sitting in the 40s going into today’s racing won the toughest race of the series the last race. Lenny ended up 26th overall but the race win was great to see for one of our classes top Grand Masters. Some sailors had their best days. Rush Creek MC Ace Scott Slocum had a 3-10 for his best day of racing. Zack Clayton had his best day with a very strong 4-2. One of our sailors we are very happy for is Greg Gearing who no doubt put together one of his best days of MC sailing ever with a 9-7 in this tough group. We had a lot of “new guys” that we welcomed to the group but top “new guy” goes to Airstream Bus Member Andy Molesta who finished 5th overall in his first major event since getting into the class. Andy had sailed MCs at Grand Rapids, Michigan in his younger years but just now is getting fully geared up with good new equipment. Congratulations “New Guy”. You only get the title for one week. I had fun with Wiley Pollard today. We basically sailed side by side for two races knowing whomever beat who at the end of the day would take the final position from the other. I had a 6-9 and Wiley had a 14-6. We ended up 7th and 8th respectively. The Airstream crew a total of four had other very solid scores from “Big Wave” Dave Fox who finished 6th, Brien Fox who finished 11th. The fourth member J.Hood we will mention in a little bit. The fun factor and relaxation award goes to this group who got to the event two days early. Prep, relax, prep, relax that was their theme all weekend. We had three motor homes and three tent crews this week. The club really went out of their way to help everyone staying on the club grounds. That was nice. The drop race came into play today so everyone got to ditch his or her worst score. Almost, well everybody including the winner got rid of a bunch of points with the drop. I was worried going into the day that it would change things up a bunch but it did not. It had no effect on the overall win and not much effect all the way down through the fleet. So all in all it was good for everyone. DNSs, DSQs, 50’s, 40’s all that bad stuff disappeared. There was a real shootout for 2nd, 3rd and 4th between Ted Keller, Greg Gust and Drew Mize. I did the math going into the last race and it was up grabs. There was an outside chance for us in 5th, 6th, 7th to get to second also. In the end a third place finish by Ted Keller in the last race gave him the new “Cedar Lake” Runner-Up Perpetual Trophy. Greg Gust after starting off strong in the event had his toughest day with a 15-11 and ended up third overall. Drew Mize, I cannot say enough about how smart and consistent Drew was this weekend. Drew slipped slightly in the last race but still ended up fourth overall. This year’s champion is a repeat champion and only the second person in class history to win three or more MC National Championships. Justin Hood of Spring Lake, Michigan just had to get a 10th or better in the first race or race 6 to win the event. Because of the rules he elected not to sail race 7 and not risk the championship. There are some dsq situations that you cannot discard. Harry Melges had to do this same thing at this year's Melges 24 Championship which he won. Congrats to Justin who clearly sailed the best regatta of the whole group with a 12-1-2-1-2-5-DNS. Justin also earns the right to sail in this year’s “U.S. Sailing Champion of Champions” event, which is being held in MC Scows on Lake Geneva.
Some category winners. Again, many thanks to everyone at the Shreveport Yacht Club. The regatta organization was incredible. There are too many to thank but Wiley and Amy Pollard put together one great team for sure. Again, thanks to PRO Bob Gough and his outstanding team. Many thanks to Betsy Beddow and her team for the great judging both on and off the water. Well Justin can wear his crown for 15 months. We have a long gap between now and the next National Championship. Put it down on the calendar. We have a great site and a great date. We are expecting because of location, dates and some special things we will be doing that we will have somewhere between 100 and 120 boats at Culver Academy on Lake Maxincukee. The last Friday, Saturday and Sunday in August of 2004. MYC will be giving updates late this fall and early winter on the event.
DAY 2: Hardball Championship Racing! That is the best way to describe today’s tough racing. 3 good tough races were held. PRO Bob Gough and his large team did a nice job with the light and shifty winds we were presented with today. Races started on time at 10 a.m. today. During practice before race 1 we were in full hikes during the practice beats and heeling to windward coming on the downwind practice runs. By race time for race 1 the winds were a steady 10 and progressively got lighter throughout the race. Race 2 back to back was a light air race with winds ranging from 3-8 m.p.h. and race 3 was also very light late in the day after a 2p.m. lunch. Direction ranged from 265 to 285 on the compass. Big changes in positions today throughout the fleet. After race 1 we saw three of the top ten sailors leave that category with high scores in that race. Another three from the top ten left that category after race four. Then after race five we saw some return. The thing about big fleet sailing is to simply be consistent and to hang in there. Wiley Pollard did that today and moved up a bunch in the fleet by just hanging in there. He had a couple of good races and then one real good race with a fifth and moved from 11th to 6th. Greg Gust sailed great today with a 1-1-8 but lost a starting line
protest for his race 4 win and received a dsq. Greg showed championship
form though most of the day. Two races are scheduled for tomorrow starting at 10 am. Big heat and light winds are predicted. If we get to seven there will be a drop race which will change things up quite a bit. Boat speed and dark water were the keys to success today. The winds were actually very steady. We just had big velocity changes and if you stepped out of the breeze you were in trouble quickly. Downwind sailing hot angles paid off big time. Those who sailed deep in the light conditions were in trouble quickly. Also, those who took the high road going downwind in the light air scored best. Starting lines were excellent but tight and short. First row was the whole deal and quick escape if you could not make a lane quickly. All five races for the most part were sorted out pretty quickly at least for the top group. Here is what we have after five races. That is all for now. Been a great , tough regatta. Great organization which has really made it nice for the whole group. Final report will come Saturday about noon. Results may be posted earlier.
DAY 1: Regatta Chairman welcomed the 55 teams to this year’s National Championship at Shreveport, La. . Fleet 1 last hosted the National Championship 33 years ago and recognized its first champion Harry Protzeller. Retired Air Force Colonel Protzeller was in attendance along with three other past national champions Greg Gust, John Bates and two-time and current national champion Justin Hood. During the opening ceremonies all of the committees that it takes to put an event together like this were recognized. The Mayor of Shreveport welcomed the group. The judges Gail Bernstein, Bernie Kuse, Steve Elliot and Betsy Beddow were all recognized. Becky and Mike Wolcott along with Amy Pollard were also recognized. PRO Bob Gough reviewed briefly the sailing instructions and three minor changes to the class Sis. The race schedule here at Cross Lake called for three races today, three tomorrow on Thursday and one on Friday. Winds were very light this morning and the race 1 11am start was postponed. Lunch was held early and the group was prepped for late day racing. A nice feature that Wiley and Amy Pollard incorporated into the event was a flexible food and social schedule that would allow us to race late in the day. Two races were eventually held today. We currently are in the middle of huge high pressure system and winds are light. Both races today were held in 3-10 m.p.h. of wind basically from the west with a little south now and then, plus a little north now and then. Very shifty conditions. The conditions however were good in that the wind showed on the water and was not up off the deck. What you saw is what you got. That being said the most important thing was staying in the velocity. Velocity in the big fleet ruled over direction. There were many cases today where you might not be going toward the mark but you were in the velocity. The starting lines were tight but very good, very balanced. A mid-line boat was used for both starts. The one minute rule was in effect for all starts. Race one started off with boats coming off from both ends in good shape. At the top mark Charlie Lind in his brand new 2224 “Charlie’s Choice” was first, followed by Zenda U. grad and former National Champ John Bates then “Charlie’s Choice 2” sailed by Justin Hood our current national champ. Downwind this extremely tough group swapped positions through the shifting velocities but basically all went the same path down to the leeward mark. Justin Hood shifted gears on the group, took the lead and never looked back. He ended up winning by several hundred yards but there were moments where John Bates, Greg Gust, Scott Slocum and others might have been mistaken for being in the lead. It was tough sailing. The group while small is probably the toughest group we have ever assembled. With the exception of a few prime time sailors maybe 2-3 we have the whole tough guy group here. The top ten for race one in order are J.Hood, John Bates, David"Big Wave" Fox, Greg Gust, Scott Slocum, Drew “I am out of the house” Mize, Andy “new guy” Molesta, Jeff “Light Air” Surles, E.Hood, and past class commodore Ted Keller. Race 2 started at 5:45 . PRO Bob Gough was patient and we are glad that kept us out on the water. The breeze filled with a little more velocity but still some big shifts were present. The windward end of the starting line was favored but not until less than two minutes to go. Scott Slocum and Justin Hood took off from that end and led the group up 2/3rd s the way up the beat but got caught in a light spot while a big fill from the left came in. Believe it or not the best moves today were pretty much in the middle of the course. Usually in light airs you lean to the edges but today just tacking back and forth, staying in the dark water and keeping clear telltales was the big deal. Greg Gust and Dave Fox came in from the left at the end of the first beat to lead a tight group of ten into the first mark. During the course of this race the first 15 boats swapped positions many times except Greg who basically held the lead for the rest of the race. Here are the top ten in order. Greg Gust, Dave Fox, Jeff Surles, Ted Keller, Zack Clayton, Andy Molesta, Wiley Pollard, Jack Kern, Drew Mize, Brien Fox. After two races That is all for now. Three races scheduled for tomorrow.
DAY 1:
It has been a Weather Channel weekend here in downtown Minneapolis. The threat of unstable weather in the region kept the regatta turnout small. Even though small in numbers the sailing was competitive. 23 assorted scows with 15 of those being MC Scows are in attendance. Three races were scheduled for Saturday and two for Sunday. Light shifty winds were the order for the day. Race one was held under cloudy skies and with very cool air temps in the 50s. Obviously the water is still cold but I am happy to report my crazy tiller did not send me for a swim today like in Charleston and Pewaukee. Nobody else went swimming today which was good with the water temps in the high 40s. Lake Harriet is one of our smaller lakes if not the smallest on the scow circuit. Mark Long still claims Lake Winnebago in Kansas City is still the smallest but I do not know. Lake Harriet is pretty small. An egg shaped lake with a shore line of less than two miles total, closer to one and half miles I would say. Being a small lake you have to have the lap counter on because the courses are multi-leg courses. For our first race today the group sailed an OW1 or an 8 leg course. I would say at some point through the race you could find yourself in first and then you would find yourself in last. The trick in the light and shifty winds was to stay in the dark water. Velocity rule – being in the velocity ruled over direction much of the time. You had to keep your boat moving and stay in the breeze sometimes sailing a much longer route to your next mark. Also it seemed on each leg especially off the wind that the boats leaning to the windward side of that leg always faired best as they intercepted the new breeze coming down. Usually when it is windy the reverse applies. Noel Neuman led the first half of the race which is almost like leading the first fifty laps of the Indy 500. You almost never see that person win in the end in fluky conditions like we had today. Lake Harriet Vice Commodore and MC ace Bill Colburn in the end won the race. I finished second after being back most of the race. I recognized it was one of those days you never quit, not that I would but it was a day to sail hard right to the end because anything could happen and did. Third was Stu Oltrogge of Clear Lake, fourth local sailor Dave Mott and fifth Noel Neuman. Race 2 was much of the same. Light fluky west winds. Same conditions. Several leaders throughout this race. In the end Dave Mott 1st, Bill Colburn 2nd, E.Hood 3rd, Andy Crowe was fourth and fifth Mike Risewick. The third race was abandoned just short of the finish with thunder and lightning moving in quickly from the southwest. Two races scheduled for Mothers Day. Happy Mothers Day (Mom and Alo) to all the great Moms out their. Weather does not look good for our group tomorrow with high winds between 20 and 40 m.p.h. predicted. Here are the standings after two races. Congratulations to Dixon Tews who purchased the boat I am sailing. Dixon joins the fleet on White Bear Lake, Mn. I am now convinced I am ready for summer after the last couple of
cool spring regattas. The Nationals Warm Up in Dallas and the National
Championship in Shreveport are coming in two and three weeks respectively.
Sign up now on line at www.mcscow.org . Also, next week you have Okauchee
and Grand Rapids spring regattas for the northern sailors. Day 2 Big winds, temperatures in the 40s and rain forced the cancellation
of the Sunday races. Last night we had a great party at the home of Regatta Chairman John Katics and Rita O’Keefe. Many thanks to Denny Landers and his whole team of race committee personal for running our races. Other winners not listed on www.mcscow.org were: Mark Prochaska 1st place in the C Scow Class One special note. I received after last nights report from Mike Kurzawa of Milwaukee that the shore path road on Lake Harriet is 3.4 miles round. Still a very small lake. Thanks for the correction Mike. Thanks to everyone who always makes the Lake Harriet Spring Regatta a fun event. Again, Happy Mothers Day to all. I will be taking next weekend off from racing but will be back with reports from Texas , Louisana and Missouri over the next 3-4 weeks. Those regattas being the Nationals warm-up, the Nationals and the very large early summer regatta the Orlando Webb always with 50 plus boats at Lake Lotawana. Do not forget next week if you want a good spring regatta you have several choices . Check out www.mcscow.org and the class magazine.
DAY 1: 27 boats made it to Lake Lanier on this 3 regatta weekend. Great winds ranging from 6-16 m.p.h. out of the southwest for the whole day. In fact it was so nice out that LLSC modified the sailing instructions and gave us four races instead of three. Today was a shifty day with big lefts and a few big rights. Starting lines were good and courses were very good considering the 15 degree shifts that were common ever couple of minutes. A couple of individual recalls scattered throughout the four starts and only one general recall. So it was all good. Local Winn Story led the first race at the first mark. E.Hood then took over and led for a while . Last full beat up on the modified W2 courses saw Jeff Annis hook into a big left all by himself which gave him the lead. In the end it was Jeff Annis first, Jeremy Pape 2nd, I was third, former national champion Willi Lenkeit had a fourth and Winn Story hung on for a fifth. Race 2 just after lunch had a couple of leaders throughout the race much like race 1. Jeff Surles had a great race and ended up winning with Jeremy Pape once again in 2nd. Johnny Krawcheck finished third, Jeff Annis fourth and fifth went to local Lee Estes who sailed a nice race. Race 3 became the Jeremy Pape show . Jeremy showed everyone why he is one of the toughest competitors in the MC fleet with a dominant performance beginning to end in the race. Johnny Krawcheck started pouring it on also and finished 2nd. 3rd went to Jeff Surles , fourth went to fast Ed Durant of Augusta with crew and fifth to Bill Rembold who had a real nice race. Race 4 once again was won by Jeremy Pape but most of the race was led by Johnny Krawcheck. Johnny finished second just ahead of his dad Lenny Krawcheck who finished fourth. A big shift came through at the start and several of us circled several times at the leeward end before finally getting across the starting line. Lenny was right there circling with me and he made a great comeback considering how far behind he started. Fourth went to Bob Miller who really sailed a nice consistent race. Fifth went to Bill Rembold. The lessons learned today were on the starting line and leaning to the dark water coming down. The line was short. Some sailors who actually came into or approached the line a little late faired very well. Then getting to the dark water quickly because there were big gaps in the wind and the wind velocity throughout the course. It was a little choppy and those who eased their mainsheets and hiked hard faired well. I am 165 and it was just at the top end for me. I would have preferred my crew Bethy J or ALo but hung in there without either of the twins. It was good fun racing. Here are some results for the top ten. Full results will come tomorrow night from the club and my final story will be late from the road up in Tennessee or Kentucky. Jeremy Pape 6 Keowee Saiing Club our newest fleet sent three boats which is great. They have their second annual regatta next week. Beautiful lake if you have not been there. All you southeast sailors should put it on the calendar. Off to Lake Lanier Sailing Club for the Frank Vandel Roast of Competitors
which is always fun while having grilled steaks on the beautiful Georgia
Pines club grounds of LLSC at sunset. DAY 2: The final day here at the 2003 Rebel Rouser brought great Georgia spring weather and good winds. We saw light to medium shifty winds the first race and a very windy by relatively steady final race 6. Through the course of this regatta we saw a little bit of everything plus sailed in the bay portion of the lake and then today sailed in the big portion of the lake. It was great! I think there were a lot of lessons learned here this weekend. While a smaller than usual group of 27 boats this week it was a very competitive group. Four things stick out in my mind about this weekend. The racing today was once again the Jeremy Pape show. There were moments though where some of us almost caught him. Race 1 Jeremy had an okay start in the first 10 seconds and then quickly made it a first place start by tacking smoothly and accelerating just in front of an oncoming slow starboard boat. He built a huge lead through the first three legs until a nice E.Hood 40 degree shift came through to my benefit. I closed to within 5 boat lengths at one point (down from about 40) but could not quite catch him. So I finished second, Jeff Annis almost hunted me down in the power beat to the finish, he finished third. Winn Story had another nice race finishing fourth and local ace Willi Lenkeit finished fifth. Race 2. Now the wind out of the east became more steady but much more wind came in for this race. The race committee quickly reset the course giving us another perfect upwind first leg. Jeremy led this race bell to bell. Johnny Krawcheck at one point almost caught Jeremy mid race and ended up second. Kurt Stadele had his best race of the series finishing third. Bob Miller put in another good race finishing fourth and I finished fifth (wish I had my crew BAJ). Here are some results. Full results with scores can be seen at www.mcscow.org One observation. This is an old traditional regatta with a fixed date. We had three regattas this weekend which is great for the class. Over 70 boats were regatta racing this weekend. There was a lot of discussion about regatta organizers planning further in advance to avoid conflicts with multiple regatta date weekends. Fortunately we are now nationwide. It would be great though if regatta organizers could check in with each other a year in advance to try and work these date conflicts out though. Lake Lanier Fleet Captain Amy Walsack put together a great group to both run the onshore and on water activities. Many thanks to Amy and the entire crew. If you have not been to Lake Lanier it is one of our great annual regattas in the class and is always the last week in April. A beautiful lake with islands in the Georgia pines. Until next week.
Another great Easter Regatta! By far, this event had the most wind
and best overall weather of any Easter Regatta in recent history. 70
degrees during most of the racing and only a slight drizzle in race
one made for great conditions. 5 of 6 races were down right windy.
Races 1,2,3 were in the 15-19 m.p.h. area. Races 5 and 6 were 12 to
15 m.p.h. Race 4, the first of the day on the last day of racing sported
7 to 12 mph winds and tiny waves. They were all longish 3 leg windward-leward,
4 races were sailed in a raging outgoing tide. The first race of each
day was only effected slightly by the tide. The shortest race was around
45 minutes for the winner, but most went almost an hour for the first
place finisher. It was quite a challenge sailing in such large waves
in races 1,2,3. Luckily, most folks had able crew from the surrounding
clubs. The E Scows had 18 boats participating at this year’s event. The fleet is getting newer down south with several upgrades among the owners down in the Charleston area. New or newer boats are in the game plan for Regatta co-chair Crayton Walters and also for the Ross Griffith / Miles Martschink team. Racing was highly competitive among the group. College of Charleston graduate Augie Barkow and his very good crew consisting of his sister U.S. Olympic Yngling hopeful Sally Barkow along with sailmaker Jim Gluek and one of our top MC women sailors Debbie Ziegler sailed away with top honors. Augie and his team won every race but one with Ken Wruk of Lake Geneva winning race 5. It was really exciting to see the E Scows racing in the big breeze on Friday and the medium breeze on Saturday. With the very large expansion of the on-the-water facilities next year should really be great. The facility will be four times the size it is now. It will easily be able to handle 30-50 E Scows and 30-50 MC Scows. I would just like to add to some of Jeffs comments. Swimming was great for all of us, the water is in fact very warm in Charleston. Race committee work by Harvey McCormick and his team was really well done. Congratulations to everyone on that team!!!!!!!! It was good seeing Larry Leonard sailing with the group. We know he had a good time and we are hoping for his support in the Annapolis area both with MC and E Scows. This was a regatta where you did have to pay most of your attention to current as we have several different situations on the course for every race. Wind and direction was important but if you did not have your boat going with the current correctly you were quickly shot out the back. This particular event always brings this extra added feature to the strategies used to do well here in Charleston. It is fun, fun sailing when you add the current in. Regatta co-chairs Tommy Harken , Crayton Walters and myself were all talking today and there is no doubt this was one of the best regattas yet in Charleston. Many, many thanks to Sonny Meevers who once again opened the big pink bay mansion on 17 East Battery to the whole regatta group. It was another great party and no doubt is one of the many reasons sailors come to the Easter Regatta. Do not forget there are more opportunities to sail in Charleston this year. The MC regatta in October at James Island and the Thanksgiving Regatta at the Carolina Yacht Club. Thanks again to all at the Carolina Yacht Club for a great, great regatta. Eric Hood
DAY 1: The 33rd MC Midwinter Championship at Lake Eustis in Florida kicked off today with 67 teams making the first big regatta of the year. Commodore Martin Zonnenberg welcomed everyone to the event and to the brand new club house. After years of hard work the Lake Eustis Sailing Club opened the doors on the brand new clubhouse this week. Earlier in the week Melges Performance Sailboats and LESC hosted a two day Zenda University course for 20 teams looking to improve their game. With 20 starts total, 10 races, great wind and great food that event was a huge success. Nine of the participants are in the top 25 after the first day of racing. Many thanks to Dennis Oldham and Jeff Annis for their support that helped to make this event a huge success. One medium air race today and one heavy air race with both being W 2&1/2s. PRO – Dev Farley and his team did a great job on race 1 and successfully pulled off a good race for race 2 in a building persistently shifting wind. With storms to the west and north of us here in central Florida the west and northwest winds were expected but not till tonight. They came a little early. With 67 boats PRO Farley elected to add a mid-line starting boat which was good. Lake Eustis is a long egg shaped lake with about 10 miles of water east and west and about 2-3 miles north and south. With the winds coming out of 200-240 degrees during the course of the day and our course on the east end of the lake we saw some big waves. Actually bigger waves than wind at times. While the winds increased we did not see any alligators today with the big waves but you had to take a notch in on your hat because the winds just kept increasing. The winds were very steady in direction the first race and oscillated the second race by 20 degrees with the increases and decreases in wind velocity. Tactically on race one the groups going upwind faired okay on both sides and the middle. Race two saw a center left phase at the beginning of each beat but had a small hard right phase the last couple of hundred yards into the weather mark. If you missed the 10 degree shift out in the open water that had no real landmarks you were shot out the back quickly. The group at the front today found their successes with either crew weight and or wave management. With the persistent shifting wind the wave pattern besides being large did not match the direction of the wind. The end result was that really both tacks were very hard to deal with. I found that early on I was overs-heeting like I was in flat water. With max vang on and traveler down about half way and a little ease on the mainsheet the boat went very fast. I had to figure this out by watching boats in front of me. Being lighter I was quick downwind with aggressive sailing but had to watch the top ten group to finally figure out how they were so successful with the waves. Max vang, eased mainsheet, traveler half way down. Downwind many teams were struggling. I found big success by sailing by the lee, watching every single wave and steering to leeward when the bow tried to submarine. Looking back at the breeze when I would be entering a flat spot in the water. Lots of vang, slight, very slight ease to a boom height of about 90 degrees off the mast for the gybes. Here are some results Brian Heimsch 2061 3-1 =4 Full results after Saturday will be posted on www.mcscow.org . Light winds and T-storms predicted for tomorrow. Special note their was a moment of silence for our good friend and MC class activist Dr. Bill Crum who recently passed away here at Eustis while doing what he loved and that of course was sailing. We will miss you Bill. DAY 2: Day 2 for the 33rd annual MC Midwinter Championship was a day of no wind. The group however was treated to a special appearance of Bubba and Earl from Georgia (a.k.a. Jeff Annis and Ed Durant) at the evening banquet. Bubba and Earl in true Georgia form had the crowd rolling in laughter but much like the Osborne’s on TV. the censors held most of their material back. All in all a good show and lots of fun. Commodore Martin Zonnenberg made special presentations to Zack Clayton and me for continued support over the years of the MC Class, sailing in the southeast and of course the Lake Eustis Sailing Club. Both of us were given beautiful Seth Clocks on very nice wooden plaques with the proclamation of honorary memberships into LESC. On behalf of Zack and myself, thank you to everyone who gave us this great honor. During day two it was decided by PRO Dev Farley and his team to extend racing on the last day by eliminating one of the two deadlines in the S.I.s. The first original deadline was 12:30 if three races had been held. The second and final deadline was left in place at 3:30 p.m.. The thinking was that we had two good heavy air races but really needed to try and get some more racing in with 67 boats present from 13 different states. At the banquet Lenny Krawcheck on behalf of the MC board of governors thanked LESC for their outstanding hospitality and organization. Lenny also pointed out that we were fortunate in these tough times to have such a good turnout for the Midwinter Championship. Before I get into race three and four I would like to point out some interesting ideas that some sailors presented to me about the heavy air races. These came from top five sailors after the first day. Doug McNeil who no doubt was one of the fastest single-handed sailors said he actually pulled his mast forward from 28’3” so that he could put more vang on. He also sailed with his mainsheet fairly eased to get up and over the waves. Some other comments included another interesting one from Dr. Jack Kern about pulling his boards up a couple of inches and he was confident that this action made a real difference. Others who sailed the heavy stuff were commenting on bow down from the breeze, traveler down and sailing flat to get up and over the waves. Now onto the racing for day 3. Finally the wind settled in and filled from the west southwest and were on the light side. Probably 4-8 during the course of the race. The winds were fairly steady with boats coming in successfully from both the right and the left. The boats in the middle did not seem to have the air that boats on the edges had. Most of the lead group extended away from the weather mark on the starboard gybe to get away from the boats grouping at the weather mark. There just was no breeze for the few who gybed away to port after rounding the weather mark. Clear air was everything. The wind shadows seemed to extend up to about 6 or 7 boat lengths downwind from one boat to another. You could not hesitate when it came to clear or you were in big trouble. The end results of this W2&1/2 shook up the results for sure. Winning the leeward end of the start and leading the race start to finish was Jeff Surles of Lake Lanier, Georgia. Second place went to Doug McNeil of White Lake, Michigan. Tim Fredman of Pine Lake, Wisconsin had his best race of the series finishing third. Fourth went to veteran sailor Skip Moorhouse of New Jersey and I had a very good hard fought fifth in this race. Just a reminder that practice does help. Even in light air. I went out for two hours to try and get focused after struggling on day 1 after the long winter layoff. I feel it really made a difference and strongly recommend it anytime you are lacking confidence in your boat speed or boat handling. So now the wind goes away and PRO Farley smartly called for a lunch break with hopes of the wind filling back in. After lunch a 2:30 start was the posted starting time. Dr. Jack Kern was leading at this point with Doug McNeil in second and former Midwinters Champion Kelly Reese of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin in third. The group was about to get the real test. We had race 1 in medium to heavy, race 2 in heavy , race 3 in light and race 4 started light and went to very light. Breeze was always there but you had to remain focused on the job at hand or you got shot out quickly. Again, clear air was key to doing well, putting your bow down and boom on the corner of the boat to keep her rolling. I gave up several positions on the first beat just to keep clear air and it always paid off in a big way. This race was scheduled to be a W2&1/2 and was shortened to a W 1&1/2. John McNeil of White Lake led his father Doug, along with Kelly Reese, Pete Comfort, Skip Moorhouse, Jeff Surles and Johnny Krawcheck (Lenny’s son) into the weather mark. Again the lead pack extended away from the rest of the fleet by staying on the starboard gybe until they were about 2/3rds down the run before gybes and maneuvers started occurring. In the end a great shootout with the forward group as the rest of the fleet struggled to keep up with the leaders in the dying breeze. Jeff Surles just nipped out John McNeil who just nipped out his dad Doug McNeil. I was about a boat length behind Doug with Johnny Krawcheck just behind me. Doug McNeil is our new champion for 2003. Congratulations on a hard fought and consistent series Doug, well done!!!!!!! Here are some results. Full posting of results can be found at www.mcscow.org
(*) partial North inventory Many , many thanks to Martin Zonnenberg, Janet and Jim Hoffman, Candi Robb, the Keenans, Dev Farley, plus the whole LESC team which was large and too many to name completely. From the tractor crews to all of the folks running all of the boats. Special thanks to Dennis Oldham who seems to do just an incredible amount of work. Always one of the first to arrive and one of the last to leave. The clubhouse is awesome. Large enough for our big group no problem what so ever. Indoor and outdoor showers, a new hoist. LESC is a great place to be for scow sailing. Watch the schedules as they always have something going on for MC Scows. That is it from the road. Many thanks to everyone who extended such
wonderful hospitality to all of the MC sailors and their entourages
who attended the 33rd Annual MC Midwinter Championship.
For more information on MC Scow sails, contact the North MC Scow experts.
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The 73rd Annual Western Michigan Yachting Association
Championship kicked off with a spectacular day here at beautiful Torch
Lake , Michigan. Some say this is one of the nicest lakes in the U.S..
For those who have been lucky enough to expierence Torch I think would
say it may be the most beautiful lake in the world. The weather matched
the lakes beauty here on day one of the four day event.
Day 2 of the Western Michigan Yachting Association Championships here
on Torch Lake saw more great winds and beautiful weather. Light and
shifty winds for the morning races and medium heavy winds for the afternoon
races.
Day 3 and 4 of this year’s Western Michigan Yachting Association
Championships saw some very exciting racing, some big changes in the
scores. Weather and winds were perfect for the first three days of
this four day event with solid northwest winds. Sunday saw a mixed
bag of southerly winds, northerly winds, very little wind. The times
we had wind it was unstable both in velocity and direction. The teams
this week were tested in all conditions from very windy, to medium
air to drifters.
C Scows .
3. Ed Durant 31 points
One
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