Carlyle/Clinton Rivalry Begins

Carlyle Sailing Association Race Committee Boat













Thanks to an invitation from Bronson Bowling, who sails at Carlyle Lake, several sailors from Clinton Lake headed down the highway to Carlyle this weekend to take part in their club races. Even though the Midwest District is huge, stretching from Minnesota to southern Illinois, Bronson realized that Carlyle and Clinton are not too far away. He figured we could create a little friendly rivalry.


 Here are the friendly rivals at dinner on Saturday night......

So this weekend three Clinton Lake boats (Ben and me on Sophie, Eric Bussell and Tom Yeagle on Windtalker, and Angie and Bryan Hunt on Quicksilver) headed south and west, and next weekend as many Carlyle sailors as can make it will head east and north. In addition, next weekend, some sailors from the Eagle Creek Club will join us at Clinton, so it'll be a three-way friendly rivalry!

At first it looked as if there would be no wind. It didn't help that the day before Carlyle's club held a distance race that ended up being a 3.5 hour drifter. The race was called because time ran out. As far as I could tell, no boats had yet rounded the windward mark by that point. Lots of sunburn and dehydration, but spirits were high, helped probably by the other kind of spirits....Just sayin'  !


Anyway, with that as a background, it didn't look too good for Sunday. Much to our delight and surprise, by about noon some light winds had arrived and we managed to get three good races in. There were at least 11 Scots on the line and 11 Lightnings as well. Each class had a separate start.

  Here is a close finish between Eric Sutton, Eric Bussell and Bronson Bowling....

As these friendly rivalry go, spirits ran high and silliness ensued. Bryan and Angie Hunt of Clinton Lake have created a belt similar to a Heavyweight Medal, that the (fleet) winner of the series will receive. I have not seen it yet, but based on the conversations I was party to (and I do mean "party") it will be pretty darn fabulous. Clinton Lake might have a few other ... trophies ... on hand next weekend. Time will tell...

Only problem is, we haven't yet worked out how to score the competition!

 Tom's wife, Debbie, helps the Hunts pack up Quicksilver at the end of the day....

It was great to have a reason to head down to Carlyle. It gave Ben and me a chance to visit some old friends, since we sailed Lightnings at Carlyle for many years before we moved away. And it added a little spice to the club racing scene. I'm looking forward to next weekend for the same reason. We'll have some guests, maybe they'll come Saturday to camp and take part in our Venetian Night, or maybe they'll just zip up Sunday morning, but either way it'll be yet another chance for some camaraderie and fun ... oh, and some sailing, too!!