Just Because I Forget to Post Doesn't Mean Things Aren't Happening!! (Indy and Cown)

Sailing season is in full gear now, which of course makes it harder to post regularly. Though, to be honest, there is also some laziness involved! I'll play some quick catch up ~ We had our first Midwest District regatta the weekend of May 21 and 22 at Eagle Creek Sailing Club in Indianapolis. The regatta was ably hosted by Geoff and Myra Endris and was lovely as usual. For those who might remember, last year Ben and I got caught in a microburst that snapped our mast. The majority of the fleet escaped by not putting up their spinnaker and the monster just swept by. I confess I had a tiny bit of PTSD this weekend. But the weather cooperated beautifully. We had just lovely breeze and nice, cool temperatures.

This photo is not from Indy b/c I forgot my camera, but I like this shot of our spinnaker. This was in Chattanooga...

Carrie and Tyler came back from Deep Creek for the regatta and Frank and Marianne traveled from the Chicago suburbs as well. In addition, Bruce and Lynn Kitchen traveled from Cowan Lake to defend their title from last year. There was a bit of a snafu in scheduling the regatta this year and I did not help matters. The regatta will generally be the second weekend of June, right before Father's Day weekend. But this year it turns out that is when the Wife-Husband regatta is. So Geoff checked with me to find another date that might work. Unfortunately, I didn't think to check with our district governor (sorry Bronson!) or the Ohio District (sorry Hoover Lake/Buckeye Regatta), so we managed to reschedule in such a way that it conflicted with Carlyle Lake's Open House, which the Flying Scots were hosting, and the Buckeye Regatta, which was in Bruce and Lynn's district.

All of which is to say, the fleet was on the small side for the Indy regatta, but boy, was the competition stiff! Ben and I were really pleased with our performance; it's not every day we beat Carrie and Tyler, much less Bruce and Lynn and Frank and Marianne!! I'm looking for the results and having no luck...so I'll have to track them down and post them later.

That's Harry Carpenter's Pittsburgh Steelers spinnaker

Next up was Cowan Lake, which was this past weekend. Cowan Lake is in Ohio, so not part of the Midwest District but an easy four hour drive, so we often go. Cowan's regatta, which used to be called the Pig Roast but now might be the Flying Pig, based on the tshirt I got, has a Hog fleet and an Oinkers fleet. There were 8 boats in the Hog fleet, led by Harry and Karen Carpenter and Bruce and Lynn Kitchen, and six boats in the Oinkers fleet. For some reason I did not take any photos, but I did see someone on a safety boat with a nice looking camera, so maybe photos will be forthcoming.

The conditions were pretty nice on Saturday. Cowan often has fairly shifty winds, but they were manageable. On Sunday the wind picked up and, to my mind at least, it felt more and more like a roller coaster: not just up and down in velocity but side to side to a dizzying degree! Still, Harry and Bruce held it together, sailing steady and strong, to take first and second, respectively. Nice sailing!

We'll be seeing Bruce and Lynn, as well as other friends, at this weekend's Wife-Husband, being held in Deltaville, VA, at Fishing Bay Yacht Club. I'll try to be better about photos, etc. for that adventure!

The regatta organizers (thanks Mike Conrad!) already posted the results to fssa.com, so they are here

and also here: