Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Most Boats, Least Wind Ever! PLUS: Inaugural Whippersnapper Award Given AND Inaugural Custom Brew

view from Joe and Linda Budden's boat on Sunday





Well, having done this event 11 years now, we’ve got a pretty good system down. But we still haven’t figured out how to control the wind. So this article will be more about the food than it will be about the racing!

This year (perhaps because it was also the Midwest Districts?) we had 31 boats registered. I always pride myself in the number of returning participants we have; many people have never missed a Glow since we revived it and that feels good. But this year I was also specially tickled to have five new traveling boats: Jim Moyle, Jim and Jennifer Colegrove, Mark and Michele Taylor, Kerry Pebbles (who had as crew Allen Shaklee, a new CLSA member), and Mike and Connie Conrad. Mark and Michele flew up from the Tampa area when their regularly scheduled regatta was cancelled due to Irma. With cheap plane tickets and family in our area it was a win-win! We provided them with a boat and sails (they brought their own spinnaker). We were only sorry we couldn’t provide more wind.

Another high point was our shower!! Worked better than ever this year. This is the crew that helped set it up...from left, Eric Bussell, Trent Johnson and Bruce Kitchen

 
Because it was also the districts, we held our traditional single-hand race series on Friday. Rod Bussell and Heather Johnson served as PRO and Dick Hanson drove the safety boat. The committee ran two races and the competition was very tight, with Bruce Kitchen taking a 1st and a 2nd , Eric Bussell finishing 3rd and 1st and Rick Wojnar with a second and a fourth-place finish for the top three boats. The cool thing is we had 11 boats for an event that typically attracts just 4-5. Perhaps the light wind helped?
boats coming in after the single hand


The potluck Friday was raucous, people brought their appetites and we plowed through all the brats and burgers that Frank and Marianne brought and the chicken that Ben Williams grilled. No one went away hungry, though, with plenty of hearty side dishes, desserts and beer (plus Tito’s Vodka courtesy of Kerry Pebbles and rum and coke courtesy of CLSA member Rick Langlois!).

Dan conducting competitors' meeting
Saturday dawned hot and still.  Really hot. Very still. Heat advisory hot. We made lots of announcements about the low lake level and how to leave the dock without running aground but we never really left the dock Saturday. Race committee, headed by Dan Goldberg and Dave August from Pittsburgh, PA, and Moraine Sailing Club, tried to whistle up the wind. They kept looking for it and even when they were on shore, the support boats captained by Dick Hanson and Gary Magnuson spent all day out in the heat doing a wind dance. To no avail.

On shore we went to get out our tailgate toss game, only to realize we’d lost the bean bags. We had a volleyball game but it was too hot for that kind of nonsense and we didn’t even bother. People mostly seemed happy lolling in the shade. It was so hot many people moved from the pavilion to the shade of the trees closer to the water in the hopes of a tiny bit of air circulation. After a valiant effort, Dan called the day at about 2:30, everyone cheered and several people headed into Clinton to explore the Pork and Apple Festival.

Meanwhile, Luther Torgerson had gone on a quest for Mount Gay rum in order to make something I’d never heard of, the Sailor’s Drink. That’s Mount Gay, tonic and lime. He said the tonic was to prevent malaria (because of the quinine) and the lime prevented scurvy, so it was a healthy drink! I will say it was very refreshing.

Apparently it has a long proud history because when I told Mark Taylor what I was drinking I got a hug! So now I’m a real sailor!!

Another high point  alcohol-wise was Tom Yeagle's presenting a custom made, actually two custom made beers from his nephew made in honor of the Glow. One was a traditional porter and the other a honey porter. Delicious! I only was sorry I had already drunk the rum!!

Saturday dinner was grill-to-order steaks and the grill masters, Bronson Bowling and John Cassada, really had a tough job in the heat. But gradually the day cooled down we got out the glow sticks and the refreshments and everyone had a grand old time. There was lots of talk of being glad we weren’t sent out in the blazing heat to sit on the lake and wait for wind, so Dan Goldberg really made the right call.

Next morning our breakfast crew of Rachel Bowling, Marianne Gerry and Lynn Kitchen (you’ll notice two of the three of the team are from other fleets … Lynn is from another DISTRICT!!) stepped up and provided enormous breakfast casseroles, including everything from biscuits, sausage and eggs to corned beef hash. We heated them on the grill. And by we, I mean Trent Johnson, who earned extra wings in heaven by getting up each morning before dawn to make coffee. Sunday, he also started the fire for the casseroles and had them already warming when I stumbled out of my tent about 7 or so.  Life is Good!

Okay, then we raced! A little bit. We started the racing 30 minutes earlier than scheduled in the hopes of squeezing a few races in. Before we started we tried to do a sailing tribute to Greg and Linda Vitt. We  pinned ribbons on our sails with the Vitts’ sail number on it, and sailed in a sort of short parade upwind (led by Bronson Bowling from Carlyle Sailing Association, the Vitts’ home club) and then downwind Bronson hoisted the Vitts spinnaker (which he “borrowed” without their knowing it) and parade back toward the committee boat. Eric Bussell had plans to stream it all on Facebook Live. He even had a drone!! Aggravatingly, the internet world chose Sunday morning to insist Eric perform some kind of system upgrade just as we started our tribute. So we did it … but it didn’t get streamed like we envisioned. Best laid plans and all that.




Anyway, after that, we raced! The wind was so light that crossing the starting line was tough but we had moments of pressure. Everyone had different moments. And everyone sailed into a hole or multiple holes. The wind became so light that Dan shorted the first race to two legs. The finish was unbelievable. I’ll have to find some photos. Luckily, Erin Bauer had video recorded the whole finish. It then took them 20-30 minutes of replaying the tape (back on shore) to determine how each boat finished. Tough, tough competition.
this is near the finish!

The second race had enough pressure that we sailed all three legs. But th The rest of the fleet was spread pretty far and wide and there was not a lot of wind coming from anywhere, so the race committee decided that was all the racing we could get out of the day’s wind and we headed to shore.


The last 20 yards for the lead boats took longer (it felt like) than the whole rest of the race! Finally we got just enough pressure to cross the line.

Where we had more food!! We cooked up 65 burgers for people to enjoy before the travelers hit the road. Some, including both the race committee and Mark and Maria Benner, had come from the Pittsburgh area, so that’s a long trek home.

We had lots of trophies to give out because it was not only the District Championship and the Glow in the Dark, but it is the last regatta of the season for the Midwest District. For that reason, we also award the traveling trophy (we had 16 qualifiers this year).  Should have taken a picture of all those people...
All of Fleet 135 posing for the Fleet 135 trophy (to three highest finishing boats from a single fleet. That was Fleet 135. Confusing, I know!


This year District Governor Bronson Bowling also inaugurated the Whippersnapper award, which goes to the top finishing skipper and the top finishing crew who is younger than 32 years old. (Bronson is 32 and his wife, Rachel, didn’t want him to make a trophy he was eligible for!). The winners were Skipper: Rick Wojnar, and Crew: Tess Burant. Congratulations!! And let’s hear it for the Whippersnappers!!!

And then, with lots of hugs and back slapping, our visitors hooked up their boats, got in their cars and drove away. Until next year!





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