Several Midwest District Boats Sailed Down to Chattanooga This Weekend...

Sometimes I have to remind myself that the Chattanooga Choo Choo is not a Midwest District event because so many Midwest District boats have come to it over the years. It is not a terrible drive for many of us. Certainly not any further than, say, Ephraim!  This year the event had 24 boats and by my count four of them were from the Midwest: Bronson and Rachel Bowling, Bill Vogler and Eric Sutton, John Cassada and Kerrie Seven, and Ben and me. Often more boats come from Clinton Lake but the stars did not align so well this year.

The stars aligned well for many of the sailors, however. with Bronson and Rachel finishing fifth in a highly competitive fleet, and Bill Vogler and Eric Sutton in seventh, both ahead of the locals who typically clean up at this regatta!! The event was full of not just Dixie Lakes sailors, but those from Texas, Florida and the Carolina District. 

As usual, the hospitality was marvelous and the food was out of this world! i don't know how someone can cook salmon for so many people and have it come out so flavorful and moist. I want that secret!! 

The food was PHENOMENAL. Really stellar. Still thinking about it. YUM!!!

Anyway Saturday the wind was supposed to fill in from the south/southwest. There wasn't much in the morning and the race committee postponed to 1:30 hoping it would show up. All I can say is, it was a kind of frustrating day. Last year the regatta consisted of one two-leg race and Sunday it rained like a monsoon. This year we had 2.5 races (the last shortened also to two legs). Granted, it could have been worse, but on our boat it seemed like the kind of day that had miscellaneous streaks at various parts of the lake and if you were lucky to be in one you were golden. Otherwise you sat and watched others sail by. But having said that, Tom McNally, who flew up from Orlando and sailed with Bill Bruss, managed to win two of the three races and several other racers also had consistent performances so maybe it was just us.

Our best moment was taking off from the entire fleet in the last race. We managed to find one of those private puffs that lifted us right to the mark, at least 1/2 leg in front of everyone else. This is a vulnerable position in these conditions and we were fully prepared to have the entire fleet come down on us with some fresh wind. Although that didn't happen, Sandy Eustis and Tom McNally both made a play but we held them off in just a whisper of wind. The race committee thankfully called the race after two legs. The sad thing for Ben and me was that because it took all but four boats more than 20 minutes to finish behind us, they all were given a 5th place finish. So any chance for us to recover from our 23rd place finish in the first race was lost! I understand the need for that rule, it means when something goes wonky with a race there isn't such a penalty. Still, that hurt!

Bruce Kitchen, from Ohio Districts, usually
sails with his wife, Lynn. He wanted to make sure everyone knew Jim Blackburn was just a place holder!!

The race committee did a great job with the wind they had. It's just that the wind could never quite decide where it was going to come from. The high point for me of the event was seeing Chris Czapleski (the late Tom Hohler's crew/wife), who came to crew for Sandy Eustis, whose normal crew/wife Keith, had other plans for the weekend. I hadn't seen her since last summer when she and Tom came up to Sandusky for the NACs, so that was marvelous. Hard for her, to sail with someone other than Tom, but good overall, I think.

Sunday we woke up to a cloudy, grey, quiet day. The race committee watched the radar hard and decided to send us out since there were no thunder/lightening predictions. Just as the race started the rain came and with it, the wind died completely. Completely. We ghosted along for about 3/4 of a leg before we heard the welcome sound of the race committee abandoning the race. We then de-rigged in pouring rain. Maybe next year the conditions will be different!!

This seems the best illustration of Sunday. Can you see how wrinkled my fingers are? That's just from sailing and then putting the boat away in the rain!! The pouring rain!!

Bottom line, the race committee and the entire group of volunteers at Privateer did an amazing job. It was so fun to see Lynn and Bill Bruss, Patricia and Rob Fowler, Scotty Cline, Tom Clark, Hannah Ginese from Privateer and the Florida sailors, Mark and Michele Taylor, Tom McNally and Charlie Clifton. It turns out it's not much further for them than for us to get to Chattanooga which is good to know. It confirms for me that Chattanooga is a great location for the Women's NAC which will be held there September 15-16. Put that on your calendar!