The coolest part, from the district perspective, was that six of the 18 boats were from the Midwest District. We had from Carlyle: Linda Vitt and Rachel Bowling and John Cassada (with borrowed crew who I didn't meet); from Indianapolis: Geoff Endris with Tom Moore; and from Clinton Lake: Frank and Marianne Gerry, Mark and Michelle Taylor, and Ben and me. That's a great showing for our district at an out-of-district event, particularly given there were 18 boats.
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| Bruce with Linda Vitt (center) and crew Rachel Bowling. Third place in the Oinkers fleet. Way to go!! |
Saturday the wind was frustratingly light and flukey. The wind was mostly out of the WNW, but there were shifts of 60 degrees and more. There were definitely individual puffs that went completely opposite directions. If someone has some guidelines for how to sail in those conditions, I'd love to hear them! I think the key is to not get frustrated, but I'm not sure how to do that without some pharmaceutical enhancement! Still, the race committee managed three races it the quirky stuff and the good sailors (Kitchens, Mark Taylor and his brother, Jim, who sails Lightnings and Highlanders at Cowan) were at the top at the end of the day.
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| from left, Mark and Michelle Taylor, with Bruce Kitchen |
Cowan has a reputation, at least in my mind, for having these kinds of conditions, but we keep coming back because it's a beautiful location, the friendly sailors, and good food (I'd be lying if I said we didn't appreciate the food!). It's a wonderful place to camp. I'd say there were more than a dozen tents in a little tent town in the grassy area above the clubhouse. Dinner was a marvelous BBQ (like pig roast!) and many yummy sides plus coooookies!! Also back from last year was a marvelous band that played lots of oldies and goodies (Mustang Sally, etc) and once again got several sailors up on the picnic tables to dance. Because Heather Johnson (and Trent) didn't come this weekend, we, sadly, have no photos. The rest of us (meaning me) are lazy about taking photos and always regret it.
Sunday it seemed the weather broke. We had some minor sprinkles and lots of clouds and the temperature seemed to drop a bit. The wind did not look promising until we got out onto the lake and then it was just perfect! Hardly any holes, blowing steady mostly from the west: classic lake sailing.
That meant that Mark's brother, Jim, more used to lake sailing, cruised past Mark in the standings with two bullets. Mark and Michelle, for those of you who might not know, are Fleet 135/Clinton members but live in Tampa, FL. So they are more used to sailing in chop and predictable sea breeze that fills in steady and strong about 3pm daily. Despite the two bullets, the Kitchen's prevailed on a strong showing Saturday (not to mention Sunday, with two 2nds), and too home the concrete pig for the second year in a row.
I know I said at the beginning that the coolest part of the regatta was having six boats from the Midwest, but the truly coolest part was seeing Linda Vitt on the water captaining Eagle's Wings, not two months since her beloved husband, Greg, passed away. I know that was one thing he hoped for her, to continue the sport they both discovered and loved. Her crew was Rachel Bowling, in part because Rachel's skipper, Bronson, is recovering from shoulder surgery. He was there to support them and support racing by managing the flags at the start. Thanks Bronson. And they trophied after getting a bullet on Sunday morning. Nice going Linda and Rachel! Perhaps we'll see them at the Women's NAC in Chattanooga come September!
The official results will appear shortly, but for now, here is this!
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