Second Midwest District Event

Well, this is embarrassingly delayed considering this event (The Indy Regatta) was the weekend immediately following the Egyptian Cup this year. We had a pretty good turn out, considering the events were back to back. Although CLSA traveled 10 boats to the Egyptian Cup, we had only three from CLSA and three boats from CSA (Carlyle). Still, with 8 travelers, including Jim Moyle from Minnesota, it was a lively crowd.

Starts were hard fought (thanks to ECSC member Sheila Smith Krout and the Eagle Creek Facebbook page for these great photos!)

Bronson and Rachel brought another couple from Carlyle who were considering getting a Scot. They took turns crewing three-up!! Way to go, Guv!!

Unlike the Egyptian Cup, the weather was quite hot at Indy. Ben and I chickened out and stayed at a hotel Friday night. But organizer Geoff Endris promised us wind and, for the most part, he delivered. The first, very long race on Saturday had to be thrown out after the wind died and we didn't successfully shorten the course. The moral of that story is to not get carried away thinking that good wind will stay!! That outcome was pretty harsh and a little frustrating, but we soldiered on! We had three short races that day in moderate wind. Personally, the heat took a lot out of me and that was a ton of sailing in very hot conditions. I tried hard to hydrate, but in the end I think my  body temperature just got too high and resulted in a head ache. Them's the breaks, but I would have been happy going in a little bit earlier...(Just my own personal opinion, this does not reflect the opinion of my skipper!).

competition was fierce

Dinner was marvelous and the temperatures moderated enough that camping was just lovely. I always love Eagle Creek for their beautiful clubhouse up high overlooking the harbor and the lake. It's one of my favorite sailing venues, though getting to the racecourse can be challenging!

Lynn Kitchen and her patented hiking technique

Sunday some storms popped up around us. They looked imminent enough I rousted Ben out of the tent so we could put it away before the deluge. In the end, we didn't get rain, but the clouds sucked away the wind. We hung out for a while, thinking we'd get no racing in. But then lo and behold, the winds filled in. For real this time and we did two more races in building winds and increasing heat. When the race committee asked did we want to do a third race, I was a bit aghast. Mainly, it's weird to ask the fleet if they want to keep racing because everyone's opinion will vary based on where they are in the standings. Also, for me, I like to know ahead of time how many races total we'll be doing. I'm kind of rigid that way! Again, my personal opinion. This post seems to be full of them!!

Frank Gerry and his local crew, Jason, (6131)were hard to catch

I was relieved to hear the entire fleet vote for going in. I was ready to dunk my head in some ice. But in the end the winds were as Geoff promised. Mostly steady and from the south, giving us the length of the lake to play in. Nice job Eagle Creek!

Here are the results:
http://www.fssa.com/content/2018-indy-regatta-eagle-creek-sailing-club-indianapolis