So Much News....

Boy oh Boy have I been bad about posting on this blog! There’s the women’s event, of course, which was fully documented on Facebook, etc, but that I’d like to talk about. And then there is this weekend’s event, the Glow in the Dark Regatta. This year we have 33 boats. I’m quaking in my shoes because the most we’ve ever hosted is about 28. Doesn’t sound like a big difference does it? We shall see…And then, also at the Glow, we give out the traveling trophies. This year we have 20 boats that qualified, up from 17 last year, so that is great!

So I guess first thing is the Women’s event, held September 14-16 at Chattanooga’s Privateer Yacht Club. I know a few people (looking at you, Bill Vogler!) were worried that no one would come to a stand-alone event. Well, this was more a case of, “if you build it they will come.” With 15 boats, three times the number we used to get (if we were lucky) for the event tacked on to the front of the standard NAC, the event was a success before it even got started.

Here is my crew, from left, me, Ben, Angie, Bryan and Susan

From the Midwest District perspective I was so happy we had six boats representing. Granted, Jennifer Ikeda was kind of railroaded into skippering when her skipper had a family emergency, but still, it counts! So there was Jennifer skippering, also Nancy Claypool, who calls Ephraim home (as well as New Orleans) and her crew Stacey Rieu, also of Ephraim. A true diplomat, Nancy’s other crew, Debbie Huntsman was from Southern Yacht Club in New Orleans, I think. Then we had two boats from Carlyle: Shirley Bild with crew Christine Beutler and Judy Allen; and Linda Vitt with crew Rachel Bowling. From Clinton we had Jamie Rimovsky with crew Erin Bauer and Christina Nordholm and then there was my boat, with crew, Angie Hunt and Susan McIntyre.

We don't look too bad here! I know there are other photos of Midwest boats, just haven't found 'em yet....

The winds were more than I’d ever sailed in; 15-17 with plenty of whitecaps. Just going around the course was a big accomplishment — for me, at least! I think the best thing about those conditions was that it showed the men spectators (and there were lots of them!) what good sailors there were out there. I heard there was some side betting about how many boats would capsize, with the general consensus being three. I am happy to report that Bryan Hunt, ground support/spouse of my crew, bet zero and won the bet! There was real money. I think the men were humbled, happy and inspired to see such good sailing out there.

I heard several men talk about how very much fun they had. A big shout out to Barry Hambrick, who trailered his motorboat up from Birmingham to serve as a rescue/spectator boat. His wife, Tracy, crewed for our very own Jennifer Ikeda, so she is an honorary Midwest District sailor! Organizer Rob Fowler was saying it was his favorite regatta ever! Of course he was sitting on the top deck of a house boat, drinking something with rum in it…. But seriously, I was impressed at the level of enthusiasm and support the men exhibited, not just my husband/skipper, Ben Williams, and Bryan Hunt, but every single man who came to support his spouse and there were many of them: I can think of Robert Cummings, Tom Miller, Bill Draheim and Ryan Malmgren, just off the top of my head.

Another very cool thing is the amount of coverage. Several guys took photos, posted here. thank to Diane Kampf. Then someone had a drone, at least on Saturday and the entire event was livestreamed on Facebook from the clubhouse! You can find that footage at Privateer's facebook page, I think.

The racing was fierce at the top, though Marianne Hopper, with crew Jennifer Draheim and Melissa Miller won every race, the rest of the fleet was not far behind.  Kate Gomes, who traveled to Chattanooga with a new boat almost caught Marianne in the last race of the day.

See this? We are 6144!! yay us!

For myself? I learned a TON! I not only sailed in those conditions but got good starts, we had good mark roundings, great spinnaker legs. I could not get the boat to go well upwind and had so much weather helm I sometimes had to hold the tiller with two hands. That was frustrating, but I have an idea about what to do (less vang, per Bill Draheim). Considering I had never in my life skippered in those conditions, much less at a major event, I took great pride in our performance. I was sorry to retire on Sunday, but it seemed to me the wind was building and I had the will but not the physical stamina. Too much fun on Saturday!

Our team is already planning for Massapoag next August. From my perspective one of the absolute best things about the event was the bonding on Jamie’s boat. Those three women were smart and worked together like an amazing team. They continued to race even after the outhaul on their boat broke. They refused offers of help, fixed it on the water and were ready for the next race. Kudos to them! They have already sailed together since the Women’s event and I expect we’ll see a lot more of them in the near future.

Now that is the sign of a wildly successful event!

i promise next chance I get to post more photos of other boats. But if you don't feel like waiting, you can see the thousands of photos