Glow: Perfect Wind, 35 Boats & Rum Punch!

I remember, not too many years ago when I occasionally posted something each day of a regatta. Now I'm lucky if I write something in the same month as the event! Ah well, try not to beat my self up!  It's been about 10 days since the 2018 Glow in the Dark regatta. I'm still trying to figure out how to post results to fssa.com but meanwhile they are here.

Starting line. Did I mention more than 30 boats?!

This year was remarkable from my perspective, because even though we had more boats than ever (YAY!), I was less stressed than ever! No rush of adrenaline as I cooked potatoes and mixed corn bean salad or shopped for dozens upon dozens of brat buns, napkins and plates. No exhaustion from the adrenaline that had me in my tent by 7 pm on Friday. None of that! Partly (mainly?) it was because I knew we were in such good hands; Heather Johnson was my "partner in worry;" because she was worrying and planning for every possible need I didn't have to. That was awesome! She thought of things like mowing a much larger area in the parking field for both boats and campers, plus she ordered all the meat for both Saturday dinner and Sunday lunch. A MA Zing! And that does not minimize the help of Trent Johnson, Bryan and Angie Hunt, Eric Bussell, Corey Wicker and my very own skipper, Ben Williams. I didn't worry because I knew I could count on each of them to not only do what they said they would, but do other things as the need arose. What a team!

The Michigan Crew (with Eric Bussell photo bombing)

Okay, the event. As I might have mentioned a time or two, we had more than 30 boats attending.
In fact, we had officially 35 boats registered, even though they didn't all sail every race. This is a number we could only imagine 12 years ago when our event started. And even just a couple years ago I thought that was just pie-in-the-sky thinking. But then along came Kerry Pebbles, from Michigan District. He came last year and had such a great time that he got an entire Michigan contingent to join us this year. This is precisely what pushed us over the magical 30-boat number. In addition to Kerry, this year we had Brian and Suzie Hawkins, Paul Lee and Gabrielle Cockell, District Governor Steve Rajkovich and Tami Avin, and Garrie Hankins and Sherry Newood, all from the Michigan District.  Not only did they all decide as a district to come join us, but they brought their own Glow sticks and paraded around wearing them, making a very grand entrance into the pavilion area! The question now for the Midwest District is, at what Michigan event should we return the favor? I lean toward Portage Lake, but only because I've been there before!

In addition, Andrew Fox, Dixie Lakes District Governor from Birmingham Sailing Club, took delivery of a brand new boat from Tyler Andrews, who also crewed for him this weekend. As you can see from the standings, they had a MARVELOUS weekend!

From left, Tyler, Andrew, Deb and Ben (check out that moustache!)

Last year (2017), for those of you who might have missed it, was the pits. It was more than 95 degrees both days and virtually no wind. The weekend, in my memory, was mostly about ice management and figuring out how to entertain our guests; it was too hot to even play bean bag toss. We managed a few races on Sunday but it's really best forgotten. So this year, we really appreciated our weather. Friday brought a cool front, which was great except the gusts meant we canceled the scheduled single-hand race (no one minded!) and Saturday was so chilly that Dan Goldberg, our stalwart PRO, postponed by an hour in the hopes the weather would warm up to at least 50 degrees!

We are all bundled up at the Saturday skippers' meeting. First-timers are raising their hands!

The wind was out of the ENE, which is an unusual direction. The wind was steady-ish, meaning no holes, but very much up and down in velocity, which meant from a crew's perspective that there was a lot of moving around on the boat, not too fast as to upset the balance, but hurry-up-and-get-up-here in the puffs.

The fire was the most essential element to our successful weekend and my thanks go to Rick Wojnar, Chris Wojnar and Corey Wicker for keeping it going!

One concern I had about 35 boats, aside from how to feed everyone, was how we'd fit a starting line that long on Clinton Lake. And I was also worried that the line would be too short. We discussed this possibility last year and considered creating a  separate challenger fleet with its own start. But in the end, for various reasons, we decided to have everyone start together but to designate themselves as championship or challenger for the results. Our wonderful fleet member, Marianne Gerry, made trophies for both challenger and championship divisions, even though this was a last-minute decision. I'd be curious how everyone thought that system worked. From my perspective, the line seemed a perfect length and it was fun for everyone to race together but also for the challengers to trophy, but that's just me.

Speaking of feeding 35 people, for Saturday dinner we've traditionally had each person grill their own steaks, with the operation being watched over by a grill master. This year Paul Lee offered to help and the next thing we knew he was just grilling steaks and putting them up when they were ready. Boy! Did that move things along faster. It's one of those things I wonder why we didn't think of it sooner? Mainly, we were worried people would want more control over their steaks but Paul just cooked them all on the rare-ish side and then if people wanted them cooked more they just brought their steak back. Easy Peasy and also much quicker. Such innovation!

But before we had steak, we had ... rum punch. Heather Johnson, it turns out, has a sneaky side. She decided that what the Glow needed was rum punch. So without checking with anyone (what's to check? She saw a need and she addressed it),  she set up several jugs at the top of the dock for people to enjoy as they came off the water. And boy, did they! You know the thing about punch like this is that it goes down very very easily. People drank so much punch we didn't finish the Wisconsin beer that Deb and Luther Torgerson have been bringing for the last 12 years. I believe that is a first! The rum punch might have also amped up the party a bit more than usual, either that or the Michigan folks  ;-), but honestly I couldn't tell because I'd drunk too much punch.

here Mark and Michele (M&M, get it?!) are leading Hugh Haggerty and Allison Chase (red spinnaker). Frank and Marianne Gerry, who also trophied, are the red and blue chute.

But probably you want to hear more about the racing. Hugh Haggerty (Ephraim) and his crew, Allison Chase, pretty much dominated on Saturday, but Mark and Michele Taylor, Fleet 135 members who fly up from Florida every year for this Midwest District event and others, gave them a run for their money. You can't tell from the final standings, because on Sunday M&M were over early and didn't realize it until half way up the first leg... That's sailing!

We finished the event having gotten every race off, and our guests were able to hit the road about 2 or 3 pm, having had a hot lunch (burgers and left over steak), and applauded the trophy winners. We also took a few minutes to celebrate our Midwest District travel trophy. Every year we have more and more qualifying boats (have to be a member of the Midwest District) and this year was no exception. We had 21 boats sail at least two of the four district events. District Governor Bronson Bowling gave everyone a mini-bottle of their favorite liquor as a trophy. It was really gratifying to see how many people had traveled this year! Hopefully next year that number will continue to go up!

Next up for Ben and me is the Wife-Husband October 26-28 in Jackson, MS. It'll be nice and cool, I bet!! And the following weekend is the Fall 48 at Lake Norman (Charlotte NC). It's a long trip but the turnout will be huge, since it is also the make up regatta for both the ACC and the Carolinas District regatta. Hope to see you at one of those events!