Fall 48 Sunday

Way to go Ryan! After a goofy Saturday, with many fleet "inversions" as Ben likes to call them, Ryan began Sunday with 20 points and then had two bullets Sunday to climb all the way up to fourth place. Nice job!
Blowing at about 10-12 with gusts to 15, the wind Sunday was more consistent than Saturday's conditions. And boy, was it fun. We got two good races in. Ben and I liked the first race most since we managed to place second just behind Ryan. That was our best finish ever at Lake Norman.
The race committee was unusual at this regatta. As far as I could tell, as the last boat crossed the finish, they blew the five-minute horn and began the series for the next race. That caught a bunch of us flat footed. In fact, Ryan said he was hove to above the finish line and looked up to see an "on course side" flag, which was referring to him. That was the first he realized the start sequence had even begun. And he STILL won that race!
We headed out pretty fast since we delivered Sophie to Harry for a few off-season repairs. Harry, very nicely, met us in Morgantown so we didn't have to drive all the way to Deep Creek. It feels funny driving the rest of the way home with no Sophie behind us. It will be even weirder to look out our back window and see the garage empty. Wait, here's a thought, maybe we could actually put a car in our garage now?!

Fall 48: Saturday

Wow.  Talk about challenging conditions.   For example, we had worked up to 3rd place at one point, when half-way down the second downwind leg  the wind died, and then after a few minutes shifted right into our teeth, and then after a few more minutes, we watched it build again from the original direction as a dark line of wind a 1/2 mile away.  As it came down, it brought the whole fleet down with it, hooting and hollering in some cases.  At the leeward mark it seemed as though at least half the fleet felt it had an inside overlap on the other half. 

We'll see what Sunday has to offer.  I'm hoping for two races that don't have multiple "fleet-inverting" shifts...

Ryan Malmgren is also here, so the Midwest District is pretty well represented. He is sailing with a former Lightning sailor, Michael, who, despite yesterday's conditions, says he is sold on Flying Scots.

After sailing we had a nice visit around a roaring fire with Mark and Maria from Moraine Sailing Club in Pennsylvania. That was particularly nice because we had gotten quite cold on the water. The high temperatures were in the 50s.

More later!

Fall 48

Season is winding down. On our way to Lake Norman we drove through snow. We made it to Mooresville at dinner time and stopped at "Joe Fish" for a wonderful dinner.  NO CAR TROUBLE (so far).  After dinner in the nice warm restaurant, we set up the tent in the dark, in the rain.  Debby's hands got pretty cold, and so did mine, which I demonstrated for her later in the tent by putting them on her bare skin.   Once we got the tent set up, we had a very nice evening reading while snuggled into our zipped together sleeping bags.  Much nicer than any $60 motel room...  Just now finishing up breakfast at "The Daily Grind".  Looking forward to seeing Ryan, who had planned to arrive Friday early enough to sail a bit to break in a crew who is new to Scots.  The lake was beautiful at dawn.  A steady breeze, but "red skies".  I guess we'll be testing the old "Red sky in morning, sailor's warning".  More later.

Wife-Husband 2010

A one-race regatta is still a regatta! Hats off to the race committee at Lake Norman who managed to squeeze a race in invery, very light conditions yesterday. Thekey was to find pressure, and some people found it on the right, while others found it on the left. The race was shortened just in time as the water turned glassy and everyone was then towed in. This morning we all floated around,visiting between boats, having a grand old time, as the race committee tried hard to conjure up some wind. But there is no way to pull off a race if the weather gods do not cooperate, so after almost two hours everyone got towed back in and the regatta was over.

I don't have the standings in front of me; we'll have to post them when we get home. Right now we're on the road and we have stopped for our quasi-traditional, post-regatta steak dinner at Texas Steakhouse. Even this place has wi-fi, which is just crazy!

The Case of the Wandering Traveling Trophy

Trophies were given five deep in both the Championship and the Challenger fleets. In addition, being a nationally sanctioned race, there were two traveling trophies awarded, one of which was for the highest finishing couple for whom this was their first Wife-Husband.

The awards committee, helped by Carol Claypool, first tried to give it to the second-place boat, but they demurred, saying they'd attended a Wife-Husband a few years ago. At that point, the committee worked its way down the list, landing at a boat that had finished a few places behind us. But this being our first Wife-Husband, I thought we might be the winners. So I slunk up to the front, in full view of everyone, of course, to whisper in Carol's ear that we, in fact, had finished higher and this was our first Wife-Husband. I went back to my seat just as they announced their mistake. Ben and I happily went to the front to humbly accept our award. Then, in the midst of awarding the other trophies, Carol came back to us and mentioned that, in fact, John Wake and his wife, Sharon, who finished fourth just ahead of us (he got us by about half a boat length!), also had never done a Wife-Husband before! So there you have it, after being almost awarded to three different boats, the trophy finally landed in the right spot! Hurray, John and Sharon!

John and Sharon also win Ben's award for "coolest boat-name and t-shirt combination." Their boat, Lucky Dog, had a great cartoon graphic and then John and Sharon wore shirts with fire hydrants on the back!

The high point of the trophies, I thought, was Carla Vitez's short speech when she and her husband, Larry, won the first-place trophy. She talked about what a great marriage builder sailing the Flying Scot was. Partly, she said, because it taught them to work together, partly because they were always learning new things (in Larry's case, it was learning patience instead of yelling "pull the green rope, the green rope!" which earned a big, understanding laugh from the crowd) and finally the opportunity to sail with so many lovely people, at which point she listed many couples from Lake Norman and elsewhere whose friendship she had enjoyed over the years. That was quite a fitting tribute to the class and was received with a warm round of applause from the gathered sailors. After that, the awards were over, everyone hit the road. Between leaving Charlotte and stopping for dinner, we passed two other Flying Scots heading north on the highway (one with Vermont tags, that's a long drive!), which always gives me a little thrill.

Next year's Wife-Husband will be in the Midwest District, at Delavan Yacht Club, which we are really looking forward to.

Wife-Husband Regatta...

Back in 2005, when we first got our Flying Scot, the most exciting aspect to me was this national Wife-Husband regatta. It says a lot about the class that they host this among only a handful of other nationally sanctioned regattas. Well, between one thing and another, we have yet to actually sail in the Wife-Husband. Several times we had work conflicts; the one year we DID make it (Oklahoma City) it blew 30 mph ALL WEEKEND! We had a good time, but not on the water!

So, here we are, at Lake Norman, North Carolina, in our second attempt to participate in the Wife-Husband and this time ... so far there is zero wind! Are we a bit of a jinx? I hope not! It's coming up on noon and we're looking for wind. Doesn't look likely, but things can change.

Still, no matter what happens, it's been a successful trip; last two times we came here (last fall and this spring) for regattas, our car broke down. Once we borrowed had to borrow a car from another sailor, once we had to borrow a boat. The fact that we got here with both car and boat marks this as a win!

Driving down was wonderfully uneventful. We listened to the Jack Aubrey novels (Master and Commander). We are on the epidsode called "Surgeon's Mate." I can't really encapsulate the story but we like them so much that we listen to them from the minute we leave the driveway until we pull into the club, stopping only to eat or get gas! Does that make us boring?! don't answer that.

Last night we got here in time to put our tent up before we went in to dinner. Yumm! Brisket, salad and the works. It was crowded. Word is there are more than 40 boats, which is a big as the Midwinters some years. I think we might be the only boat from the Midwest district, but I could be wrong. Stay tuned, maybe we'll have some sailing stories shortly.

ATLANTIC COAST CHAMPIONSHIPS -- 2010

 (NOTE FROM BEN: In the post below from Ryan about the recent ACCs, he is too modest to point out that not only was he second in the regatta, but sails from his loft were used by the top three finishers in the regatta.)

Ryan Malmgren

FS #5622

This year I had a wonderful opportunity to sail in the Atlantic Coast Championships (ACCs) -- hosted by Lavallette Yacht Club in Lavallette, New Jersey. I was feeling pretty spoiled because I got to fly in from Wisconsin while my friend and crew Jerry Latell was stuck driving eight hours from Fishing Bay, Virginia… and even more spoiled because Harry Carpenter brought a boat for Jerry and me to demo. The boat was spanking new (and btw: this quick boat may still be for sale if you’re lucky – give FSI a call!) – having only been sailed a few times before the event so… actually… feeling “spoiled” is kind of an understatement!

What follows are brief snapshots (ok, so maybe not-so brief) -- of some things Jerry and I did throughout the regatta – boat and sail handling, tactics, strategies, blunders, skillful luck etc… which helped us pull off a successful finish in a tough fleet, at a place that neither of us had ever sailed before… in a boat (albeit new) that was foreign as well.

Day 1 – Feelin’ Consistent ‘n Good ‘n Glad!

There were 43 boats participating in the event overall (28 in our Championship Div) – so at the end of the first day after three races Jerry and I were feeling pretty good about our position because we had managed to sail very consistently with finishes of 3-3-3 and were only three points behind the leader -- John Aras (John Wake crew) – who had finishes of 1-4-1 on the day... and five points ahead of our faithful FS builder Harry Carpenter (daughter Carrie crewing). Saturday’s wind speeds ranged from 5 to 12 knots… and the pressure differentials across the course were marked at any given time (what I call “Hard Work Conditions”… more on that later!) The shifts were very subtle -- but real --and overall seemed to progress toward the right side of the course more often than not… or so it seemed to us.

Day 2 – Feelin’ Good ‘n Bad ‘n Ugly n Glad Again!

Sunday was a little tougher for us in much lighter, spookier stuff. After holding off, starting, stopping, setting, and re-setting the line -- the RC managed to pull off the fourth and final race in a nail-biter -- launched in a medium, shifting-left-pressure, dying-right, still more to the left, now dead-wrong-if-you’re-right, , even MORE-left-is right, meanwhile completely-crapping-out-right! – breeze that ranged from 0-8 knots (the gusts). All spookiness aside… we managed to get to the weather mark in 2^nd place right behind Harry and ahead of Aras… and things looked very rosy until I suddenly almost blew everything by jibing away into oblivion (more later, I promise)…

THINGS THAT WORKED FOR US OVERALL:

Clear air starts – We managed to pull off good starts in all four races (actually our very best start was called back because of general recall… but everybody says that, right?... but no, no, really!). The line length was fairly generous in all of the races – even for 28 boats – and this allowed me to be fairly aggressive about coming down the line on port with less than 2 minutes to go and picking out a nice open spot to flop back onto starboard with a minute or less on the clock and protect the hole to leeward. We chose to start in the middle of the line in all but one of the starts… and even in that start – which was heavily committee boat favored – we were at least ¼ of the line length from the committee boat. In summary, we had four good reasons to stay away from the ends on Saturday: 1) ends are really scary when the line is that long because if there is a shift you are deep instantly! 2) We had decent “line sights” using markers on the shore in all of the races and wanted to take the sag out of the line-sag! 3) Folks tend to pile up at ends and there are more gaps in the middle generally in a long line that is fairly square! 4) See reason 1!

“Hard Work Conditions”

“Hard Work Conditions” (HWC) are my favorite kind of conditions – especially in foreign waters because they tend to eliminate the “local knowledge” factor. Many folks may think HWC are the kind of stuff where you’re hiking for all your worth and the wind is howling. Not so in my book. To me, HWC are when the wind is down, up, over, down, up, and sideways… and the water is flat, chop, flat, SUPER CHOP (ie. when NJs finest cigarette boats roar by), and flat again! These are the kind of conditions that require constant sail adjustments (yes, I was using Hogwart’s sails brought all the way from Madison per charter rules) -- and crew weight in order to change gears and keep the boat moving and the helm neutral . Anybody who crews with me is familiar with my “Hard Work Conditions” chant while sailing in this stuff… (this mantra almost drove my son, Evan, over the edge at the Ephraim Regatta this year) -- and, although it may be annoying, there is method to the madness: because saying these three words makes it clear to all on board that we better keep the sleeves rolled up and stay busy -- because with hard work comes the possibility of big gains! (and, conversely, big losses for those who slack!) Ergo… suffice it to say, that Jerry and I were constantly moving our weight up and down and the sails were breathing in and out to keep the boat at a constant state of heel, maximum speed and with minimal rudder. The sails were never cleated for more than a few seconds as we would trim a bit when pressure went up and ease a touch in the light spots while putting the bow down ever so slightly to gain speed when sailing upwind (and everything above reversed downwind!).

“Tune” the boat!

One of the only disadvantages to sailing a nearly brand new boat that I can think of, is... (other than terror it will be “owned” after a collision) -- well, it is still a foreign boat. And unfortunately for us, we arrived so late in the morning on Saturday that in the rush to register and rig, we weren’t able to double check the rake (as Harry had suggested because new stays can stretch a smidge). And thus Jerry and I found ourselves the last boat going in the water, and scrambling to get out to the race course with the rest of the fleet ahead of us. When we finally got off the line in the first race we immediately noticed an inability to point as high as expected once we got the boat up to speed… and for me there was a nagging weather helm sensation. Fortunately, we were able to sail a strong race – employing HWC rules of thumb, watching the compass and working our way up the middle, hitting most of the shifts. So despite the unbalanced feel to the helm, and lack of pointing, we were still able to finish very respectably in 3rd. Notwithstanding, as soon as the race was over, I crawled under the bow and cinched up the turnbuckle as far as it would go before bottoming out. I’m not sure how much that was (never DID have a chance to measure the rake) – but it was probably close to two inches forward from where we had started, and as soon as I got the helm in my hand I could feel the familiar neutral helm that I’m accustomed to, and the boat came to life and felt much more like good ‘ol Hogwarts back home. (Footnote: although the score sheet may not reflect any improvement… we found it much easier to dig ourselves out of compromising positions on the course and there was much less stress maintaining an edge and more space between us and the majority of the fleet for the rest of the regatta after this rake adjustment.)

Avoid Boats!

I always try to stay away from boats. And if I’m next to them (especially going downwind), I try to trend away so that we can all “live” together and in this way we can hopefully BOTH get away from the pack, whenever possible. And when I’m sailing a borrowed NEW boat? This philosophy is magnified tenfold! In general I won’t hesitate to urge port tackers across my starboard bow and dip their transom if it allows steering happily in the same direction toward the next shift (hopefully) or more pressure (better still!). It might happen a few times in a given regatta… but on Saturday at ACCs it happened three times in ONE BEAT! An even more extreme example of my desire to stay away from confrontations at ACCs was when I found the bow slightly overlapped with a very aggressive sailor as we were entering the 3 boatlength circle at the leeward mark with very little speed due a poor angle… so to Jerry’s surprise I suddenly slowed the boat (with sharp rudder movement) … and then did two rapid jibes -- so as not to worry about getting fouled up with the guy and let him go so we could round cleanly and with good speed (due to better angle) -- and without incident. This is an extreme example of avoiding boats… but when you’re sailing with borrowed, NEW boat, it is an easy decision to make...!

Watch that Compass!

The compass matters… especially on longer courses when the wind shifts are soft and subtle (unlike the short course lake shifts that are more pronounced and obvious). That was the case on Saturday… and Jerry and I were in constant communication on what the compass was telling us. There were many times I would feel headed or lifted and would ask Jerry to repeat the latest compass reading – even though I had just snuck a peek and read it aloud – to doubly remind both of us that we should stick to the fundamentals. We were especially conscious of the final shift of any given leg so that we would have a good guess of which way to go on the next.

Stay Away From Corners in HWC!

And on Saturday we did just that – playing the shifts in the middle of the course, never getting to laylines early, changing gears in the HWC, and keeping the boat headed toward more pressure whenever we spotted it on the water (polarized glasses help!). But Sunday was a different story…

Sunday

On Sunday we tossed caution to the wind (so to speak) – as far as staying away from corners, because Jerry and I correctly assessed that “pressure would be king”… and we had to get to the busy corner of the course to stay alive. That said, after another solid start, it was clear to both of us there was more pressure on the left (did I mention polarized glasses? get them and you’ll see what I mean!) – and so we banged the left side hard and when we came out of the left corner we were in the lead pack of three boats and seemingly golden because the boat we wanted to beat – Aras – was behind us, and the boat we needed to stay near (but could spare some points) – Harry – was half a boatlength in front of us… and everything was peaches and cream… until… for some reason I suddenly decided to jibe away from the obvious “pressure-is-king” left – and into oblivion on the lighter side . Explanation? Not really. Ever want to get away? Well I did… but couldn’t – not with the chute plastered that way to the forestay. So Jerry and I did the only thing we could do – sit and try not to move… and keep heading up to get whatever apparent wind there was to fill the chute… and ooze our way forward while the pack ground us down (bringing new pressure from behind) and completely ensconced us at the bottom mark. We had only one leg left in the race and the regatta… but fortunately we got back to our game plan (after a brief, and silly tack toward a teaser breeze on the right) – and had the presence of mind to put the bow down slightly and foot our way full speed to the far left – where the pressure continued to grow… and grow.. and helped us climb back to a comfortable 6^th place in the race and 2^nd overall!

THE END…

Glow 2010 Results

Pos	Sail	Boat	Skipper	Crew 1 / Crew 2	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Total
1	5622	Alveolus	Harry Carpenter	Carrie Carpenter	2	2	2	1	2	9
2	5897	Sophie	Ben Williams	Deb Aronson	5	1	1	3	3	13
3	5015	Helga	Frank Gerry	Marianne Gerry	1	3	3	5	4	16
4	5892		Bill Vogler	Rob Preston / Deb Torgerson	4	4	7	2	1	18
5	5150	Kethcup	Larry Klick	James Williams	3	5	4	4	7	23
6	4328		David Sebald	Luther Torgerson	7	6	8	8	6	35
7	4278	Blown Away	John Heiser	Jen Liu	9	7	5	9	9	39
8	4113	Flying Finn	Shannon Wilfert	Mark Wilfert	11	8	10	6	5	40
9	4644		Joe Karbarz	Mirko Montanari	10	9	9	11	8	47
10	5637	Sunset	Don Johnson	Deb Torgerson / Karen Hewitt	8	10	11	7	13	49
11	5631	Wind Talker	Rod Bussel	Emory Luth	6	13	6	13	13	51
12	3552	Redi or Knot	Olaf Westerstahl	Anna Stenport	12	11	12	10	10	55

Deb's 2010 Glow Report

Clinton Lake Sailing Association Flying Scot Fleet 135 hosted its fourth annual Glow II Regatta September 24-26. The weather cooperated nicely and we ran three races Saturday in moderate winds and two on Sunday in gusty winds of about 12-15. Fleet 135 member Nick Schneider served as PRO and did a wonderful job, as usual.

The five races were won by four different boats, an indication of the highly competitive sailing happening on the lake. With six out-of-town boats, we had participants from as far away as Medicine Lake, MN, (Larry Klick, sailing Ketchup, who is a Glow faithful!) and Deep Creek, MD, as FS builder Harry Carpenter both came to participate in the regatta and deliver a new boat to Clinton Lake. Harry’s daughter, Carrie, crewed for Harry. Carrie also brought her “mascot” Alfie, who made friends with the marina dog, Friday, and several young children.

The new boat, named Alveolus, was purchased by our newest Flying Scot sailor, John Mann. Welcome, John!

On Saturday our first start was mediocre and we were unsettled about what to do. Consequently we sailed the middle of the course, trying to stay in phase. The course was windward-leeward once around in light wind. We rounded the first mark about fifth and stayed there.

Next race there may have been a bit more wind, or at least we had more wind! On one of the downwind legs (I’ve lost track of which one) we stayed to the left of the leaders, found a private puff that drove us by the other boats like they were standing still. I felt like waving as if I were on a parade float! We went from third or fourth place to well ahead. Somehow we managed to hold Harry Carpenter and Frank Gerry off, though they almost caught us at the finish.

The third race we were third to the windward mark. The most exciting thing we saw up there was our fleet comrade, John Heizer, who bought his Flying Scot “Blown Away” less than a year ago, rounding the mark in second, hot on Harry’s tail. Go John! We rounded the final leeward mark in third place. The wind continued to clock left and the leaders headed to the left to dig into the shift. We realized we were far enough left and could lay the finish from where we were if the wind held. We sailed as high and as fast as we could go, hoping against hope to maybe catch Frank and Marianne. For some reason we had excellent boat speed and were pointing really well. We managed to not only catch Frank but also to catch Harry, crossing barely a boat length ahead of him.

That evening, before our traditional grilled steaks with sides, Harry and Carrie answered questions and shared their racing knowledge with the assembled skippers and crews. It was a lively, very informative session that everyone appreciated. Around dinner it began to drizzle, but it did not dampen our spirits as we sat snug in the pavilion.

Sunday dawned cold and misty, but we all enjoyed a wonderful hot breakfast prepared by Joe and Denise Karbarz, with help from Luther Torgerson. The wind was stronger than Saturday. I spent so much time hiking on Sunday, I barely remember any of the races, except for the time we almost capsized when I was taking the spinnaker down! That was pretty unforgettable. Ben managed to steer the boat back under the sails and we breathed a sigh of relief. That puff, or its buddy, did knock one boat over. Long story short, we finished third in both races; my legs and hands are still sore!

The trophies this year were handmade cedar wheel chocks, varnished and engraved with “Glow 2010” by Fleet 135 member Emory Luth. They were very popular, and many participants said they were too pretty to use! Crew trophies were crank handles decorated with black flame decals (handy work of Fleet 135 member Karen Hewitt); a real collector’s item!

Next year the Glow is also the Midwest Districts, so mark the regatta on your calendars. Hope to see you there!

Photos by Doug Williams. All of Doug's photos from the regatta can be found on Flickr. To see them, click on this link: Glow 2010 Regatta Photo Set.

Whale of a Sail, 2010, Deb's Report

The 40th annual Whale of a Sail regatta almost ended up a no-blow. Fourteen Flying Scots registered for the multi-class regatta and we spent all day Saturday enjoying one another's company and whistling for the wind.

Unfortunately the whistling did not pay off and by about 3:30 pm the race committee canceled racing for the day. Of course, it will not surprise any sailors that about 45 minutes later a lovely light breeze came in, but by then many of us were a few sheets to the wind and the rest of us were happy to stay on shore and enjoy watching the 11 Mutineers race in their nationals in the light and spotty wind.

Alas Sunday morning dawned with heavy rain and thunder. But we were not deterred and neither was the race committee! After waiting around for almost two hours the race committee decided to send everyone out and we had one of the odder races in the history of the Whale.

Just at the start the wind died. Some boats were far enough away it took them several minutes to cross the line. Then a fresh wind came in from behind us and for a few minutes Flying Scots enjoyed some lively sailing, though we were not going up wind. After the fleet rounded the "windward" mark the wind died again and shifted so again we were on a beam reach. As we ghosted to the "leeward" mark we were thrilled to see a crash boat tooting its horn and flying the "shorten course" flag. And so we sailed the last leg, kind of up wind.

Everyone, from the race committee to the participants, was relieved to have gotten a race in and spirits were high. Hopefully next weekend's Glow in the Dark II regatta will have a bit more wind but this weekend goes to show, you just never know!

Fourth place Robb Preston and Hannah Preston
Third place Emilio and Sue Tellini
Second place Ben Williams and Deb Aronson
First place Frank and Marianne Gerry

Fun Regattas Coming Up!

There are two great regattas coming up to cap off the midwest sailing season: the "Whale" at Carlyle Lake, IL, and the "Glow" at Clinton Lake, IL. Deb and I plan to attend both (our fleet hosts the Glow) and we plan to post results and regatta reports for both events.

The Whale of a Sail is Sept 17-19. Here's a link to the Whale Notice of Race: NOR. This is a multi-class regatta, but the Flying Scots always have a separate start. The race management and hospitality are superb. The facilities are world class.

The Glow II regatta is Sept 24-26. Information, NOR, etc. about this regatta can be found on the CLSA web page. Many sailors camp right on the club grounds. Both Friday and Saturday night there will be a bonfire.

Sailing Tee-Shirt from Scot Sailor D. Randy Adolphs

I'm posting an email below from midwest Flying Scot sailor D. Randy Adolphs. He has a great tee shirt for sail that you may be interested in...

Hello Ben and Fellow Flying Scot Sailors

Ben could you put this on your blog? We all have lots of good sailing tees but we could all use one more !

These simple words capture the essence of sailboat racing. Go in the right direction and HAVE FUN! Every sailor (and all your sailing buddies, family and friends) should have at least one t-shirt with this timeless message! Maybe two or three!! Great gifts!!! I just happen to have a few available. Email or call your order in now. Shirts are 100% cotton. Attached are some photos of shirts and available colors (I need a better looking model!).

Sizes: SM, M, L, XL, and 2XL.

Colors: Black, Charcoal, Heather Indigo, Iris, Military Green, Navy, Red, Royal, Tangerine and “pigment dyed” Pacific Blue, Forest Green & Wave Blue.

Prices;
Ultra Cotton: $15 ea (or 2 for $25)
Heavy Cotton (Pigment Dyed) and 2XL’s: $17.50 (or 2 for $30)
Shipping: $5 (large orders TBD)

Please let me know how many you would like?

Many Thanks & Smooth/Fast Sailing (and remember - Life’s Hard. Sailing’s Easy. HAVE FUN!),
D. Randy

d.randy@sbcglobal.net or 608-334-9673

Ehraim Regatta Final Results

Pos	Sail	Boat	Skipper	Crew 1 / Crew 2	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total	Pos
1	5622	Hogwarts Express	Malmgren, Ryan	Malmgren, Evan	2	4	1	1	8	1
2	5775	High 5	Faugust, Michael	Faugust, Jennifer	5	1	5	2	13	2
3	5698	Reindeer II	Lott, Jay	Sauter, David	8	3	2	9	22	3
4	1168	Tag	Goettelman, Cain	Goettelman, Seth	6	7	4	6	23	4
5	5150	Ketchup	Klick, Larry	Williams, James	1	2	7	15	25	5
6	4987	Charlie B	Carpenter, Harry	Carpenter, Carrie	13	6	3	3	25	6
7	2922	Undaunted	Claypool, Nancy	Claypool, Carol / Berger, Carrie	10	10	6	5	31	7
8	5015	Helga	Gerry, Frank	Gerry, Marianne	3	15	10	4	32	8
9	4747	R-bub	Engelke, Dan	Gheorghita, Liz	7	9	12	8	36	9
10	527	T-Bone	Pillat, Christian	Harsch, Skip	9	8	9	12	38	10
11	EYC 92	Merry Scot	Polzin, Dierk	Polzin, Don	12	12	8	11	43	11
12	5897	Sophie	Williams, Ben	Aronson, Deb	4	14	11	16	45	12
13	4788	Nauti-Lass	Howting, Chuck	Riley, Aric	24	11	17	7	59	13
14	4810	Think Fast	Goetsch, Griff		20	5	20	20	65	14
15	4175	Blew By U	Brown, Kirk	Moegenberg, Peter	23	17	14	13	67	15
16	EYC 81	White Whale	Smith, Matthew	Gheorghita, Will / Harlan, Robert	15	25	21	10	71	16
17	EYC 91	Flying Ghotti	Schallip, Ben	Shatto, Jim	11	13	18	32/DNF	74	17
18	4150	Mac Scot	Pearson, Scott	Pearson, Annika	14	16	19	27	76	18
19	2983	Evie	Hill, Tim	Hill, Peter	16	32/OCS	13	17	78	19
20	EYC 83	Laura II	Crowe, Alden	Moegenburg, Peter	28	22	15	18	83	20
21	4278	Blown Away	Heizer, John	Liu, Jennifer	18	18	23	24	83	21
22	2787	Make Time	Bayer, Tom	Judd, Curtis / Weiss, Paul	27	20	26	22	95	22
23	1988	Fernow	Faugust, Jim	Faugust, Darlene	22	23	25	25	95	23
24	1322	Skizot	Heidler, Woody	Zingsheim, Murphy	19	32/OCS	32/OCS	14	97	24
25	5631	Wind Talker	Bussell, Eric	Bussell, Rod	25	19	32/DNF	21	97	25
26	EYC 93	Crail II	Peterson, Isak	Peterson, Stefan	26	24	16	32/OCS	98	26
27	769	Aries	Latreille, Sara	Mazeski, Kelly	21	26	27	26	100	27
28	EYC 82	??	Boughey, Brittany	Dyar, Bryn / Hooper, Kirstin	29	27	22	23	101	28
29	5922	Phoenix	Thomas, Jonathan	Lewis, Joani	17	21	32/DNC	32/DNC	102	29
30	25	Who Dat	Baird, Dan	Coble, Christiana / Berger, Steven	32/DNC	32/DNC	24	19	107	30
31	4411	Liberty One	Welch, Graham		32/DNC	32/DNC	32/DNC	32/DNC	128	31

Ehraim Regatta - Deb's report: Sunday brings a nice breeze!

Whew! Back home from Ephraim and what a weekend. You know it is a good trip when you go away for just two days and come back refreshed and happy.

Sunday we were expecting wispy, light wind, even lighter than Saturday, so we were pleasantly surprised when, about 30 minutes before the first race started the wind filled in quite nicely. Not heavy, mind you, but enough to prevent a real shake and bake experience.

The high point of my day was the very first start, which was VERY fun! We duked it out at the pin end with a bunch of really good sailors and just squeaked by the pin, missing it by a whisker, and had good speed. Alas, after half a leg the fleet was called back — general recall.

Even with the decent wind, the water was choppy. Ben did a good job driving the boat through the waves and I did okay on weight management, but we were not at the top of our game. Despite a couple decent starts and good upwind legs — or at least parts that were good — we could not find our groove. Still, we didn’t make any glaring errors and ended up 12th out of 31 boats. Not too shabby. That Ephraim is a tough, tough fleet!

Meanwhile, shortly after we got off the water, Ben came down with a massive caffeine withdrawal headache .. maybe it was that weak coffee at our breakfast restaurant? Hmmm, perhaps we should carry our cappuccino maker on board!!

Ryan and Evan were really going fast on Sunday, scoring two bullets, which gave them the series win. Congrats Ryan and Evan! Local Ephraim sailors Mike Faugust, Jay Lott, and Cain Goettleman filled out the rest of the top four places. In fifth, from Medicine Lake, was Larry Klick. Just out of the trophies in sixth was Harry Carpenter, who sailed in a borrowed boat with Carrie. Harry and Carrie had a strong second day with two third place finishes.

Ryan Malmgren and Harry Carpenter also very generously gave a great seminar after the races Saturday, which was greatly appreciated.

Meanwhile, our fellow Clinton sailors John Heizer and Jen Liu looked great out there, finishing 21st and Eric and Rod Bussell, at their first Scot regatta ever, came away with a 25th place and — I think — a lot of good experiences!


Photos by Doug Williams

The rest of Doug's photos from the regatta and Jay's party can be found on Flickr: Ephraim Regatta Photos by Doug Williams

Ehraim, Saturday - Deb's Update - Light Air!

Sailing conditions were light and shifty today at the Ephraim Regatta. Larry Klick and his crew, James Williams, from Medicine Lake, MN, had the best day of anyone, with a first- and second-place finish. There are more than 31 boats participating, as well as several International 110s.

The first race the wind was coming out of the south at about 180 degrees. We had a very good start and stayed on the right, which we decided looked better. We rounded about fifth at the first mark and about the same at the leeward mark. On the second upwind leg we concentrated on keeping the boat moving, not tacking very much and looking for pressure. We also spent a lot of time looking at the other boats around us, all of whom were doing pretty much the same thing! The committee shortened the race to that upwind mark, much to our relief, and we placed fourth. Just after we finished an entirely new and fresh wind came in from the north and the rest of the fleet finished the “upwind” leg with spinnakers flying. It was an awesome sight, but I did not envy the committee boat trying to take finishes with everyone all clustered together, including some International 110s.

We then waited for about an hour for the race committee to reset the course, at which point we sailed a second race. The wind seemed much better on the right side, but we started on the left to get a clear start and never quite recovered! Larry and James had a great windward leg, rounding well ahead of the next boats. That was the case for the entire race, until Mike and Jennifer Faugust caught them just at the finish. I can’t report much more about the front of the fleet because they were mostly out of sight as we tried to work our way back up through the fleet, without much success.

The race committee tried to get a third race off before the 3 pm deadline, but were unsuccessful, so we all headed back to the dock, many getting towed in, as the wind continued to die. Tomorrow predictions are for more very light wind, but time will tell.

Part of the Ephraim Regatta tradition is the annual Saturday bratfest, which is always very well attended. This year was no exception and we enjoyed brats, grilled corn on the cob, and lots of cold beer. The results also were posted there and a very partial listing includes:
Larry Klick and James Williams 3 pts
Ryan and Evan Malmgren tied with Mike and Jen Faugust 6 pts
Jay Lott and Dave Sauter 11 pts
Cain Goettelman and his brother Seth 13 pts

Someone ran off with the actual standings, so I can’t tell you more just now, but stay tuned!

Photos by Doug Williams.