37 Boats Makes Ephraim the Biggest Midwest Regatta of the Season

 Where to begin with the Ephraim Regatta? It's always so much fun and also a little hectic. The pier, for those of you who haven't been there, is so narrow and real estate is so tight that boats are touching one another on their trailers. In order to get to your boat you have to crawl on your neighbors' boats. But the sailing area is breathtakingly gorgeous and this year the wind was good (maybe a little too good), so it's hard to feel bad about the cozy quarters.

We arrived Friday and hung out with Ryan Malmgren, Stacey Rieu, Mark and Maria Benner, Chris Tesdal, Eric Bussell, and Harry and Karen Carpenter. The Benners have a crazy long drive - 14 hours. Maria finished knitting this dog sweater for Ryan and Stacey's dog, Daisy, on the trip. Check out the Mad Sails logo, amazing, right? I started to pay attention this weekend and I only now realize how crafty Maria is. For example, she also made their mast end protector. We just have a red cloth; they have a carefully tailored sock with tassles that are not only hemmed but turned in such a way that the wind can't fray them. That Maria has many hidden talents. Pay attention!

Speaking of swag, I finally figured out how to make Fleet 135 flags to rival the Texas sailors' flags. Ours say "Rod's Navy 135"  and I'm very proud of them. However, Nina and Robert Cummings traveled up from Dallas (they won the furthest distance traveled, sorry Benners!) and flew their Texas flag I saw that ours did not measure up in size even though I ordered the biggest one I could imagine! Happily there is no photo to show the size difference!

I know you can't see the logo but that's our flag and I'm proud of it!

Ben and Ryan inadvertently wear matching Glow shirts!

 Anyway, the sailing on Saturday was hard fought. The wind was supposed to be high and several people did not put their boat in. But at first the wind didn't materialize. The first race was definitely moderate wind. In fact, a five-leg WL course took well over an hour because of the dying breeze.  I started to feel bad for those who stayed on shore. ... But Then. The wind seemed to shift right and the race committee reoriented the course and by the time everything was set there were white caps. We settled in for lots of hiking and vang. The wind was strong but manageable. The gusts were gradual and not shifty, so that was good. That second race was four legs. We (by "we" I mean me) were getting pretty tired but the race committee decided we were good for another five-leg race to end the day. Considering they polled the competitors (explicitly asking crew also to vote), the majority of which requested medium-length races and at least two of the races were more than an hour I didn't really feel like they took our vote into consideration... I guess I'm still a tiny bit annoyed by that! Why ask, if you are just going to run hour-long races anyway? And what would have happened if we'd asked for LONG races? Errrr .... sorry about that outburst. Anyway, Fleet 135 performed well, with Mark and Michele Taylor finishing the day in first and our stalwart spark plug Eric Bussell and crew Chris Tesdal put it all together to finish the day in fourth place in front of erstwhile fast sailor and Florida district champion Tom McNally and Liz Gheorghita, Texas sailors Robert and Nina Cummings, and the always-tough team of Bruce and Lynn Kitchen.
We came off the course tired and sore (again, by "we" I mean me) and had to deal with some of the toughest conditions of the day. Although there are two hoists, only one was being used and it was the one exposed to the choppy waters that got choppier and choppier. Boats banged together, the pier was so congested that a boat hanging from the hoist had to wait and wait for the trailer to arrive, keeping boats banging at the dock longer than was pleasant. But, that difficult challenge managed (we chipped the gelcoat on Catitude pretty badly and harsh words were exchanged), it was off to shower and hit the annual bratfest followed by ice cream (also an annual tradition at least within the Catitude team).
The next day was also gorgeous and the wind was about the same. Essentially out of the south with occasional forays into the southwest, though it also shifted hard left just before the start, making crossing the line on starboard challenging.
 Perhaps the race committee heard the grumbling because the first race was just three legs. Ben and I hooked the rope on the pin boat (I just learned that's called the road) with both our centerboard and our rudder, so this was one race we could have used five legs! At the bratfest, I heard Harry Carpenter's response when someone was griping about something that didn't go their way. He said, "That's sailing!" I'm going to adopt that as my motto. So when Ben apologized for our poor start, I just said, "that's sailing!" It felt good.
We just crossed the finish line when we heard someone on the radio pointing out lightning on the horizon. We heard some thunder and the race committee sent us in. They hoped to postpone and send us out for one more race, but once all the boats came in, getting drenched in the process, it was clear that there was no more time!
So we had a four race regatta, with great conditions and great racing. I'll just remind readers that this is the third of four qualifying events for the Midwest District Travel Trophy. By my calculation, if you sailed at Ephraim and are coming to the Glow, you, too, can qualify!