Goin' To Jackson

Regatta chair Jim Leggette welcoming sailors

Can't have a national Flying Scot event without bagpipes, right?!

With as much traveling as Ben and I do, we often are returning to clubs we've sailed at many times before. But it's also fun to go to new venues, and this year's Wife-Husband in Jackson, MS, was a new one for us.  Jackson is a mere eight hours from us, straight south on 55 and it was an easy drive.
 So easy, in fact, that we were a couple hours ahead of schedule. Because of that, I was inspired to pull off on an exit that had a little brown sign: Johnny Cash Boyhood Home. I am not typically the kind of person to pull off for roadside attractions, but I've always wanted to be that kind of person. So I was inordinately pleased with myself. Also, the site was only five miles from the highway, so there was a low investment. The town was called Dyess Colony. There is a tourist center and museum and a tour, which we didn't do. What was even more interesting to Ben and me than it being Johnny Cash's home was the fact that this was a Depression-era resettlement community created by the government to help tenant farmers in Arkansas who had lost everything. Each family received a home and between 20-40 acres. They were expected to pay for the home over a 20-year span.
I bought a book about the project and have been enjoying learning about it. I had never heard of this aspect of the New Deal and I find it intriguing.

Lots of hugs at the Wife-Husband

Anyway, Jackson! We arrived Friday and there were lots of back slapping and hugging as is typical of this event. We had a very good Midwest representation: Ryan and Stacey (who placed SECOND! spoiler alert), Bronson and Rachel Bowling, Frank and Marianne Gerry, Jack and Janet Markwick, Ben and me and a couple that was new to me, Chuck and Sarah Lamphere from Delavan Yacht Club.

Friday was chilly.
It reminded me of the year we did the Wife-Husband in Alabama, Joe Wheeler State Park and it was so cold we were all shelling out tons of money buying every stocking cap we could find. I learned my lesson and had packed for every kind of weather this time. 

In front of the fire at the 2012 WH in Alabama

Sandy and Keith Eustis bundled up in 2012 in Alabama

Happily, in Jackson by Saturday the conditions were perfect: not too hot, not too cold and moderate (to light) winds.
The thing about the Wife-Husband is that it brings out the top sailors from around the country. This is no romp in the park, as you can tell by looking at the participant list. I will say that Ben got great starts every race but we got outfoxed by the wind every race. As Frank Gerry put it, we zigged when we should have zagged, and ended up on the wrong side of the fleet for every major wind shift and there were many in the 30 degree range.

















As I mentioned, Stacey and Ryan had an amazing regatta and even when they started out mid fleet with us, they somehow caught the leaders the next leg. Kudos to them! It was also fun to sail against the Lampheres. We got to chatting between races on Saturday since the water became glass for more than an hour and we waited on the lake to see what might happen. I hope we see them a little more in the Midwest circuit!

Stacey and Ryan get the job done

 A quick recap of the races; Saturday the wind was light and after the first race it died entirely. After waiting around for a good hour, the entire fleet began inching toward the harbor when the wind finally filled in and we got ourselves a second race. Each one was four legs with downwind finishes. I notice that we've been finishing downwind a lot this year. Seems hard for the race committee, but since they are making the call, more power to them.
Saturday dinner was outstanding Southern cuisine, including turnip greens, fried chicken, gumbo and the like. Also, there were both Bushwackers and a special regatta drink called a Highland Sling. Both good and potent!

Sunday the wind was supposed to build but it did not. Still, we got three four-leg races in. The challengers did two-leg races for two of the races and then the last race they did four legs as well. The wind had shifted a bit to the south and we hoped that meant we'd be able to figure it out a little better than the previous day, which did not turn out to be the case. But Brenda and Bob Twinem from Florida— great sailors who rarely leave their state — showed the fleet how it was done by leading wire to wire in the last race.

Brenda and Bob Twinem lead the fleet in Eightball. The fleet was "Behind the Eightball" (ha ha)

 The wind did come in stronger as we were putting our boats away, but I think the conditions were pretty perfect for the wife husband: very little hiking, moderate temperatures and lots of great sailors. The final standings are here
Next up? A few hardy Midwest sailors will be at the Fall 48 next weekend and in Sarasota, FL, the following weekend. Stay tuned!

Road Trip to Jackson ....

So here we are in Jackson, MS, for the Wife-Husband event. Lots of Midwest sailors here. It is worth remembering that it is not a terrible drive to get here and other venues south; a straight shot downI55 and here you are! My only complaint is Arkansas. Don't get off the highway if you can help it. I've complained before about the access ramps, they can't be legal because they seem to be an accident waiting to happen. You have about 100 yards or less and then you run right into a frontage road with ZERO traffic signals warning oncoming traffic that you are coming, and certainly no yield sign for you, barreling off the highway. Anyway, watch out.

(Stepping down from my soapbox)

Midwest teams include: Ryan Malmgren and Stacey Rieu, Frank and Marianne Gerry, Bill Vogler and Jill Rendleman, Jack and Janet Markwick, Bronson and Rachel Bowling, Chuck and Sarah Lamphere (who we haven't met yet) and Ben and me. Not bad!

There is already lots of coverage on the FSSA facebook page. I'll put a link here where you can see some photos, etc, and that you you don't have to be a member of Facebook to see some of the fun.

Also, Eric Bussell is here preparing to do a livefeed and I think I heard that there will be some commentary by Bill Draheim, but that might be a rumor I made up.  You can try to click here and see where it takes you!

The wind is predicted to be moderate. The weather is on the chilly side, but you don't notice if you have one of the signature drinks, the Highland Sling. Scotch is involved, not surprisingly. Yummy. One is enough. Just sayin' Also, it is supposed to warm up and even be in the 80s on Sunday.

In other regatta news, Lynn and Bill Bruss are taking delivery of their new boat at this event. Tyler and Carrie Andrews are delivering it. I'm excited to see Carrie, especially, since we haven't seen her since before their second baby was born this year. But of course a new boat is cool, too!

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!