MidWinter Regatta About to Start

Ben and I have been in Sarasota for a few days now and we’ve mostly been socializing, though we’ve gotten some sailing in, too! There are 60 boats signed up, which is a great turnout. As for the Midwest District, our numbers are strong! We have Ryan Malmgren and Stacey Rieu, and Jennifer and Michael Faugust, from Ephraim,  Eric Bussell and Alan Shaklee, Ben Williams and Deb Aronson, Jim and Jennifer Colgrove, and Rick Wojnar and Susan McIntyre from Clinton Lake and Jim and Mike Moyle, who I think are from Delavan but I’ll have to ask them.

Today is the Charlie Fowler Memorial Race, which is a practice race but comes with a trophy. This helps northern sailors shake out the cobwebs and recognizes long-time class stalwart Charlie Fowler, creator and founding district governor of the Dixie Lakes District.

Tomorrow the racing starts for “real.” Because this venue has a strong afternoon sea breeze, racing will begin about noon. That gives off of us a chance to sleep in and/or drink tons of coffee to counteract the effects of the adult beverages consumed the night before. Of course, with 60 boats and not that much dock space, we will have to start putting boats in a little early, too. …

Anyway, check in for more soon!

Barely Escaping Winter to Sail in Sarasota

View from my dad's back porch

You get the idea...

Well, as many of you know, the Midwinters starts this coming weekend in Sarasota, FL. I made a plan to fly to Sarasota by way of Bethesda so I could visit my dad for a few days. Ben and Eric Bussell were going to be driving from Urbana, so it wasn't like I was leaving him to make the long drive alone (hear me rationalizing?).

Anyway, the plan was for me to fly from DC Wednesday (we headed down early to get some extra sailing in) and have them pick me up from the airport in Tampa, since that's as close to Sarasota as Southwest, my preferred airline, goes. But then came winter storm Tobias, or whatever they are calling it. By the way, since when did they start naming things that aren't tornados? Anyway, it looked like the day of my original flight DC would be covered in six inches of wet heavy snow and that did not bode well for my travel plans. Southwest, bless them, let anyone with a ticket change FOR NO FEE to any travel date within two weeks of the storm. Amazing. I wonder if other airlines do the same?

So I moved my flight up by one day. Although Tuesday brought no snow it brought rain and steadily falling temperatures. Then Tuesday also brought fierce storms to Tampa which kept our plane at the gate in DC for an extra couple hours as the temperature continued to drop. As we boarded I saw snowflakes. Gulp. Then while we were waiting to leave the de-icing machines came alongside. Things were looking grim for our hero... I practiced meditation. I listened to the screaming baby one row up and felt for her and her hapless dad. I told myself everyone had the same goal, to get the plane safely to Tampa. I told myself that even if we went back to the gate, it wasn't the end of the world. I took deep breaths. And it all worked. Despite a little extra adrenaline in my system I have to  say I weathered the whole experience pretty darn well.

And, wouldn't you know it, eventually we began taxiing, took off and above the clouds it was all blue skies!!

Landing in Tamps (and here I apologize to my Tampa sailing friends for not calling but I didn't want to be a bother and I have had a marvelous adventure) I realized I had neglected to book a hotel. Well, not neglected, exactly since I was never 100% sure I would take off from DC. It turns out, Tampa is full of people like me trying to escape the snow and the cold. Who would have thought?

After a few fruitless calls, the nice volunteer at the info desk passed me a note. Try the Tahitian Inn it said. I called, they had not only a room but a shuttle that pulled up 30 seconds after I got to the pick up spot. I rode the shuttle with an extremely enthusiastic woman and her husband who had come to the Tahitian Inn five times. She told me all about the marvelous people and accommodations and she was right! The decor is out of Hemingway's day, the people great you like an old friend. And in the restaurant for breakfast I think everyone who ate there was friends with one another and with the waitstaff. It was absolutely delightful!

I have a few hours to kill waiting for Ben and Eric to pick me up and so I'm headed out for a Cubano sandwich. I am full of gratitude today: for the Tahitian Inn, for my sailing life, for the sunshine and for escaping the bad weather up north...also appreciate not sailing today because it is very gusty!!

Considering Going to the Chattanooga Choo Choo April 20-21? Here is another reason to go

Have you ever been to the Chattanooga Choo Choo? It's one of my favorites because the club is so beautiful, as is the lake. So when I saw this article in the New York Times about how nice Chattanooga is, I thought it only right to share it with you all.
Perhaps it will entice you to join us at the regatta and then stay a bit longer! 

This Made Me THink of the Carlyle Lake Event a Few Years Ago...

I remember when there was that terrible crash between a motorboat and Shirley Bild's boat while she was teaching sailing. It was so very hard for me to imagine how that could possibly happen, and when you watch this video you can't believe it. But here it is, in full color.....Ugh...

Sad Sad News for the Flying Scot Family

For those of you who traveled east at all, many of you will know Tom Hohler, who died today. Tom was always smiling and telling great stories. He was a bulldog of a man who loved to sail and loved his sailing friends. My first memory of him - and one that many share - is hearing him bellow on the race course. Being a relatively new sailor, I asked my skipper, "what did we do what did we do?" And he said, don't worry about it, we're fine, which we were. Turns out, that's just Tom's voice!!!
We will miss him terribly...He was so young....

The Weather Outside is Frightening ....

Photo Courtesy of the Eagle Creek Facebook page

While the weather has been brutally cold here in the Midwest (I’m talking negative numbers in the double digits. What is this, Minnesota?!), that doesn’t mean it’ll never warm up. Some day it will be sailing weather again. And to that end, on New Year’s Day I cracked open my new calendar (Yes, I still use a paper calendar. It’s not old-fashioned, it’s retro and, thus, hip) and scheduled the coming season’s regattas. Doesn’t every Flying Scot sailor do that?!

Anyway, to that end, I thought I’d post this schedule that District Governor Bronson Bowling sent me several months ago.  You’ll see that some of the Midwest District regattas have shifted to make room for the North Americans which will be held in Rush Creek, TX, in June.

Also note the Midwest Districts are at Ephraim this year. I'd also encourage you to consider the regatta in Jefferson City, MO. It's really important to support our fledgling fleets!!

So put as many of these on your calendar as you can and keep the faith. The temperature will rise above freezing eventually!!

GWBR - Eustis FL (Feb 17 -18)

Mid-winters Championship - Sarasota FL (March 24-29)

Chattanooga Privateer - 4th weekend in April?

Great 48 - Lake Norman (TBD May 5-6)

Memorial Day Regatta - Little Rock, AR (May 26-27)

Pig Roast - Cowan Lake  (June 2-3) 

North American Championships (Heath TX - June 10-14)

Egyptian Cup Regatta at CSA Carlyle IL (June 22-24)

Indy Regatta - Eagle Creek Yacht Club - (June 30-July 1)

Sheraton Shores, Chicago IL (Tentative last weekend in July (TBA-Race Week))

Ephraim Regatta and Midwest District Championship (August 4-5)

Smackdown CLSA Vs CSA (Mid-Augustish)

Mayors Cup - Jefferson City, MO - NEW FLEET UNDER CONSTRUCTION (TBD Sept 8-9)

CSA Whale of a Sail - Carlyle (TBD but likely Sept 16-17)

Great Scot - Birmingham AL (Sept 22-23)

Glow -  Clinton Lake (Sept 29-30)

Fall 48 - Lake Norman (TBD Nov 4-5)

Gator Bowl - Jacksonville FL (Dec 1-2)

Fleet 135 Has Strong Showing In Birmingham Sailing Club's Great Scot Regatta

The Glow in the Dark typically marks the end of regattas in the Midwest District, though our members continue to travel and sail through the fall and winter sometimes (i.e. the Faugusts do the Florida circuit in the winter). And last week (October 6-8) a few members of Fleet 135 had a fun adventure. Two boats, Wildcard (Eric Bussell and Trent Johnson) and Sophie (Ben Williams and Deb Aronson) drove 10 hours to Birmingham, AL, to participate in the Birmingham Sailing Club’s annual Great Scot regatta.  

View from the clubhouse of the BSC docks

We are always looking for new sailing adventures and the BSC fleet captain, Andrew Fox, is a real energetic sailor, young and new to the class. We wanted to support his efforts and made sure to leave a CLSA burgee at their clubhouse!

In addition, it turned out that Geoff Endris, a Flying Scot sailor from the Indianapolis Club at Eagle Creek was serving as PRO. His first words were “Jeez, I drive 600 miles in the opposite direction from you all, and I still can’t get away from you!”

Geoff Endris conducting Participants' meeting

The wrinkle with this particular regatta adventure was that Hurricane Nate was scheduled to come ashore the same weekend. And it was aimed right at Birmingham. This felt sometimes like the height of crazy, to drive straight toward a hurricane … to go sailing! Still, we figured, what did we have to lose except a little rubber on our tires? As the time got closer it appeared that the weather Saturday would be sailable. My bottom line? I told Ben, “I am not sailing in a hurricane.” He seemed to think that was reasonable.

Anyway, Saturday turned out to be light to moderate roughly out of the southeast. Races started at 1 pm. The later start enabled boats to arrive and rig on the Saturday instead of driving over Friday. Geoff’s goal was to try for four races Saturday in case Nate arrived Sunday. The wind was so shifty that Geoff had to postpone and re-adjust the course before the series began but after that he got three good races off before the wind petered out.

Eric and Trent had an awesome regatta, staying in the front pack and often leading the entire race. They had Wildcard going really, really well. In the second race, for example, Eric and Trent led the entire course until the last few yards (as far as I could see) when ace sailors Tom and Melissa Miller from Corinthian Sailing Club in Dallas, TX, caught him. The Millers trophied in the North American Championships, so you see the kind of competition we had! Ben and I also had a good regatta, after finishing ninth in the first race we figured out the wind a little bit better and had some better finishes after that.  The feeling of winning the last race against these amazing competitors was particular sweet considering we had a slow start and took off to the right of the course all by ourselves. It’s not always a great feeling to be hanging way out on one said of the course by yourself, but the move paid off for us. Thank you, wind gods!!

Eric and Trent placed third, Ben and Deb were fourth.

All the travelers packed up their boats after the racing on Saturday. We reasoned that it would be much easier to re-rig the boat if Sunday turned out to be nice than to take the mast down in pouring rain and howling winds. In the end, the organizers canceled Sunday racing at the Saturday dinner, handed out trophies and encouraged us to stay for Sunday breakfast. Instead, the Fleet 135 sailors all hit the road to try to avoid the worst of Nate. We drove home through some very heavy rain, until about Nashville, and it was smooth sailing from there.

It was fun racing against some new Flying Scot sailors and seeing what a good job PRO Geoff Endris did at the event. Next up? A road trip to Charlotte, NC, in November.