2001 Elk Lake Tune-up Regatta

A tune-up regatta was held on Elk Lake, MI over the weekend of January 6 & 7. The lake had 6"-12" of ice, with 50% snow cover of less than 1" and numerous drifts. The drifts were mostly less the 1-1/2" thick, but were occasionally up to 6" deep and stiff.

Saturday morning started out foggy, and with very little wind. As the morning progressed, the fog lifted and the wind slowly picked up. The race committee set a short course in the afternoon, and some decent racing took place just outside the White Birch Lodge. Sailors discovered some scattered slush pockets (yours truly looked like a snow-cone after one encounter), but otherwise the conditions were fairly decent. John Harper lead the fleet, with an impressive string of "horizon jobs". Bryan Brieden was consistently at the front of the pack following John around the course, with Bruce Williams close behind. The race committee managed to get in four races on Saturday before the wind got too light to race.

On Sunday, we were blessed with brisk winds first thing in the morning. A new course location at the North end of the lake provided much better ice conditions with less snow cover, essentially no drifts, and no slush pockets. A course length of 3/4 mile gave the sailors an excellent opportunity to get in some serious practice. Harper started out with another win in the first race, but had a stud plate fail on the layline to the weather mark in the second race. John tied his plank back on using some halyards and other bits of string, and was right back in the hunt for the next race. Bryan Brieden kept the pressure on, and Greg Smith finally had his boat all tuned up. John, Bryan, and Greg were trading places in the final races, with John impressing everybody with his "Zen" iceboating and ability to keep his broken boat at the front of the pack. With 10 races total, John was able to throw out his DNF and a 4th place, to finish up with all 1sts and one 2nd place!!!

Overall we had a fine weekend of iceboating, and as usual the White Birch Lodge opened it's doors and provided accommodations 50 yards from our boats.

Paul Goodwin - US 46

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Pos    Sail#         Name       Race>     1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9   10  Points
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  1   US 4379      HARPER,       JOHN     1    1    1    1    1 (DNF)(  4)   2    1    1    9.00
  2   US 4175 BRIEDEN, II,      BRYAN  (DNS)   2    3    2    3    1    1    3    3 (DNS)  18.00
  3   US 3283    WILLIAMS,   J. BRUCE     3 ( 19)   2    3    4    3 (  6)   5    4    3   27.00
  4   US 1202   HARVEY(M),    DOUGLAS     4    6    4    6 (  6)   4    5 (  7)   6    4   39.00
  5   US  610    JONES(M),     DONALD     7    8    8    8 ( 13)   7 ( 11)   8    5    2   53.00
  6   US 4192     ROGOSKI,      RANDY     6    9 (DNS)( 12)   9    5    7    6    7    6   55.00
  7   US 4061     GOODWIN,       PAUL     2    3   18 (DNS)   5   13    3    4   14 (DNS)  62.00
  8   US 4974    JONES(M),       STAN     9   12 ( 19)( 13)   7   10   10   10    2    7   67.00
  9   US  151     LEONARD,      BRUCE  ( 17)  11   12   10 ( 15)   6    9   11   12   11   82.00
 10   US 4962  LABOZZETTA,      VINCE    16   13   16 ( 17)(DNS)   8    8    9    8    5   83.00
 11   US 3662       SMITH,    GREGORY  (DNS)(DNS)  11   14    2    2    2    1  DNS  DNS   88.00
 12   US 4730     LEONARD,       DAVE    14 ( 15)  10   11   14   11   13 ( 15)  11    9   93.00
 13   US 4654        GRAY,        BOB    13   16 (DNS)  16   12    9   12   14   10 (DNS) 102.00
 14   US 5132     Nevedal,        Dan  ( 18)  14   14 ( 18)  16   12   14   13   13   10  106.00
 15   US 4266  BUCHBINDER,       BILL     5    7    9    4   10 (DNS)(DNS) DNS  DNS  DNS  119.00
 16   US 4882   WOLLAM(S),    RICHARD   DNS   20   17  DNS   11 (DNS)(DNS)  12    9    8  133.00
 17   US 4755 LEMBERG, JR,       RICK   DNS    4    5    5 (DNS)(DNS) DNS  DNS  DNS  DNS  154.00
 18   US 4155     LEMBERG,    RICHARD   DNS    5    7    7 (DNS)(DNS) DNS  DNS  DNS  DNS  159.00
 19   US  472  COBERLY(S), J. WILLIAM     8   10  DNS    9 (DNS)(DNS) DNS  DNS  DNS  DNS  167.00
 20   US 4711  WILLMAN(S),     DONALD  (DNS) DNS    6   15    8 (DNS) DNS  DNS  DNS  DNS  169.00
 21   US    3 Schweichert,      Chuck    19   18   13   19  DNS (DNS)(DNS) DNS  DNS  DNS  181.00
 22   US 5172    Betzoldt,       Glen    12   17   15  DNF (DNS)(DNS) DNS  DNS  DNS  DNS  184.00
 23   US 1868   Ostrander,        Tim   DNS  DNS  DNS (DNS)(DNS) DNS   15   16  DNS  DNS  199.00
 24   US 4782 SCHARMEN(S),        JIM    10  DNS  DNS (DNS)(DNS) DNS  DNS  DNS  DNS  DNS  206.00
 25   US 4915     COOK(S),        BOB    11  DNS  DNS (DNS)(DNS) DNS  DNS  DNS  DNS  DNS  207.00
 26   US 5110        MACK,     GEORGE    15  DNS  DNS (DNS)(DNS) DNS  DNS  DNS  DNS  DNS  211.00
 27   US 4000  JOHNSON(S),      RANDY   DNS  DNS  DNS (DNS)(DNS) DNS  DNS  DNS  DNS  DNS  224.00
Updated January 24, 2001