2001 Minnesota Fall Tune-up RegattaA tune-up regatta was held on Buffalo Lake, Minnesota over the weekend of December 2 & 3. A few lucky sailors came early (on Friday) and were blessed with a perfect day of iceboating. The ice was nearly perfect, and you could sail anywhere on the lake. The wind was steady around 10-12 MPH, and a good course was set up in the afternoon. There were so many races that we ran out of fingers and lost track of the how many we sailed. Saturday morning started out with very little wind (it seems like this was setting a trend for the season). The sailors spent the whole day in bright sunlight and blue skies, and wind too light to race. Late in the afternoon a few sucker puffs came through and got the sailors out on the lake, only to let them down and force them to push home. On Sunday, we were blessed with brisk winds first thing in the morning, and a forecast of building winds all day. A nice course was set up early, and the sailors were out on the lake contemplating racing in winds that were 15-20 and building. By the time the first race was started, puffs were already over 20 MPH, and boats were smoking around the course. A few sailors had some problems, with more than one spinout. Ron Sherry and Paul Goodwin were fighting for position in the front of the fleet, with John Harper close behind. There was a lot of discussion before the start if the second race since the wind had increased steadily, and puffs of close to 30 MPH were being measured. However, once Ron, Paul, and John had there boats on the starting line, the rest of the fleet soon followed. This proved to be an exciting (and challenging) race, with more spinouts and at least one out-of-boat experience. Ron and Paul battled for the lead, followed by John Harper, Tom Austin, and Bob Cave. Ron managed to hold onto the lead, winning the day with two first place finishes. After this race, some time was spent caring for the injured and licking our wounds, then everyone scurried for the comfort and safety of their cars. The weekend of racing was a little disappointing, but it was a perfect start to the season (especially for the lucky few who showed up on Friday). Paul Goodwin - US 46 ----------------------------------------------------- Pos Sail# Name Race> 1 2 Points ---------------------------------------------------- 1 US 44 SHERRY, RON 1 1 2.00 2 US 4061 GOODWIN, PAUL 2 2 4.00 3 US 4379 HARPER, JOHN 3 3 6.00 4 US 4889 Austin, Tom 4 4 8.00 5 US 445 CAVE, BOB 5 5 10.00 6 US 294 LOENNEKE(S), LOUIS 7 6 13.00 7 US 5014 ISABELL, MARK 6 7 13.00 8 US 4975 EVANS, ROB 12 8 20.00 9 US 4926 Orlebeke, Steve 9 11 20.00 10 US 246 Erwin, Graham 13 10 23.00 11 US 2360 JOHNS, PETE 11 12 23.00 12 US 45 SHERRY(S), WENDELL 8 16 24.00 13 US 4923 Loomis, John 17 9 26.00 14 US 1313 Rast(S), Bob 14 14 28.00 15 US 492 McDonagh, Jim 18 13 31.00 16 US 1 Kennedy, Steve 20 15 35.00 17 US 4961 DAVENPORT, JOHN 10 DNF 35.00 18 US 60 SCHUGT, MIKE 15 DNF 40.00 19 US 4137 SMITH JR., KEN 16 DNF 41.00 20 US 1202 HARVEY(M), DOUGLAS 19 DNS 44.00 21T US 4824 CHRISTENSEN, MARK DNF DNS 50.00 22T US 4695 KIEFER, MARK DNF DNS 50.00 23T US 4192 ROGOSKI, RANDY DNF DNF 50.00 24T US 5144 Rehe, Michael DNF DNS 50.00Updated January 25, 2001 |