2002 Central Lakes Regional Regatta

The 2002 Central Lakes Regional Regatta was held at Houghton Lake, Michigan February 23rd and 24th. The final decision on the location wasn't made until about 2pm on Friday, but 46 boats still made it to the regatta. The surface was smooth snow ice and was covered with thin sticky snow drifts. With 1/4 mile of relatively clear ice along the shore, and slow sticky stuff further out, it was easy to figure out that you had to stay on the good stuff to win. With all of the boats sailing upwind and downwind on the right side of the course it was like sailing in an "ice dance", especially on the first upwind leg where all the boats are in close formation. The wind stayed pretty light, and all of the sailors were conscious of the other boats, so there were no collisions.

The wind didn't pick up till late morning on Saturday, and the first race started around 11:30am. The Race Committee was relentless in their pursuit of racing, and managed to get 12 races in before sunset (6 each in Gold and Silver). The wind increased steadily during the day, up to around 12 mph in the late afternoon. While in the Gold fleet nobody ran away with the regatta, Matt Struble had consistently good finishes and won with a healthy lead. In the Silver fleet George Long had no mercy on his competitors, and won every race he finished. In the one race he didn't complete, he was leading at the second leeward mark rounding when he retired.

Most sailors were moving pretty slow at the hotel on Sunday morning, yet were anxious for another day of battling on the ice. A light wind got the sailors to the starting line, although it required a lot of short jibing to go the 1-1/2 miles downwind. The Gold Fleet started the first race of the day in reasonable wind, but it dropped to nothing 200 yards from the finish line. The was a lot of jibing and pushing to make it the final short distance to the line, but the fleet was able to eventually finish. The Silver fleet didn't fair as well, and didn't make the time limit. After standing around for an hour or so in diminishing winds, the Race Committee decided to close the regatta.

A special treat was a pot of piping hot chili provided by Dick and Julie from the Grand Traverse Ice Yacht Club. This may have been a teaser to get everyone frothing in anticipation of the Fun Regatta, but it made for a nice ending to the Regatta.

Paul Goodwin - US 46

Gold fleet
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pos    Sail#         Name        Race>     1    2    3    4    5    6    7  Points
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  1   US  183     STRUBLE,        MATT     1    2 (  3)   2    1    1    3   10.00 
 2   US 3662       SMITH,    GREG (S)     4    3    1    1    2 (  6)   4   15.00
  3   US  882     GOUGEON,   MEADE (M)     3    1    2    5 (  7)   5    2   18.00 
  4   US 5144      HARPER,        JOHN     2    4 (  8)   3    5    3    7   24.00 
  5   US 4061     GOODWIN,        PAUL     6    6    7    4    3    2 ( 10)  28.00 
  6   US    3      GROGAN,         JIM  ( 15)   5    6    9    8    4    1   33.00 
  7   US 4638     LOVEJOY,         GUY     5    7    4    7    4    7 ( 11)  34.00 
 8   US 4926    ORLEBEKE,       STEVE     7    8    5    8    6 ( 11)   5   39.00
  9   US 4974       JONES,    STAN (M)  ( 16)  11   10   10   13    8    8   60.00 
 10   US 4961   DAVENPORT,        JOHN    10    9    9   12   10   14 ( 17)  64.00 
 11   US 4055     STRUBLE,     BOB (S)     8   19 ( 22)   6    9   10   13   65.00 
 12   US 4915        COOK,  ROBERT (S)    13   10   11   16 ( 16)   9    9   68.00 
 13   US 4962  LABOZZETTA,       VINCE     9 ( 18)  16   17   15   15    6   78.00 
 14   US  181       DEFER,   HARRY (S)    14   17   12   14   11   12 ( 18)  80.00 
15   US  472     COBERLY, WILLIAM (S)    18   20   14   15   12 ( 22)  12   91.00
 16   US 4155     LEMBERG, RICHARD (S)    19   14 ( 21)  11   18   17   16   95.00 
 17   US 4738      PARKER,        DICK    11   22   20   13   17   13 (DNS)  96.00 
 18   US 5048      PARKER,       BRIAN    12   12   13   20   20   21 (DNF)  98.00 
 19   US 1854    THIESSEN,     BOB (M)    17   13   18 ( 21)  19   19   14  100.00 
 20   US 4755 LEMBERG, JR,        RICK    20   15   17   19 ( 22)  16   15  102.00 
 21   US 4192     ROGOSKI,       RANDY  ( 21)  16   15   18   14   20   19  102.00 
 22   US   88     BABCOCK, C BUTCH (M)  (DNS)  21   19   22   21   18  DNS  124.00 
  



Silver fleet
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pos    Sail#         Name        Race>    1    2    3    4    5    6  Points
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  1   US 2138        LONG,  GEORGE (M)     1 ( 22)   1    1    1    1    5.00
  2   US 4328       KLINE,     RANDALL     3 (  6)   3    2    2    2   12.00
  3   US  216     POTCOVA,     RICHARD     2    1    4    7    6 ( 10)  20.00
  4   US 5132     NEVEDAL,      DAN(S)     5 ( 11)   2    3    3    8   21.00
  5   US 5172    BETZOLDT,   GLENN (S)     4    2    9 ( 13)   9    6   30.00
  6   US 4266  BUCHBINDER,    BILL (S)     9    3    6 ( 14)   5   11   34.00
  7   US 4730     LEONARD,        DAVE    10    5    8    4 ( 10)   7   34.00
  8   US 4882      WOLLAM, RICHARD (S)     8    7    7    6    7 ( 12)  35.00
  9   US 3705      HOLMAN,      ROBERT  ( 18)  12    5    5    8    9   39.00
 10   US 5122       YOUNG,     CHARLIE     6   13 (DNS)  17    4    5   45.00
 11   US 4968      GULARI,        BORA     7    4   19 (DNS)  13    3   46.00
 12   US 1059     ULBRICK,     MICHAEL    17   10   14    8 ( 17)   4   53.00
 13   US 3743    CARNAGHI,     J.P.(S)    11    8   10   11 ( 15)  14   54.00
 14   US 4911        ZOLL,    DAVID(S)  ( 16)  14   11   10   11   13   59.00
 15   US 4654        GRAY,  ROBERT (S)    12    9   15   12   12 ( 16)  60.00
 16   US 5053        REIS,  GEORGE (S)    14   15   13    9   14 ( 17)  65.00
 17   US  151     LEONARD,       BRUCE    13 ( 18)  12   15   16   15   71.00
 18   US 4379      FEEVEY, LAWRENCE(S)    20 ( 21)  16   16   19   18   89.00
 19   US 3400      GIBSON,     DAVE(M)    19   17   17   19   18 (DNS)  90.00
 20   US 4006      FISHER,     DIX (S)  ( 21)  20   18   18   21   20   97.00
 21   US 5200  WISNIEWSKI,        MIKE  (DNF)  19   21   20   20   19   99.00
 22   US 1985        TEAL,       CHRIS    15   16   20 (DNS) DNS  DNS  101.00
 23   US 3379   MCDANIELS,   DUANE (M)    22  DNS (DNS) DNS  DNS  DNS  122.00
 24   US 4643 ZUHLKE, JR.,   MARKUS(M)   DNS  DNS (DNS) DNS  DNS  DNS  125.00

  

Updated February 24, 2002