2002 Western Regional RegattaThe 2002 Western Regional Regatta was held at Lake Winnebago on January 5th and 6th. Sailors came from all points to attend the largest Western Regional Regatta in history. Sixty-nine racers enjoyed the large ice and excellent venue, making this a very memorable event. Unlike many regattas, there was no problem finding ice, with an area several miles wide and ten or more miles long to choose from. The ice was thick enough to allow the sailors to drive trailers onto the ice, which always makes regatta setup much more enjoyable. The ice was mostly smooth and very fast, but was dotted with thin sticky snow drifts. This resulted in racers looking for the best lanes through the snow patches when the wind was light, adding another dimension to the racing tactics. Racing got under way on Saturday with fairly light but sailable winds. The regatta was structured similar to the IDNIYRA international rules, splitting the fleets based on rank, and with a mini-qualifier for the Silver fleet. With the lead boats just making the time limit, the mini-qualifier was a bit of a challenge and the scorers had to stay on their toes to account for all the boats that fell victim to the "Bart rule". Michael Rehe flew like the wind, and handily beat the rest of the pack to move into the Gold fleet (along with his 11 closest competitors). The first Gold Fleet race was also held in light winds, and Greg Smith demonstrated the sailing skills that have made him a National Champion. Looking at the results for the first race, you can see that sailing consistently fast was difficult, and a lot of the top sailors were mixing it up in the middle of the fleet. Sailors from the Western Region did very well in the light wind, with John Dennis, Lou Loenneke, and Mark Cristensen finishing in the top five. The wind increased somewhat for the second Silver Fleet and Gold Fleet races, but got a little lighter again for the third Silver Fleet race. In the Silver Fleet, Chris Croasdale, Rick Lemberg, and Tim Dixon looked like the ones to watch, with Jane Pegel showing good form as well. In the Gold Fleet, Greg Smith and Ron Sherry were clearly leading the pack on Saturday, with an astounding "flash in the pan" second place finish by Paul Goodwin in the second race just to stir things up. John Dennis, John Harper, Rob Evans, and Mark Cristensen rounded out the top sailors for the day. On Saturday night, a local air museum opened its doors to the sailors, allowing a private look at the excellent exhibits, and free rides on the Aerobatic flight simulator. This machine was quite a ride, and it didn't take more than a few seconds to become disoriented and lose track of which side was supposed to be facing up. Most people opted to test the limits of the simulators' dynamic capabilities as opposed to anything resembling flying, but I think all stomach contents remained inside peoples bodies (where they belong), at least until the ride was over (5 minutes of loops, spins, rolls, and maneuvers no plane has ever seen). The light wind only allowed the Race Committee to get in three races for each fleet on Saturday, out of the five race maximum spelled out in the Sailing Instructions. On Sunday morning it was clear that the sailing conditions would be significantly different from the day before. The wind speed was around fifteen mph in the morning, and after a spirited ride out to the course most sailors quickly changed to the heaviest and/or sharpest runners they had. Greg Smith even put his handy lead stiffeners on his runners to make his boat easier to sail. The wind increased quickly into the 18-25 mph range before the racing started, but held relatively steady in strength and direction during the day. Tactics changed considerably since the snow was less of a problem, and keeping your boat powered up and going fast was a key element to staying out front. Boat speeds were very high, and the hard ice made for some exciting downwind rides, with occasionally frightening leeward mark roundings. There were many broaches and spinouts on the downwind legs, punctuated by the occasional "out of boat experience". In the Gold fleet Paul Goodwin clearly enjoyed the increase in wind strength, and managed to get ahead of Ron and Greg to win the first race of the day. This was a fleeting victory however, since neither Ron nor Greg make the same mistakes twice, and both of them had some problems in the first race which allowed Paul to slip by. Greg definitely had superior boat speed, and finished the rest of the races with significant leads over Ron and Paul. John Harper and Rob Evans sailed very consistently, while John Dennis and Mark Cristensen dropped back a bit in the higher winds. In the Silver Fleet, Rick Kalman and Bob Cummins sailed a really good series of races on Sunday. Rick Kalman was especially noteworthy for his excellent leeward mark roundings in the high wind, with many Gold Fleet sailors remarking on how smooth and fast his leeward mark roundings were. Many races are won or lost at the leeward mark, and it pays to watch the lead boats carefully to pick up tips on getting around smoothly with minimal loss in speed. Tom Meyer and Jim Gluek also sailed consistently well, and Rick Lemberg came back after a couple bad races to finish well overall. This was a memorable regatta, where everything came together perfectly. We had good ice, good weather, great hospitality, and fantastic racing. Many thanks to the hospitality of the local sailors, and the hard work of the Race Committee. John Davenport put together a great crew to help with the regatta. Dan Heaney headed the Race Committee, with Debbie Goodwin doing what she does, Diane, Dawn, Bob, Jeff, two guys from Harken (who shall remain nameless to protect the innocent), and some help from the South Side Ice Yacht Club. Ted Bowen and Bob Cummins were instumental in getting things organized locally, providing the sailors with inexpensive accommodations and excellent entertainment Saturday night. This was the best Regional Regatta I can remember attending, and hopefully one that can be repeated soon. Paul Goodwin - US 46 Gold fleet
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pos Sail# Name Race> 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Points ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 US 3662 SMITH, GREG 1 ( 8) 3 2 1 1 1 9.00 2 US 44 SHERRY, RON ( 6) 1 1 3 2 2 3 12.00 3 US 46 GOODWIN, PAUL ( 11) 2 9 1 3 3 2 20.00 4 US 4379 HARPER, JOHN 5 4 2 ( 5) 4 4 4 23.00 5 US 4975 EVANS, ROBERT ( 12) 3 7 4 5 5 5 29.00 6 US 4691 DENNIS, JOHN 2 6 4 10 ( 16) 6 11 39.00 7 US 4824 CHRISTENSEN, MARK 3 (DSQ) 5 8 12 12 7 47.00 8 US 3283 WILLIAMS, J.BRUCE (S) 10 10 10 ( 22) 8 7 9 54.00 9 US 30 LEBEAU, LEON 9 5 ( 30) 18 10 14 6 62.00 10 US 610 JONES, DONALD (M) 7 7 6 ( 30) 14 23 10 67.00 11 US 4155 LEMBERG, RICHARD (S) ( 24) 15 13 7 15 15 17 82.00 12 US 45 SHERRY, WENDELL (M) 8 ( 24) 17 12 20 16 12 85.00 13 US 4926 ORLEBEKE, STEVE 17 ( 20) 16 15 13 9 16 86.00 14 US 294 LOENNEKE, LOUIS (S) 4 9 8 33 11 (DNS) 30 95.00 15 US 3271 JANKOWSKI, MIKE ( 28) 19 18 14 22 10 15 98.00 16 US 3 GROGAN, JIM ( 23) 12 14 21 9 20 22 98.00 17 US 4602 KICKHAFER, DAVID ( 25) 11 11 20 23 13 20 98.00 18 US 2301 BIERMAN, DANIEL 19 13 ( 23) 11 17 17 23 100.00 19 US 5144 REHE, MICHAEL (J) 16 16 12 17 ( 24) 22 19 102.00 20 US 781 NORTON, JOE (S) 18 23 ( 24) 13 19 18 13 104.00 21 US 2360 JOHNS, PETE (M) ( 33) 28 28 16 7 11 14 104.00 22 US 4974 JONES, STAN (M) 14 17 15 (DNS) 31 8 21 106.00 23 US 4192 ROGOSKI, RANDY ( 35) 31 33 9 6 21 8 108.00 24 US 445 CAVE, BOB (S) 13 ( 32) 22 19 21 19 18 112.00 25 US 4961 DAVENPORT, JOHN 15 14 19 ( 32) 25 24 24 121.00 26 US 4915 COOK, ROBERT (S) 21 25 21 ( 27) 26 26 26 145.00 27 US 4695 KIEFER, MARK 29 18 25 (DNS) 18 31 DNS 157.00 28 US 1873 CROASDALE, RAY (M) 22 21 20 24 34 (DNS) DNS 157.00 29 US 4249 KAISER, RICHARD (S) 30 22 ( 34) 23 33 25 25 158.00 30 US 4137 SMITH, JR., KEN (S) 20 29 31 25 27 27 (DNS) 159.00 31 US 1313 RAST, ROBERT (S) 26 26 27 26 ( 29) 28 28 161.00 32 US 5109 HENDERSON, R. KEITH 27 (DSQ) 26 28 28 29 27 165.00 33 US 5014 ISABELL, MARK 34 30 35 6 (DSQ) DNS DNS 177.00 34 US 1301 COBERLY, CHAD 31 27 29 29 30 32 (DNS) 178.00 35 US 3575 STADT, PATRICK 32 ( 33) 32 31 32 30 29 186.00 Silver
fleet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pos Sail# Name Race> 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Points --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 US 4291 KALLMAN, RICK 8 ( 17) 12 1 1 1 1 24.00 2 US 3433 CUMMINS, ROBERT (S) 7 ( 12) 11 3 2 2 2 27.00 3 US 602 MEYER, TOM (S) ( 12) 6 9 2 6 3 3 29.00 4 US 4257 GLUEK, JIM 4 9 5 8 ( 15) 5 6 37.00 5 US 4755 LEMBERG, JR, RICK ( 24) 2 3 10 12 4 7 38.00 6 US 4826 CROASDALE, CHRIS 9 1 1 17 4 7 ( 18) 39.00 7 US 5132 NEVEDAL, DAN ( 17) 5 13 7 5 6 4 40.00 8 US 4148 DIXON, TIM ( 19) 3 4 11 9 10 10 47.00 9 US 4367 YOUNG, CHARLIE 13 15 2 5 8 14 (DNS) 57.00 10 US 805 PEGEL, JANE (M) 1 4 10 ( 24) 13 18 13 59.00 11 US 492 MCDONAGH, JIM 6 14 ( 15) 14 11 13 8 66.00 12 US 4950 RATLIFF, MATT 16 13 7 13 16 8 ( 19) 73.00 13 US 5172 BETZOLDT, GLENN (S) 5 19 19 ( 19) 10 11 12 76.00 14 US 4293 SCHUETTE, PAUL 28 31 (DNS) 4 3 9 5 80.00 15 US 5033 BEMIS, JASON ( 23) 11 17 9 18 17 11 83.00 16 US 4000 JOHNSON, RANDY (S) 2 30 20 6 7 23 (DNS) 88.00 17 US 1277 BOWMAN, HAL (M) 22 18 ( 23) 15 14 15 9 93.00 18 US 4893 METZLOFF, KYLE 14 10 18 18 19 ( 20 14 93.00) 19 US 4140 HOEPER, PETER (S) 3 8 16 20 22 (DNS DNS 104.00) 20 US 4923 LOOMIS, JOHN (S) 31 24 8 12 20 12 (DNS) 107.00 21 US 3271 JANKOWSKI, STEFAN (J) 18 ( 33) 14 23 21 16 15 107.00 22 US 2138 LONG, GEORGE (M) 10 7 6 DNS (DNS) DNS DNS 128.00 23 US 4959 ULBRICK, MICHAEL 25 23 31 21 17 19 (DNS) 136.00 24 US 4793 GOULETTE, BILL ( 34) 29 29 25 23 21 16 143.00 25 US 2963 SCHLOESSER, JACK (M) 26 27 25 26 (DNS) 22 17 143.00 26 US 5555 KIEFER, SAM (JR) 11 16 26 27 (DNS) DNS DNS 150.00 27 US 4989 HUTCHINSON, ANDREW 15 22 22 22 (DNS) DNS DNS 151.00 28 US 4943 BREWER, JOHN 29 34 30 16 24 (DNS DNS 168.00) 29 US 3865 BOWEN, TED (S) 20 20 24 DNS (DNS) DNS DNS 169.00 30 US 360 BAUSCH, ELMER (M) 21 32 21 28 (DNS) DNS DNS 172.00 31 US 2237 DAKIN, HERB (M) 30 25 27 29 (DNS) DNS DNS 181.00 32 US 5110 MACK, GEORGE 27 21 32 DNS (DNS) DNS DNS 185.00 33 US 4924 MAASSEN, STEVE 33 28 28 DNS (DNS) DNS DNS 194.00 34 US 4490 LUNDT, PETER (M) 32 26 DNS (DNS) DNS DNS DNS 198.00Updated January 10, 2002 |