2002 Western challenge Regatta

Congratulations to Ron Sherry for Winning the Western Challenge!

On a more local note, Congratulations to John Dennis for getting 2nd place, and for being the top Minnesota Iceboater.

Saturday
The Regatta was moved from Buffalo, Mn down the road 20miles to Waconia, MN. Waconia, (where there is always more breeze) welcomed 30 racers to near perfect conditions. Six races were easily sailed even though the racing started at 1:00pm after the change in location.

World class iceboaters and first time racers lined up in one fleet and experienced 10-15 kts of breeze with some puffs to keep things interesting. The wind seemed to build in the afternoon.

The ice was smooth with a light coating of snow that didn't seem to slow anybody down. The ice was 3" - 5" thick. There were a couple of pressure ridges that needed to be negotiated if you went to the far right of the course.

Sunday
Wind turned out to be too light. After one race where the wind was going light by the time the last boat crossed the line, (and that would be me, us5214), the regatta was called.

Pos Name              Sail #  Race> 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  Total w/TO
1   Sherry, Ron       US 44         4  1  1  1  1  2  4   10
2   Dennis, J         US 4691       5  2  2  5  3  5  1   18
3   Goodwin, Paul     US 4061       1  4  3  2  5  7  7   22
4   Evans, Rob        US 4975       3  3  5  3  6  4  8   24
5   Harper, John      US 4379       2  5  7  7  8  1 10   30
6   Christensen, Mark US 4824      11  7  8  8  2  8  3   36
7   Bohn, Jorg         G 737       13  6  9  4  4  3 14   39
8   Orlebeke, Steve   US 4926       9  9 14 31  7  6  2   47
9   Kickhafer, Dave   US 4602      16  8  6  5  9 11 31   55
10  Sherry, Wendell   US 45        17 10  4 10 14 12  9   59
11  Isabell, Mark     US 5014      10 15 11 11 10  9 11   62
12  Couch, John D.    US 4961       8 14 10 13 11 13 12   67
13  Cave, Bob         US 445        6 11 12 15 13 14 31   71
14  Johns, Pete       US 2360      14 13 13  9 15 10 13   72
15  Meyer, Tom        US 602       15 12 16 12 12 17  6   73
16  Rehe, Michael     US 5144      12 19 17 14 16 16  5   80
17  Kiefer, Mark      US 4695       7 16 19 19 18 18 15   93
18  Loomis, John      US 4923      20 20 20 17 19 15 16  107
19  Kennedy           US 824       22 17 15 21 20 21 17  111
20  McDonagh, Jim     US 5214      31 18 18 18 21 20 19  114
21  Irwin             US 246       23 21 26 17 17 25 31  129
22  Rast, Bob         US 1313      21 22 21 22 31 19 31  136
23  Smith, Ken        US 4137      18 23 22 20 31 31 31  145
24  ??                US 5252      24 27 23 25 23 22 31  144
25  Foster, A         US 494       31 25 25 23 22 23 31  149
26  Ziolkowski         P 71        25 28 31 27 26 26 18  150
27  Lizee, Alan       US 5169      19 24 24 31 31 31 31  160
28  Foster, W.        US 4950      31 26 31 24 24 24 31  160
29  Ostbye            US 3340      31 31 31 26 25 27 31  171
30  Kiefer, Sam       US 5555      31 31 31 31 31 31 31  186