After some delays, and a weekend of standing around with no wind, the 1999 Central Lakes Regional Championship was finally held successfully on Elk Lake. The White Birch Lodge was once again regatta headquarters, and as usual provided a perfect regatta venue which allowed you to park your boat 100 yds from your bed.
The early arrivals on Friday were treated to a day of excellent sailing, with patches of snow 1/2" deep on top of hard ice. I was not one of the fortunate ones, instead I drove up Friday night in "tri-phase" preciptation - rain, freezing rain, and snow. With the usual situation of speedsters doing doughnuts on the freeway, and a total shutdown for 20 minutes while a pickup and 4-place snowmobile trailer were turned right side up, I didn't get to the White Birch until 2:30am.
The snow gods were kind and Elk Lake had patchy snow (about 50% cover) in drifts 1-3" deep. Some of the drifts were pretty well packed, and it was impossible to tell the stiff snow from the fluffy stuff. The wind was very light Saturday morning and it was difficult to keep a boat moving, which delayed the start of racing. As the morning progressed, the wind built steadily, allowing the racing to start around noon. By the time a course was set up, sailing was not a problem and the races went off smoothly during the afternoon.
I got a great start in the first race, and was able to stay in clear air as I made my way around the course. My boat speed was pretty good, but the pace was being set by Ron Sherry and Greg Smith. The top boats were very close together, with positions changing rapidly as boats negotiated the course trying to avoid the deepest drifts.
The first Silver fleet was dominated by Butch Babcock and Duane McDaniels, with Bryan Parker (this years only Junior sailor) right on their heels. Duane was back racing after few years off the circuit, and was proving he still had "the right stuff". Butch and Duane fought it out, but Butch was ahead the only place it counts - at the finish line.
In the second Gold fleet race, I had Greg starting above me, and Jim Grogan and Jan Gougeon starting below me. This is not a favorable position for me, since I like to foot off the starting line, and the Jim and Jan like to point fairly high. I thought I got a good leap off the line, but as I got in the boat I had Jan coming up from below me, pushing me up into Greg (who was sailing over the top and taking my air). As I slowily got pinched out, the only choice was to slow down enough to tack and try to get clear air. This cost me in a big way, as I watched most of the fleet round the weather mark ahead of me, and made the first leeward mark rounding in 18th place. I was suprised (and disappointed in a way) to find that the boat speed at the back of the fleet was not much different than at the top. With the top sailors using "stock" masts and sails, it possible for anyone to get the same gear and go just as fast. Luckily, I was able to get on the right side of a few wind shifts, get out into clear air, and pass a few boats to finish a respectable 10th place.
The second race in the Silver fleet set the pace for the rest of the regatta. Duane pulled into an early lead, and finished the race at about the same time Butch rounded the weather mark. I heard that Duane was having his second cup of coffee when Butch came across the finish line, followed by Bryan Parker. For the rest of the series this was to be their destiny - Duane, Butch, and Bryan - 1, 2, and 3.
In the third Gold fleet race I got lucky and found my own personal wind shaft which carried me up to the weather mark with a fairly decent lead. This didn't matter to Ron and Greg, who both wore me down and showed me their transoms. Still, I was happy to take a third, my best finish of the series.
The fourth Gold fleet race was notable because Greg beat Ron for a change!!! The other notable event was John Harper swithched masts, and promptly went from 9th place finishes to 3rd. The rest of the fleet sailed their usual races, with a general up and down trend caused by the shifting wind and stiff snow patches.
With five races in each fleet Saturday, the race committee called it a day around 3 o'clock. this gave sailors plenty of time to de-rig and relax before dinner. As the days results were tallied and the positions posted, I was pleasantly suprised to see I was in 3rd place for the day! The point spread was very close, with Jan two points behind, and another five boats biting at our heels. Silver fleet was pretty interesting, with Duane having all 1st places (after a throwout), Butch four 2nds and a 1st, and Bryan with straight 3rds.
Sunday morning had light air, and the snow drifts were stiffer than the day before. Again we had to wait while the wind strength built, but the race committee had a course set before noon. This did not make me very happy, since light air has never been my strong point. The first Gold fleet race of the day was very frustrating, with times when I could barely keep my boat moving. I remember reaching back and forth across the course, and looking upwind to see the leaders rounding the weather mark. I concentrated on keeping the boat moving, and meandered my way through the three laps. As I crossed the finish line, my heart sank when I looked back at the course and realized I was one of the last boats to finish. As I found out later, things were not so grim since only 19 boats finished three laps - the rest were "Barted".
The Silver fleet sailed their fifth race, with the top three sailors finishing in the same positions as the day before. It's truly unfair to mention only the top three boats in the Silver fleet, because the next three were actually more competitive. Richard Wollam, Dave Leonard, and Mark Burns sailed an incredibly competitive series, and finished with only a one point spread between the three boats.
The Gold fleet was also incredibly competitive, with mostly one point steps between the boats from 4th place to 10th. This is a recipe for really fun racing, with positions changing after every finish. This turned out to be another great regatta, and I hope there will be more like this to come.
NOTABLE OBSERVATIONS:
It was interesting to see that with the conditions on the course, their was no clear winner in terms of runners. The top boats
were sailing with a combination of Sarns bullnose, short snow plate, and 3/16" x 36" insert runners. Each runner had advantages
on different parts of the course. Greg Smith used 3/16" inserts and felt they were faster upwind. Ron Sherry used snow plates and
had the best speed downwind. I used bullnose plates for the first two races, and snow plates after that. Jan Gougeon used
snow plates for the first races and switched to 3/16" inserts for the last races. This made for great tuning since it provided the
opportunity to compare different runners side by side in a racing environment.
Gold fleet -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pos Sail# Name Race> 1 2 3 4 5 6 Points -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 US 44 SHERRY, RON 1 1 1 ( 2) 1 1 5.00 2 US 3662 SMITH, GREGORY 2 2 2 1 2 ( 8) 9.00 3 US 1183 GOUGEON(S), JAN ( 8) 3 5 5 7 2 22.00 4 US 4061 GOODWIN, PAUL 4 ( 10) 3 7 4 10 28.00 5 US 4055 STRUBLE(S), BOB 7 7 6 ( 8) 5 3 28.00 6 US 4379 HARPER, JOHN 9 9 ( 9) 3 3 5 29.00 7 US 3 GROGAN, JIM 6 8 4 ( 12) 8 6 32.00 8 US 3283 WILLIAMS(S), J. BRUCE 3 6 7 ( 11) 9 7 32.00 9 US 118 CARTWRIGHT, CLIFF 5 5 10 4 10 ( 21) 34.00 10 US 183 STRUBLE, MATT 11 4 ( 12) 6 6 9 36.00 11 US 4192 ROGOSKI, RANDY 10 11 8 10 12 ( 23) 51.00 12 US 4789 CLARK, CHRIS 12 ( 15) 11 14 13 12 62.00 13 US 45 SHERRY(S), WENDELL 15 12 13 18 ( 19) 4 62.00 14 US 2138 LONG(S), GEORGE 17 13 17 15 ( 20) 11 73.00 15 US 610 JONES(M), DONALD ( 19) 14 15 16 15 19 79.00 16 US 4155 LEMBERG, RICHARD 16 16 16 13 18 ( 22) 79.00 17 US 4738 PARKER, DICK (DNF) 17 22 17 11 13 80.00 18 US 4974 JONES(M), STAN 14 19 19 ( 21) 17 14 83.00 19 US 4000 JOHNSON(S), RANDY 20 ( 21) 20 9 14 20 83.00 20 US 1006 VITALE(S), NICK 13 18 21 ( 23) 16 16 84.00 21 US 4755 LEMBERG, JR, RICK 21 20 14 19 ( 23) 15 89.00 22 US 4915 COOK(S), BOB 18 23 ( 23) 20 22 17 100.00 23 US 1854 THEISSEN(M), ROBERT 22 22 18 ( 22) 21 18 101.00 24T US 1610 BROWN(S), BRUCE DNF DNS (DNS) DNS DNS DNS 130.00 25T US 1202 HARVEY(M), DOUGLAS DNF DNS (DNS) DNS DNS DNS 130.00 Scoring system: IDNIYRA Worlds
Silver fleet -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pos Sail# Name Race> 1 2 3 4 5 6 Points -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 US 3379 MCDANIELS(S), DUANE ( 2) 1 1 1 1 1 5.00 2 US 88 BABCOCK(S), BUTCH 1 2 ( 2) 2 2 2 9.00 3 US 5048 PARKER(J), BRYAN 3 3 ( 3) 3 3 3 15.00 4 US 4882 WOLLAM(S), RICHARD 5 6 6 4 4 ( 7) 25.00 5 US 4730 LEONARD, DAVE 4 7 ( 8) 5 6 4 26.00 6 US 5035 BURNS, MARK 6 5 4 ( 7) 5 6 26.00 7 US 4945 LEONARD, BRUCE 7 ( 8) 7 6 7 8 35.00 8 US 1873 CROASDALE(M), RAYMOND 8 4 5 (DNF) DNS DNS 43.00 9 US 4868 RICHARDS, JULIE 11 9 (DNF) 8 DNS DNS 54.00 10 US 4782 SCHARMEN(S), JIM 10 10 9 (DNF) DNS DNS 55.00 11 US 5084 STEFANSKI, AL DNS DNS (DNS) DNS DNS 5 57.00 12 US 4328 KLINE, RANDALL 9 11 DNF (DNF) DNS DNS 59.00 Scoring system: IDNIYRA Worlds
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