The Western Regional Championship was held on Pistakee Lake, in Northeastern Illinois January 15 & 16, 2000. The lake was slightly bumpy, and was covered in 1/2" to 1" of soft snow, with 25% bare ice patches. There were a few areas of thin ice to avoid, but a course of 3/4 mile was possible from any wind direction.
There was great turnout, with 61 boats participating, including 15 boats from the Central Lakes Region. Five races were completed in each fleet on Saturday, and we were done sailing around 3pm. Another three races were sailed in each fleet on Sunday, completing all eight scheduled races for the Regatta.
The racing on Saturday started with light but sailable wind, and the shifty conditions provided a good test for the sailors. After the first few races, it was clear there was going to be a serious battle for the top spots in both the Gold and Silver fleets.
In the gold fleet, Greg Smith and defending regional champ John Dennis put on a good show, with close racing and exciting finishes. After Saturday’s races were complete, Greg and John were tied, with John winning the tie-breaker. A fierce battle also insued in the Gold fleet between Paul Goodwin, and arch rival Cliff Cartwright. Paul jumped ahead with a 1st place finish in the 4th race, but Cliff’s consistency gave him the edge at the end of the day with a 1 point lead.
In the Silver Fleet, Mike Jankowski and George Long were sailing a close race on Saturday, finishing the day separated by only only 2 points. The area Rear Commodore John Davenport was also sailing well, and was 6 points behind George.
On Suday,the forecast was for winds increasing to 20-30 mph. There was talk around the fleet that perhaps it was (or was going to get) too windy to sail. The race committee wisely decided to try to set a course, and see if the somewhat short course would allow for safe sailing. As it turned out, the wind varied between 10 and 20 mph, with most of the races being sailed in 15-20 mph winds.
The increased wind provided great racing, and John Dennis showed his stuff by winning all three races. Cliff Cartwright won race 6, giving him a 2 point lead over Paul Goodwin. In race 7, Paul beat Cliff, giving Cliff a 1 point lead going into the last race. Both sailors knew that if Paul finished ahead, then the tie-breaker would be in his favor, so there was going to be a tough battle. Paul managed to get ahead just before the 1st weather mark rounding, and was able to hold on to the position till the finish. Actually, this was probably inevetible, since Cliff *always* loses ties (7 lost tie-breakers in the last 4 years! ...including a tie for 1st at the North American Championship, losing the tie to Ken VanWagnen).
In the Silver fleet, George Long came on strong, hoping to take the lead position from Mike Jankowski. John Davenport also had some good results on Sunday, proving the string of second place finishes Saturday weren’t just a fluke. By the end of the day, Gearge had taken 1st place, Mike was 1 pint behind him, and John was 1 point behind Mike. Now that’s competitive racing!
Randy Johnson was sailing in the Aluminum mast/plate runner fleet, and made a really good showing, finishing in 4th place in Silver fleet.
It was a great regatta, and everyone was talking about how much fun it had been. There was only 1 accident on the course, and a racer ventured out onto thin ice (maybe to test the flotation of his boat?). There were no injuries (that the author is aware of), and the race committee, led by Randy ("broken foot") Rogoski, did a fine job of getting the races sailed quickly, fairly, and safely. Many thanks to Debbie Goodwin for handling the scoring, as well as making sure the sailors were on the blocks with the call to "line-em-up".
Special thanks to the volunteer scoring crew (Diane, Dawn, and Leslie), and the sailors who brought these ladies.
by: Paul Goodwin - US4061
Gold fleet ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Pos Sail# Name Race> 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Points ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1 US 4691 DENNIS, JOHN 2 2 1 3 2 1 1 1 13.00 2 US 3662 SMITH, GREGORY 1 5 2 1 1 2 2 2 16.00 3 US 4061 GOODWIN, PAUL 5 1 3 8 5 5 3 3 33.00 4 US 118 CARTWRIGHT, CLIFF 4 4 4 5 4 4 4 4 33.00 5 US 4824 CHRISTENSEN, MARK 23 3 9 7 7 3 5 7 64.00 6 US 4975 EVANS, ROB 3 10 5 6 21 8 7 5 65.00 7 US 4602 KICKHAFER, DAVID 19 6 8 9 9 6 11 6 74.00 8 US 3283 WILLIAMS, J. BRUCE 6 11 10 11 6 15 10 12 81.00 9 US 294 LOENNEKE(S), LOUIS 14 17 14 2 3 10 9 22 91.00 10 US 610 JONES(M), DONALD 7 7 6 19 11 9 24 20 103.00 11 US 2360 JOHNS, PETE 10 16 7 10 15 20 12 13 103.00 12 US 45 SHERRY(S), WENDELL 13 8 11 13 8 21 26 10 110.00 13 US 406 WOODRUFF, PETER 15 24 16 20 12 18 6 8 119.00 14 US 338 LOENNEKE, ERIC 18 15 15 15 10 11 16 21 121.00 15 US 2301 BIERMAN, DANIEL 16 9 12 23 17 23 13 9 122.00 16 US 4155 LEMBERG, RICHARD 8 19 26 17 16 16 8 15 125.00 17 US 3 GROGAN, JIM 11 23 17 12 20 7 22 14 126.00 18 US 602 MEYER, TOM 9 12 13 14 19 26 17 18 128.00 19 US 4811 CHATTERTON, MARKHAM 12 18 18 16 13 12 18 23 130.00 20 US 4148 DIXON, TIM 21 21 19 22 18 25 19 11 156.00 21 US 4974 JONES(M), STAN 22 28 22 4 14 24 21 24 159.00 22 US 3433 CUMMINS(S), ROBERT 25 13 27 25 22 19 14 16 161.00 23 US 4695 KIEFER, MARK 20 29 25 29 24 14 15 17 173.00 24 US 5014 ISABELL, MARK 17 26 21 21 23 22 20 26 176.00 25 US 781 NORTON, JOE 28 22 23 26 28 13 25 19 184.00 26 US 445 CAVE, BOB 26 25 28 24 26 17 23 25 194.00 27 US 4915 COOK(S), BOB 29 14 20 28 25 27 27 27 197.00 28 US 4249 KAISER, RICHARD 30 20 24 18 27 DNS DNS DNS 212.00 29 US 1610 BROWN, BRUCE 24 27 DNF 27 DNF DNS DNS DNS 233.00 30 US 4732 GAMBLE, TODD 27 30 DNF 30 DNS DNS DNS DNS 242.00
Silver fleet ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Pos Sail# Name Race> 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Points ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1 US 2138 LONG(S), GEORGE 4 2 4 1 1 2 6 2 22.00 2 US 3271 JANKOWSKI, MIKE 2 1 1 3 3 8 2 3 23.00 3 US 4961 DAVENPORT, JOHN 6 6 2 2 2 1 4 1 24.00 4 US 4000 JOHNSON, RANDY 3 5 3 4 12 5 10 8 50.00 5 US 4203 FITZGERALD(S), PATRICK 7 15 12 9 6 12 7 5 73.00 6 US 4826 CROASDALE, CHRIS 1 8 14 23 18 3 3 4 74.00 7 US 4950 RATLIFF, MATT 8 3 6 24 5 16 5 10 77.00 8 US 581 RENJI, CLINTON 9 13 8 5 11 6 13 15 80.00 9 US 4755 LEMBERG, JR, RICK 15 17 13 7 8 11 8 6 85.00 10 US 4676 MENEAU, MIKE 12 14 7 13 10 17 9 13 95.00 11 US 4889 AUSTIN, TOM 10 11 5 17 19 4 1 DNF 99.00 12 US 4137 SMITH JR., KEN 5 9 9 18 20 15 11 16 103.00 13 US 1873 CROASDALE(M), RAYMOND 16 12 11 8 DNF 9 12 7 107.00 14 US 4257 GLUEK, JIM 26 16 15 11 4 10 14 11 107.00 15 US 4911 ZOLL, DAVID 18 10 16 10 21 7 15 12 109.00 16 US 4926 OORLEBEKE, STEVE 11 20 19 12 7 19 16 9 113.00 17 US 805 PEGEL, JANE 19 19 17 15 14 14 19 14 131.00 18 US 5143 Abbott, DAVE 23 22 21 20 9 18 17 17 147.00 19 US 4951 LEWIS, MARK 17 4 22 6 22 DNS DNS DNF 167.00 20 US 4954 POWELL, III, L. J. 14 7 20 16 17 DNS DNS DNS 170.00 21 US 360 BAUSCH, ELMER 20 21 23 22 16 DNF 20 18 172.00 22 US 4291 KALLMAN, RICK 21 18 18 21 24 13 DNF DNS 179.00 23 US 1313 RAST, BOB 24 29 26 26 13 21 22 19 180.00 24 US 4473 SCHLOEMER, RON 13 DNF 10 19 15 DNS DNS DNS 185.00 25 US 5084 STEFANSKI, AL 22 23 25 25 23 25 18 DNF 193.00 26 US 4436 LINSNER, ARTHUR 27 24 27 27 25 22 21 DNS 205.00 27 US 4293 SCHUETTE, PAUL 29 27 24 14 27 20 DNF DNS 205.00 28 US 2237 DAKIN, HERB 31 28 29 30 28 24 23 20 213.00 29 US 3865 BOWEN(S), TED 25 26 DNS 28 26 DNS DNS DNS 233.00 30 US 4988 REISINSER, MIKE 30 25 28 29 29 DNS DNS DNS 237.00 31 US 5008 WALK, DANA 28 30 30 31 DNF 23 DNF DNS 238.00
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Updated: January 17, 2000
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