ILYA Championship

Hosted by Lake Okoboji, IA from 8/15/1999 to 8/17/1999

The I's Have It

Posted by: Jeff Kirchhoff

It had been over 10 years since I had traveled to the beautiful Great Lakes Region of northwestern Iowa for an ILYA Championship at Okoboji Yacht Club. Although I admit feeling distress over hearing that Spud's Resort (old fishing cottages on the lake where many Mendota sailors have fond memories) had been torn down to make room for a condo development (progress?!), I was very impressed with the new OYC and Sailing School building and facilities.

Many members of the I20 fleet arrived mid-afternoon Saturday, having left Madison in a caravan that morning. After several crews recovered from road trauma, we rigged, registered and moored the boats, all while the E-scows were sailing their first race in the best wind conditions of the week. We were excited to learn that there were 22 boats registered for the regatta (15 I20's and 7 M-20's) making it the largest turnout for the M-20 class in the ILYA in many years.

We got up Sunday morning to find the wind howling. Racing was postponed for the morning, but an hour gun finally went off around noon, so we started catching rides to the mooring area. Shortly after Erica Mather and I got our sails up, a committee boat made the rounds of the area warning us that the wind was back up, and that we would continue under postponement. I wanted to get a little sailing time in, since I had not been in the boat since the Lighthouse Regatta more than two months previous, so we headed out anyway. By the time we sailed around the point and into the bay where our races were to be held, the wind and waves had built up to "survival conditions". Several times we got stuck head-to-wind while trying to tack, so we struggled back to the mooring area. We were quite impressed with Grant Frautschi and Anita Bersie showing off "Recycled"'s purple asymmetric to the E-scow fleet in the big part of the lake! Although I was disappointed at the time, the decision to abandon the race by Kate Goes and her Race Committee ended up being the proper choice, given the tally of broken spars and other equipment by the E and MC fleets at day's end. When I got back home, I noticed that Dierk Polzin estimated the wind at 20-35 for the daily regatta updates on the E's website.

Monday brought light shifty winds. The first race was a windward/leeward with the breeze about 5-8, until the last run, when a 10-12 knot streak blew in from the left. Erica and I had a great start and tacked to port on the first shift. The fleet split with most of the boats sailing up the two shorelines, leaving the middle of the course empty. Although it was tough to figure how the boats on the left were faring, we were always in the top three on the right side, until I decided to be conservative and head back to the middle, well short of the starboard layline. This proved to be an unwise choice, as we got stuck in a hole and were passed by boats from both directions, and finally rounded the top mark in the mid-teens. We worked ourselves up to 6th or 7th after a good run and second beat. However, we were the furthest boat on the right on the last run when the aforementioned new wind filled in from the left, and finished well back in the pack at 14th. Steve Yost and Jamie Gwidt had the best I20 finish in "Pizazz", a strong 3rd.

The second race, an Olympic course, started immediately after the first, but the new wind disappeared and the steady breeze was back down to 5-8. John Hodges and Alec Chabalowski , in "Bad Dog!" rounded the top mark in second place, and really pulled away from the fleet on the reaches. Erica and I rounded with the first pack, probably 7th or 8th, and immediately sailed by much of the competition on the first reach. After working hard to get up to 3rd, we were unable to catch up to the top two boats. My (Winston) cap is off to John for sailing fast and smart while hanging on to second place. I remember how nervous I was the first couple times I was near the top of the fleet at a Championship regatta, and how easy it was to be concerned about losing ground to the boats behind, rather than catching up to the boats ahead. I suspect this was a nerve-wracking race for the "Bad Dog!" team, but they held it all together just great.

The afternoon race, another W/L, was really fluky, with occasional low side, soggy buns sailing, especially the last beat. But it also featured some puffs up to 10 that one could really take advantage of, especially downwind. After another mediocre first beat, we passed several boats on the first run and started the second beat in 4th, well behind the leaders, with the rest of the pack bunched close behind. We lost another couple boats upwind (which was starting to get old), but we were able to hunt down the top boats during the last run by jibing several times to keep in a nice streak in the middle of the course. We rounded the bottom mark in second place. The last beat was a struggle, as I now had no confidence in my upwind boatspeed. The first and third place (the eventual race winner) boats split tacks, and the fourth place boat hit the right corner hard, all the way to the starboard layline. We crossed well behind what had been the third place boat just a quarter of the way up the beat, then attempted to stay in the wind up the right-middle, and felt lucky to hold on to third.

The fleet retired to the Terrace View Resort (thanks Mimi and Mary Kay for helping organize fleet accommodations) for limericks, libations and perhaps the largest UNO game ever, but I still miss Spud's.

Tuesday dawned with a light breeze that only got lighter throughout the day, so there was no more racing, which was a good thing for several crews who were feeling the effects of food poisoning, a very bad flu bug, or worse. The regatta ended with "Bushwhacker" leading "Bad Dog!"by only 0.3 points to lead the I20 fleet, and finish 4th and 5th overall, respectively.

Reflecting on Monday's racing, I believe that there were several reasons for "Bushwhacker"'s improved downwind speed. Erica had been steering the boat all summer, and when she was back up front, she had a really good feel for what I was trying to do. It seemed we didn't have to talk as much, and I could spend more time looking for puffs or thinking about tactics instead of talking about 'chute trim. I highly recommend that skippers give their crew some tiller time, especially during races. It will improve your communication on the boat, which will only help your boatspeed. Something else I noticed was that we were able to sail deeper in lighter conditions than I remember compared to the M's. I attribute this partly to just another year's experience with the new asymmetric rig, but I believe our DN experience was important as well; i.e., we seemed to scallop more than most the other I20s. For good VMG downwind in the light air we had, it is important to heel the boat to leeward (yea, I know it is uncomfortable), sail as high as you need to reach maximum speed, then bear off and bleed some speed, but try to keep the apparent wind forward, just like sailing an iceboat downwind in light air. As soon as the boat starts leveling out, you need to head up to build up speed and heel.

What history may show as the real story of this regatta occurred at the fleet meeting, where the fleet voted "to remove the M-20 Sailing Association scantlings as the governing authority and language for the 20 foot sloop-rigged spinnaker scow in the ILYA." A corresponding motion authorized the ILYA to develop a set of scantlings that will allow presently configured I20s and M-20s to continue to compete head-to-head at future ILYA events. The almost unanimous votes in favor, and the growing participation at Inland regattas show that "the I's have it"!

Regatta Results

Sail #	Skipper	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Total
671	Chuck Gorgen	1	8	1	10
680	Dayton Walker	2	6	2	10
669	Kevin Caulfield	5	1	4	10
667	Mike Flannigan	8	5	5	18
H-661	John Hodges	6	2	11	19
H-20	Jeff Kirchhoff	14	3	3	20
656	Dave Klein	10	4	6	20
H-632	Steve Yost	3	11	7	21
556	Geoff Catlin	4	7	23	34
H-660	Paul Bates	7	10	17	34
FL-499	Andy Gratton	13	13	8	34
H-620	Mary Kay Bates	11	15	9	35
H-213	John Hayashi	16	9	12	37
H-1	Kyle Metzloff	9	12	16	37
613	Dan Zarnsdorff	12	18	13	43
H-569	Curtis Burgess	21	14	10	45
N/A	Peter Huff	17	16	14	47
H-3	Emery Sanford	15	17	19	51
H-216	Grant Frautschi	20	20	15	55
H-658	Brian Anderson	19	19	18	56
H-659	Dennis Kennedy	18	21	20	59
H-560	Tom Brousseau	22	22	21	65