National Championship

Hosted by Green Lake, WI from 9/18/2008 to 9/21/2008

11th Annual Inland 20 National Championship Regatta September 19-21, 2008

Posted by: Steve Scheck

27 boats representing 12 clubs arrived at Green Lake, WI on a beautiful early Fall weekend. A few boats were able to get in a late afternoon sail on Thursday. Friday morning found the launch ramp abuzz with activity as the rest of the fleet rigged up. A quick tow over to the lagoon, then on to the annual meeting and the skipper’s meeting.

The weather couldn’t have been better [sunny, temps upper 70s, winds SW 14-18 mph] for the first warning signal set for 1:30 PM. Most of the boats did a little practice on the way to the starting line, sailing a short upwind then down. A few were having too much fun and found themselves late for the start. PRO Mike Sherin from Lake Geneva Yacht Club set a long W2. John and Erika Sepanski on S1 exploded off the start line and led around the top mark, followed by Steve Scheck and Leigh Leonard on H652 who started at the pin and sailed the left side of the course.

Scheck gybed soon after getting away from the parade of starboard-tackers, catching a nice puff rolling thru to take the lead. Aaron Lynn and Keith Rosenbaum on J11 moved up on every leg, finishing 2nd to Scheck. Race 2 immediately followed, with the wind overall down just a little. The legs were shortened a little, this time running a W 2½. The left paid off again for Scheck, leading at the first mark.

A weird set of powerboat waves came thru on the downwind. H652 launched over them catching some great air time. J11 caught the bottom of one, throwing a wall of water into the boat as the boat lurched forward and stopped so fast the boat behind nearly ran him over. Lynn spent a lap with up to half a foot of water sloshing around the boat, but recovered to 5th. John Spargo and Jim Brust on H111 finished 2nd to Scheck.

Saturday morning brought a 5-8 mph breeze slightly more to the right. PRO Sherin posted a W 3½ with relatively short legs. Several boats looked to be setting up to port-tack the fleet at the pin, but most bailed out. A little more of a lefty at around 10 seconds prior to the start gave Willie Crear and Susie Sternkopf on M11 a clear shot, port-tacking the fleet right at the pin at the gun. Brook and Anne Patten on ID10 were next to cross the fleet on port. Scheck was the closest starboard-tacker to the pin, and was able to tack and cross the fleet also.

About ¾ of the way up the leg, the left started looking good. Crear consolidated, rounding the first mark near, or maybe even, first. After the first two laps, Crear and Scheck had built a little cushion over the next pack. Scheck closed the gap on the 3rd windward, but couldn’t get around Crear. Scheck was able to dig a little deeper on the last run, and came out of the gybe a little better. Crear was able to sink down to make the bottom pin, with Scheck sailing higher then coming in on starboard and inside. They went around the mark overlapped, with Crear immediately tacking to port to get clear air. Most of the following pack, including John Hayashi and Anita Chabalowski on L34 and Lynn, went right so Scheck defended that side letting Crear go. Soon after, Crear tacked back to save his place. Scheck held on for the win, followed by Crear, Lynn, Hayashi, and Spargo.

After lunch at Norton’s, the fleet sailed out to a dropping breeze. Two starts were aborted with seconds to go in the sequence, as a small wind line launched those at the starboard end. The line was reset, and the next start was mostly clean in light but steady air, with Hayashi and Lynn called over. After sailing around an end, Hayashi made a bee line for the right shore. Steve Yost and Rosanne Scholl on H632 had a great start at the pin, and led the pack on the left. Scheck had a mid-line start with good speed and played the middle. Hayashi was looking great initially, but ran out of breeze shortly after tacking near the layline. The breeze came in from the left, sending Jeff and Janice Marquardt from Bear Lake, WI on 4 around the mark in first. Yost was on their stern, with Stefan Schmidt and Tom Gleeson on H5 close behind.

The run featured some holes, with a slightly building breeze bringing the fleet en masse to the bottom mark for the first time on this W2. Boats were stacked bow to stern at the rounding, with George Winter and Eric Hall on FD314, Yost, Marquardt, Scheck, and Hayashi leading the pack of 20 boats. Yost extended to a nice lead at the last windward mark, followed by Scheck. With better breeze on the right (looking downwind), Yost and Scheck waited until almost layline to gybe. With ¼ leg to go, Yost hit the wall of no wind. Scheck sailed a little higher, and slowly passed Yost. Schmidt and Spargo were looking good sailing low on the port layline. Scheck waited a long time before making the final gybe, sailing a hot starboard towards the pin marking the port end of the finish line. Yost gybed abeam of Scheck, but Scheck out drifted Yost and gained some lateral separation. As the pin slowly got closer, Scheck crossed first, closely followed by Spargo who finished at the boat end. Grant Frautschi and Carolyn Curry on H216 were next, also at the boat end, with Yost ending up 4th. Frautschi was a beneficiary of the fleet bringing the breeze in, jumping 19 places in the last half of the leg. Halfway thru the race, Crear was a leg behind, but came out with a 6th. On the losing end of the deal were Hayashi and Lynn, losing around 10 to 12 places each, taking deep scores as the rest of the fleet finished en masse.

After racing, the fleet was ready for some more fun. Dinner was served at the Thrasher Opera House, followed by the interactive, acoustic band “Swing Crew”. Crear and Sternkopf got the dance floor warmed up, and the band kept the fleet involved in the entertainment. Many “Swing Crew” bumper stickers were awarded (and installed) for audience participation. For the band’s second set, Blaise Gratton joined in on piano and jammed away. The night ended with a limbo contest, with Andrea Gratton taking the award. A great time was had by all, with most of the fleet missing our bed time and closing the party down.

Sunday morning brought a little wind as the fleet sailed out from the lagoon, but the top 2/3 of the course generally had nothing. After about 50 minutes of postponement, the wind started filing in at a solid 4-6, but from about 30 degrees left of where it had been. However, the mark set boat was getting just over nothing from 30-60 degrees to the right of the new wind. About ten minutes later, the wind was still all over the place with hardly any strength, so the RC gave us 3 guns and called it a wrap.

Thanks to PRO Mike Sherin and the team from Green Lake, which included, among others, Sue Weston and Todd Weir. The long legs on Friday were great boat speed contests, and the shorter legs on Saturday morning was a great boat handling and tactical contest. Thanks to regatta co-chairs Sue Weston and I-20 Commodore Joe Terry for organizing a great event. Thanks to our friends at Quantum Sails for donating some gear bags. Thanks to John and Mimi Hayashi of Windward Boatworks for donating the Saturday night dinner. Thanks to Mary Ann and George Winter for donating the band. Earning the top rookie award for sailing in his first I-20 Nationals was Dave Whealon sailing out of Fond du Lac. With all bullets, taking home first place was the husband/wife team of Steve Scheck and Leigh Leonard from Lake Mendota, winning their first National championship in their 17 years of sailing M-20s then I-20s together.

Regatta Results

Sail #	Skipper	Crew	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4	Total
H-652	Steve Scheck	Leigh Leonard	1	1	1	1	4
H-111	John Spargo	Jim Brust	3	2	5	2	12
H-5	Stefan Schmidt	Tom Gleason	5	3	10	5	23
J-11	Aaron Lynn	Keith Rosenbaum	2	5	3	16	26
H-632	Steve Yost	Rosanne Scholl	7	7	8	4	26
DB-34	Joe Terry	LaCinda Terry	4	4	9	10	27
M-11	Willie Crear	Suzy Sternkof	16	8	2	6	32
S-1	John Sepanski	Erika Sepanski	8	6	11	7	32
H-88	Emily Green	Dan Zarnstorff	6	11	7	13	37
FD-499	Andy Gratton	Andrea Gratton	11	9	6	14	40
H-216	Grant Frautschi	Carolyn Curry	10	14	14	3	41
L-34	John Hayashi	Anita Chabalowski	12	10	4	21	47
FD-4	Jack Boatman	Eric Boatman	14	15	13	15	57
4	Jeff Marquardt	Janice Marquardt	9	13	16	20	58
S-17	David Crosby	Andrea Sepanski	18	17	18	9	62
FD-101	Dave Whealon	Randy Cuzenheim	15	12	17	19	63
ID-10	Brook Patten	Ann Patten	21	28	12	8	69
FD-314	George Winter	Eric Hall	13	28	20	11	72
USA-8	Kevin Gratton	Blaze Gratton	17	19	15	25	76
M-1	Paul Harvener	Robin Barnett	20	18	23	18	79
FD-1	Tim Baccus	Mike Baccus	19	28	21	12	80
H-42	Rich Barker	Dennis Gamble	22	21	22	17	82
WA-5	Justin Bolles	Mike Rian	28	16	19	22	85
NC-66	Peter Stambaug	John Maine	28	20	26	24	98
FD-42	Greg Leifer	Kathy Leifer	28	22	25	23	98
WA-1	Kenny Bolles	Bob Bolles	28	28	24	26	106
SB-314	Ben Shaevitz	Steve	28	28	28	28	112