2008

Cinco De Mayo Regatta
May 3-4, 2008
Indian Lake Yacht Club
Indian Lake, Ohio

I-20 sailors met at the Indian Lake Yacht Club for it’s 2008 season opener, the Cinco De Mayo Regatta. Sailors started arriving and setting up on Friday, and members of the ILYC were there to meet, greet, and take them to host housing for the evening. By around 7:30 PM, most of the sailors went out together for dinner, and reconvened at the yacht club house to get caught up after a long winter and talk sailing.

On Saturday morning, the winds were predicted to blow 15 to 25 with some higher gusts. As the sailors finished registering, we had 11 boats on the line and sailors from no less than 8 states including Minnesota, Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Everyone was glad to see Alec and Anita from Michigan sail together on a borrowed boat, thanks to the generosity of the Indian Lake I-20 fleet. The younger crowd found excitement in the I-20 class too as Juniors were crew on 4 boats, ID-4, S-17, WA-38, and F-314 and skippered on WA-38.

When the class flag flew and the warning gun sounded, the winds, already blowing around 15 piped up on cue and offered challenging and exciting conditions for the first race of the year. After a clean start, the fleet remained tight up the first beat and as sailors jockeyed for position, the leader around the first windward mark was none other than Indian Lake sailors, Bill Monsma and Jeff Patten. Monsma/Patten maintained their lead as the fleet absolutely ripped down the lake on a windward 2 course and continued to hold off the fleet as they rounded the 2nd windward mark, still in 1st place. Close behind were Carlyle Sailors, John and Erika Sepanski who got tangled up with Willie Crear and Pat Towie in a port-starboard situation close to the windward mark.

Monsma/Patten’s hot pace was cooled quickly with a capsize in a big puff just after the set, allowing the following boats to take the pace. Similarly, Crear/Towie sailing toward the front of the fleet and Ben and John Herdrich capsized when some strong gusts ended their first race.

At the final bottom mark, new leaders Aaron Lynn and Mark Bucheit had a late takedown and allowed local sailors, Brook and Anne Patten to sail inside and take the lead. The husband and wife team from Lake DuBay, Joe and LaCinda Terry had positioned themselves toward the front of fleet by taking advantage of some huge puffs on the right side of the course and after a conservative takedown, made a very tight final leeward rounding to position themselves in contention for a win. While Lynn/Bucheit worked toward the right, the Terry’s tacked away and worked up the middle. The Patten’s covered the Terry’s and while they were working tack for tack on the left, Lynn/Bucheit made gains on the right. When the leaders converged back to the middle of the course, Patten had worked clear ahead of Terry and was on Port while Lynn was on Starboard. Crossing was questionable, so Patten tacked toward the finish line on Lynn’s lee hip and the drag race was on. The Pattens had their equipment and sailing skills dialed in and Lynn/Bucheit just could not beat their upwind speed. The finish was tight with the Pattens taking the horn, Lynn/Bucheit only a half a boatlength back, and the Terry’s in a close 3rd about two boatlengths behind Lynn/Bucheit. Joe Ewing and his 13 year old son, Cole were contenders after clawing their way from the back of the fleet and finished in a close 4th.

The Race committee postponed the 2nd race due to high winds and the fleet broke for lunch. During lunch, some serious gusts rocked the club house, but overall it was determined suitable for some good afternoon racing. As the fleet sailed to the race course, the winds continued to build and after a few minutes into the start sequence with gusts in the upper 20’s and low 30’s, the RC wisely flew the abandonment flag and racing was discontinued for the day.

The rest of the afternoon was spent catching up and enjoying a quarter barrel. Some sailors visited with local and longtime E-boat sailors, Tom and Sue Ewing at their house and enjoyed the Kentucky Derby. As evening approached, the ILYC prepared a fantastic chicken dinner with beans, salads, potatoes, and fruits. The yacht club turned into a banquet hall as many members of the ILYC joined in to help prepare and enjoy in the meal with their out of town guests and friends.

Sunday looked to be just the opposite of Saturday, with very light air, but everyone was hopeful as the new spring leaves on the trees kept waving.

As the RC started the first race, the Terry’s hit the line right on time with some speed and took a substantial early lead. As the holes got bigger, the fleet closed together. The Ewings worked their light air magic and were the first to round the windward mark followed by Lynn/Bucheit, the Crosby’s, then Crear/Towie.

The Terry’s gave up some precious distance doing a 720 after fouling Lynn/Buchite, then Lynn/Buchite tangled with Crear/Towie at the windward mark and in doing so, touched the offset requiring then to turn a 360 in the very, very light air.

The downwind reach was difficult to sail and positions changed dramatically. The Terry’s found a breeze on the left and were the first to round the leeward mark just inside the Ewings and closely followed by the Herdrich’s. Ben Shaevitz held off both the Pattens and Crear/Towie showing some light air speed. The Terry’s extended their lead and were the first boat around the last windward mark to a shortened finish, but by midway down the reach, the Chablowski’s, and Monsma/Patten closed the gap as the leaders drifted to a stop. The boats at the back of the fleet then found some breeze and took control of the race. Crear/Towie came from deep in the fleet to take the gun, and Monsma/Patten struggled to hold off the remaining boats for 2nd. The rest of the fleet finished very closely and within only a few minutes, resulting in a dramatic finish considering the exceptionally light conditions and that the fleet was spread out over a half a leg at the windward mark.

The time limit for starting another race expired and as the scores were calculated, consistency paid off. The Terry’s took 1st with 7 points while 2nd and 3rd were a tie between Lynn/Bucheit and the Chablowski’s with 8 points and Lynn/Bucheit breaking the tie. Rounding out the top six were the Ewings and Pattens, and Crear/Towie with well deserved awards.

Accompanied with the awards and thanks to generous sponsorships from Quantum, Windward Boatworks, and Annapolis Performance Sailing, sailors took home some beautiful duffle bags, gift certificates, hiking straps, and mesh boat bags.

The I-20 fleet is off to a great start to the new season with new sailors, new excitement, and fantastic venues. We hope to see everyone in Carlyle in June!

For photos and video, check out the following link:
http://indianlakeyachtclub.com/?q=node/740

2006

Leukemia Cup Regatta,
May 27-28, 2006
Lake Carlyle, IL

Syttende Mai Regatta
May 20, 2006
Lake Kegonsa, Stoughton, WI

Leukemia Cup Regatta, Lake Carlyle, IL
May 27-28, 2006
By: David Crosby

Five Inland 20's raced in the 2006 Leukemia Cup Regatta at Carlyle Lake, IL May 27th -28th. The one design boats raced on a single course at the southwest end of the lake. The I-20s started with seven 470s in the first division. Division two consisted of five Flying Scots and division three represented the miscellaneous class boats. The miscellaneous class had seventeen boats and included Y-Flyers, Lightnings, Sunfish, San Juan 21s, Enterprise an Interlake 20 as well as a few other small boats. Additionally starting in Division three were junior sailors sailing Laser Radials. The juniors sailed a shorter course within the bigger course and sailed numerous races while the bigger boats made their way around the course. The cabin boats raced on a separate course up near the north east end of the lake. There were approximately 40 cabin boats racing.

We had a beautiful weekend for the Leukemia Cup Regatta. Saturday started out with a quick early morning shower, that sucked the wind away with it. The first race was sailed in relatively light air (5 -8 mph) out of the south east. The fleet stayed fairly close together through out race one. John and Erica Sepanski (ID 1), unfortunately were not able to make it to the race course early enough to participate, but did join us on the second lap and followed around. John Spargo/Jim Brust (H-111), I believe managed to hold the lead through out the race, closely followed by Steve Scheck/Leigh Leonard (H-652). David Crosby/Megan Crosby/Dave Bryant [CSA rookie I-20 sailor] (S-17) came in third, with Aaron Lynn/Mike Geiger [CSA nearly rookie I-20 sailor] (U-129) in hot pursuit. Had the course been a few hundred yards longer, the finish positions might have been quite different.

After race one finished, we retired to shore for lunch. The wind continued to build and shift to the south. Since race one ended up being relatively short, it was decided that race two would be a three lap windward/leeward and race three would be two laps. During race two and three the wind was closer to the predicted 10 -15 mph. I do not recall seeing any whitecaps until we were off the water, so we probably had 10 mph with some gusts that were higher but did not exceed 15 mph. Race two saw all boats rounding the weather mark quite close to each other. I believe at that point Steve/Leigh were in the lead, closely followed by John/Jim. David/Megan/Dave Bryant rounded in 5th.

The second race was won by Steve/Leigh followed by John/Jim, then John/Erica and Aaron/Mike coming in fourth. I retired during the second race, and as a result didn’t get much of a play by play.

The third race was held immediately following the completion of race two. All of the starts were fairly tight, but this one seemed to have an overwhelming number of 470s buzzing around. The I-20s quickly separated themselves from the 470s. H-111 and H-652 both quickly pulled out into the lead and left the rest of us playing catch up. The other three boats S-17, ID 1 and U-129 all rounded the weather mark very close to each other. The entire fleet headed off on a starboard reach, while S-17, without spinnaker, immediately headed off to dead down wind. Megan (11 years old) sat up on the deck and held the jib out to starboard so that we could run wing and wing. The results were surprising. We did round the leeward mark last, but we rounded within less than a boat length of the fourth boat (ID-1). Since I was moving along in cruise mode, I had plenty of time to watch the other boats travel downwind. I did not see anybody making big tactical maneuvers downwind. H-111 and H-652 appeared to have stayed on the initial starboard tack for a longer period and did more gibing once closer to the leeward mark. U-129 and ID-1 gibed much earlier and stayed towards the center of the course while heading downwind. On the upwind legs, I noticed that the lead boats were staying close to the center of the course, while the rest of us, were pushing the corners. The second downwind leg saw H-111 and H-652 split off and head downwind in opposite directions. H-652 prevailed and managed to win race #3, H-111 followed closely to finish second. ID-1 finished third followed closely by S-17 and then U-129.

Saturday concluded with dinner, live music, a live auction to continue the fund raising efforts for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. We missed Grant and his antics at the live auction.

On Sunday we reconvened to race two more races. We had some crew switching take place. Mike Geiger was available for Saturday only. So, Dave Bryant transferred over to Aaron's boat. Melina Crosby joined her sister Megan and Dad on S-17. The wind was still from the south at around 10 mph. Aaron had a halyard go AWOL which resulted in his being several minutes late to the start. Race three was pretty uneventful, with positions remaining fairly constant through out. H-652 was first, H-111 second, ID-1 third followed closely by S-17 and then U-129.

Race five saw S-17 getting an excellent start and arriving at the weather mark in first place, closely followed by H-111 and H-652. Again, S-17 turned to run wing and wing dead downwind while the other boats impressively moved along reaching with their chutes. H-111 and H-652 arrived at the leeward mark ahead of S-17, but S-17 arrived within a couple boat lengths of H-652. U-129 and ID-1 alternated positions as they headed downwind. H-111 managed to hold the lead and win race #5 followed by H-652. S-17 finished in third a fair distance ahead of the other two boats. ID-1 finished fourth followed very closely by U-129.

Syttende Mai Regatta
May 20, 2006
Lake Kegonsa, Stoughton, WI

With a mixed fleet of many styles of boats the Inland 20 class was well represented with three separate lakes represented, a couple of regatta winners and a past ILYA champion crew. With the top trophy to be decided in only two races, there was to be no messing around. Get out fast and stay there.

The fleet was represented by Dan Zarnstorff from the Lake Kegonsa sailing club, John Wenning from the Mendota YC, and Joe Terry from the Lake DuBay sailing association. The competition was in Buccaneers with Fond du Lac sailing club webguy Craig Callis and couple more boats from off lake, a Flying Scot from Monona sailed by a past Buccaneer National champion, an E boat, C boat, a couple of MC's and a bunch more smaller performance sailing boats totaling 13 boats in all.

The morning started at 11:00 with the start of a tune-up race. The fleet split a bit, but when approaching the first windward mark of the Olympic course, the I-20’s filed in tight for the first rounding. Everyone had some bugs to work out and had some pretty funny stories to tell when the fleet came in after the tune up for lunch. It was a good thing the first race was a tune up.

At 1:00, the boats hit the water for the championship races. The first race delivered some great sailing. Winds were around 10 to 15 with a few gusts higher. The winds were shifty and picking the shifts were important. The afternoon courses remained Olympic courses and with a significant shift to the right shortly after the start, the triangle legs downwind became a reach/run situation. The E-scow lead the way followed by the I-20’s, flying Scot, Buccaneers’, then MCs’ and the rest of the boats. Wenning was quick upwind and all three boats were competitive.

The final windward/leeward leg made for an exciting finish for Zarnstorff vs. Terry. The Terry boat was on Starboard, Zarnstorff on Port. Both boats on full plane screaming towards the finish line. Things were exciting on both boats as Dan and Sharon sneaked ahead of Joe and Mel with the slimmest of margins right at the line to take the lead. The I-20’s finished Zarnstorff: 3rd, Terry: 4th, and Wenning: 8th in corrected time.

By the start of the second race, the wind was blowing a little harder – a solid 15mph with some occasional much heavier gusts. The mixed fleet start was tight and although there were no collisions, there were some very close calls. Terry went left and it paid off big as they stayed reasonably close to the E-scow and never let them go. The fleet spread out in the big air and the last reach made for an insane ride for everyone who could maintain control. The flying scot got hammered by a huge puff and spun out running downwind under spinnaker. Joe and Mel hooked that same puff and started reeling in the E-scow, finishing only two minutes behind them taking first by about three and one half minutes in corrected time for last race.

Overall, Terry took high honors winning the Portsmouth trophy, representing the I-20 class and the Lake DuBay Sailing Association well. Zarnstorff finished closely behind in 4th and Wenning, completed the regatta in 9th of 13 boats.

After the racing, an excellent meal was served along with beverages, a raffle of donated merchandise, and a campfire to tell some great regatta stories. A fun time at a mixed fleet race. Although, with I-20 sailors in attendance, how could it not be fun?