2024 was a great year of racing, albeit too short in terms of days and races, at least in the Club Series. Three regattas were sailed by local sailors in the month of September which were of great significance to them and their respective fleets.

E Scow Nationals:
Brad Price, Will Price, Kelly Purviance and George Kennedy (Minnetonka) made the 14 hour trek to Northern Michigan for the 2024 Baird E Scow Nationals held Sept 5th – 8th. Inland sailing doesn’t get much more beautiful than the lakes of Northern Michigan, especially Crystal Lake, the host of this year’s event.  Situated less than a mile from big Lake Michigan with nothing but sand dunes separating them, Crystal Lake is as clear as it’s name and as cold as one would imagine a northern lake to be.

85 E scows piled into the quaint Club grounds on a gorgeous, crisp Thursday in hopes of taking home the title of National Champion; I’m guessing those hopes and the warm smiles of friends overshadowed the impending cold front taking shape and bearing down on the area ready to hit head on Friday morning just in time for racing!

So many superfluous adjectives are used in the world of sport; sailboat racing is no different… They say a picture is worth a thousand words; as you can see, one of those words was survival!  Day one brought the aforementioned cold front and temperatures in the low 40’s, accompanied by rain, winds at 25 to 30 mph and waves up to a meter tall at the starting line and leeward gate. The fleet set off on the first day with the race committee deciding on just two races back-to-back rather than the scheduled three.  Boats were capsized, dismasted and strewn about the lake in no time.

Brad Price and team battled tough and made it through the day despite a foot fracture sustained by spinnaker trimmer Will Price in race 1. Only 60% of the fleet finished the first race and only 60 boats or so started the second race.  Scores of 28 and 34 were fantastic in the large fleet with that kind of mayhem happening on the race course.

Day two was more “tame” in that it wasn’t raining… It was still breeze on conditions and the fleet was already tired and weary from Day One.  The entire fleet of 85 was back on the water giving Crystal Lake another go; this time the RC planned three races for the day.  Team Goose once again fought hard all day; scores of 37, 37, 47 were very respectable keeping them in the top half of a fleet stacked with National and World Champions from multiple classes!

On Day three the breeze finally moderated some… Gusts were still over 20 mph, still testing the battle torn fleet to the max.  The Z-9 had a rough start to the day with a 50th place finish but rebounded in the second race of the day, which turned out to be the final race of the regatta with a solid 39th.

During the week, the electronics onboard read boat speeds over 21 mph; decisions under spinnaker with 84 other boats around are made quickly.  After three days of racing, the team of Brad Price, Will Price, Kelly Purviance and George Kennedy took their boat apart having represented the CLYC impressively at the highest levels of one design racing in America!

Congratulations to Brad and Team Goose on a well sailed regatta with continued success. The CLYC is extremely proud of your performance!

MC Blue Chip:
*Author’s note:  I tried to write this in the third person and I just couldn’t do it; I went ahead and wrote it in the first person, I hope you don’t mind…

Sept 20-22 – I was fortunate enough to represent the Clear Lake Yacht Club in Spring Lake, MI at the MC Scow Blue Chip Regatta. 27 of the best MC sailors from around the country accepted their invitation and raced the exclusive invitation/qualification only event. After a successful summer season on the regatta circuit, I was honored by the invitation and opportunity to race and represent our Club.

Day one brought sunshine and zero breeze for the scheduled start which led, of course, to a postponement on shore and much anticipation of the afternoon breeze off Lake Michigan.  Finally about 1:30 the “wind” had “filled in” and race one was started in a 2-4 mph breeze.

It was right here in race one where I learned about the trials and tribulations of sailing on a small lake in a light breeze with BIG oscillations. Having sailed much of the race at the back of the fleet, sometimes in last; I was able to pass some boats on the last beat to finish 22nd.

At the start of race two the velocity had increased to 5-6 mph, however, the shifts were still enormous! My patience was put to the test (stop laughing, I do have a little bit!), after a solid start I was able to hit some shifts and round the first windward mark in third.  Then the weird stuff ensued; the wind shut off, we sat for 5 minutes or so and the wind came back, flip flopping nearly the entire fleet.  After a great beat, I was in the back again. I struggled to recover but scratched back to 21st.

After race two we were given a  brief break to sail into the club and refill water bottles or in my case, regain my composure and focus.  The starting line was about 50 yards from the Club docks; so the break was very short, but during that short break the afternoon cooling breeze had “whipped” in and picked up to 8-11 mph. Now I was much more comfortable in the boat and could sail loose. After a great start and hitting shifts up the first beat, I rounded in 4th place and set off downwind trying to stay in the breeze. I forgot that you have to sail to that one dock that sticks out a little further than the others and then jibe… Ah the joys of small lake sailing… I was passed by several boats and sailed the rest of the race in 10th place which is where I finished.

Sunday brought more of the same no wind conditions, this time though a storm system had moved in and racing was canceled early, leaving us to pack up in a driving rain. That’s it; the regatta was over after three races.  With finishes of 22, 21, 10, I ended the regatta in 21st place; the humbling learning experience was well worth the drive and effort!

While it wasn’t the collection of finishes I had hoped for, I was delighted to race against sailors who had been deemed the best by the class and represent the CLYC as best I could. Thank you to everyone for the emails, text messages and Facebook messages with words of wisdom and encouragement, it was amazing; the support of everyone at the CLYC is beyond measure!

Hobie Wave North Americans:
Chris Wessels and Steve Brewer attended the Hobie Wave North American Championship in Spirit Lake last week. 30 great sailors from all over the country traveled to Spirit Lake, IA for a fantastic event run by the Hobie Class and hosted by Division 7.

The Hobie Wave, a small single person racer has great speed in a breeze, though it seems the Hobie Fleet is not exempt from light wind this year as they were only able to complete 7 of the scheduled 14 races.

Showing his ability and obvious time in the boat, Chris Wessels had a fantastic regatta; despite starting out off rough, using his throwout in the first race, he got his game together and sailed a beautiful regatta.  (22), 16, 8, 5, 10, 2, 2 – a consistent scoreline which garnered Chris 6th place overall!!!  Well sailed Chris!

Enjoy the offseason.

Dan Allen
MC 2811 – Relentless
dsallen@cltel.net
www.clyciowa.com
www.clycss.com