WMYA 2004 Regatta Recap
Western Michigan Yachting Association
75th Annual Championship Regatta
Hosted by the Crystal Lake Yacht Club
Western Michigan YA, Crystal Lake, MI
August 5 - 8, 2004
Let's start with the name of the lake, Crystal Lake. No doubt one of
the gems in this world. White sand bottoms, no pollution or weeds and
crystal-clear hurt-your-eyes blue water. A big lake in the northwest corner
of Michigan, right up against Lake Michigan. Great weather, 175 boats and
incredible organization by the host club, Crystal Lake Yacht Club. That was
the setting for the 75th Annual Western Michigan Yachting Association
Championship.
56 MC Scows, 16 C Scows, 27 E Scows, 61 Butterflys, 15 Lasers - Wow!!!
PRO Charlie Harrett and Midge Verplank, along with Happy Fox, Kathy Fox,
Judy Lind, scorer Nancy Price, Stu Soule, Ross Reuterdahl and a large number
of assistants from Crystal Lake did a fantastic job with the race
management. Day 1 and Day 4 provided really great winds while day 2 and 3
put up a big challenge for the race management teams. Considering what kind
of wind conditions were presented, they for sure gave us the best racing
possible. Ross Reuterdahl, the event protest committee chairman, had no work
for the week as the sailors took care of all legal matters on the water.
There were lots of turns both for marks and fouls but it was really clean
sailing which makes for a lot more fun when handled this way.
Socially the event was huge. Major parties every night that were
awesome. Many traditions were upheld in style from the dancing, to the great
food, new friendships made and old friendships refreshed. It was a blast
for sure.
Now on to the racing. I will touch a little on each class. Complete
results can be viewed at several sites including the Crystal Lake Yacht Club
site, www.wmya.org, www.melges.com, and off course www.mcscow.org. One
class missing from this report is the Laser class but it posted on some of
the above sites.
Our future in Western Michigan looks bright with a huge Butterfly fleet
this year.
In the Junior Division the point spread between the top boats was close
which shows the racing and talent levels are good. Charley Knape from Grand
Rapids won the event with a strong 3,1,3. Second went to Alan Walborn of
Spring Lake who had a 5,5,1. Jordan Hatt won the tie-breaker with Spencer
Powell for third. Taylor Moore who finished 14th also won a race.
In the Open Division Scott Anderson from Grand Rapids edged out Reid
Pierce by one point with a 2,2,1 to Reid's 3-1-2. The other race winner and
finishing third was Austin Hagen from Crystal Lake.
All the Butterflys and Lasers were kept on the sandy beaches in front
of two local club member homes up on the north shore which gave us a lot
more space at the club for the larger boats. Many thanks to the Greenes and
other members who provided their homes for all the Butterflys and Lasers.
The C Scow division got a sailing lesson from Cameron McNeil who had a
strong 1-2-1-3 for the win. Cameron brought a tear to everyone's eye at the
awards with his dedication of the win to Doc McNeil who recently passed
away. All of us not only in the C Scow class but the entire WMYA will miss
Doc for his dedication to his family and their sailing. A great friend for
sure.
Rookie Bearcubs Ted Keller and Pete Comfort from Torch Lake sailing
their newly donated boat from Melges Boat Works won race 4 by a boat length
and also secured a strong second for the weekend. Congrats to our new
Rookies no longer Rookies now. Chris Craig had a great race win for race 2
finished third. EHood and the Zenda Express team had great speed but sailed
a lot of extra miles during the event this past week finished fourth. Tom
Keenan top Master for the event was fifth.
The MC Scow class had some great racing with some big changes in the
scores throughout the event. It looked initially like the Jamie Kimball,
Ted Keller and Tom Brown show, until the last day when some big changes
occurred during the last race. The big winner of this year's event was
Chris Eggert from Spring Lake who was in good shape going into the last race
and closed the deal with a big win. Rob Terry from Crystal Lake, who was
very consistent throughout the event, finished second and Ted Keller from
Torch Lake finished third. Check out the scores and you can see the big
swings in this class this week.
In the E Scow class it was the Rob Terry show. If you were to give a
MVP award this week it would have been Rob. He not only won the E Scow
Class but finished, as mentioned earlier, a strong second in the large MC
division. Sailing was exciting for the E Scows as they probably saw the most
wind this past week with their early race on Thursday and the late race on
Sunday. We also had two of the experimental Asymmetric Sprit boats here.
Ted Greene and Larry Price from Crystal Lake both had some exciting races
that had the 50 boat spectator fleet on the edge of their boat cushions.
Don Nelson from White Lake finished a strong second with a 5,1,3,3,3.
I think the biggest lessons learned this week was that if you did not
go out for a full practice beat and run before your first race of the day
you more than likely would have some tactical problems. Speed was important
for sure but knowing where to be on the big courses going upwind on that
important first beat was critical. The starting lines were very large but
set very squarely to the breeze. More times than not the breeze favored the
left side of the course going upwind and the right side going down. I would
say this was true for 80% of the racing throughout the week. There were
some rights and when they came it was usually just velocity related. Even
though Crystal is a very large large lake, we never really had too many wave
issues to deal with. So it really all came back to that first beat. Also,
remember when the lines are oversized in length it usually pays big time to
make sure that leeward bow is clear for at least one boat length or more if
you can do it. Start fast, know where you are going well before the start. Take
that extra time to go out and do that first practice beat and run each day.
Many thanks to Crystal Lake Yacht Club, regatta co-chair Walker Wynkoop
and his entire team. Special thanks to Ted and Arlene Greene for housing
the Zenda team.
Lots of places to see all the results including the Crystal Lake Yacht
Club, Western Michigan Yachting Association websites and of course
www.melges.com. There are some incredible scow pictures to be viewed and
also purchased at www.westrichphoto.com.
Mark this regatta down. It is one you need to do. Next year Spring
Lake, Michigan, where Ross Reuterdahl promised to the crowd the lake has
been widened and all powerboats removed :-) See you there.
E.Hood
Zenda Express
I-45 and MC 2289
Melges Performance Sailboats
and North Sails Zenda
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