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MC Scow 2004 News Sail Information || MC Scow News|| Tuning Guide || Contact MC Scow Experts || Order
Report courtesy Jeff Annis 14 MC teams and 4 E Scows went to Charleston to race this annual event hosted by Paul Rossman and the James Island Yacht Club. Captain Morgan was the event sponsor. A Captain Morgan signature kayak was raffled off and a wonderful party Saturday night with steamed oysters made for a great event. The lighter than expected turnout was due to two reasons. First, there was a 22 team high regatta there and many MC and E sailors were race officials for that very large event. Second, we are here in the midst of racing 5 big regattas in 6 weeks. This puts strains on the homefront, so many folks have to pick and choose. 4 windward-leeward races were sailed on Saturday in winds of 8 to 12 mph from the northeast. The tide was outgoing most of the day. Day two saw no breeze and an ugly threatening skyline. No races were held on Sunday. Lenny Krawcheck, sailing his North ZAP and his Melges MC had finishes of 5,1,1,8. That placed Lenny in 2nd for the event. NORTH FACTS: October 30-31 will see the Southeast MC's at Charlotte for Lake Norman Yacht Club's Nothin's Finer Regatta. LNYC is the site of the 2006 MC Nationals. For complete results go to www.mcscow.org. For more information on MC Scow sails, contact the North MC Scow experts. To order the fastest MC North sails, click here.
Report by Eric Hood 139 sailing teams made it to this great southeast fall classic this year on Lake Strom Thurmond near Augusta , Georgia. The event was outstanding both onshore and on the water. ASC is big on social parts of their events. Great cook your own steak dinners, the famous Halloween review of costumes on Saturday night, live music and lots of different parties throughout the sixteen acre complex. The sailing was outstanding this year with six light to medium air races. This large multi-class event had three courses. Fleets represented were Optimists, Sunfish, Lasers, JYs, J/24s, PHRF, MC Scows and for the first time in Georgia a C Scow regatta. I am glad to say the MC Scow was by far the largest single class with 38 boats. Jeff Annis wanted to have a first class event so he gave up sailing his MC and or C Scow to be our PRO for this event. Jeff put together a large first class race committee team that pulled out all the stops for this event. Jeff allowed the use of radios which was great. We knew all the way what the RC was doing. Starting times, line sets, what they were thinking on course distance and mark settings. On Saturday they gave us four 4&1/2 miles courses in less than five hours. Sunday we had two great morning races in 2 &1/2 hours. Key West Race Week and some other great annual events allow the use of radios and it sure makes it a lot more fun when you know what is going on with regards to starts , how quick the next race will happen, general recalls, upcoming course calls and end of the day info. Like I said earlier the races were held in steady light to medium winds but very shifty. That put a huge premium on getting off the line and getting off the line with options. The shifts came about every two minutes and some were as large as twenty degrees. You had to be fast off the line and be in the first group of ten boats that would tack on the first good shift. All six races were won by teams who hit that first shift. That meant good boat handling with your head out of the boat and looking upwind. The lake is a larger lake so the wind was down on the water and you could see it coming. The unusual thing was how quick things would develop so you had to absolutely be looking forward all the time on the beats. The first three races were won by Andy Molesta of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Finally race four on the first day that string was broken with a race win by Mark Marenakos of Charleston. Race 5 on Sunday was won by Bill Rembold and EHood won the last race. Lots of new faces this year with several of the new teams coming from the new fleet at Chattanooga. Jeff Annis, Ed Durant and the ASC fleet loaned out several boats for folks that flew in for the event. Some as far away as New York. 10 states total were represented for the total 139 boat fleet at this years Halloween Regatta. Complete results can be found at www.mcscow.org. Here are some highlights for sailors who really improving and starting to make their moves to the front of the fleet. Race 1 saw Paul Camp sailing Jeff Annis’ MC 1860 to a 8th place for his best race of the series. George Scarborough had his best race of the series with a 9th in race 1. Race 2 saw Jack Wise get one of his three 9th places . Jack sailed very well finishing 12th in the regatta. Race 3 saw Steve Doehler from Charleston finish a regatta best 8th. Tommy Harken had his best race of the series with a fourth. Race 4 saw newcomer John Fewell sailing a borrowed boat from Teddy Turner finishing 6th. Welcome to the fleet John. Race 5 saw our oldest boat number 647 sailed by Randy Mintken finish 3rd. Race 6 saw Jeff Meyers from Atlanta finish sixth for his best race of the series and Bill Simons sailing 1341 finished fourth in this race. Newcomer Matt Hurley while getting the hang of things finished last but sailed every race and got better as things went along. Remember we have to help our new friends who just have joined the fleet. That is one of the secrets to our success in the MC Class and that is there are no secrets. Thanks for sailing hard all weekend Matt. Here are the top couple of boats. Andy Molesta 15, Bill Rembold 21, Mark Marenakos 24, EHood 39, Mike Risewick 41, Ed “Event Security” Duuuuuurant 44, Lenny Krawcheck 50 , Tommy Harken 50, Kurt Stadele 71 and Brian Swan 71. You can see how Andy crushed us with his low point total. Congratulations Andy!!!! The C Scows with five boats for their first ever regatta in Augusta had five boats. All the boats were locally owned. Jim Gluek sailing Jeffs CH-1 finished first. Teddy Turner from Charleston won a tie-breaker with local ace Stan Stanton for second. Sailing CH8 was Jay Adams and his team finished fourth. Rob Sherman from Augusta sailing CH11 finished fifth. Between the huge MC fleet and the new C fleet we were turning heads at this large event. Again, many thanks to all the endless hours Jeff Annis and his fellow ASC members put into this extremely well run and fun event. Also, many thanks for the endless promotion of scow sailing in the southeast. A great fall schedule with many events left in the southeast can be seen at www.mcscow.org See you down the road at the next event.
Report by Andy Burdick
Maxinkuckee Yacht Club Runs First Class Nationals, Exciting Racing! The MC Scow class is quickly becoming the strongest one-design class in the USA. When you see the amount of new boats being built and raced, the number of boats attending the major regattas nationwide and the caliber of the racing you can clearly see that the MC is a hot one-design sailboat. The boat and the class lived up to its growing reputation this weekend as 89 boats invaded Culver, Indiana and the Maxinkuckee Yacht Club. When the MYC runs a national championship it is well organized and first class. This years MC Nationals were simply amazing. A big thank you needs to go to Co-Chairmen Mary Anna Swennumson and Dixie Becker along with club Commodore Greg Furry. Also the clubs endless volunteers. The MYC team did an incredible job. Thank you. Thank you to all! What a spectacle! Nice job everyone. Burdick tacked to leeward of Annis to hold him off and win Heat 2. Cassady was right there too and Wow is he sailing FAST! Zack Clayton snuck in a 4th and Hood a 6th. The race was on! Could Hood win the race and win his first National Championship? Could Cassady pass him and win? Could Burdick catch up and make a run at a championship? On the second beat a wild left shift came in with velocity and the fleet turned around. However, Burdick was far right so what would happen there? Final results: Click here Next year - Clear Lake, Iowa - over 100 boats on the line. Come and check it out, race your boat and experience the fun of the hottest one-design class in the USA. For more information on MC Scow sails, contact the North MC Scow experts.
Report by Eric Hood Let's start with the name of the lake, Crystal Lake. No doubt on the gems in this world. White sand bottoms, no pollution or weeds and crystal clear hurt your eyes blue water. A big lake in northwest corner of Michigan and also 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 Cyrstal Lake Yacht Club site, www.wmya.org and www.melges.com . One class missing from this report is the Laser class but it posted on 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 everyones 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 alot 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 on the last and final race. The big winner of this years 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 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 this week 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 this past week. 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 if possible. 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 cochair 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
Report by Eric Hood
This year's MC Invitational regatta was held this past week at beautiful Lake Okoboji in northwest Iowa. OYC rolled out the red carpet for the 45 teams. Great meals, great housing for all the teams and a very special performance from a young local singer Damon Dotson who will someday soon be a star in the world of music. It was one great event both on and off the water. One day of big wind, one day of very little wind and one day of medium wind. We saw the whole spectrum with regards to the sailing. That always seems to be the case on three day events. Six races were scheduled and we had four. A great job by PRO Peterson and his four boat team under very trying conditions. Regatta chairman David Thoreson along with his team including Brad Farrar and about 30 others really did a great job. If you ever have a chance to sail at Okoboji you should do it. It is one of the best spots for great sailing you will find anywhere in the U.S.. The racing was exciting throughout the whole weekend with thrills, spills, lead changes, big race wins and surprises. I think one of the coolest things that happened by the end was the great performance put on by the sailors from Okoboji who surprised some of the big guns who came to the event. Okoboji sailors took 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 10th. They also put two women skippers Kelli Farrar (2nd) and Lacey Everist (10th) in the top ten, took the top Master with a great performance by C boat ace Steve Avery . Also, top junior went to Ben Carver who had a great regatta finishing 11th. Congratulations to Team Okoboji. Another great moment was the big race win in the 20+ mph race and local sailor Gerry Dorsey winning his first major regatta race in the MC Scow class. Other race wins by E.Hood finally getting by Kelli Farrar in race one. Then race 3 and 4 on the last day were dominated by University of Hawaii sailor Eric Oppen. Lots of swimmers in race 2. Ten of us to be exact. Notice I say us. I was the first to go on the first downwind, followed by Eric Oppen and then many others. Learned a very valuable lesson though and I would like to pass it on. We were very aggressive downwind on this first day of windy sailing and made all of our money both on the race win and in race two by pushing the boat hard downwind. I made one big mistake though. When it is really windy and you are healing to windward you need to drop that windward board from 1/4 to about 1/3 or even 1/2 before gybing in that big puff that will gain many boat lengths for you. What I did was gybe with only about 1/4 board down. As my crew and I shifted weight together and sat down on the new side we heeled just enough to the new windward side where the old windward board (now the new leeward board)came out of the water. When that happened the boat was now on rudder only in big waves and big wind. We instantly rolled to windward and turtled quickly because of the high speed we hit the water with. Do not put down the leeward board (which will be the new windward board after gybing) before gybing. You will trip on that board and for sure tip over if you do that. Just drop your existing windward board a little deeper before gybing, then gybe the boat, settle in , put the new windward board down and pull up the leeward board. Great job by OYC and their rescue boats. Everybody was covered the whole time so while we were on the edge this race , the water was warm and everyone had a boat the second they were over. Everyone was laughing at the end. No boats broke either which is a great testimant to our boats. Other lessons learned here were about steering in big waves going upwind. Other race highlights. Dr. Walt Mendenhall another local C Scow sailor and MC Sailor had a great regatta going but picked up a PMS on the last race. All in all a great time, great sailing. Check out www.mcscow.org for complete race results. David Thoreson and his Bluewater Studio from Okoboji will have some great pictures available for everyone. A big special thanks from my team and Eric Oppens team to Steve and Molly Avery for letting us stay at the Ritz-Avery Regatta Hotel. Wow!!! The coolest regatta house ever. Thanks Steve and Molly!!!!!!!!! See you all at Crystal Lake , Michigan for the Westerns or at the ILYA Championships on Green Lake. Check out the regatta schedule on the class web site for other great events.
North Powered 1,2,3,4,5! Reports by Eric Hood
If you have never been to Chattanooga and Privateer Yacht Club reconsider
next year. It is a great family getaway in the mountains. Among the
amenities at the club include triple wide launching ramp and a separate
The racing was hotly contested with lots of lead changes in races two and four. Generally we had light air with an occassional breeze that would allow you up into the straps. On Saturday with all the storms in the area we only had two light air races. Sure enough during the grill your own steak dinner on Saturday night the breeze came up to a steady 15 out of the southeast. It was beautiful. Same thing Sunday, generally light when the event was over the breeze came up to a nice 10-15mph. Some lessons learned from this event. That is all for now. Off to KC and the famous Lotawana Regatta celebrating thier Silver Anniversary. Social will be huge this next week as the Missouri Yacht Club is already famous for their parties. The sailing is a blast on Lotawana as we will pack 50-60 MCs into a pretty small area. Be there!!!!!!!!! Special thanks to Bill Ballard (new guy from St.Petersburg) who gave me his 2289 MC for the event. We are sold through 2301 so there is a little shortage of new boats right now. Thanks Bill! See you in KC
Reports by Eric Hood
t Grand Rapids the wind was crazy. Tons of bad weather
in the area all
weekend gave us some unstable and shifty conditions. Made for some
exciting
racing though. Lots of thrills, spills and tight racing. Charlie Harrett Boat handling , the ability to tack quick and accelerate quick were the keys to doing well at both of these events. You could just see at both events the top two to five boats were tacking quickly, cleanly and accelerating quickly in the shifty conditions on both lakes. Also, and very important was to stick with the group in the beginning. Survive the first beat as the first five boats at the top mark would always accelerate out on the fleet. In other words do not panic and split away on that first beat when sailing short courses, shifty courses. You are better off sticking with the group and just trying to get through that first beat. Things on short course racing really seem to shake out on the first downwind leg. I can recall all 11 races for these two events and almost every race there was some boat that kind of split away somewhere on that first beat and almost every time it did not pay off for that boat. So boat handling , learning how to shift gears all the time are the important items for short course racing. Vang on, vang off, constant angle of heel. Go flat and lose 5 degrees of point right away. Good boat handling allows you to keep your head out of the boat. Also on short course racing like big course racing try to learn how to read headers and lifts. If the approaching puff is outside your sidestay it will likely be a lift. If you see the puff approaching you in between your sidestay and mast as you look forward then it will likely be a header. Until you recognize that stuff it will be tougher on you making those quick tacks needed to stay with the forward group. Do not forget , downwind we are looking for headers. This is not rest time, this is the best time to make big gains but you have to work hard at it. Light air work the high road on the layline to get the next breeze and big breeze work the low road to make the gains. Many thanks to everyone at Lake Harriet. Wendy Ott and her team did a fantastic job making everyone comfortable and well fed. Also, many thanks to Andy Molest, Scott Hand, Emily Sebastian, Eric and Katie Wynsma for the outstanding food, bands, parties at Grand Rapids. Thanks to Denny and Chuck for great races at both events! By the way Regatta Chairman Andy Molest of Grand Rapids bought my
MC 2187 "
Fast Az U". Welcome back Andy.
Reports by Eric Hood
Lake Harriet had 22 boats this year and great weather. Light to medium winds and five races. Grand Rapids had 41 boats and six races held in winds that ranged from light to medium / heavy winds. For Lake Harriet we five different race winners. Each one of the top
five
finalists each won a race. For Grand Rapids each one of the top three
finalists won a race with Brien Fox winning three races, WOW!! Then
Jamie At Lake Harriet Noel Newman from Upper Minnetonka proved to be the
most
consistent throughout the tricky event and earned a well deserved regatta
win. New Guy for the weekend was actually an old scow veteran from
Minnetonka . David Ferguson one of the hot E Scow sailors on the circuit
and former ILYA Commodore joined the class and took delivery of his
new MC
Scow 2267. Day 1 for the new guy was good but a little shakey, then
the
Ferg turned it on Sunday and won the day. Welcome to the fleet Ferg.
Most
improved at the Harriet group has to go to two local sailors. Jennifer
Price who twice led races and had her best race being a 3rd during
the
series. Also, John Getsinger posted a 4,4,3 for three of the five races.
Congrats John , a great weekend of sailing for you. See the final scores
for the Lake Harriet Spring Regatta at www.mcscow.org .
Reports by Eric Hood
This year's annual event felt like we were in far, far North America. Very cool temps in the high 40's for Saturday and the same for Sunday. Pewaukee Yacht Club and their race management teams still gave us 5 races. In fact it was so cold driving up from Lake Geneva to Pewaukee Lake today I drove through a 3 minute snow shower. Winds were pretty good for Saturdays racing with a range from 5-15 m.p.h. but shifty. Sunday we had good velocity but huge 45 degree shifts making for some interesting racing. 26 teams made it to the event. I am sure the Weather Channel influenced many sailors to do something else on this chilly weekend. The competition was still plenty stiff though and we had some great racing beginning to end. Race one saw local Pewaukee sailor Peter Toumanoff, Lake Geneva sailors David Harrison and Eric Hood jump out to a big lead on the rest of the group for the long 3&1/2 leg course in Northeast 10 m.p.h. winds. Peter did a great job of protecting his lead throughout the race and went on to win this race. Geoff Ackley of Pewaukee had his best race of the series finishing fourth in this race. Dan Fink sporting fashionable spiked Harley gloves and blue jeans was tough in the chilly conditions and finished fifth. Race two saw David Harrison lead the group to victory in this race with Rick Wilfert of Okauchee finishing second and Deb Ziegler finishing third. On this first day of racing Deb was very tough upwind and downwind. Peter Toumanoff finished fourth with Dan "Spike Squad Car" Fink finishing fifth. John Davenport of Pewaukee had his best race of the series finishing sixth in this race. It was a W2 course with a downwind finish. Finally race three was a W2&1/2 after a long delay waiting for
the 90 degree
wind shift to the east to settle in. Rick Trester was the quickest
off the
line and the quickest to the big right shift. Rick never looked back
in So after day one David Harrison was in first with 6 points, Peter Toumanoff was in second with 15, E.Hood in 3rd with 16, Zack Clayton with 23, Dan Fink with 24, Ted Keller with 25. Race four was started with very shifty north winds and the race was a W2 with a downwind finish. Things started getting interesting now. David pulls a 9th, Mark Wilfert a 2nd, Zack Clayton a 3rd, Peter Toumanoff a 5th, E.Hood a 10th. Jeff Surles won this race. This now set up for a real shootout with only 11 points seperating the top 6 boats going into the final fifth race. Race five was started in the same shifty north wind as race four but going into the start it was acting a little more northwest than the previous north wind from race four. The race was started and about 3 minutes into the race the huge right from the north came back making it a one tack beat to the weather mark and some reaching. Zack Clayton worked his way to the front , Pete and David were in the back half. E.Hood was dead last. As the race progressed the wind came up a little to good hiking weather but never really settled in. It looked as though Zack was going to pull the rabbit out of the hat right up until the finish . Mark Wilfert won the race. David Harrison made a huge comeback to 9th, Zack finished fourth. Peter Toumanoff did not recover and finished 16th. Ted Keller had another duece. E.Hood did not recover finishing way back. Congratulations to David Harrison who took a fair amount of ribbing about the fact it was Sunday again and he was leading the regatta. David on three or four occassions the last couple of years has led big regattas going into Sunday. He has had some tough luck at those regattas but this time he threw the old Sunday play book away , sailed great, hung tough when it did not look pretty and went on to win. I think probably the biggest lessons learned at this event was starting well and hitting the first two, three or four shifts. Usually in a good steady breeze hitting the first shift will put in the forward group which eventually starts sliding away from the pack. This weekend in all five races it was 2-4 quick tacks in the first 2-3 minutes that created the forward group. Boat speed was important this weekend but quick thinking and quick tacks were much more important. Not settling in and sailing headers. Those who tacked on all shifts were always at the front. So here are the final positions for the group. Complete results will be posted on www.mcscow.org . Pictures From the weekend will be posted at Pewaukee Yacht Clubs website. David Harrison 24, Mark Wilfert 30, Zack Clayton 30, Peter Toumanoff 36, JJ Hausmann 38, Ted Keller 42, Dan Fink 43, Rick Wilfert 45, Jeff Surles 46, E.Hood 49, Bruce Gallagher 51, Rick Trester 52, Deb Ziegler 57, Paul Moran 71, Steve Rotier 80, Greg Riemer 82, David Thoreson 88, Russ Ackley 90, Scott Setter 94, Brad Gummow 94, Josh Smith 96, Tom Wilfert 96, John Davenport 98, Geoff Ackley 99, Timothy Cleary 110, Tom Maser 116 Top Master - Peter Toumanoff, Top Woman - Deb Ziegler, Top Grand Master - Russ Ackley, Top Junior - Josh Smith As always the hospitality, race managment , food were all great at Pewaukee Yacht Club. Tons of regattas just about anywhere you want to go are available. Check out www.mcscow.org for all the latest information.
Reports by Eric Hood / Andy Burdick
Lake Eustis Sailing Club
- Eustis, Florida Seventy Seven boats raced for the Midwitner Title this past weekend at the Lake Eustis Sailing Club. A record turnout of Melges MC's. The series constituted of 4 races in all as Friday's racing was called off due to light air. Thursday brought light air and sun, Friday was sunny, warm but too
light of breeze to get a race off while Sunday was absolutely perfect.
Temperatures in the high 70's, sunny with a warm breeze ranging up
to 18 mph. at times. An excellent day to wrap up a tremendous MC Midwinter
Championship. Going into the 4th and final race Pape had the lead in the regatta
over Andy Burdick. Kelly Reese was right in the hunt for the championship
too. The final heat saw Pape and Burdick meet in the middle of the
line with just over 90 seconds before the start. Burdick tacked to
starboard and reached down the line, racing to the port end. Pape stayed
near the middle. As we approached the starting gun the line swung even
more port favored. Burdick tacked to port with 5 seconds before the
start and blasted off the line with speed port tacking the fleet. Hood
had another good start on the port end. Pape was stuck in the middle,
in traffic and then was called over the line. As the fleet jetted up the first beat it was obvious that the shfts would be big and many. Up to 30 degrees at times. Velocity accompanied the shifts too so you had to line yourself up for the breeze, get in the breeze and then decide to either tack (because the new breeze was a knock) or keep going (because the new breeze was a lift). Burdick midway up had a nice lead only to let Jack Kern, Skip Moorehouse, Jeff Surles and Sean Treacy get left of him. The hit breeze and a left shift allowing them to reach into the top mark. On the run Burdick and Jeff Annis battled low and then broad reached
into the leeward pin. This paid big money on this leg. Moorehouse had
the lead and from this point on would hang on for the win. Skip sailed
a great race to stay in front with such shifty conditions. Burdick
up the next beat got left of Treacy and Surles which paid off. Burdick
would finish 2nd. His third 2nd place finish of the event. Eric Hood
sailed up to third, Kern finished 4th and Jeff Surles hiked hard to
get 5th in this final race.
MC MIDWINTERS - DAY 1: A record 78 boats are attending the 2004 MC Scow Midwinter Championship at Lake Eustis, Florida. Light medium winds greeted the group for two flukey but pretty good races. Full length w2&1/2 courses were sailed and a mid-line start boat was utilized. Laser legend Dick Tillman won the first race capitalizing on a big second beat shift to the left that took Dick and Dr. Jack Kern from the 5-6 spots to the 1-2 spots. In the end Andy Burdick squeezed out Dr. Kern for second. Race 2 saw Jeremy Pape who is fresh off a year of his Olympic Finn campaign lead this race bell to bell. After 2 races last weeks C Scow Midwinter Champion Andy Burdick is in first with 4 points, Jeremy Pape is in second with five points and Dr. Jack Kern is in third with six points. Those three boats had a great day are already building a nice point spread on the rest of the group. Complete scores were not available last night but will be tonight so we will have a detailed report of day 2 late tonight. This is a six race series with no drop races. Winds for day 2 are
expected to be light medium. Keep tuned for more tonight!
Interview by Eric Hood How did you get into
the MC?
Jeff: Clear Lake, Iowa has to
be my best memory. That was when I was very new in the boat and still
learning. I had lots of good experiences there, including winning
a race win a fleet of 111 boats. That was fun. Also, the venue itself
was very nice. Staying at the Outing Club was very fun. When it goes
back to Clear Lake, Iowa in 2005 I will be the first boat there and
the last boat to leave. I am planning on making a ten day vacation
out of that event. We hosted it in Augusta in 01 and that was fun
too. We had good wind for all but one race out of six. Everybody
was happy when they left, except Andy Burdick who won but got his
head shaved.
Jeff: One thing is that I race
as much as my schedule will permit. I drive to Wisconsin, Michigan,
Indiana, or wherever the race might be found. That has given me so
much experience that I would not have had if I stayed in the south
all the time. I spent a lot of extra time on the water during the
off-season between he end of 01 and 02. I sailed about 15 times over
that winter on the good sailing days down here, mostly in heavy wind.
I practiced going around buoys, tacking, etc. That practice made
a big difference. I thing that sailing the C Scow also helped. That
thing makes you feel different when you get in the MC.
Jeff: The people are the key.
There are too many great ones in the class to begin to list. The
real fun part is that when you race with these guys and gals you
have a great race and then have a great time. If I had not met many
of the folks I have met since getting into the MC, I would be a lesser
person right now. Thank you very much Jeff and congratulations on winning the 1st MC event of the new 2004 sailing season.
North ZMax main onboard of 1st and 2nd at the First MC Regatta of the Year! Lake Eustis Sailing Club 19 MC's attended this open regatta. 16 preregistered through the MC.org
website. The racing was very good since we were on a course with only
two classes, Wafarers and MCs. Devin Farley and the usual case of excellent
race officers got the races off on time and the courses were good,
all windward-leeward 5 leg events.
For more information on MC Scow sails, contact the North MC Scow experts.
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Hood, Cassady and Colburn all took crew while Burdick chose to sail solo. The decision primarily based on the weather mark location which was well under the windward shore. Again, the left side of the line paid big money and Hood jumped on the opportunity. He was winning at the top mark. Cassady was in there. Colburn battled right the second half of the beat and had some hard luck. Burdick was almost too conservative fearing a big shift on one side or the other. He stayed middle which resulted in a 15th weather mark rounding.
A
great time was had by all who attended the First Annual Scowabunga
Regatta. A big thanks to all who contributed to the success of this
regatta. John Hearn Fleet 82 captain spearheaded the regatta. David
Varnell was John's right hand man and headed up the meals with the
help of
his wife Jan. They put on the "best" open pit steak dinner
with all the
fiixin's. Chris Cyrul was in charge of trophies and Rob Fowler
Registration. Privateer Yacht Club has many members who didn't sail
but
contributed. Among those were Spike Carscaddon and his gang on race
committee and Joe Alfred with his don't miss this regatta next year
Sunday
morning breakfast. Mike Rasbury our own photo journalist took many
action
photo and gave all out of towners a complimentary cd-rom to take home
as a souvenir.
Usually
we always have a new guy or gal at almost every MC event each year
but this week it was all about the new fleet. Fleet 82 headed up by
John
Hearn and Chris Cyrul. They are really fired up at the Privateer Yacht
Club. Like mentioned above it is a cool place. Reminds me a lot of
Augusta
in many ways. Club built for racing and relaxing. They are big on the
food
and relaxtion program which really adds to the great sailing that is
available here. Slight amount of current which makes things fun. Nothing
like Charleston but if the gates are open there can be an added tactical
item with the current. Winds here are relatively steady considering
the
lake is right up against the mountains. Add this one in next year for
sure.
When
you see a huge shift coming through in the last minute or two before
the start you need to rethink your starting strategy. If you know it
is
going to be one of those tack to port quickly starts then find a nice
lonely
spot on the line. It is much more important to be able to tack quickly
and
have a clear leeward bow when you do it. Remember it is light air and
it
will be bow down and let the boat get free. Boatspeed is the key not
position in the first minute or two of this kind of start.
All the beats in this event were about sailing in the dark water or
water
with breeze. The puffs were large enough to count on them being there
when
you saw them coming down from the top of the course. You would have
only
known this though from practice before the race. Understanding the
race
course presented to you is critical. Too many sailors just sail around
before starts and do not pay attention to the wind patterns coming
down the
race course. Figure the trends out before the race.
Downwind some valuable lessons were learned. Do not sail in packs in
light
air downwind. Rarely will you make out here. Boats that clustered together
generally will sail slower than a boat by itself with free telltales.
Also
, light air the rule of thumb is take the high road down to the leeward
mark
and heavy air you would take the low road when possible. This proved
true
in three of the four races. Gene Lane sailed a great race two winning
this
race by going extremely low on the group off the top mark and then
he came
in close reaching to the finish line when the rest of us were beam
reaching.
That is very risky though and usually it is impossible to break through
the
wall or dead zone of no air created by the windward boats. Do not forget
the wind shadow has much more depth in light air.
3rd:
Ed Durant - Top Master 
Jeff: 
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