8/9-10 Red White & Blue Chip - Hosted by LaBelle Yacht Club

Photo credit - Lindey Neudorff

34 Red, White, and Blue Optimist stars traveled to compete at the annual Red White & Blue Chip Regatta at LaBelle which concluded yesterday. After racing was cancelled Monday due to extreme weather, the RC got three races in on Tuesday and Nathan Finkelstein, fresh off his ILYA Opti Championship, kept the ball rolling with a narrow 1 point victory over Will Utz from Pewaukee and Tilly Niemann from Geneva. Mason Keane from Beulah and Dominik Moncur from Wayzata rounded out the top 5.

Click for the full results...

8/6-8
WYA C Championship - Hosted by Okauchee Yacht Club

Click here for full results

7/14-15
GLSS Opti

• Sophie Niemann from Lake Geneva Yacht Club won the overall title and the Red Fleet.
• Will Utz from Pewaukee Yacht Club won the Blue Fleet.
• Mason Keane from Lake Beulah Yacht Club won the White Fleet.
• Max Neveux from Chicago Yacht Club won the Green Fleet

Click Here for Full Results

Week of 6/21-28
MC National Observations from Eric Hood

The numbers speak for themselves! 119 boats travelled from near and far for the 2021 MC National Championship in Clear Lake, IA June 24-27. 

Clear Lake Yacht Club has hosted the MC Nationals multiple times, and this clearly was their best effort ever with incredible organization both on and off the water. Putting boats at lakeshore homes around the lake really made a difference for logistics, but it also built a ton of new relationships that will last for years and hopefully generations to come. The Oltrogge, Tesar family, Osmundson families plus dozens of other sacrificial volunteers at Clear Lake put a long and well-organized years’ worth of effort into this event and we all owe them a huge thank you and deep sense of gratitude. Thank you from all of us!

Everyone came to this event thinking big wind throughout the series with multiple weather organizations and apps calling for breeze. Day 1 on Friday appeared with beautiful skies and plenty of heat, but not enough wind to sail. Day 2 arrived with a deluge of rain, lightning, and thunder. But then skies cleared in the afternoon and finally enough pressure to get one race off. Cam McNeil of White Lake (MI) jumped the fleet from the left end and convincingly won the race with Dan Guidinger from White Bear (MN) finishing second, Brett Hatton from Spring Lake (MI) finishing third, Michael Hanley from Minnetonka (MN) finishing fourth, and Casey Christensen from Torch Lake (MI) rounding out in fifth.   Hoping to get another race in, boats were preparing for a quick start and then came a very fast moving and surprising 25-35mph front from the NNW over the tree line sending teams to shore as quick as they could get there. That ended day 2. The final day of racing on Sunday arrived, and we had absolutely no wind with nothing forecasted.

The regatta ended with only one race completed, so we had a regatta, but not a National Championship. According to the Class by-laws, three races must be completed to award the perpetual trophies. Cam McNeil was declared the winner of the biggest MC regatta in class history. A huge congratulations to Cam!

Let me transition and tell you a story about my start with the MC Class and why I love it.

In 1979, Bill Kilpatrick and I in Oklahoma City, arranged a deal to sell 10 MC Scows to a bunch of my southern buddies to sail in the 1981 MC National Championship. In Oklahoma of all places. In brand new boats!

I have personally sailed in 200+ MC regattas, dozens of training clinics and Zenda U, as well with Andy Burdick, Jim Gluek, Ted Keller, Eddie Cox, and the Melges Team over the years. I only mention this because I have observed our Class grow and continue its strength because of individuals who had the vision and invited others to join. There are now dozens of others who have adopted what was done so many years back, who started a trend of buying a combination of used and new boats to build their fleets.

Think about this for a moment. We started our sixth decade of MC Scow sailing this past week. The only real solid visible promotion in the beginning was Smiley Freytag from Lake Geneva (WI) and he had free reign from Buddy Melges to take this new boat everywhere and anywhere he wanted. Doing just that, Smiley helped class founders launch MCs in Shreveport, LA; Atlanta, GA; Dallas, TX; Spring Lake, MI; and many other spots along the way through those early years with boats 1-1000.  Harry Melges III allowed Scott Ripkey, Andy Burdick, and myself to do the same in the 80s, 90s, 2000s. Today, Andy has Eddie Cox and Jim Gluek doing the same to promote the MC heavily around the country.

In the decades to come, we have individuals like Happy Fox and Carl Reuterdahl from Spring Lake (MI), Tom Wurster from Diamond Lake (MI), Jack Kern, the boat fleet building legend from Rush Creek (TX), and others like Harry Protzeller our first national champ, Dick Prokup 2-time national champ also from Rush Creek (TX), Jeff Annis from Augusta (GA), Frank Keenan from Lake Fenton (MI), and Martin Zonnenberg from Lake Eustis (FL) and many others (maybe you). 

Point 1: Invest.  It happened decades ago and currently it is happening again and now more often in several of our regions. In almost every lake you can find a ringleader (is it you?) who is promoting and often many times buying used MCs to help others get started. We really have never seen anyone lose money either. The boats are in huge demand, and you can at least break even almost always when helping new folks into the class. For example, the leaders of New Jersey’s MC fleet primarily based out of Barnegat Bay YRA now have 65 boats in their region in just a few years’ time.

This past week, I spoke with our upcoming 2022 MC class commodore Sean Bradley also from NJ/BBYRA and he said he has done this many times and with his friends like Will Demand along with others are doing the same. The Rush Creek crew in Texas is another classic example of helping others into the class by investing in a supply of used and new boats and they have seen fantastic growth and club participation with this model. Or perhaps your investment comes from volunteering at your club or on the MC Class board of governors. Invest can mean your time, your talent, and/or your resources.

Point 2: Mentor. Something else I observed at Clear Lake was how often veteran sailors were helping new sailors with rigging their boats, talking about tuning, and sailing. For everyone in our class please read and heed the following. The most important sailors in our group are those who are new and those who have not had opportunities to be near good sailors on a regular basis. Their learning curves are steeper. We must as a group mentor anytime we can. If someone asks you a question, drop what you are doing if possible and dive into the question. The rewards are huge because now that sailor gets better 5% at a time when he or she solves one more question. And then eventually they become the mentor. This will be how we multiply and grow our class.   

Point 3: Invite. This past week my 14-year-old MC Nationals crew, Finley Nyhus, who sails an X Boat at Clear Lake had never skippered a MC Scow. We had no wind on Friday, but we did have a good shore breeze along our tree line on the east shore. I said “Finley, take our MC sailing.”  He said he was afraid he would scratch the brand-new boat or hurt it. I told him that everyone has a first day for many things in life. Then I asked, “Do you want to sail the MC?”  He replied, “More than anything.” I said, “GO and have your first day skippering a MC Scow!” Finley sailed for the next hour and a half up then down the tree line with good breeze. That one move with Finley will not only be a lasting memory in his life but I am convinced, will spread at Clear Lake in that great junior program as he influences and leads others through the years.

Final Thoughts! 

So, in closing here are two thoughts that bode well for our future.

1^st – We need to continue supporting our builder. Knowing there is demand for new boats allows our manufacturer Melges Performance Sailboats to scale up on building boats which allows us to stay healthy as an organization. 

2^nd – We need to find all the used boats that are good boats sitting in barns, garages, sheds, yacht club parking lots, and storage units that are not being sailed. Example – three different leaders from New Jersey said they would buy 15 used boats right now (1500-2500 series). People get their starter boats and then they eventually want to buy new boats. Or the person who invested puts a new sailor in a boat and the investor gets a new boat from Melges. It is a win-win deal for all! Let’s find the boats and get the word out so those boats get out on the water with new sailors!

With this said, we are all part of the future of this class, and I am grateful to know many of you over the years. Whether you contribute in a small way or bigger ways, every contribution matters to us sailors, our class, our builder, and suppliers. We are all connected and are all needed.

Invest, Mentor, and Invite. Decide where you can add value to our class and then go do it!

By Eric Hood /hood.eric@gmail.com

2020 A Scow Nationals - Pewaukee Yacht Club

The A Fleet came out in force to enjoy PYC's legendary hospitality with 19 A Scows attending, including 4 new A Scows fresh off the production line from Melges Boatworks.  T Freytag sailing I-7 - Madcap, who hadn't hoisted the trophy since 2010 at Mendota, was all smiles with his crew comprised of his children Nathan, Aran, Dylan, Ailsa (but for 3rd Place Bo who helmed I-18 Smiles) Max Six and Tim Krech.  

Full Results Here.

2020 MC Scow Nationals - Clear Lake Yacht Club

119 Registrants descended upon Clear Lake Yacht Club.  CLYC rolled out the red carpet for everyone.  Unfortunately, Mother Nature didn't cooperate and turned the fan off on Friday but for one race and then pushed it to full power on Saturday and then pulled the plug out of the wall on Sunday.  

Cam McNeil won the only race, extending his hot streak 

Check out the CLYC and MSCA Facebook pages for play-by-play of the weekend.

Full Results Here.


6/18-20

2020 C Scow Nationals - Muskegon Yacht Club - Karl Lanka

First Place SL-11 Blitz - Cam McNeil / Ben McNeil / Meg Bouman

  

Full Results here.

2021 International Laser Class National Championships - Old Domininion Sailing Center

Photo Credit - Chris Allen

Great Weekend for some ILYA youth sailors who traveled to Norfolk, VA for the 2021 Laser Champs. ILYA X Boat and Opti Champion Chapman Petersen beat 104 entries to capture the ILCA 6 Championship. Chapman is currently the High School (Cressy), US Youth (Johnstone), US National and North American Champion in this class.  Way to go Chapman!

ILYA Opti Champion Peter Barnard placed 9th and ILYA Opti and X Boat Champion Charlie Allen placed 35th.

Meanwhile Jacob Zils from Minnetonka Yacht Club, placed 2nd in the ILCA 4 (Laser 4.7) class.  Congrats to all!

Full US Sailing Report here.

6/11-13

2020 E Scow Nationals - Little Egg Harbor Yacht Club - Christian Spencer

Photo credit - Peter Slack

56 E Scows representing 25 Yacht Clubs with sailors hailing from 10 states gathered to sail the postponed 2020 E Nationals at Little Egg Harbor Yacht Club Beach Haven , NJ.  These sailors represented the best of the best from the east and the midwest and the competition proved to be fierce and tightly contested.

Days 1 & 2 were windy and wavy.  ILYA sailors who might be used to sailing the shifts had to get good starts and get out in the straps and sail fast as it wasn't as much about sailing the shifts as the sailing area was big and the legs were long.  Vincent and Brian Porter stood atop the standings after 5 races; however, White Heat with Harry Melges IV at the helm and his team were lurking with a throw out that would come into play on day 3.  Both he and Sam Rogers sailing Madame sailed a very consistent series with H4 ultimately triumphing by the slimmest of margins. That's two ILYA E Scow Championships and a Nationals in the past three years for Harry!  Congratulations to he, his team and all of the competitors for a great series.

Also a great time was had by all at the Little Egg Harbor YC. A big thanks to them for their perseverence and hospitality!

UW Badger Sailors all decked out.

Next up for the E Scows is the ILYA Invitational at Mendota July 9-11.

Full results here.

C MIR Delavan Lake Yacht CLub - Candace Porter

One beautiful day of racing – one long day – as the C fleet prepared for its trek to Muskegon this week for C Nationals. Delavan was shifty with vacillating shifts but four races in medium wind was picture perfect on Saturday. The conditions shifted on Sunday to a total shutdown and the fleet voted to close it down. Kent Haeger and Mike Greeson took all four race wins – just a great performance by the duo. Racing was marked by a rather evenly matched fleet other than the B-12. It was a multitude of boats leading at differing marks. Second place was held by a high schooler Augie Jarecki sailing with his dad. A great set of races for the Jarecki team. 

It was a marvelous time as Delavan always provides wonderful hospitality. The site is so conducive to gathering and enjoying conversation around a fire pit, on the deck or hanging around the boats. The RC was equally as happy as new and old faces gathered to serve the sailors. Delavan has created an inviting program to teach members RC work. With 34 new member families this year, the future is bright for this club. New faces were on the markset boat learning the ropes, experienced Delavan RC were learning GPS operation and the brightest star was a current X sailor who sat for two days racing or waiting. Diana Moses was the sharpest, fastest learner to sit on a pontoon. One race in and she was independent with timing, recording, time limits. What a joy she was. Dave Becker, a previous Delavan club manager for years, rejoined the volunteer effort – this time as RC. Lastly Joe Fenton is a Delavan homegrown exceptional RC member. He serves as PRO nearly every Saturday on Delavan. His instincts are spot on. What a volunteer effort Delavan gets from him. Some of you have stayed at Fenton’s house for regattas. All in all, just the best effort around for Delavan.

Click here for Full Results - photos are by Larry Kmiecik.

MC Wisconsin Championships - Vicki Clayton

35 MC Scows gathered at busy Cedar Lake Yacht Club for the MC Wisconsin Championship this past weekend.  PRO Chip Mann did his level best to grapple with the shifty wind patterns at Cedar and to his considerable credit got 5 races in over the two days of sailing.

Home-laker Peter Dobbeck took advantage of his local expertise and won the regatta by a solid margin including two race wins. Dan Fink, Chris Kubicek, Stefan Schmidt and B.J. Best rounded out the top five.  Cedar's hospitality was in fine form at the cocktail party on Saturday night as the sailors celebrated another opportunity to gather and enjoy the sport.

Click for Full results here.

42^ND ANNUAL MC ORLANDO WEBB MEMORIAL REGATTA

Lake Lotawana, MO

A great time was had by all, six races with great 7-12 mph shifty winds out of the South for two days.

Congrats to out of town sailors and at least twenty time National Champion in different fleets Bill Draheim of Draheim Performance Sails. Lotawana sailor Spencer Brackman had a great regatta with second place and two first place finishes.

3^rd Place went to Liam Hood a Cal Poly U. a very successful college sailor and Aerospace Engineer; he also had two 1^st place finishes.   4^th through 8^th places were decided by less than six points, one strategic tack could have made a big difference.  Congrats to the trophy winners below for more detailed results go to the www.MCScow.org results page.  

Gary MC 2127

Wawasee Annual E  Regatta 

2021 WAWASEE E SCOW REGATTA
Wawasee Yacht Club
Syracuse, IN
June 5-6

After a silent 2020 the Wawasee Yacht Club roared back to life with its 36^th annual early season regatta. Club members were anxious for the guest teams to see their newly renovated clubhouse (which received rave reviews). Thirty-one teams hit the starting line on Saturday morning. Race conditions were Hot, Windy and Fast. Navigating gusty SSW winds of 12-20 knots with wide and frequent wind shifts, sailors were provided an opportunity for quick gains and conversely quick set backs on the 5 leg courses. The Race Committee led by PRO Brad Wagnon was able to conduct 4 races on Saturday and unfortunately only one final race on Sunday as the predicted winds got up a little late after an apparent late night at the Frog Tavern.

Race one saw the Toby Sutherland team (GL7) get off to a clean start in the lower middle part of the line. They traded the lead several times with defending champ Tom Munroe (WH77). Rounding the leeward mark for the final leg in 2^nd place, Sutherland made a quick tack to regain the lead which they held to the finish line. Races 2 and 3 were taken respectively by Lance Puccio (H11  Mendota) and Rob Terry (CR66 Crystal). The final race of day one was secured by Brett Hatton (SL4 Spring Lake). Hatton and team handled the strong winds at the final downwind gate by dousing their spinnaker early passing the two lead boats and then successfully navigating the wind shifts for the victory after securing a third and second in the previous two races. 

On day two skippers had to be patient for almost an hour waiting for the winds to arrive. The Race Committee’s timing was perfect in calling for a start as the winds continued to build during the final race. The Rob Terry team (CR66) displayed their prowess by winning race 5 becoming the only team with 2 victories in the regatta. First day leader Toby Sutherland (GL7) set up for light conditions, avoided the crunch at the committee boat and sailed a clean final race to finish second and in doing so claimed the regatta title with 14 points.  Brett Hatton (19), Rob Terry (21), Mike Dow (29) and Tom Munroe (38) rounded out the top 5 places.

The regatta also scores a Silver Fleet. The Mike Rian team (WA13) took 1^st place followed by the Russell team (WA14) and the Mike Beesley team (WA49) in 2^nd and 3^rd respectively. The Beesley team was the most consistent of the regatta finishing between 21^st and 24^th in all five races.

The strong winds on Saturday made for some challenging racing conditions. No fewer than 5 boats went over with several swamping. The Race Committee Boat needed some repairs after being tagged by some finishing teams and several boats were in need of hull repairs. After swamping in race 3 and as a result late to the starting line for race 4, John Call had a nice recovery on day two with a 3^rd place finish. Dylan Sarber (14) and Meredith Sutherland (15) were the youngest participants in the regatta.

The Wawasee Yacht Club put on their usual Saturday night dinner catered by El Comal of Warsaw. There were the usual special team prizes and raffles. Tito’s once again supported the event with vodka and plenty of swag. Andy Burdick also attended the event with Melges and Quantum Sails support. Seventeen boats came from 6 different lakes (Michigan—Crystal, Torch, Spring, White; Wisconsin—Mendota and Colorado—Grand). NCESA also provided apparel support in promotion of the 100 year E Scow anniversary in 2023. Sleek polos were provided to the PRO and Race Chairman as well as a nice tech shirt for 3 competing teams (1^st place, mid-place and the last place team finishing all races).

Wawasee Yacht Club members take pride in providing housing to all off-lake teams. This year was no exception housing all 17 teams around the lake. Many thanks to all the volunteers who make this a special regatta.  Club members truly enjoy putting on this event and the energy of the off-lake teams make this a great weekend for all involved. 

See You All in 2022 for the 37^th edition.

Submitted by Larry Palmer, Race Chairman

LGYC Annual E Spring Regatta and X Clinic

E Spring Regatta

Photo Credit - Michael Moore

Lake Geneva Yacht Club hosted its annual E Spring Regatta this past May 22-23. The weekend experienced record attendance with 43 boats participating from an astounding 12 different lakes, from states such as Colorado, New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin.  Participants arrived to LGYC on Friday for practice and social revelry, with racing on Saturday and Sunday.  The regatta hosted a well attended social gathering and dinner on Saturday evening that was welcomed and enjoyed by all.

Conditions were near ideal with weather in the 80s and mostly sunny throughout the weekend. Breeze was 7-13mph on Saturday and 5-10mph on Sunday. The race committee, led by PRO Terry Blanchard, did a superb job getting three quality races off on Saturday and two completed on Sunday. The top 10 positions changed throughout the regatta, and the top finishers all sailed consistently well in evolving competitive conditions. In the end, the team of Harry Melges IV, Finn Rowe Maya Burdick and Ripley Shelly racing the I-1 prevailed at the top.  Closely behind were the teams of I-66 (helmed by Eddie Cox), I-2 (Vincent Porter), M-42 (Sam Rogers) and I-7 (T Freytag).  

Peter Strothman

Click here for full results.

X Clinic

Photo Credit - Lindsay Valasek

22 X Boats from 5  programs joined in the Annual X Boat Spring Clinic hosted by the Buddy Melges Racing Team on Lake Geneva. Guest coaches John “JP” Porter and Scott Norman joined BMRT head coach Marek Valasek for the weekend. The sailors enjoyed warm weather and solid breeze while brushing off their skills after a long winter break. They spent the mornings working on rigging and boat tuning, followed by chalk talks and on the water drills.  It was great to see all the kids on the water having fun with their friends as life is slowly getting back to normal after a long year behind the mask.  We hope this clinic will continue to grow over the years as it has proven to be good addition to the E Spring Regatta held on the same weekend at LGYC.

Marek Valasek

La Belle Spring Tune-Up C/MC/X

C Scow racers Michael Barr and Haley Thomas continued their spring season hot streak by defeating 18 other boats in the La Belle Tune-up this weekend. 3 races Saturday in great conditions and 1 on Sunday with lighter breeze netted the Barr-Crawler a razor thin victory on finsihes over second place Charlie Kilander IV & Kurt Begalke, a one point margin over third place Tim Schmidt and a two point margin over fellow Beulah sailors Brian and Kevin Brickler.

Great fun was had at Harris Island with 80 attendees celebrating a return to racing with C, MC and X Boaters in attendance.

Click here for full C results.

The MC regatta was captured by Dan Guidinger from White Bear, followed closely by home sailors James Ruppenthal & Kathy Mihelich, Pine Lake sailor Bruce Rosenheimer and another home lake sailor Paul Moran.

Click here for full MC results.

Sam Eckert & Nigel Trester took a jaunt down from Cedar to win the X portion of the proceedings.

Click here for full X Boat results.

Spring Tune-Up C - Cedar Lake Yacht Club (WI)

Mother's Day C Scow Regatta - Spring Lake Yacht Club (MI)

Brett Hatton

Ice Breaker C Scow Regatta - Cedar Lake Yacht Club IN

Cedar Lake Yacht Club IN hosted the annual Ice Breaker Regatta over the weekend and the breeze was on! 15 boats made the journey to sail in the event. High winds with gusts in the 30-40 mph range kept the fleet off the water on Saturday. Sailors took advantage of the lack of racing to reconnect with friends and discuss which thoroughbred horses would finish in the winners’ circle of the Kentucky Derby.

Sunday morning delivered windy yet sailable conditions with most boats utilizing a third crew. Mark Prange and his RC team carried out two great competitive races. Peter Keck N-181 won the first race. The second race was won by brothers Michael and Cullen Barr B-66, and with a second place finish in the first race was enough to make them the regatta winners.

A huge thanks to Ben Carstens and the rest of the Cedar Lake Yacht Club for hosting a tremendously fun event. The food was delicious, the party was lively, and the hospitality second to none. It is great to have regattas back.

-Michael Barr

Lake Springfield C Scow Regatta at Island Bay Yacht Club 

Hayden Davis and the Island Bay Yacht club kicked off the 2021 scow sailing season with style.  They rolled out the red carpet and really know how to show the sailors a great time.  Free beer and great food all weekend!     

On the water two C national champions literally battled till the end. Frank Davenport B-303 and Andy Burdick V-45 were separated by 1 point with 1 race left on Sunday.    The final race was an L2 and Andy was able to get underneath Frank about 200 yards from the finish.  Andy was able to take Frank up  just enough to slow him down and then Andy bore off to the finish line and beat Frank by about 4 feet.  That was enough to win the regatta.  

Great Water and Great People at Lake Springfield kick off a sure to be exciting and competitive C Scow sailing season.  

Respectfully Submitted  - Brian Brickler

Next Up: go to the ILYA Sailing Event Calendar for live registration links, NORs and maps.

1          ILYA Sailing Counselor Course - Pewaukee Register here.

1-2       Icebreaker Cedar, IN C Scow

7          Bilge Pullers North Dinner/Meeting - Lord Fletcher's Excelsior

8-9       Annual Mothers Day Regatta C - Spring Lake

14        Bilge Pullers South Dinner/Meeting - Lake Beulah 

15-16  Spring Tune-up Cedar, WI C/MC

22-23  Labelle Tuneup C/MC/X

22-23  Geneva Spring E Regatta