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D18 Champs in Wawasee - story by John MacElwee 9/20/04
Little ponds don’t always make for big fish – a little fish can still feel like a little fish in a little pond. Well that’s part of the news from Lake Wawasee where Rick Rothenbuhler, Ken Swetka, Dan Rylance and I spent the weekend for the District 18 championships at the Lake Wawasee Yacht Club. After arriving in a semi-comatose state after leaving CSYC at 6 AM Saturday, we made it in time for the skippers’ meeting, where we were told that any kinetic motions would not be tolerated – steroids o.k. - before a brass band played the Star Spangled Banner to officially open the start of the championships. I felt like an Olympian … for a minute. The wind on a small lake shifts constantly, and comes and goes and then goes again. Saturday was very, very light, and requires a special set of skills I don’t have. (all right now I know – ease the main, head up, pull in the sheet)
At dinner, when I brought up the day’s races, I was met by blank stares and was told quietly by Rick and Ken (even though he was in fourth) that we weren’t discussing the races this evening. O.K. To end the gloom, we headed off with the other sailors to the Enduro race at the New Paris Speedway about 15 minutes from the club. The Enduro race features bashed up cops cars, pick up trucks, taxis, Ford Escorts, low riders (about 60 in all), traveling around a quarter mile track at 90 miles per hour just inches a part from each other. Since the cars were older and being pushed to their limit and getting smashed continually, they would fall apart – wheels, axles, front ends would come off, rods were thrown, or simply catch on fire. When these events happened, the racing would stop for a moment, the driver of the wrecked vehicle would get out of the car, a crew would pick up any debris thrown from the vehicle, and the vehicle was then left on the track as an obstacle. There were 10 of these obstacles by the end of the evening. Ken picked the winner – Carl Muffley in Car no. 6. As I sat there fascinated about how crazy this was – your clothes picked up the smell of the burning rubber – I was thinking that any minute a car could flip onto us and we wouldn’t have to worry about racing tomorrow.
“I want Room”
No such luck, but we were grateful for some wind on Sunday, a beautiful day. Winds seemed to be in the 12 to 14 knot range, and our guys seemed to being doing well with Rick winning a couple races. Dan and I were sort of the middle, until I had a couple of traffic accidents at the mark roundings. My mind kept going back to the Enduro, where no one dares to call for room at the mark. (I heard one laserite mention that “if he had to give any more room, he’d have to work at the Holiday Inn”) We were able to get three races in on Sunday.
At the awards presentation, Ken received the award for second place (out of 35 boats) and top master, Rick got third. Dan was somewhere in the middle. We’re not mentioning where I ended up, although I did beat a ten year old. Luckily results aren’t posted yet. But when they are they will be here. Wawasee Yacht Club All in all, the weekend was a lot of fun, and Ken’s advice to me is that the only way to do well at big regattas is to go to them. Agreed.
I’m hoping to be at CSYC Tuesday night and I know others are hoping to be there as well. We start racing right at 6:30 because of the limited light. The weather has been beautiful, so I hope you can extend the summer and join us. Also, I hope that some of you can support Sean Fidler in his work to organize the regatta this Saturday at Cass Lake. I’ve got a gig that day, but it should be a great event.
Come sail with us!
Come sail with us!
Come sail with us!
