Well, we didn't get any wind on Saturday, 10/5 at Candlewood, but we had pirates! I guess they thought they could scare everyone out on the race course in case pure skill was not enough! Argh I say!

While we did not race, we had a really great time visitng with old and new friends. There were 20 boats from 3 states registered and ready to go if the predicted wind actually materialized.  Brian Hayes from North Sails was good enough to hold a sail trim clinic while we were waiting and lots of good questions came from both new and experienced sailors - there is always someting new to learn and the tips can come in handy.

We felt a little better when we checked what was happening at the J22 Worlds in Newport, RI, where they ran out of wind for the second race today. By the way - good buddy Al Terhune and crew took 1st place and another good buddy Benz Faget and crew took 5th place in a field of 71 boats!  Congratulations!

After waiting until 2PM, the Candlewood regatta committee fed us a fabulous barbeque and offered to reschedule racing for Sunday, 10/6. Many of the boats could stay, so they will try it again tomorrow. Two of the 4 boats from Massapoag will be there tomorrow to make us proud - hope all goes well for all the participants. More to come...

Saturday of the seventh annual Glow in the Dark regatta at Clinton Lake Sailing Association was a blowout. Winds gusted to the low 30s as the afternoon wore on, like a sirocco or the Santa Anas. Still, there was plenty of beer and friendly visiting. Many of us enjoyed admiring class president Frank Gerry’s new boat, Eva, which Harry and Karen delivered to the regatta.

Sunday weather was absolute perfection. Winds from the north, northeast, northwest…okay, not perfection, very shifty. Still, the velocity was perfect and the air was crisp and the sky was blue! We squeezed in three good, long races before the noon cut off time and everyone went in happy and satisfied.

Racing was highly competitive. Ryan Malmgren and Stacey Rieu, just back from their honeymoon, were the most consistent, closely followed by Harry and Carrie Carpenter. In third place was Randy Adolphs from Madison and his son, David. Ben Williams and Deb Aronson grabbed fourth, one point ahead of Frank and Marianne Gerry, who were fifth.

With 20 boats participating, magnificent conditions (on Sunday), lots of support from our club, Clinton Lake Sailing Association, the regatta was mah-velous!

In addition, Ben Williams and Frank Gerry were in neck-and-neck competition for the first annual Midwest District Travel Series. Ben beat Frank by a nose in the last race Sunday and that ended up making all the difference in the travel series, with Ben winning it by one point.

2013 results are here

The "First Annual" Scotahoochee Regatta was held at the Lake Lanier Sailing Club on September 14-15, but it was actually the second Flying Scot regatta held at LLSC -- the first being our 2012 Dixie Lakes District Championship Regatta on the same weekend last year.  Scott and Sharon Adams, helped by several fleet members (a special "thank you" to Peter Kowalski), have figured out very quickly how to put on a first class regatta.  Keith and I shared a sweet little rental cabin on the LLSC property with John Sensor and Matt Tringali from our own club.  As for us, we traded tacks in every one of Saturday's three races and Sunday's three races with the teams of Peter Beam / Lee Estes and Eric Ashaffenberg / Paul Beaudry.  There were 11 entrants and three races in beautiful, sunny, and very, very shifty 5-15 knot conditions on Saturday, plus three more in a slightly steadier 5-10 knot breeze on Sunday morning.  Peter won 2 races, but so did Eric, and so did Keith and myself --but in the end it was Peter's consistency (two seconds and two thirds to go with his pair of bullets) that won the regatta.  John Sensor, attending his first ever off-lake regatta since retiring here to the "Golden Corner" of SC-NC-Georgia, had a great trio of finishes on Sunday to finish fourth overall.  In sum, I think "Scotahoochee" is an old timey Cherokee word meaning "great hospitality, great weather, great competition, and great fun!"  Hey Scotters --put this one on your calendar for the second weekend after Labor Day next year if you live anywhere close!

Sandy Eustis, Dixie Lakes Governor

Pictures are here  and Results are here

The MYC 64th Annual regatta was held on September 7 - 8, 2013 with a welcome party on September 6,  It was a great success with 17 Flying Scots, 5 Day Sailers and 24 Sunfish participating.   It was a real family affair this year!  On FS and Day Sailers, we had 5 father-son teams, 3 father-daughter teams, a team of brothers, 4 husband-wife teams (one of which were the parents of another skipper),.   On Sunfish we had 2 mothers of other skippers, 4 fathers of other skippers and 2 grandfathers of other skippers.  One family came with 4 Sunfish, 3 on a trailer and one on top of a car.  We had decent wind for 2 days, although it was from the west-northwest, but managed to get in 7 races for big boats and 10 races for Sunfish!  Another great time for everyone at MYC!   Results are here

The 2013 Atlantic Coast Championships are on at Tom's River Yacht Club, Tom's River, NJ form 9/14 - 9/15/2013, with a chilly start to Day 1 - in the 50's and warming to alomst 70 degrees.   Day one also featured 0-15 MPH winds with 60-degree wind shifts.  The Race Committee managed to get in 3 races and after day 1 the leaders are Chmapionship - Rob Whiiitemore and Challenger - Greg Shafer.  Hopefully day 2 will bring steadier winds!

Results to date are here