| 2009 Cedar C Icebreaker |
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Cedar Lake Yacht Club 2009 Icebreaker Regatta May 2nd & 3rd Finally, a great weekend of weather! Sixty and seventy degree temperatures greeted the 17 boat fleet for both Saturday and Sunday. The sailors would also get a mix of almost all types of wind conditions in the four races that were run. Mike Sherin was the Head Judge and did a great job of getting four races in, despite some pretty shifty conditions that made it very hard to get the course set. Cedar Lake provided plenty of help for Mike, lead by Pat Kardos. Joe Schaub and Stuart Strother lead the fleet around mark number one. Joe set sail and managed to complete a wire to wire job in the very shifty conditions. For his first time out of the box, it was a very impressive victory. A real dogfight for second through sixth broke out as these boats used a good blast downwind to open up a gap on the rest of the fleet. LF-1 won this battle finally by staying inside of Stuart Strother the last 100 yards to the finish. Stuart had traveled all the way from Lake Chautauqua in New York State, for the regatta. John Cochran finished fourth followed by Matt Prange. The second race was supposed to be back to back, as Mike Sherin was worried about the light wind forecasted on Sunday and badly wanted to get four in on Saturday. The wind gods would not cooperate as the wind began to bounce from North to southwest, well over 90 degrees every couple of minutes. The fleet was forced to break for lunch to let the wind settle in. The afternoon saw the wind begin to build from the original West direction that Race One was sailed in. The top puffs were around 18 mph with the bottom end around eight. The shifts were not 90 degrees, but they were bouncing every bit of thirty with big increases in velocity when they hit. In other words tip over weather! Tom Felker was the first to go, getting hit by a huge shift and a blast downwind. This tip over would win him the famous ball buster award at the end of the regatta. More troubles would follow. Matt Prange missed the straps and went for an impromptu swim off of his C. Joe Schaub’s forestay gave way in a big knock that brought the right straight down on the boat rather than the usual over the side collapse. As the boom hit the deck the weight of the mast destroyed the gooseneck fittings and knocked him out of the regatta. The rest of the tip overs managed to right them and finish the race. Glen McMurray coming off the really big wind at Springfield took control of this race to punch out a nice victory. Local boat Scott Campbell led this one around the first mark and held on for the vast majority of the race. Glen finally wore him down with three while Scott was sailing with his sister Wendy. Steve Schmidt finished third, followed by Mark Misch and LF-1. The wind continued for the last race of the day. This time local boat Mark Misch, sailing with Joe Skotarzak won this one in another tight duel. They banged off the left side with Stuart Strother. Matt Prange had a good chance in this one, but had trouble committing so hard to the left as the right had paid some big dividends early in this one. It would cost him the bullet and Steve Schmidt who battled in for another third. Glen McMurray closed a solid afternoon with a fifth. This left Stuart Strother and Steve Schmidt tied for the lead with twelve points. Glen McMurray was third with fourteen points, followed by LF-1 with fifteen points. Mark Misch’s bullet pulled him into the top five with nineteen points. The Derby Party was great, Mine That Bird won at 50 to 1 odds making some sailors very happy with a ticket they probably thought was not so hot. The evening featured the great Cedar Lake hospitality and an awesome pork chip dinner. The forecast for Sunday was calm. Sunday arrived with the lake glass. It did not look good at all. Mike Sherin kept a close eye on what the surrounding areas winds were. Finally around 9:30 am all the cities and airports around Cedar Lake at least had the wind blowing from the west even though it was very, very light. So he got the fleet out on the water for a 10:30 start. The wind was three to eight knots, with lots of the air above the surface of the water. Scott Campbell led his second race of the regatta around the first mark, followed very closely by LF-1. Hayden Davis was next after a very strong first leg. LF-1 took control downwind to lead around the bottom mark. On the last downwind Steve Schmidt closed in from behind to make it a very tight race. Around the mark LF-1 tacked back left and Schmidt tacked to a safe leeward. As they approached the downwind fleet LF-1 tacked back right to avoid the disturbed air of the fleet. Schimdt went after the opening. The wind swing hard right to north. Suddenly LF-1 was battling to hold off Scott Campbell, who was planing on a reach for the finish. LF-1 held on for the bullet followed by Scott Campbell. The regatta was now in doubt for Steve Schmidt as Steve Schaub also cruised over Schimdt into third. Schimdt battled back and got underneath Schaub to pull out a tight third. Fourth would have given the regatta to LF-1 on the tiebreak. Hayden Davis sailed a solid race to finish fifth. Steve Schmidt won with fifteen points, followed by LF-1 with sixteen points. Glen McMurray sailed a solid regatta to tie Stuart Strother and Dave Beeson from New York. Glen took the tiebreak for thirdoverall. Steve Schaub, winner of last weeks big blow at Springfield, used his last race fourth to jump into the hardware with twenty four points. Scott Campbell lead two races, and almost won his first regatta race, used his two seconds to capture the Top Master spot. It was a great regatta. Make sure to bring a friend next year and get this regatta back over thirty boats were it belongs! LF-1 reporting (Chris Craig) |