District 4  Regatta Report

Sat May 21st, 2005 through Sun May 22nd, 2005

Gull Lake Tulip Tune-Up

 

Report by Tom Londrigan Jr.

Skip Dieball likes to refer to Gull Lake as Pleasantville. I call it Fantasy Island. Life is good at Gull Lake and the daily struggles seem to fade away upon arrival. Tom and Jon Vandermolen stay up late to greet their visitors and, as each boat arrives, their little friend Pat Londrigan dances around like a spider monkey tugging at their coat and yelling “da plane, da plane”.

38 boats arrived, Pat was spent The Gull Lake Fleet finds housing on the Lake for all who ask. The Lake is beautiful and clean. It is spring. It is May, a new season, a rebirth, a clean slate, and by July anyone could win the 4th District Championship.

But as with all fantasies, there always seems to be a catch. This year the weather threatened the event. On Friday, it was sunny and windy. We played golf in the morning and raced in the afternoon. Jim Vandermolen and Mike Wolfs won the race and the Michigan boys fantasized of being the first locals to win the regatta, but there was a catch. Sure, Mike is Canadian but lets not ruin a good story. Besides, Michigan borders Canada, we import Canadian prescription drugs, Jim and Mike both like Labatt’s and bacon; and the Vandermolens are willing to adopt Mike. Let’s embrace the common ground here. They finished fifth in the regatta, and maybe a fifth as well.

Saturday brought blue skies and temperatures in the seventies… but there was a catch, no wind. We played croquet and enjoyed the day. Skip Dieball and Geoff Ewenson played golf. At three o’clock, approximately the fifteenth hole, a gun was fired and the postponement flag as dropped. The gun was loud enough to be heard on the golf course and Skip and Geoff, both shot a three on the 15th hole, sprinted to their boat, and shot a three in the first race behind Rob Maine/Dar Barkauskas and John MacCausland/Rick Burgess. The wind was light and extremely variable. Peter Wright went from first to 17th . George Szabo and Tom Vandermolen were in 10th when they watched 15 boats slither by only a few yards from the finish.

That's life, that's what all the people say. You're riding high in April, Shot down in May

We finished 25th. However, on a nice note, Class President Bill Allen went out of his way to remind me that I failed to sail around the offset mark. I returned to the scene of the crime and thanked Bill. 25th is better than DSQ and we learned a valuable lesson. I am sure we will never miss that offset again.

But I know I'm gonna change that tune, When I'm back on top, back on top in June.

38 boats, lots of talent, loads of fun and Skip and Geoff decided to take a swig from the fun jar on Saturday night. However, this time the Race Committee’s warning gun failed to penetrate their peaceful dreams. No sprinting to the dock, and finishing third. Instead, they stumbled to the harbor and missed the race.

While they slept, we raced. This time we had wind, but there was a catch, we also had rain. At the windward mark, my crew Chris Wallner and I were winning the race. As we started heading downwind, the second place boat kept sitting on my wind. I exchanged courtesies with Greg Smith and TC Belco and thereafter apologized as I realized that they were sailing high to fetch the offset mark. I missed the offset mark… again. I’m sure I will never do that again.

Each time I find myself, flat on my face, I pick myself up and get back in the race.

Downwind Arthur Anosov and Dave Caesar sailed past us easily and won the race. Peter Wright and Steve Ticknor were second with Larry Whipple and Jon Vandermolen in third. We finished sixth and six is a good number. Besides, first place is so overdone. Now sixth, that has some style to it.

Between races I asked Arthur about my downwind speed problem. The next thing I know the Ukrainian was boarding my boat. Arthur emerged from below my deck with my aft mast pin in hand. Afterwards, my set up and speed were much better. Arthur and Dave are constantly helping others and reflect the spirit of the Star Class. Not many competitors would adjust another sailors boat on the water, thanks again.

In the third race, Peter Wright and Steve Ticknor took first, Chris and Mickey Neilson were second, and George Szabo and Dave Jackson were third. Todd Gay and Jon Klerk led most of the race only discover that they were OCS. But the story was all about Rob Maine and John MacCausland. Rob and Dar held their position in front of John and Rick to win the regatta. Rob Maine heads into the bulk season as the favorite in the 4th District and primed for his second District Championship in July. But the rest of us, as Sinatra sings, still have high hopes.

Many times I thought of cutting out But my heart won't buy it But if there's nothing shakin' come this here july I'm gonna roll myself up in a big ball and die Well, maybe not die, but the beer won’t taste as sweet.



Star
Place Boat Skipper Crew Sail #: Fleet 1 2 3 Total
1 7905   Rob Maine   Darius Barkauskas   7905   WH   1 5 7 13
2 8184   John Maccausland   Rick Burgess   8184   CR   2 7 10 19
3 8037   Peter Wright   Steve Ticknor   8037     17 2 1 20
4 7640   Arthur Anosov   Dave Caesar   7640   TB   11 1 8 20
5 8168   Jim Vandermolen   Mike Wolfs   8168   GL   4 13 6 23
6 7333   Chris Nielson   Mickey Nielson   7333   WLM   14 11 2 27
7 8111   Rick Brethorst   Bob Carson   8111   LS   6 14 12 32
8 7995   George Szabo   Tom Vandermolen   7995   SDB   29 4 3 36
9 8012   Greg Smith   TC Belco   8012   GL   9 8 19 36
10 8214   Larry Whipple   Jon Vandermolen   8214     18 3 18 39
11 8077   Tom Londrigan Jr   Chris Wallner   8077   LS   25 6 11 42
12 7634   Jeff Schaefer   Matt Pederson   7634   WLM   8 20 14 42
13 7986   Hyde Perce   Cary Keigher   7986   WH   16 19 9 44
14 7602   Pat Londrigan   Ashley Boeyen   7602   LS   7 22 17 46
15 8148   Skip Dieball   Geoff Ewenson   8148     3 DNC 5 47
16 8143   Brian Cramer   Steve Cutting   8143   LOC   10 9 29 48
17 7515   Ross Adams   Stewart Hall   7515   WH   28 12 13 53
18 8036   Jack Rickard   Mike Welsh-Phillips   8036   WH   15 17 22 54
19 7670   Gene Mccarthy   Glenn Mccarthy   7670   PPL   21 21 15 57
20 8175   Jim Babel   Bill Hawk   8175   GL   30 24 4 58
21 8217   Todd Gay   Jon Klerk   8217   LS   5 15 OCS 59
22 7718   Tick Ticknor   Patrick Murphy   7718   GL   23 16 21 60
23 7866   Dan Wright   Nathan Quist   7866     24 25 16 65
24 8215   Bill Allen   Brad Lichter   8215   WH   22 10 OCS 71
25 7713   Bill Babel   Craig Tallberg   7713   GL   12 30 31 73
26 7933   Mark Lewis   John Wysockey   7933   LS   13 DNC 23 75
27 8017   Fred Einspahr   Steve Bigelow   8017   GL   19 29 28 76
28 7957   Kent Heitzinger   George Chilpala   7957   WLM   DNS 18 20 77
29 7078   Rick Rundle   Tom Cuber   7078   JP   27 23 27 77
30 7739   Roger Turner   Tony Collard   7739   GL   26 26 25 77
31 7478   Michael Ulbrich   Bill Sikkema   7478   GL   32 27 24 83
32 7996   Chris Pesch   Dan Pesch   7996   WH   34 28 26 88
33 8125   Don Parfet   Brad Vandenberg   8125   GL   33 33 30 96
34 7664   Mike Pick   Gill Cole   7664   LS   20 DNC DNC 98
35 7464   Chuck Barnes   Andy Belco   7464   GL   31 34 33 98
36 7501   Art Riley   Geoff Lindenberg   7501   GL   35 32 34 101
37 8044   Dave Hatfield   John Jackson   8044   GL   DNF 31 32 102
38 7533   Al Covington   Glenn Zipp   7533   IR   DNF 35 DNC 113

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