Recap – Green Lake Regatta 2020

For everyone reading, there were TWO recaps submitted. Be sure to read both below!

Recap 1:

Yes, Green Lake, you let us down the last few years with your fickle or non-existent wind after treating us so well in the beginning.  2020 was a marked improvement, though trying at times for some on Saturday.  Going into the weekend to forecast didn’t look good, cold and light wind with improvements coming on Sunday afternoon; while that held true for the most part the sun came out and provided some very nice late summer sailing conditions (I am not saying fall like.)

Friday night was cold, so cold I had to get up in the middle of the night and turn the heat down in the motorhome because the thermostats on the outside walls were cold and driving the interior space temp too high to sleep comfortably.  I am sure the tent campers can relate.  That cold air lead to a late but deliberate 11:30 plus/minus start.  The course was set to the left side of the lake (looking up wind) with both the windward and leeward marks set relatively close to the shoreline.  This made for some very, shall we say, interesting conditions.  The wind looked stronger to the right but the shore lift and some magic channel of air proved the left was indeed the ticket home.  Unless of course you managed to the find the shallows and the weeds in the deepest lake in Wisconsin like I did more than once, ugh.  

The positive side of the tricky conditions is everyone had a lot to talk about and the pot luck dinner on Saturday night held at the campground.  The F16 led the fleet followed by Randy on the oldest Mark 1 F18.  Fueling the debate between the F16s and the F18s.  And the Mk 1 vs (Mk2, Mk 3 and Evolution).  Yah, right. Tyler where were you?  If I may loosely quote one of our newer sailors, “I don’t get it, I have the boat speed, but in the end I am getting killed.”  The point is on days like Saturday it’s not necessarily how fast you go, it’s where you go fast.

Sunday, the wind moved more left and more perpendicular to the lake, but the pressure was up and everyone is happy.  Races got start on time, more or less, and off we go 3 more great races.  And so with the wind up legend has it the F18 rain supreme, wrong again.  Although, the F18 maybe feeling a bit more competitive they could not shake the F16s to put them behind them from their stellar performance on Saturday.  Randy did show that while there are multiple options with sailing through a leeward gate that, when fueled by enough rum night before, there is still a wrong way.  We all got to watch Matt and Ellie capsize twice on the same downwind leg, dust themselves off, and get set for the next race. Brian apparently made some miraculous on the water boat repair tying his rudder on after it snapped off.  Funny this type of thing has happened before and ended the day for some.

Congratulations to Daniel & Frankie, Brian & Arden, and Chris & Gary for their podium finishes.  Thanks to Dustin for organizing the event, Tassi for running the races and to Ed for selflessly giving up his weekend of sailing, his boat was set up ready to go, to help out on the shorthanded RC boat.  

As always, it was a great weekend.  It’s why we do it.

Brent Carlson

Recap 2:

The Broken Lawyer Regatta was the last regatta of the year for CRAW and it was filled with variable breeze, delicious food, and memorable experiences. The fall weather brought chilly conditions and shifty breeze to start out the morning on Saturday. The fourteen-boat fleet rigged up, suited up, and hit the water. With the course positioned near the shoreline partnered with a shifty and up-and-down breeze of 8 gusting 12-14 made conditions extremely difficult. The little puffs that would hit the water caused the F16’s to “jump” out of the water and really accelerate which led to a very competitive day. 

A first race win went to Dan Hearn and Frankie, followed behind by Kurt and Jack in the F18. Kurt and Jack would battle the entire day with no rudder-feel, caused by the rudder to be too skinny for the rear pintles. The second race was a head to head duel between the Hearn brothers for first and second place, which would prove to be a trend for the both of them as the weekend continued. Also taking the helm of the Harken F18 was a new guest: Emmitt. 

After a tough mental game on the water the first day, the night was filled with fresh grilled burgers from Dustin, a delicious spread of food for the potluck, and some video recap from David’s camera from his F18. The recap showed some cool boat metrics such as GPS location, speed, and elevation. The night was capped off with a campfire filled with stories of past adventures. Conversation never ran dry and luckily our cups didn’t either. 

Sunday morning was filled with a stronger breeze of about 14 which really caused the boats to come alive. Even though conditions and breeze stabilized, the fleet standings did not. Lots of movement on the leaderboard led to a very competitive last day of sailing for CRAW. Starts had some contact, marks were rounded the wrong way, and some boats flipped over causing Brett to revoke Emmitt’s “learners permit”. 

The weekend ended with Dan Hearn and Frankie taking first place with a net 10 points with 7 race finishes. In second place was Brian Hearn and Arden Patton with 22 points, and third place was Chris Blake and Gary Chu with 24 points. 

With the season at a close, we are all looking forward to seeing each other for the winter party and excited for the future sailing season! 

Sail Fast. 

Jack Barnes