Madison Recap 2011

What do you get when you have a regatta in America’s Best College Sports Town, which also happens to be surrounded by lakes? You get amazing sailing and an amazing time. Lake Mendota has an excellent coastline view including the capital building and the Union Terrace to the beautiful waterfront homes. In addition, a number of other boats were enjoying the water while CRAW’s fleet was sailing. With 14 boats in attendance, Madison, WI shows to be an excellent centralized location (the heart of Badger Country) in close proximity to a large portion of CRAW members.

While the forecast predicted thunderstorms for the weekend, Saturday and Sunday turned out to be warm and sunny. On Saturday, we had extremely light winds (averaging 0-2 knots and dying through the day) and debated whether starting a third race was a mistake. After the race committee decided to shorten the third race, we found out who was the best at bobbing through the water (the answer is the Korte/Winquist team).

Sunday winds were 9-12 knots, gusty and building throughout the day. Even though the wind continued to oscillate with random holes, most boats kept it pretty consistent through the four races on Sunday. As usual, those who knew how to look for the wind and get there, were those who were successful.

A new tradition that started during this regatta was a chalk talk after dinner on Saturday evening. The plan is to have whoever was the most successful skipper on Saturday, lead a discussion on one of the most prevalent obstacles of the day. Christopher Blake led the discussion on Saturday night talking about the keys to a good start and how to spot the oscillating winds. The goal of this tradition is to make everyone better for more competitive, exciting and professional racing for all.

A big thanks to Daniel Hearn for planning and organizing the regatta and hosting a wonderful BBQ dinner at his home on Lake Monona as well as providing showers and camping at his workplace.

Congratulations to Christopher Blake and Corey Roebbeke taking 1st on an Inter 20, Kurt Korte and Brad Winquist taking 2nd on a Formula 18, and Guy and Debbie Selsmeyer taking 3rd also on a Formula 18.

Alyx Selsmeyer