Report by Uncle Al

Bob Frick and Peter Every score historic Wayfarer win at Clark Lake

It took a while, but Bob Frick and Peter Every finally won their first Wayfarer regatta: the Wayfarer division of Clark Lake's annual Fall Regatta near Jackson, Michigan Sept. 20-21. At ages (almost) 79 and 80, Bob and Peter have also become the oldest team ever to win a Wayfarer regatta in North America - if not the world! Congratulations on a fine series, gentlemen!

With the remnants of Hurricane Isabel sweeping across western Ontario and eastern Michigan on the Friday, Wayfarer attendance was limited to 5 entries, although the overall regatta attendance was well up from 2002 to a near-record 66 boats. In addition to the Wayfarers, there were 17 Sunfish, 16 Interlakes, 12 Rebels, 11 Buccaneers (plus 1 Mutineer), and 4 Lasers.

The toughest fleet to win was doubtless the Sunfish fleet in which World champion, Derek Fries, won all four races and showed that he can do it on small, shifty lakes, too. Two races were sailed in warm sunshine and fairly light and shifty westerly winds of 4 to 8 knots on Saturday. Sunday brought slightly cooler and at times overcast weather and two more races in SE winds of 8 to 15 knots.

With the SI's once again specifying no drop race, avoiding disasters was once more of the essence. In Wayfarers, Bob and Peter started off with a first but almost finished last in the second race where they were half a leg behind 4th-place Mike Anspach and Ted Hall with only two short legs to go. But the latter sailed into a big dead spot, and Bob Frick "rescued" a 4th in race 2, and remained in the hunt for series 1st. Especially when it turned out that the series leaders with a 2-1 after Saturday's racing, Jerry Best and his wife, Teri, would not be able to sail on the Sunday.

This left three of the 5 boats virtually tied for the W series lead going into Sunday's racing. Bob and Peter - feared by all in light airs and drifters - surprised everyone when they did even better in Sunday's stronger winds. In fact, they did as well as it's possible to do: they won both races to take a clear first in the series.

There was a points tie for 2nd place between Walled Lake, Michigan neighbours, Hubert Dauch (with Ken Greywall) and Joe DeBrincat (with Tom Anderson) who last year won every race sailing as a team. Although the 2nd-place plaques were awarded to team DeBrincat, they should - by my calculations - have gone to Hubert, since Hubert had more 2nds (two to Joe's one). This also made Hubert Dauch and Ken Greywall the Most Improved Wayfarer of the 2003 Clark Lake Fall Regatta.

Having to count a pair of Sunday DNS's, Mr. And Mrs. Best, Jerry and Teri, fell to series 4th. But they sailed much better than that, and we look forward to lots of on-the-water tussles with the Bests in 2004.

Series 5th went to Mike Anspach and Ted Hall who placed last in each race but had several bright spots. They discovered good enough spinnaker speed to pass boats on several occasions, and almost beat series winners, Bob and Peter, in race 2 until they got a very unfortunate calm bestowed just on them.

And of course, Uncle Al was also there, renewing his acquaintance with the fine Clark Lake Rebel fleet. This year, Al lucked in on a couple of counts. He got to borrow Neil Robb's superb Rebel which Neil couldn't sail due to having a wedding to go to. And Al got Joe Blackmore of Detroit as an excellent emergency replacement crew when Marc Bennett became unavailable at the last minute. Even with a boat named Last One, Al was able to once more win the Rebel division. New challenges for Marc and Al at Clark Lake next year where Al will crew with Dan Hockenberry and Marc will helm a borrowed Rebel with the singing crew, John Weakley.

Saturday night's after dinner entertainment was great this year. Michael LeButt gave an enjoyable and informative two-hour multi-media presentation called Voyaging on Inland Seas. Originally designed to acquaint California sailors with the unparalleled sailing possibilities offered by the Great Lakes, this fine presentation was an eye-opener even to those of us who thought we knew those possibilities as well. Thanks, Michael!

In closing, I highly recommend Clark Lake to all of you. Let's get a few more Wayfarers out for next year!