I like to picture our late friend and fellow-sailor, Tim Dowling (above), smiling down at us as he watched the action at his beloved Clark Lake YC Fall Regatta held September 22-23. Given the perfect weekend of weather that we were given, one could well imagine Tim checking in with the Big Boss up above and putting in a good word for us sailors. Be that as it may, we did get warm sunshine with temperatures in the 70's F (20's C) and lovely mid-range winds that made the sailing attractive to both beginners and experts alike.

As always, we visitors were warmly welcomed (above), whether we arrived Friday night or Saturday morning. The beer keg was certainly very operational (courtesy of Dan Hockenberry) by the time Marc and I arrived about 2030 hrs on Friday night - a welcome and refreshing change from the more than an hour we had spent hanging around at the bridge in Detroit, waiting for the very lackadaisical U.S. customs officers to do us the gigantic favour of selling Marc his green $6 visa. To be fair, I must say that after numerous border crossings, I suppose we were bound to have a bad experience sooner or later after having received nothing but friendly, efficient and courteous welcomes into the U.S. on previous occasions.

For this, the 2nd annual Tim Dowling Memorial Regatta, the Dowlings once more attended in serious numbers (above). As always, our Clark Lake hosts looked after us all superbly. By the time registration was complete, there were 42 entries: 18 Rebels, 13 Interlakes, 8 Sunfish and 3 Wayfarers (plus Uncle Al who was sailing a Rebel).

Not until Cheryl Hockenberry and her kitchen crew had fed us a delicious lunch around 1130 hrs, was it time for the noon Competitors' Briefing (above). PRO, Mike Smith, gave up his weekend of Rebel racing to run our races, and a fine job he and his helpers did, too!

With 5 to 10 knots of breeze (photos above) coming more or less from the west, Mike confirmed the usual 1300 hrs start time and his hopes to complete three Saturday races. In due time, we moseyed on out to the start area which was set not far from the club - a bonus for would-be spectators.


Mike had us sail a nice, challenging course of 5-1-2-3-4-finish (see chart of lake above), and did indeed give us three races as planned with nary a hiccup. Well, perhaps one or two tiny glitches. The race 2 start line was a tad confusing with the RC raft being more or less equidistant from two possible start marks, one to either side and the first class (Interlakes) had half the fleet start on one line and half on the other before the race was duly abandoned and the confusion cleared up. At the end of race 3, the photography boat got its prop tangled in the anchor line of the finish mark and began to tow it away. Fortunately no close finishes were about to happen and order was soon restored.


Not too much after a fine dinner, most sailors opted for an early night after the wear and tear of three exciting back-to-back-to-back races. After a cool, clear night, there was little early evidence of breeze (above) but as the day warmed up, the predicted 10 to 15 knots of ESE breeze began to fill in just nicely in time for the first of the final pair of races to start on time at 1000 hrs.


Mike Smith sent us on a beat (above) towards #4, followed by free legs to #3 and then to #5 before a final beat to the finish. In the finale, the course was simplified to 4-5-4-5-finish. These course choices pleased everyone: club-based spectators could see all of the action, while the racers were happy to stay away from the west end of the lake which tends to calms in an easterly breeze.

Racing was completed by about 1300 hrs, and the kitchen team had another great lunch ready for us soon after that. Well nourished, we proceeded to the awards ceremony in the main hall of the Clark Lake YC, and all too soon, another one of Clark Lake's deservedly famous Fall Regattas was history. Those who needed to, were able to leave by 1500 hrs., while those of us who were more fortunate, lounged in the lovely afternoon sunshine a bit longer before we reluctantly hit the road.

Rebel Results:
The regatta attracted one of its biggest Rebel fleets in recent years, as 18 boats competed, coming from as far afield as Minnesota, Chicago and Toronto. And it was the Toronto entry, Al Schonborn and Marc Bennett, who emerged victorious. For this, his 20th Clark Lake Regatta, the Wayfarers' Uncle Al and Marc were blessed with a borrowed boat that had been beautifully prepared by Neil Robb, a Rebel usually campaigned by Neil's son, Eric. This being one of the few regattas we sail where there is no drop, the trick was to avoid bad finishes if you were going to do well.

And yet Saturday's familiar old first beat from just west of the club diagonally across to #5 virtually demanded the extreme measures of going far left or far right if past experience was anything to go by. And this year, it was no different, as Mary Vorel with her grandmother, Pat, as expert tactician went straight right to the north shore in the first race, got the lead and won the race. Both Uncle Al and National Champion, Dave Nickels, got buried at the start, but while Al stumbled up the middle tacking on every shift, Dave went far left until he reached the wind funnelling around Eagle Point, and promptly moved back into contention on his way to a second-place finish.

By the time Al had seen the writing on the Eagle Point wall, he was lucky to round in mid-fleet. But the long one-tack starboard beat to #1 showed that Al and the borrowed sails were in tune as he and Marc slowly nibbled away at various leads such that after yet another beat across to #2, Al started the long run to #3 with as good a shot at 3rd as anyone else. As we recalled, the trick on the way back to Eagle Point was to shave the (unnamed?) point before Kentucky Point fairly close since the west wind tends to funnel past there, but not to go around the corner at all where the wind soon and frequently dies completely. Instead, having made sure there was no one to our right on the starboard gybe that could push us into the dead zone, we were free to sail low of Eagle Point until we were very well clear of the west shore.

After Eagle Point we mostly sailed up in the lulls and down with the puffs, such that by the time we rounded #3 onto a broad starboard reach to #4, we were a clear 3rd and considerably closer to the race leaders, Mary and Dave. To the best of my recollection, Dave had moved into a slight lead over Mary as we rounded onto the final beat to the finish line.

With that beat being a mostly starboard-tack beat, Mary chose the high-risk option of doing her port tack first as she tacked around #4 and headed straight across to the north shore which had been so good to her on the first beat. Meanwhile, Dave and Al held starboard along the south shore, tacking only when juicy knocks came along. What with "great minds thinking alike", this meant that Dave covered Al to the finish line where we were somewhat surprised that Mary had done well enough along the north shore to regain first place.

My memories of race 2 are less detailed. I do recall that I buried us near the RC boat at the start once more but that this time, we sailed through dirt, etc. and followed Dan Hockenberry in an all-out effort to reach the Eagle Point shift on the far left as quickly as possible. That shift got us around #5 near the leaders and the next thing I remember is that we started the final beat in the lead with Dave Nickels who had also recovered from a poor start just behind us. Remembering all too well have Dave had gottten past Dan Hockenberry and me on the final beat to win three races last year, we covered a perhaps somewhat disgruntled Dave to the finish. And with Mary placing 3rd, we now had all three of us tied for the series lead at 4 points.

Race 3 was perhaps the series turning point. Despite a fine start and an early trip to Eagle Point and the port-tack layline, we ended up bow-to-bow in a big dead spot with about six other Rebels off Kentucky Point. In typical Clark Lake fashion, the winds inexplicably blessed Mary and Pat in the middle of our line. As they happily sailed away to a lead of nearly half a mile, the rest of us sat and watched with envy as they grew smaller on the horizon off our bow. When the wind finally got back to the rest of us, we managed to get a bit more blessed than the others and were soon off into 2nd place and in pursuit of Mary.

On the tricky run back to Eagle Point, we were able to benefit from seeing Mary hit dead spots which we could then sail to avoid. And lo and behold, we had moved to a slight lead (a boatlength or two) as we passed Eagle Point. A classic battle ensued on the long port-tack run to #3. On our boat, Marc and I had serious discussions as to strategy. Ideally, we wanted to sail just to windward of the course Mary was sailing to keep that big mainsail of hers from blanketing us, but defending such a position would leave us vulnerable to being worked ever closer to what at times would be a windward shore and its attendant dead spots. Moreover, we would be leaving Mary in position to get buoy room at #3 if she brought a puff from astern. So we decided on the more nerve-wracking approach of staying just to leeward of Mary's path to be in the better buoy room position,

In due course, we gybed around #3 about a boatlength clear of Mary and well up on the rest of the fleet. Alas, with #3 having been moved west from its normal spot, the leg to #4 proved to be a dead run and soon it became evident that we were sailing by the lee even on a course that was to windward of the rhumb line to #4. Ideally, we would have gybed but there was Mary on starboard, just off our port quarter, and even if we did clear her, we would then lose the inside position at #4. About 2/3 of the way to #4, we finally got a juicy puff and shift that just screamed for a gybe to port. So we took a chance and gybed back towards the rhumb line, and did end up at #4 with a three-length lead.

A rather active tacking duel ensued, much to the dismay of Marc's crotch, but we did end up reaching the finish line ahead of Mary - just in time to have the photography boat motor away with the finish mark. Dave, meanwhile, completed an excellent come-back and rescued a 3rd which left Al, Mary and Dave within two points of each other atop the leader board.

Sunday morning brought SSE winds of about 8 to 12 knots. These, too, were familiar winds, and we had done well in the past by sailing the long starboard tack first, slowly angling towards the north shore. But today, we saw that the Interlakes who had started 5 minutes before us, were getting bigger and better starboard lifts nearer the south shore. After some discussion, Marc and I decided on an RC boat-end start that would leave us the option to tack for any port-tack lifts that would give us a beneficial route towards the south shore. This strategy work just as we had "diagrammed" it and we were soon zig-zagging along the south shore and often had better starboard lifts than people like Mary whom we were nervously watching make her way along the far shore. After all, a big port lift would let her cross us. In the event, it never happened and we cruised on to a win over the fast-moving Cummings, Steve and his daughter, Katie.  A nice come-back saw Mary and Pat rescue a 3rd while DaveNickels' hopes of defending his regatta title took a big blow when he could only recover to 5th after a less than stellar start.

My main memories of the finale which was a pair of 4-5 sausages plus a beat to the finish, are of those horrible times down the run where the whole fleet would bring the wind from astern. On the first of those runs we lost a healthy lead and Dave Nickels rounded #5 a couple of lengths ahead of us who in turn escaped the main body of the fleet and the attendant mess at the mark by only a couple of lengths.

Going by the book, Dave tacked right at the mark, which did not displease Marc and me who had been contemplating holding port around the mark for two very good reasons - and they do need to be good reasons if you're going to sail you much shorter tack first: there seemed to be better wind pressure nearer the south shore and also, going nearer the south shore between #5 and the club let you avoid the worst of a very large weed bed in the middle of the lake. By the time we next met, we were able to call starboard on Dave who tacked to leeward and ahead. By pure B-S luck, we hit a slant of wind that Dave did not get and were soon a hundred yards ahead. We again played the centre right, nearer the south shore and the shifts were kind to us for the rest of the beat.

But then came the run where we left the south shore that had been so good to us and nearly got passed by the main body of the fleet who were a bit closer to that shore. As we neared #5, still nursing a precarious lead, we suddenly realized that we had been passed by Dan Hockenberry and Scott Dowling who had hugged the north shore. Rounding with perhaps a 5-length lead, Dan also tacked almost immediately to starboard where he could virtually lay the finish line.

This left me and Marc to try a repeat of our previous beat's strategy. We were happy to see that Dan was continuing on starboard and leaving a door open for us. Had Dan tacked back to port just as we were about to round, he could have covered us from windward and ahead and made sure he was closer to (a) the better wind, and (b) the area less weed-infested. Instead, we repeated our second-beat procedure and were able to starboard Dan who tacked to just to leeward of us. A classic duel followed as we sailed bow to bow and only about two feet apart, a perfect and exciting match in pointing and speed. As luck would have it, Marc and I got a puff and a big lift on starboard right near the line and got over Dan's wind where a knock would have killed us.

The final-race first put the capper on a fine series win for Marc and Al who ended up winning by a comfortable margin over Mary and Pat Vorel. The latter in fact, were in danger of losing the series runner-up spot when they dropped to dead last going down the middle of the lake on the final run, but made a spectacular recovery on the final beat to take 4th.

A 3rd in the finale completed a fine series for Clark Lake's Steve and Katie Cummings who moved past Dave Nickels and pick-up crew, Julie Seraphinoff (Marc and Al's intended support team!!), when the latter fell all the way to 9th in the last race.

The last-race 2nd was almost enough to move Dan Hockenberry and Scott Dowling into series 5th ahead of their Clark Lake clubmates and arch-rivals, Neil Robb and son, Eric, but Dan's late charge fell two points short.

Chicago's Phil Faulkner and John Washburn, a pair of skippers, teamed up to take series 7th, while Rebel Class Commodore, Al Vorel and his wife, Karel, ended up just one up on Rebel Rabble editor, Bruce Nowak, and crew, Mark Ortiz. Only a single point behind Bruce and rounding out the top ten were Clark Lake's Scott Wright and Ann Markaity.

Only two points further back in series 11th were the ageless but oh so wily Woody Woodruff with crew, Bill Locke, who finished three points up on their Clark Lake clubmate, Brian Main who sailed with two different crews over the course of the series - Mike Wolf and Steve Caulrey.

Continuing their steady improvement were Chicago's Ron Reading and his granddaughter, Catie Simmons. Gone are the days when just escaping last place was a victory of sorts. Here, they nailed down a series 13th which included a memorable 8th place in the finale - ahead of Dave Nickels, the National Champion! Ron daughter, CeCe Smith, also graced us with her lovely presence this year, and got to brush up on her spinnaker skills as she crewed for Kevin Bracy on his Interlake.

Fresh from a 6th-place finish (2 points out of 3rd!!) in this summer's Buccaneer North Americans sailed just west of Toronto, Clark Lake's Larry Schmida borrowed a Rebel for this series. He and wife, Patti, never really got untracked in the borrowed boat and ended up 14th.

Locals, Fritz Marin and Bill Kindt, took 15th by just one point over Dave Smith with Amy Hogue, while a pair of classic old Rebels rounded out the fleet: Bill Rohlin and Dorothy Rose just enjoyed a couple of days cruising around the course in R2503 while Clark Teal brought along a real classic, his beautifully restored Rebel #3 which he and his kids, Chris and Skylar, sailed on the Saturday only.


Wayfarer results:
Joe DeBrincat, sailing mostly with pick-up crew, Brian Johnson, and one race with  his young daughter, Noelle, left no doubt as he won all five series races. Without a doubt the oldest team in this year's regatta, Bob Frick and Peter Every (both in their 80's!!) sailed well as they scored four 2nds before losing the finale to Michigan's up-and-coming Wayfarer, Harold Whitcomb who had son, Mitchell (11), and daughter, Erika (8) sharing the crewing duties. Watch out for Harold who plans to rig for spinnaker and get new sails for 2008!!