| 2018 Tim Dowling Memorial Regatta Clark Lake YC * Sept. 22-23 Uncle Al's report a supplement to Rick Belcher's picture-filled beauty updated 7 Sept 2020 at 1856 hrs |
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Summer
Days at Clark Lake's Fall Regatta Another
lovely Clark Lake Fall Regatta weekend has come and
gone. The as-forecast light, patchy winds (above)
were the only flaw in an otherwise perfect
weekend. Our fine Race Committee, directed by Bruce
Nowak, gave us a pair of races on the Saturday
afternoon and one more in slighter healthier breezes
on Sunday morning. After that, Bruce felt we'd had
enough fun and declared racing ended for 2018. Some
of us were happier about this than others ...
 Friday afternoon the breeze was perfect!  By Saturday morning the high pressure area had ...  ... settled in.  Waiting for Saturday's noon competitors' briefing and ...  ... lunch.  Ghosting along in a
patchy easterly wind on Saturday afternoon. Our much appreciated Race Committee. Wayfarers: Uncle Al and Shannon Donkin
win Clark Lake again
 Marc Bennett and wife, Julie, (11221) have just erased Uncle Al and Shannon Donkin's (3854) huge race 1 lead. The latter are annoying and annoyed by a pair of Rebel including Dave Nickels (4176). At
six entries, Wayfarers were the 2nd-largest fleet
behind the 8-boat Rebel fleet this year. Not bad
considering that all six were visitors to the fine
Clark Lake YC hospitality. With decades of Clark
Lake experience under their belts, Teams Bennett
and Schonborn were in a class by themselves, each
scoring a first and a second on Saturday. Marc and
Julie pulled off a miracle finish in race two as
Al and Shannon were one boatlength from winning
their second straight race about 50 yards ahead of
Marc and Julie when they lost the wind. In their very own
slant of wind Marc and Julie slid past Al and
Shannon to leave both team scoring 1-2 that day.
Lady Luck turned against Team Bennett on Sunday when their attempted timed start away from the line and back saw them hit a big hole while Al and Mike Codd crossed with the gun on port at the pin end in a nice firm breeze. Shannon and Al pulled away throughout the race in a bit of a horizon job to take the Wayfarer division. By the start of the final beat to the finish, Mike Codd and Kirk Iredale of Toronto and Pembroke, Ontario were being hotly pursued by Marc and Julie. Feeling their weight disadvantage, Mike and Kirk decided to play the north shore after a tempting shift instead of covering Marc. That was a costly mistake but the Codd/Iredale 3rd in the finale left them in a solid series 3rd. Well matched with Mike and Kirk in these light conditions, were three relatively local boats from Michigan's American Sailing Institute: Ending up series 4th were Dave McCreedy and his Interlake-experienced crew, Peggy Menzies, after finishing 3-5-5 for 13 points. Like Uncle Al and Shannon, Dave and Peggy beat their seed by one place and tied for Most Improved honours. Peggy pronounced herself impressed with the Wayfarer and its sailors and is looking into buying a Wayfarer. Welcome to Wayfarers, Peggy!! Fast repair work by Toronto's Patagonia Boat Works on his wooden W453 enabled Dave Wilpula to sail Clark Lake where he and crew, Art Christiansen, placed a respectable series 5th, scoring 5-4-6 and ending up one point up on Matt Dailey and pick-up crew, Bill Kindt whose sparkling final-race 4th saw them fall just short of passing Dave and Art.
Steve Cummings
and daughter, Lyndsie, capture Clark Lake
Rebel crown
 Rebels
start their deciding race 3
(l to r) Steve Cummings, Mary Reif, Dave Nickels, Scott Wright, Tom Marriott In
the 8-boat Rebel fleet, Steve Cummings with
daughter, Lyndsie, broke a tie at 1-2 finishes
with Scott Wright and Steve Middlebrook, with a
decisive win in their Sunday morning finale as
the two host-club entries topped the chart. Many
times National champion, Dave Nickels of Lake
Fenton, and crew, Chris Eder, could manage no
better than 3rd in this fleet.
Finishing in series 4th were Nickels' Lake Fenton clubmate, Jay Topping and his wife, Pat, who ended up just a single point up on Ohio Interlake orphans, Tom Marriott and Natalie Hill, who borrowed the "club" Rebel when no other Interlakes showed up due to a scheduling conflict. Fenton's (fairly) newly weds, Tim and Hanna Nickels, won a 6th-place tie-breaker with another past National champion and (relatively) newly weds, Mary Reif and Aaron. Rounding out the Rebel fleet were Port Huron's Scott Mccandless and wife, Tracy, who brought along their ancient Rebel (below) for a guest appearance. 
a Jim Richter tops trio of Sunfish  (l to r) Jim Richter,
Gail Turluck, Richard O'BoyleThe
three 'fish established a pecking order in race
1 and never departed from it as Jim Richards of
Indianapolis beat out the Sunfish-Worlds-bound
Gail Turluck, and Sunfish rookie,
Richard O'Boyle.
Only two Buccaneers at this year's Tim Dowling - Aaaaarrrrgh!!  a Buccaneer startClark
Lake's world-travelling Larry Schmida got back
to Michigan in time for the Tim Dowling
Memorial which he sailed with Tim's son,
Scott. This series, too, came down to Sunday's
race as both teams had scored 1-2 on the
Saturday, and it took Larry and Scott's Sunday
win to nail down series first ahead of
Geoff Moekl and John
Baumgartner.
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