The second Annual Wayfarer Midwinters are in the books. Bob Brown and his committees again served up a beautiful event. Hot (high 20’s Celsius), sunny weather made the three-day event - February 9-11 - perfect for our 17 entries that came from as far away as the U.K., Canada, Maine, North Carolina and Michigan.

After Friday’s healthy 10-15 knot breezes, the winds were again on the light side - but that was a minor irritation when compared to the magnificent Lake Eustis SC hospitality which included a scrumptious Saturday evening feast and free beer. Regatta Chairman, Bob Brown, even parked his (spare) mobile home on the club grounds in case anyone needed a restful place to get out of the hot sun!

And even the LESC sailors for whom this fine weather was no big deal, got some extra benefits from the Midwinters where Uncle Al and Marc Bennett gave a rigging and tuning coaching session on the Thursday afternoon, and everyone shared their boat set-up tricks with everyone else!

The light winds forced the scheduled 7-race series to be shortened to 5 heats on the windward-leeward course. But competition was very close throughout the fleet, and the wind conditions were such that the boats were either going at hull speed or ghosting along, which meant that boats with spinnakers had little advantage over those without.

A very close series in the spinnaker fleet came down to a beep-beep finish in the final race between Joe DeBrincat and Uncle Al Schönborn. After John deBoer had pulled off an amazing come-back win over Gale Shoemaker, and Butch Minson had rolled into 3rd from the left corner, Uncle Al needed a 4th to preserve a points tie for the overall title with John and Dolores deBoer. As Al was 10 metres from the finish, ghosting towards the RC boat end of the finish line, Joe DeBrincat was sprinting from well back towards the pin end with spray flying out from under his bow. In the end, the two boats crossed within one second of each other, and the RC later confirmed that Uncle Al had taken 4th place.

This left John and Dolores deBoer of London, Ontario, and Uncle Al with Marc Bennett (of Oakville and Toronto, Ontario) at 9 points in the no-drop series. It was bad luck for John and Dolores that the LESC had decided that ties would be broken, and first place was awarded to Marc and Al on the basis of their greater number of firsts.

The excellent LESC Wayfarer, Gale Shoemaker (seeded 4th), was next in series 3rd despite sailing in the Non-Spinnaker class. He and crew, Jim McIntyre (one of two Jim McIntyres at LESC!), sailed a top quality and very consistent series of 5-2-4-3-2 as they pulled off a convincing victory in the non-spinnaker class. No doubt that final-race second will stick in Gale’s mind: After leading comfortably all the way in that final race, Gale failed to cover second-place John deBoer near the finish. It was Gale himself who had warned us that with the wind coming off the club grounds and a finish line not too far off that shore, you never knew what might happen with the winds. So, it was ironic that Gale chose not to remain on the right, between John and the finish line, but went a bit left instead. As he tacked 50 yards to the left of the line, Gale sailed into a flat spot, while John had a nice streak of wind coming down the right-hand lay line. In no time, Gale’s 100-yard lead had evaporated, as had his first!

Also up one over his seed of 5th was Joe DeBrincat of Walled Lake, Michigan, with new crew, Marwhil Gamit. With Marwhil doing a good job of quickly picking up his spinnaker skills in tricky winds, Joe ended up taking 3rd in the Spinnaker Class.

Maine’s Butch Minson stepped into a Wayfarer (borrowed) for the first time and was most impressive. Sailing with his sister, Ellen Hill, Butch placed 2nd in Non-Spinnaker and 5th overall, only one point behind Joe. Butch’s series included a pair of fine 3rds in the 17-boat fleet.

Another Wayfarer making his big event debut a good one, was LESC’s Ed Kraft, with crew/tactician, Stan Woodruff. In a series that was highlighted by a 4th and a 3rd, Ed ended up 3rd in Non-Spinnaker and 6th overall.

Series 7th went to London, Ontario’s Roger Shepherd and Joanne Kumpf. The INVASION team was in the fight for a top 3 spinnaker fleet spot until the finale where the fluky winds saw them drop to 15th by the time their mercifully ended.

LESC’s Dr. Robert Hart teamed up with Gary Murphy to make his initial big race appearance in his beautiful, new, dark green Abbott Mark III. Gary and Robert sailed a good, consistent series, ending up series 8th and 4th in Non-Spinnaker.

A model of consistency were Toronto Sailing & Canoe Club’s Geoff Edwards and George Waller, as they placed 9-10-10-12-9 and series 10th. Not up to Geoff usual standards but Geoff still looked quite happy to be here and not back in Toronto!

Placing series 11th, and 8th among the seeded boats was Bob Brown of LESC who had Torontonian, Grant Bartlett aboard as crew on the Saturday. Having been seeded 10th, Bob captured the green Most Improved flags for this event. Congratulations, Bob!!! Crew, Grant, and his wife, Sheila, were only able to join us for Saturday but we hope to see more of them on the northern Wayfarer circuit!

Rolling up in a brand new yellow Abbott beauty Charlotte, North Carolina, were Richard Johnson and his wife, Michele Parish. After their first Wayfarer race saw them place 16th, Richard and Michele picked up lots of techniques over the course of the weekend and moved up to series 12th. Their series high point was an impressive 6th in race #2!!

Jim McIntyre and Candi Robb, sailing the venerable W1904 out of LESC were next in 13th place while the UK cruising team of Ralph Roberts and Jenny Long took a borrowed boat and showed some of the racers a thing or two in placing series 14th.

Friday 9 Feb: Race #1: winds SSE 15-12-10 knots, 2.5 laps

Aboard SHADES, our race plan was to go left, along the north shore of Lake Eustis, where we felt we were seeing stronger winds and bigger shifts. This plan was subject to modification if the offshore boats should begin to gain.

Despite our plan to go left, we went for the favoured RC boat end start, got it and joined Eddie Kraft in leading the fleet on the long starboard tack. About 2/3 up the beat, Al tacked on the first sign of a knock to consolidate his lead over the main body of the fleet, and left second-place Eddie to do his own thing. This ended up benefitting Eddie who got a better knock a bit later and rolled into the windward mark a few lengths ahead of Al, and a bit later, Butch Minson.

With the boats travelling at about hull speed, it took Uncle Al some time to pull even with the spinnaker-less Eddie. The latter, in fact, hung in there pretty well right with Al until both leaders gybed in a puff. At this point Uncle Al sailed down with the puff and stayed in it much longer than Eddie who had gone high after his gybe. This in essence, was the turning point of the race as Al pulled into a comfortable lead, which he held with judicious upwind positioning to the finish.

A long nearly one-tack starboard second beat saw Eddie hold 2nd but the speedy spinnaker work of Dolores deBoer had moved the deBoers into 3rd on the first run and they were now closing in on Eddie. Somewhat lighter winds were now giving the spi boats a noticeable downwind advantage and John deBoer moved into 2nd down the final run. John held this position to the finish, but Eddie was less fortunate as Butch Minson managed to grab 3rd over Eddie at the finish.

Race 2: winds S -8-6-4 knots; 2.5 laps

In dying winds, the SHADES strategy remained: go left, near shore for stronger winds. This time the pin end was significantly favoured as the gun went. First across at the pin was Mike Murto - alas! He was 3 seconds too soon in a Kamikaze effort to push Gale over the line early. This left Gale with the best start while Uncle Al was about 3 lengths up the line with reasonably clear air as the horn went. After about half a mile of speed testing, both Gale and Al had managed to pull away from the fleet. Al finally pulled ahead of Gale and the latter tacked to clear his air. Shortly after tacking, Gale was lifted on port tack. Al noticed this but got greedy as he held starboard until there was some sign of a knock. When he finally did tack, the port lift had disappeared and Gale was in first place. 

By the time Gale rounded the windward mark about 5 lengths ahead of Al, the winds were losing their strength. Despite Al’s beautiful new North spi, SHADES took almost the whole run to make up those 5 lengths. Going onto the second beat, it was Al by about a length over Gale and nobody else very close. Al made good use of this small lead by choosing the best way to go and forcing Gale to tack away into the left-overs. A couple of well-timed tacks left Al with a comfortable lead, which he held over Gale to the finish.

Another fine come-back for John deBoer who rescued a 3rd but non such luck for Ed Kraft. After lying 4th coming on to the final beat with a course change added to make an squarer beat, Ed decided to take the long starboard inshore and go for all the marbles. By the time they hit the left corner, and tacked, Ed and Stan had fallen to last place!!!

Saturday 10 Feb, Race #3: cancelled due to lack of wind

Race #4: hot; winds S at 2-4 knots; 1.5 sausages

After a lengthy lunch hour postponement, a slight breeze sprang up and we rushed out to race. An RC boat favoured start line created a nice jam at the boat end from which only Hubert Dauch got away clean. Uncle Al got a reasonable start behind Hubert but had to pinch and finally tack to clear his air. While Ed Kraft and Bob Brown had a slight run-in at the boat end, and Bob had to do his turns, John deBoer waited patiently at the RC boat end and then tacked away to clear his air. This appears to have been a success since he tacked back to starboard about 200 m. later and ended up to the windward mark ahead of everyone except the single-handed Hubert. The latter came in from the left corner to round first, just ahead of John. Uncle Al’s decision to cross behind starboard tackers, John, Gale and Ed and starboard them when they had to tack as this group neared the windward mark did not work out well as a slight starboard lift took them all around the mark without the need to tack. Al rounded a close 5th behind Gale and Ed. 

In a disappearing breeze, John spinnakered through Hubert into the lead, and Al, with fine spi work from Marc, was able to drift through between Ed, Gale and Hubert with the latter pair losing some distance as they fought each other and sailed further than they should have had to!

By the leeward mark, John still held a 50-yard lead over Al with Ed Kraft another 100 yards back in 3rd and followed closely by Gale and Hubert.

It definitely paid to be among the leaders up the second and final beat since the wind, such as it was, was fading fast. Al made some inroads in John up the final leg, mostly by forcing John to tack to loosely cover him. John however kept his cool and ended up with a 5-length edge over Al. By the time Eddie ghosted across the line in 3rd, the wind very light and patchy, but Eddie didn’t care since he had managed to beat arch-rival, Gale Shoemaker. Butch Minson found better winds up the final beat and completed a nice come-back with a 5th over Hubert and his Walled Lake neighbour, Joe DeBrincat. Roger Shepherd followed with a close 8th over Richard Johnson, and Geoff Edwards was next to complete the top ten.

Race 5: cancelled due to lack of wind. While we enjoyed the absolutely delicious catered dinner under the LESC’s "big top" on a lovely, summery evening, we were able to contemplate some interesting possibilities with two races remaining on tap for the Sunday - and no drop.

In the spinnaker fleet, Uncle Al (1-1-2: 4 pts.) and John deBoer (2-3-1: 6 pts.) had virtually clinched the top two spots in both spinnaker and overall, and would go head to head on Sunday. 3rd place was still up for grabs with Roger Shepherd (6-4-8: 18 pts.) and Joe DeBrincat (7-5-7: 19 pts.) having the best shot at making 3rd for the spinnaker class.

Sunday 11 Feb - Race 6: warm; winds NE at 2-4 knots, gusting to 8 knots. 1.5 sausages

Aboard SHADES, our plan was simplistic: try to follow John deBoer from in front. 

A fairly late shift favoured the pin end where Butch Minson and Uncle Al got off cleanly. John deBoer was less fortunate in his start attempt and got buried at the RC boat end before tacking away. Uncle Al tacked to follow suit but soon discovered himself in a different wind from John and losing almost his entire early 100-yard lead over John. Al did end up following John from in front. In doing so, he was lucky enough to also find the best wind and round onto the run about 3 lengths clear of John, and well clear of everyone else. 

After extending his lead to a 100 m. or so on the run, Al almost lost John several times up the tricky final beat but managed to hang on for the victory and what appeared to be a stranglehold on the series.

Race 7: hot; winds NE 2-4 knots gusting 7 knots; 1.5 sausages

The SHADES race plan for this one was simply to try to sail a sound race. If John won the race, we need a 3rd to win or a 4th to tie. We hadn’t checked the SI’s to see what would happen in the event of a series tie. In our big W events, the tie stands, but the LESC, it turned out, wanted to break the tie so that even if we got a 4th, we would win the tie-breaker by virtue of "most firsts".

When the dust had settled, Gale Shoemaker rounded the windward mark with a healthy 50-yard lead over Butch Minson who rounded just ahead of Jim McIntyre. About a hundred yards later, it was John deBoer rounding with a 100-yard advantage over Hubert Dauch who in turn rounded a couple of lengths over Uncle Al. This time, spinnakers did seem to help on the run as Dolores deBoer coaxed enough out of her spinnaker to let John round onto the final beat fighting over 2nd with Butch about 50 yards behind Gale. And Marc Bennett had his finest spinnaker performance of the series as he coaxed enough speed from the brand new, experimental North design Wayfarer chute aboard SHADES, to move Uncle Al into 4th place around the leeward mark only a length or two behind Butch and John. 

While Al was busy trying to sneak past John, Butch went left towards the shore where he seemed to run out of wind. Gale meanwhile, was moving along nicely, maintaining his 50 to 100 yards of lead. But near the finish, Gale was coming at the finish line on starboard about 50 yards short of laying the line when John crossed behind him on port. Gale then made a mistake that turned out to be "fatal": he chose not to cover and put himself between his nearest opponent (John) and the finish line. As it turned out, the wind died for Gale just as he tacked to come at the line on port. John, meanwhile, had a great breeze and a starboard lift and snatched first place from Gale.

This meant that Marc and Al would need the 3rd place they were in as they neared the finish, in order to beat John by one point in the series. But then things became interesting. Butch Minson and Joe DeBrincat who had gone far left suddenly got a puff and a big lift on port while Al was barely moving in the middle, only 20 yards from the line. Butch roared across to take 3rd. Now Al could only manage a series tie with John, if he held 4th. But Joe was coming in at hull speed and closing the gap rapidly. In the end, the finish beeps for these two were almost simultaneous and Al had to ask the RC who had beaten whom. Luckily for Marc and Al, they had edged Joe by less than one second and were thus crowned 2001 Midwinter Wayfarer champions.

Hubert Dauch followed in 6th just ahead of Jim McIntyre who completed an excellent race in 7th ahead of Ed Kraft. Geoff Edwards (9th) and Robert Hart rounded out the top ten.