8th Wayfarer Midwinters at Florida's Lake Eustis brings cool weather
but perfect winds and record attendance!!

A record-tying 18 Wayfarer teams enjoyed this year's Wayfarer Midwinters (East) on February 2nd through 4th at the Lake Eustis SC in central Florida, about an hour NW of Orlando. Temperatures were in the 50's and 60's Fahrenheit for most of the weekend, which was largely sunny. Overall however, we were blessed by the weather gods. We raced in nothing but perfect sailing breezes of about 8 to 15 knots Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We were even luckier in that a series of (rare) small tornados that ravaged the Lake County area with death and destruction early Friday morning, and made national headlines, damaged one boat in the club compound and demolished a bar a quarter-mile south of the club, but left us untouched.

PRO's Dave and Joan Williams and their committee of volunteers once again made the most of what the weather gave us, and we got in 7 fine races with excellent lines, windward-leeward courses and even the odd course change due to big shifts: three races on Friday and two on each day after that, despite a three-hour postponement when a Saturday series of thunderstorms stalled in the Lake Eustis area.

Regatta organizers, Dotty and Mike Murto, were pleased at this year's turn-out: warm weather worshippers from as far away as England and all over eastern North America made up eight of the teams while the host club provided a whopping 10 boats. The lovable three young Scow sailors - Dave Moring, Kevin Rankin and Scott Tillema - whom we had enjoyed meeting last year, again gave our social life a fine shot in the arm. Not only did they have Captain Morgan on hand for post-race consultations with Dr. Pepper, but they also organized field trips to their main local hang-out, the Oyster Troff, which is within non-automotive travelling distance of the club - about 200 yards which are easily walked, biked, staggered or crawled. And this year, the lads would make their Wayfarer debuts in impressive fashion, but more of this later.

Additionally, two group dinner trips - to the Quarterdeck on Friday, and Dead River Vic's on Saturday - highlighted our social programme which also featured daily breakfast drinks, muffins and doughnuts, orderable lunches plus a plentiful supply of free draft beer. And even Saturday's three-hour hiatus did not go unfilled: Butch Minson, Maine Maritime Academy Sailing Coach, brought out his lap top and did some serious coaching that was much appreciated by as many sailors as could fit around his table.

On the race course, the competition was better than ever, marked by close, challenging and interesting racing among the vast majority of our fleet in most races. Hull speed-producing breezes made even the 12 non-spinnaker boats very competitive on the runs, and a look at the many fine action pictures taken by Andy Douma on Friday before he was pressed into crewing duties for Butch Minson, will show that boats and sails were being very well trimmed and sailed all around, significantly better than in 2006.

With defending champion, Marc Bennett, and Al Schonborn, a pair of well-seasoned veterans, each with extensive helming and crewing experience both separately and together, SHADES was expected to be the boat to beat in the 2007 Midwinters.

And so it turned out: with Al (red jacket above) and Marc taking the helming in turns, SHADES won 6 straight races before being beaten by Butch Minson and Jim Heffernan in the finale of this no-drop series. The Toronto-area-based SHADES thus retained her hold on both the Spinnaker Fleet and Overall titles.


For this year's Midwinters, Joe De Brincat (above left) teamed up with fellow Michigander helm, Nick Seraphinoff, who had brought down his Flying Dutchman to St. Petersburg for their Midwinters the previous weekend. By the time, Nick stepped aboard Joe's Maltese Falcon, Nick was the owner of a second FD!  As a two-helm team together for the first time, Joe and Nick were an instant success, sailing a frictionless series that started with four 2nds in the first five races, and ending with a comfortable 2nd place overall.


A very pleasant surprise was the fine performance of Dave Moring (above right) and Kevin Rankin, a pair of young Scow sailors who sailed Mo Metcalf's lovely Mark III when the latter was kept from sailing by illness. Dave and Kevin very quickly adapted to life aboard a Wayfarer, moving Murphy's Law very well, while sailing a very sound tactical and strategic series. Having not found the time for any spinnaker practice, the Murphy's Law team wisely opted to compete "white sail", correctly seeing the spinnaker risk/reward ratio as being unfavourable for them. When the dust (spray???) had settled, Dave and Kevin were Non-Spinnaker champions and 3rd overall. Well done, lads!! Special thanks to Kevin, Dave and to Scott Tillema who regularly took me sailing with Captain Morgan and Dr. Pepper when the evenings got a bit fresh for beer!


A fine performance for Richard Johnson and wife, Michele, of Charlotte, NC. Seeded 10th in the CWA master computer rankings, the Free Range Chickin team placed an impressive 4th overall (3rd in the Spinnaker Fleet). After a first-race 9th, Richard and Michele scored a lovely and consistent 5-5-4-3-4-4, while impressing with great speed and trim.


Maine Maritime Academy Sailing Coach, Butch Minson sailed Friday (above) with his wife, Janice, and the final four races with Andy Douma who came down from Ottawa with Lori Beehler. Having recently sailed nothing but keelboats, Andy was bubbling over with enthusiasm about the joys of having rediscovered dinghy sailing, especially after his and Butch's first-place finish in Sunday's finale. Sailing his sister, Ellen Hill's W, Butch and his crews took White Sail 2nd and 5th overall.


Also sailing an excellently competitive series that very nearly saw them scored 1st in the finale, were Jim and Linda Heffernan of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Sporting new foils made during the off-season and a nearly new suit of used sails, Morning Star looked great in sailing to a series 6th. But for a 13th in race 5, the Heffernans could well have been challenging for 2nd overall.


Series 7th went to Toronto's Geoff Edwards who also teamed up with another helmsman, Ted Gadd, from the famous Hayling Island SC on Chichester Harbour near Portsmouth on the south coast of England. Geoff and Ted sailed well together immediately, consistently getting fine speed from Jansubar. Ted and Geoff's series highlight came on Friday where they scored an impressive 2nd in race 3.


Top finisher among the local Wayfarers was Jim Lingeman (series 8th, 3rd non-spinnaker) who sailed two races with Randy Boekema (above) and then had Junior Sailor, Ben Getchell, take over. The SHARKS series highlight was Jim and Ben's most impressive 3rd-place finish in Saturday's first race.


Jeff Baker of Fanshawe YC (London, ON) made his Midwinters debut a good one. Not only did he have lots of fun sailing with rookie crew, Carl Schroeder, but Jeff also placed an impressive 4th among 12 white-sail boats (9th overall). Not bad for a guy seeded 14th!!! Well done, Jeff and Carl!!


Ottawa's Lori Beehler borrowed a boat at LESC and lucked in by getting veteran C Scow sailor, Scott Tillema, as crew and part-time helm. 10th overall (5th among non-spinnaker teams) was a fine improvement of three places over Lori's seed, helped in no small part by Scott's helming to a pair of 5ths in Sunday's stronger winds. In only her second year of racing, Lori is improving and soaking up knowledge every time out!! Nicely sailed, Lori and Scott.


The last time Marc and I saw Chuck McLaughlin was at the 2006 CL16 CanAm Regatta in Hilton Beach just east of Sault Ste. Marie, ON. Imagine our pleasant surprise at seeing him turn up as Mike Murto's Midwinters veteran crew who would permit Mike to sail with the spinnaker fleet! A solid series 11th highlighted by an 8th in race 5 for Mike and Chuck who placed second among the LESC Wayfarers.


Coming all the way from the town of North East in Maryland and sailing a locally borrowed boat to series 12th (non-spinnaker 6th) with a Friday-afternoon assist from Andy Douma, were Tony Krauss and Mary Abel (demonstrating the art of relaxed sailing above). And it might have been a better finish had they not decided to forego Sunday's windier sailing. As always, it was interesting and fun to have Mary and Tony with us.


Missing series 12th by a mere single point was the LESC team of Peter Hylen and Dave Hepting. They, too, opted out of Sunday's racing. One race Peter and Dave will doubtless remember for years is the series opener where they scored a super 3rd!!


Quite a mix in W6751: First, it was borrowed by Ellen Hill so that brother, Butch, could sail her Wayfarer, the one he's used to. On Friday it was Ellen (above) with her husband, Fred, as crew. Exciting times as their mast fell down (forestay issues) after race 1, and when things began to look loose late in race 2, Ellen and Fred decided to forego race 3 rather than risk damaging their borrowed boat.

After some preventative maintenance, the Hills' son, Jonathan, and his wife, Heather, took over for the next two days. As Ellen points out:
"I think this was Jonathan's first time skippering in a regatta, but he did sail at the USCG Academy in CT many years ago. He was crew for me in the Midwinters Wayfarer Regatta several years ago. Jonathan has grown up in a family that loves sailing, but opportunities were limited due to frequent military moves.
 
This was Heather's first time ever in an official sailboat race. She is a very good sport and did a great job crewing and learned a lot quickly."
Anyway, the whole group ended in series 14th and seemed to be having fun.


Usually a threat to all the leaders, the 3rd-seeded Gale Shoemaker with crew, Francois Simon, had a sub-par series and could do no better than 15th overall. No doubt Gale will be looking for fewer hiking breezes and physically less demanding sailing next year?


Next in line were Ted Benedict and Charley Jensen (above), also of LESC, who were just hitting their stride with a fine 8-10 on Sunday when they ran out of racing time.


And what a pleasure it was to see Jim McIntyre again and to meet his new wife as well as his crew, Gary Hoffer, with whom we sat at dinner on Saturday. Jim hasn't been getting much sailing in, and ended up 17th despite regularly being in the mid-fleet mix in most of the races.


LESC's Othon Dominguez (above) is a rookie to Wayfarer racing who missed the three Friday races due to lack of crew. Unfortunately, Friday was our only good source of racing pics so we have to make do with this long-distance shot taken on our way out to Saturday's racing. By this time Othon had hooked up with Randy Boekema. After a pair of 17ths on Saturday, Othon and Randy scored a nicely improved 13-12 on Sunday to end their series on a positive note.

And above all, thanks and praise to our volunteers who made this Midwinters possible and perfect. These were some of them: