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2012 Wayfarer Midwinters
Lake Eustis SC * Feb. 3-5
Uncle Al's Regatta Report
(last updated: 17 April 2021 at 1237 hrs)

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Trevor Fisher (below left), the runner-up in the 2011 UK Nationals where Richard and Mark Hartley placed 3rd, stepped aboard Richard Watterson's new Mark IV Bubbles at the Lake Eustis SC and with Richard's able crewing assistance, showed us how it's done. In the warmest Midwinters weather in nearly a decade, Trevor and Richard were occasionally challenged but never beaten as they won all seven races sailed in lovely, exciting winds of every description. Unfortunately, the last two heats of the scheduled nine-race series were cancelled when the Sunday proved to be sunny and warm but windless - but by then, many of us were just as content to sit back and drink more free beer after the exertions of the previous two days full of exciting racing.


The visitors from further north who arrived early in the week were further rewarded with a series of days that provided gloriously warm sunshine, and on Wednesday and Thursday, our hosts provided us with safety boats and even short practice races to let us get suitably warmed up. And of course, the free draft beer was once more plentifully flowing to ensure that our throats did not get parched from all the sailing talk that was going on both at the club and at various dinner destinations.

In addition to getting in some fine practice races, your Uncle Al and crew, Tony Krauss, found Thursday to be educational in various ways:

First, Tony dropped the word feckless into our conversation and I immediately felt a strangely strong bond to the word. No wonder, because when Tony googled the word, its main meaning seems to revolve around irresponsible and immature, causing Tony to mutter, "Feckless R Us". Indeed!!!

Secondly, and more usefully to you the reader (if any), when we went to tip our beached SHADES over on her side to wash off road dirt, I overrode Tony's reservations and went to hang off the spi halyard to pull the boat over - the way I always do it. Alas, the halyard had not been properly cleated or stoppered, and went halfway up the mast. To make a long story short, even after removing the mast foot blocks and the entry block above the hounds, we could not persuade the halyard to slide back down the mast at the shallow angle (20°??) we were able to give the mast on the beach. Even another two beers did not help, and horrible thoughts of working from the club roof were expressed, (until Tony recalled that a friend had once suggested using a garden hose in a similar predicament and he thought we might try to flush the rope down the mast tube). I sit corrected yet again:

Al,  I'm a stickler for proper credits: Mary remembered the hose in the mast trick, not i.  It was DeBrincat the Younger Elder that came up with that one during his last venture down to Lake Eustis, Mary never misses anything and has  a memory like a camera (to my frequent sorrow).  tmk No sooner said than done, and I am thrilled to report that after only a few seconds of flushing down from the hounds, the bitter end of our spi halyard was back out in the daylight where it belongs  :)   Having duly washed the bottom and practised, Tony and I had nothing left to do but anticipate Friday's races.


In gusty winds of up to 25 knots but warm sunshine most of the time, our excellent Race Committee headed by Dave and Joan Williams gave us four races, each of the "2½" variety (two windward-leewards plus a final windward). The sailing was very exciting and several Ws capsized to add that last finishing touch to the thrills.


On Saturday morning, a fleet of nearly 50 MC Scow sailors (above) joined in for their annual Train Wreck Regatta - a lovely name!! Too bad our W regatta is already named our Midwinters because the MCs' name for their half is far flashier, and Wayfarers were trapped inside club grounds for four extra hours just as much as the MCs on that Sunday afternoon a few years ago when the slow-moving train derailed right beside the LESC.


Saturday morning turned out to be a slightly more moderate version of Friday's winds, less frequent gusts to just over 20 knots at their peak. In two pre-lunch races, we had several more capsizes, but towards the end of the second race, it became clear that the wind was fading fast.


After lunch ashore, there was not much wind but our fine RC did manage to outlast a series of shifts and get us one last "2½" race in not overly unstable winds. Those Ws who may have been thinking, "Trevor may have won the first six races in blowy conditions, but let's see how he handles this!!" were soon set straight as he and Richard nailed down a 7th straight bullet, in what would turn out to be the final race of our 2012 Midwinters. Congratulations, Trevor and Richard!!

In a way, Friday's and Saturday's sailing may have been too good, so that most of us Wayfarers were too tired to fully enjoy the lovely Saturday night barbecue so beautifully organized by Mari Johnson (below) and her LESC crew. The food was lovely - right down to Monty's special marinade - but before we could fully enjoy the company of the friendly MC group, and the Jimmy Buffett concert that was to be streamed in live from Orlando, most of us were so tired and sleepy, that we headed home for an early night.