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

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.

Regatta Chair, Mike Murto (r), presents the Wayfarer Midwinters championship trophy
to our very impressive 2012 winners, Trevor Fisher (l) and Richard Watterson.

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:

From: tmk-W864
Sent: Monday, February 20, 2012 8:00 PM
Subject: Mid Winter's Regatta Correction

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.


Our winners sail Richard's new Hartley MK IV round the windward mark in one of 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.


MC Regatta Chair, Scott Tillema, puts a brave face on the imminent light-air special.


Saturday evening: excitement at the results and lovely warm sunshine as the BBQ is about to get under way.

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.


Mari was all set to let Uncle Al borrow her young son as a human parrot for the concert but Al faded out
before he could test Mari's assertion that getting the "parrot" to squawk would be no problem.

Any of us who may have packed it in early in fears of not being at our best for the two races scheduled for Sunday morning were doomed to be disappointed as racing had to be cancelled for lack of wind. It is, as they say, an ill wind that blows no one good: Even after some fine W coaching sessions courtesy of Trevor, a free exchange of SD cards and their pictorial treasures and two extensive awards ceremonies, we were still all done by noon, so that those facing long trips home got to start early.

How we all finished:

As mentioned earlier, our guest from the north of Ireland, Trevor Fisher, stepped into a borrowed boat with an unfamiliar crew and - not to put too fine a point on it - Trevor and his crew, Richard Watterson of Hummelstown, Pennsylvania, kicked our collective asses with a series of seven straight wins. Not only did Trevor sail a great series, but he also brought out the best in his crew who performed magnificently throughout the series. Congratulations, Richard and Trevor!

Defending Midwinters champions, Al Schonborn (Oakville, Ontario) and Tony Krauss (Whitmore Lake, Michigan) threw scares into the winners a couple of times but never did beat them and had to settle for the runner-up spot. Tony and Al might in fact have been life-and-death to beat out Nick and Peter had it not been for a couple of capsizes by the Impulse team.

Series third place was pretty much up for grabs for much of the series as three couples were battling it out: Marc and Julie Bennett of East Lansing, Michigan in their new MK IV, Charlotte, North Carolina's Richard Johnson and Michele Parish as well as
Jim Heffernan and wife, Linda, of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Despite the mostly breezy conditions, the light-weight Heffernans were solidly competitive when it blew and were thus poised to make their move when the winds eased off a bit in the final pair of races. By placing 3-2 in those last two heats, Linda and Jim ended up  comfortably taking 3rd overall. The last two races had the opposite effect for Marc and Julie, whose 7-9 left them in 5th overall a point behind Richard and Michele.

The other Can-Am team, Nick Seraphinoff of Detroit, Michigan, and Peter Rahn of Montreal, Quebec, sailed outstandingly well in Nick's new MK IV, scoring 2-2-2-4-4 in the five races they actually finished. But they ended up being done in by a pair of capsizes and resulting excessively expensive DNFs which dropped them to 6th overall. That very tough DNF penalty has prompted your Uncle Al to put forth the following suggestion for a Wayfarer Midwinters scoring adjustment starting in 2013:

Sent: Wednesday, February 29, 2012 9:44 AM
Subject: coverage just about finished: DNF suggestion, dates for 2013?

Hi, gang:
 
Just putting the finishing touches on my Mids report for 2012 and am noticing that some of the alphabet finishes (DNF, DSQ, etc) have really skewed the results in a way that strikes me as unfair. I would like us to consider reverting to the good old days when men were men and competitors got rewarded for getting out there and making the attempt, i.e. I think our scoring should be:
  • DNS, DNC unchanged from current system (# of series entries + 1 point)
  • DNF, OCS, DSQ should be # of starters in that race + 1 point
This seems especially applicable to the Mids where we regularly get races where a bunch of boats do not compete (see this year's results as a fairly typical example) and where we get no drop. The scoring change would be easy enough to incorporate into Sailwave or whatever programme is being used to score us...
 
Best regards, Uncle Al (W3854)

The first of the local boats to finish (series 7th) was the team of Ted Benedict and Mike Tighe, and they did so with a certain amount of panache: the won the Non-Spinnaker Division, the were Top of the Bottom and, having been seeded 12th, were this year's Most Improved Team.

From: Ted Benedict
Cc: 'Mike Tighe'
Sent: Monday, February 13, 2012 8:04 PM
Subject: Mids crew?

Hi Al,
          
I just got on, which I should do more often, and saw your email.
 Mike Tighe was my crew and he is a great guy, sailor, as well as a very skilled boat restorer. He showed me a lot about sailing in the strong winds Friday and Saturday of the regatta.  He did well last year,  I think winning the non-spinnaker Midwinters with a Flying Scot friend (Tom McNally?) skippering his boat? He sold that boat to Pete Hylen and has had a Lightning that he sails, and is restoring another Lightning, so it looks like we’ve regrettably lost him from our Wayfarer fleet.
 
Hope you had a good trip home and all is well.  You didn’t miss much at this weekends club races with very heavy winds Saturday, and very cold winds for us Sunday.   Best always and warmest regards, Ted Benedict W2415

Next in line was another local team: Mike Murto and Izak Kielmovitch. Both Izak and Mike had planned to sail their series solo but decided to merge their efforts in light of the windy conditions. Wise choice!!

Butch Minson and his wife, Janice, came down once more from Maine to visit Butch's sister, Ellen Hill, and race her W3951 based at the LESC. Butch sailed solo as well as with wife, Janice, and with Heather Hill, and when all was said and done came in 9th overall.

Still waiting for their first boring, ordinary series since getting back into Wayfarers after nearly 30 years away i n keelboats, Detroit's Jim Best and wife, Cynthia, only managed to finish three of the seven races in their newly acquired glass boat, Pub Crawl, which they are sailing while they refurbish their wooden W911. On Saturday, their freshly ordered McNamara sails came in and their fine speed in their final-race 5th no doubt pleased them.

Our Ottawa connection this year was Andy Douma crewing for Robin Allardyce who made the long Midwinters trip for the first time this year. Despite at least two capsizes and none of the four Friday races finished, the W6071 team ended up in series 11th after recording a pair of very nice 6ths to complete their series. Promising stuff, guys! Hope we'll see you lots of times this summer!!

Another pair of Lake Eustis SC Wayfarers had registered to sail solo. After Friday problems, Dave Hepting and Jim McIntyre teamed up on Saturday and scored 8-8-8. I believe it was these two that banged the left corner in the light, patchy winds of Saturday's finale and came rolling in to the windward mark with a nice lead, which they held for much of the ensuing run despite lack of spinnaker!! A story for these two to treasure, having been ahead of the invincible Trevor for a considerable stretch!!

Also in from Maine, Butch Minson's sister, Betty, got a wet introduction to Wayfarers after trying to sail solo on the Saturday. Betty gave it a very brave go but in the end, never did get conditions in which she could start her W learning curve in reasonable comfort. Next year, Betty????

Last but in no way least, the veteran, Jim Lingeman, decided to wait ashore for more reasonable conditions - which, alas, never did come. Still, Jim did seem to enjoy the socializing and it was not a wasted weekend for him.

My thanks and gratitude to the Regatta's main backbones: Mike and Dotty Murto in Wayfarers plus the MCs' Scott Tillema and Mari Johnson, as well as the many club members who gave up all or part of their weekend so that we could have a great time!! See you next year: February 1-3, 2013!!!!!
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