the 2018 Midwinters/US Nationals
Lake Eustis SC * February 2-4
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Our Illustrated Final Standings and Awards


In what was likely the strongest Midwinters Wayfarer fleet ever, Detroit's Doug Scheibner and Andrew Lockhart (above) out of the Bayview YC were just that little bit better than the rest of us throughout our nine-race series in all possible wind conditions. Masterfully avoiding the big mistakes (until their dropped 7th in the finale), they ended up winning the 2018 Midwinters and the US Nationals by an extremely convincing margin  as they counted six bullets and a pair of 2nds.

Eustis Mayor, Robert Morin presents Andrew Lockhart (l) and Doug Scheibner (r),
winners of the Midwinters and the 2018 US Nationals with their just desserts.


Runners-up: Dave Moring and Arial Harrington
Last year's Midwinters champions, Dave Moring with Arial Harrington (above) were this year's runners- up as they barely managed to hold off Marc Bennett and wife, Julie, of East Lansing, Michigan by a single point when the dust had settled. The Bennetts were sailing one of two brand-new boats that had just arrived from England. When Marc unwrapped his new arrival, it turned out not to be the same lovely Jamaican blue as his previous Mk4 (below). Marc and Julie were not amused.


Bronze went to Marc Bennett and Julie Seraphinoff.

Sailing the other new Mk4 to series 4th was Oakville, Ontario's David Pugh who had Dodge Owen fly in from England as an emergency replacement for wife, Anne, whose broken arm "relegated" her to RC Boat and photography duty. By winning the finale, David and Dodge moved past Oakville's Uncle Al who along with crew, Frank Goulay of Ottawa (below), was trying to defend their 2017 US national title. SHADES a.k.a. Glory Days was the only non-Mk4 to crack the top ten. Not to admit that the Mk4's are faster!! Despite a litany of errors that included a pair of start-line 720's and a race 6 conversion of a win to a 6th by sailing to the wrong leeward mark, Frank and Al were in the hunt for series 3rd until the end of race 8. They were lying three points behind Marc and Julie and were in line to beat Marc and move to within two points with one race to go unti Al's botched finish line tack dropped them to a close 3rd behind Marc and dashed their hopes of placing 3rd. The 76-year-old Uncle Al then begged off sailing the finale, a request to which his disappointed crew graciously acceded.



Sue Pilling of Parry Sound, ON raised boat borrowing to new heights as she got to use a virtually new Mark 4 (above). She further lucked in as she was provided with Eric Duncan (above) as her fine Friday crew to fill in until Steph Romaniuk (below) could arrive in time for the rest of the races. As Sue pointed out with a grin to Uncle Al, his series 5th could easily have been a 6th had it not been for her three? capsizes.


Midwinters veterans, Richard Johnson and wife, Michele (above), now sailing out of the Blackbeard Sailing Club in picturesque Oriental, NC, placed a solid series 7th. Their best result was a 5th in the windy series finale.

Also doing the North Carolina Wayfarers proud with single-digit finishes were a pair of teams from the strong Lake Townsend YC Fleet: AnnMarie Covington sailed to series 8th with Bob Williams, a pairing that won the Wayfarer Easterns in 2017, while Uwe Heine and wife, Nancy (below), faded a bit as the winds picked up, yet still held series 9th by a solid margin.


Cleveland's Tony Krauss teamed up with long-time friend, Marc Losh of New Orleans (above), and rounded out the regatta's top ten while their wives sampled the local culture. Their high point also was the final race with its winds in which Tony and Marc nailed a nice 6th, becoming one of the few who could say they had finished ahead of the winners in at least one race.

A pair of eastern Michigan crews were next in line. Ian Pouliot and Jake Wolny (above) of Mt. Clemens sailed The Gilded Lady (formerly known as Orange Crush) to series 11th, while the Detroit area team of Dave McCreedy and Dave Wilpula (below) were the Spinnaker Fleet's Most Improved team as they stepped into Jamaica Blue, freshly acquired from Marc Bennett, and promptly beat their 18th seed by an impressive 6 places!



20th seeds win Non-Spinnaker Division in first try at Mk4!

Jim Burns and Eli McIntosh (above) of the Lake Eustis SC went into the Midwinters seeded 20th of the 23 entries. No doubt the fact that he had recently bought the Pughs' W10963 gave Jim Burns hopes of doing better, but the reality was probably more than he and Eli had dared hope, as they beat their seed by a whopping 7 places and dominated the Non-Spinnaker Fleet. In real life, they ended up 17 points ahead of the 2nd-place Non-Spi team.

Rank Seed SailNo Helm/Crew R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 Total Nett Notes
1 6* (334) 10963 Jim Burns/Eli McIntosh
 (7) 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 16 9 Most Improved
2 4 (280) 8705 Karlheinz Krüger/Andy Forman (8) 6 4 2 1 2 3 3 29 21  
3 5 (327) 10874 Izak Kielmovitch/Ron Plank
 		(6) 3 3 3 3 3 4 2 27 21  
4 2 (197) 10862 Dave Hepting/Ali Kishbaugh 2 (7) 5 5 5 4 1 4 33 26  
5 - 11136 Sam & Ruth Pearl 1 8 2 4 4 6 5 (DNC) 40 30  
6 1 (152) 864 Phil Leonard 3 5 7 8 (9) 5 7 6 50 41  
7 3 (254) 449 Ken Butler/Trish McDermott 4 2 6 6 7 9 8 (DNC) 52 42  
8 7 (377) 3654 Mike & Mary Tighe (9) 4 8 9 8 8 6 5 57 48  
9 - 2959 Charlie & Kaitlyn Jensen 5 9 (DNF) 7 6 7 DNC DNC 64 54  

Jim Burns (r) and Eli McIntish: Non-Spinnaker champions who were followed by ...


... Izak Kielmovitch (and early departure, Ron Plank), and ...


... Andy Forman (r) with Karlheinz Krueger

In the artificial standings (above) that score as though the Non-Spi sailed separately from Spi, things were less dramatic, but the top three were slightly changed. Above, Karlheinz and Andy took Non-Spi 2nd on a tie-breaker over Izak Kielmovitch and Ron Plank, but what really happened between these two LESC teams was that Izak and Ron scored 15th overall (2nd in Non-Spi) with 124 points, and can proudly point to the fact that they beat their seed by four spots. Karlheinz and NC's Andy Forman (below) took turns helming, I believe, and placed 16th overall (3rd Non-Spi, 126 pts). Karlheinz' beautiful wooden Wayfarer was the last kit boat ever to be completed - by the legendary Wayfarer, Frank Pedersen.


A pair of new Lake Eustis Mark 4 owners, Patti Kuntz and John Cadman (above), teamed up in Patti's new W11135, moved up to Spinnaker and placed a very respectable 14th overall. And we all owe a debt of gratitude to Patty who did a ton of work for us as Regatta Chair. Thanks a million, Patty!

a reward for Patty from Phil's wife Cathy


Hans Gottschling Wayfarer bags were given as tokens of our appreciation to (l to r)
our PRO, Bob Armes, Jane Hepting (sustenance co-ordinator), June Howell (Chief Scorer)


His Honor, the Mayor of Eustis thanked Jane as well.

Teaming up again this year were LESC's Dave Hepting and Ali Kishbaugh of Charlotte, NC's Catawba YC in Dave's W10862 while Jane Hepting slaved away in the club, making sure we were well fed and watered. Dave and Ali (below) placed 4th among Non-Spi, just three points out of the "medals" (17th overall).


Bad luck for Team Heffernan who usually lead the way for the Lake Townsend fleet. Especially unfortunate for crew Linda who turned and broke her ankle as she went to step aboard Dawn Treader for Saturday's racing. Linda was duly operated on, and sounds in good spirits as she prepares the latest of her fabulous SKIMMER newsletterrs. Saturday turned out to be a pretty windy day on which to race solo but Jim sailed the last two Saturday races and did not come last. Overall, W1066 placed 18th.

Nick Seraphinoff's on again/off again switch came to rest on off when word came that a longtime friend and Michigan ski resort partner had passed. So Nick rushed north for the funeral. But not before taking the time to arrange for a pair of promising Lake Eustis junior sailors to sail W11136 in his place. Sam Pearl and his sister, Ruth, (above) did not look out of place at all, placing 5th among 9 Non-Spinnaker entries. Well done, Sam and Ruth.


Kudos to Phil Leonard of Lake Townsend who sailed the first seven races solo and placed series 20th in his old wooden beauty while appearing right at home in the gusty conditions. It does look as though Phil ended up with a crew for race 8 on the Sunday. Phil's LTYC clubmates, Ken Butler and Trish McDermott (below), also in a wooden classic (W449) ended two points behind Phil in 21st place. Trish's workaholic husband, Scott Bogue, brought his own classic, an old outboard complete with boat, that was put to fine use as a safety boat.


Impeccable is the word best used to describe Mike Tighe's W3654. I have known this boat all its life since the mid-70's and it has never looked this good - even when it was new. LESC member, Mike teamed up with wife, Mary, and stuck it out for the first eight races before packing it in - something I can definitely relate to.
Last but most definitely not least was the charming Charlie Jensen of the host club. Making his first appearance as a helmsman, Charlie sailed with his cheerful daughter in the late Mike Murto's boat. What a nice way to keep Mike's memory alive!!