My apologies to Armand Niccolai and Neal Miller who earned a share of the North Americans Most Improved Honours but whom I missed when I went over the results while enjoying the free beer!

As you can see, Uncle Al and Wayfarer Man were the winners in a close battle with Peter and Alex Rahn. In line with the new Low Point Scoring Rules, all five races were counted!!! Wayfarers also won the Spitzer Cup which goes to the Fleet with the largest number of entries. At 14 official entries, Wayfarers just beat out the JAM Fleet (I think) as well as the Force 5s, Interlakes and PHRF.

Complete report follows the results:

Al Schönborn and Frank Goulay are the 1999 Wayfarer North American champions. Two crews dominated the racing in a 15-boat fleet August 21-22 at the Lorain Sailing & Yacht Club just west of Cleveland on Lake Erie. Between them, Al Schönborn with Frank Goulay and Peter Rahn with 13-year-old Alex, collected all the firsts and seconds in a 5-race, no-drop series.

This year’s North Americans provided a little of every kind of wind and waves, and a lot of superb Ohio hospitality. The Lorain Sailing & YC bent over backwards to make visitors in all five Classes entered in the Spitzer Cup Regatta feel very welcome and pampered with free beer and regatta shirts plus very reasonably priced barbecue your own inch and a half thick steaks among other treats. Meanwhile, the Wayfarers of the Bay Village, Ohio Fleet gave us a very friendly welcome, beds in their beautiful homes and the wherewithal to lay the groundwork for good hangovers. I can’t wait to go to next year’s Spitzer Cup, even when it won’t be our North Americans! It was also most interesting and enjoyable to see some Classes that we don’t usually see as we shared our race course with Interlakes (which look a bit like an over-sized Snipe hull with huge sails) and Force 5’s (like a Laser with chines and more sensible rigging gear).
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A typical battle between land breeze (SW) and lake breeze (NNW) marked the beginnings of a sunny Sunday and its planned pair of races. We drifted out to the course in the odd zephyr and bobbed around for an hour or so. Finally, just before the RC’s stated 11 a.m. deadline for cancellation, the lake breeze began to take over, and we got in a pair of light air specials as the breeze slowly gained strength.

In the racing, Al and Frank got out in front of Peter and Alex early in every race and failed to hang onto that early only in Race 3. Thus, they took a fairly decisive win. Peter Rahn and Alex got an even clearer series 2nd as they ended up over 14 points ahead of the third-place crew. And the Rahns pulled undoubtedly the most impressive move of the series if not of the whole year. They capsized (completely!) just after rounding the windward mark in race 2, and then sailed and bailed DREAM, DARE, DO! dry in four-foot waves without losing a place!!!

In contrast, the fight over series 3rd went right down to wire among three crews: the Bests, the Goldis and Bob Frick with Ken Greywall. After being neck and neck for 3rd through Saturday’s three windier races, neither Michigander, Jerry Best with his dad, Larry, nor TSCC’s John Goldi with his wife, Joan, fared nearly as well in the lighter, flukey stuff where Bob Frick excels. Thus, third place was thoroughly up for grabs as these three began the 5th and final heat.

Jerry and Larry managed only a 5-8 on the Sunday but still took series 3rd when Bob and Ken could not hold an early final-race lead that would have given them 3rd overall. Meantime, John and Joan had an otherwise excellent set of results (4-3-4-4) marred by a 12th (not discardable, remember!) in Sunday’s first-race drifter and fell all the way to series 5th!

Both Jerry Best and Bob Frick improved on their computer-predicted finish position by two places and were thus awarded the traditional Wayfarer green flags as the Most Improved crews of the series. Uncle Al, the keeper of such stats, made a big error here as he failed to notice that Bay Villager, Armand Niccolai and his crew, Neal Miller, had also beaten their seed by two spots. Al’s oversight solved the problem of having only two flags for a 3-way tie, but my apologies to Armand and Neal for robbing them of their well-deserved turn in the limelight!

Our enthusiastic hosts, the Bay Village Wayfarer Fleet, turned out en masse, providing half of the total Spitzer Cup-winning Wayfarer turn-out! Saturday was a bit rough for some of them since they launch off the beach at their home club and never do that into waves such as Saturday’s. Still, they performed admirably.

Tony Krauss and Ken Johnson got Bay Village bragging rights as they pressed the visitors in every race, especially on Sunday, and put together a very respectable 5-8-10-3-5 to take series 6th.

The next four boats were virtually tied when all was tallied up, being separated from each other by a mere point!

In 7th place we had the dean of U.S. Wayfarer cruisers, Dick Harrington, who had just returned from Wayfarer cruises in Nova Scotia and on the Norfolk Broads (all right, Scott Town, I can hear you snickering from here!!!). Dick borrowed Bob Emans crew, Tom Reed, for Saturday before reverting to his regular mate, Margie Cervenik, on the Sunday.

And the list of celebrities continued in 8th place where USWA Commodore, Mike Anspach, signed on Mary Hudec of the Bay Village fleet as a last-minute crew. After a DNF that had to be counted, this freshly-formed team got better each time out (9-7-7-6) and ended only a point behind Dick!

The ever cheerful Armand Niccolai and crew, Neal Miller, were right in the thick of things in Saturday’s healthy breezes but did not thrive on Sunday’s leftovers. Scoring 10-13 on Sunday, these two ended up in 9th overall. This was however, still two places better than their 11th seed and since they didn’t get their deserved congratulations at the awards ceremony, the Whiffle Web hereby  congratulates you! Very well done, guys!!!

And only one point further back, in 10th, were up-and-coming TS&CC Wayfarer racers, Anne Armstrong and her husband, Gary. After their first-race DNF (due to rudder failure I think it was), they never missed the single-digit finishes again, and had their boat in very good-looking trim most times!

Another helm plagued by breakdowns was BVSC’s Riley Bonham. Gear problems caused him to miss race 2 and be late for race 3, but with good crew work from his niece, Caitlin (13), on Saturday, and her dad, Pete, on Sunday, W3990 still managed series 11th. Riley also provided many of us with a fine memento of this most enjoyable event in the form of Wayfarer North Americans caps. Thanks, Riley!

Three other local Wayfarers found Saturday’s conditions a bit too much more than they were used to and only sailed Sunday.

Host to the SHADES team of Uncle Al, Wayfarer Man and special adviser, Lucy Camacho, Bob Emans got his regular crew, Tom Reed, back from Dick, and scored a 6-12 on Sunday to take series 12th. Bob looked like he has the makings of a good light-air man in race 4 where he and Tom nailed an excellent 6th!

Don Fridrich and Bill Guinter were a couple of points further back in 13th while newcomers, Joe Trepal with another 13-year-old aboard, his son, Mike, placed 14th. The Trepal, too, made it a family outing, as Joe’s wife, Mary, was there, enjoying every minute of the LSYC’s great hospitality!

Former North American champion, Joe DeBrincat, got as far as the breakwater with his pick-up crew, Louise Miller, on the Saturday but decided the weather might a be a bit tough on a new crew and they went back in. On Sunday, there was a missed communication and Joe ended up crewless and with DNS’s for all his races. Fortunately, he, his wife, Vicky, and their three-year-old daughter, Noelle, did get to enjoy the fine hospitality of both the LSYC and Bob Emans at the big Saturday night Wayfarer party!

NOTES:
Sincere Wayfarer thanks to
* Lorain Sailing & Yacht Club Commodore, John Sukis, for the wonderful event and welcome put on by his club and its many volunteers
* Regatta Chairman, Pete Ensinger, and to Fleet Captain, Dennis Reardon, who ran everything the way it should be run – and to Pete’s daughter, Katie, for smiling so nicely as she persuaded all and sundry to buy raffle tickets to raise money for the LSYC
* the Bay Village Wayfarers who so kindly opened their hearts and homes to the visiting Wayfarers
* Bob Emans’ friend Tom Smith and his main squeeze, Louise, who were always good company, and who volunteered to do Safety Boat duty

On Saturday night, Jeff Shutic brought his partially completed wooden kit Wayfarer down for us to examine and admire (see photos in the Wayfarer Market)

Race Synopses: All our races consisted of 1 or 2 buoys to port sausages with a start/finish in mid-beat and an offset mark about 100 m. of beam reaching from the windward mark. There was a triangle option but it was not used.

#1: wind N at 12 to 18 knots and higher gusts
When Jerry Best got nervous and bailed out near the pin end with only 5 seconds to go to the gun, Al and Frank were left with the favoured end start. With boat and crew in tune with the waves, SHADES increased her lead slowly but surely to take the gun (it was a beep actually!) ahead of Peter and Alex. Unlike Al and Peter, Jerry Best tried the right side of the beat after his gybe to port at the start. He made out quite nicely over there and crossed the line 3rd ahead of John Goldi. BVSC’s Tony Krauss and Ken Johnson made their first North Americans race a good one, Taking 5th in front of Bob Frick and Armand Niccolai who rounded out the top seven.

#2: winds N, down slightly to about 10 to 15 knots
Al again got clear air near the favoured pin end. He continued to manage the four-foot chop very well and romped to victory, particularly after the Rahns’ aforementioned capsize on the first offset leg. At Alex’ urging, the Rahns re-hoisted their spinnaker and sailed the boat dry without losing a position in the race! The Goldis chased Peter all the way but could not get by and had to settle for 3rd. Jerry Best took 4th over Anne and Gary Armstrong who were displaying textbook form and catching up on the final beat when the race ran out! Bob Frick and Ken Greywall grabbed another 6th as they again finished just in front of Armand and Neal.

#3: winds N, 6-12 knots, decreasing to 2 to 6 knots early in the first beat
RC boat end start for Al off a square line. Shortly after the start, Al tacked to leeward and in front of Peter who was headed right. When Al established a (very) safe leeward position, Peter tacked away. Al was about to tack to cover when he saw Riley and Caitlin Bonham rushing from the harbour to a belated start. To avoid interfering with them, Al held his tack for a few seconds and promptly sailed into a hole. By the time Al got back into steadier winds, Peter and Alex were well on their way to victory. SHADES closed the gap a bit down the second run and final beat but Peter won handily and was back into the title hunt as Saturday BBQ and party time drew near.

The Goldis also found dead spots in their fight over 3rd place with the Bests. Dick Harrington looked to be in fine form as he cruised to a 5th in front of Bob Frick who edged out fellow USWA Fleet 2 member, Mike Anspach and Mary Hudec for 6th.

#4: one sausage – winds light NW, about 2-5 knots
Both Peter and Al went for the favoured pin end of the line. When Peter tacked to clear his air, Al covered him out to the right corner. On the long starboard into the mark, it became apparent that only Tony Krauss with Ken Johnson would be a threat of those coming in from the left. In the end, Tony and Ken crossed behind Al but tacked in front of Peter. This trio went down the run fairly well clear of the rest with Al holding his lead up the short final beat to take a stranglehold on the series. Peter and Alex, with their usual excellent downwind speed, managed to get past Tony to place 2nd but Tony had no trouble holding onto 3rd over light-air wizard, Bob Frick with Ken Greywall.

Meanwhile, despite placing only 5th, Jerry and Larry Best took a big step towards nailing down series 3rd when John Goldi had his usual light-air trauma and fell to a 12th (which, of course, was a disaster in a no-drop series!). After his rest on Saturday and a minimum of scotch at his party the night before, Bob Emans (with Tom Reed) managed the light stuff very nicely and piloted CORINTHIAN to 6th place.

#5: one sausage – winds up slightly and marginally veered NW at 4-6 knots
Al again got off nicely near the favoured pin end, found a spot in which to tack and crossed the fleet. Bob Frick also started near the pin but held starboard longer and he and Ken rolled into the windward mark with a 5-length lead over Al. Peter, meanwhile, was in a close fight for 3rd at the mark.
Al went down with what few puffs there were and up in the really dead spots and very slowly ate up Bob’s lead until he was about 5 lengths ahead at the leeward mark. To add insult to injury, Bob also lost Peter on the final brief beat to finish 3rd after Al’s and Peter’s 1-2. The Goldis finally got a good finish out of a light air race – a 4th over Bay Village SC’s Tony Krauss, and Mike Anspach looked like he and Mary Hudec were just really getting old 4271 going when the series ran out, as they placed a fine 6th in the finale.