Catawba Hospitality Triumphs Over Challenging Weather

Ten Wayfarer teams and a like number of MC Scows entered the 3rd annual Old Brown Dog Regatta hosted by the Johnsons, Richard and Michele, and the Catawba YC on Lake Wylie outside of Charlotte, North Carolina Nov. 1-2. The weather forecast was predicting cold and windy weather after more than a week of balmy summer weather, and unfortunately the prognostication was spot on. As the Hallowe'en Trick-or-Treating was winding down and our free-beer welcome was in full swing, the cold front arrived with a thundering vengeance.

The Lord appears to have taken our thoughts of Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here more literally than we had intended (above). By Saturday morning temperatures were near freezing and winds whistling down the length of the lake.

To universal acclaim, our RC postponed until 2 PM, by which time winds were, if anything even stronger (above), and further thoughts of Saturday racing were abandoned. Luckily, the Catawba YC has the perfect surroundings for such an eventuality (below) ...

... and we found eminently pleasant ways to while away the hours, including an impromptu round-table racing discussion and the official welcoming of our newest Wayfarers, Scott Bogue and Trish McDermott (W1392), with a Hans Gottschling Wayfarer bag.

Lots of delicious food and drink were on hand throughout the day, highlighted by  Dark 'n' Stormies from Ali Kishbaugh who even delivered. The day finished on a high as various sailors brought out their instruments and led us in a very well appreciated sing-along.

Sunday morning arrived with brisk, near-freezing temperatures but manageable winds, winds that were forecast to increase as the day wore on. Our very competent and efficient Race Committee wasted no time in getting us out onto the water for an only slightly postponed first gun that had been scheduled for 0900 hrs. By shortly after noon, we had completed four windward-leeward races with  a closed start-finish line set about a third of the way up from the leeward mark.

The cool, gusty conditions did little to dampen our enthusiasm although a couple of boats, top-seeded Jim and Linda Heffernan among them, reefed to sail on the safe side. Defending champions, Richard Johnson with his wife, Michele, had a tougher time of it this year, managing only a series 4th in our nine-boat fleet.

1979, Trout Lake, North Bay, Ontario: Disguised as W283, Jeff crews for his father, Tom, in W1185

Undoubtedly the most fortunate sailor in the event was Oakville, Ontario's Uncle Al who was in 7th heaven as he benefited from the unbelievably flawless crew work of Jeff Gamey who now lives in Knoxville, Tennessee. A match made in heaven, as they say. After losing to fellow-Ontarians, Mike Duncan and wife, Marg, of the Mississauga SC and just barely beating out the pick-up Catawba team of Jim Cook and Ali Kishbaugh in a photo finish in race 1, Jeff and Al hit their stride. Despite a serious swamping and near-capsize in race 2, a series of three convincing wins followed for W3854. Poetically enough, Jeff and Al had their spinnaker up when the afternoon wind, well into the 20's of knots, arrived. A glorious broad-reach plane to the leeward mark was a fine ending to our 2014 sailing season.

The Wayfarer champs, Uncle Al (l) and Jeff Gamey receive
their lovely W tote from Regatta Chair, Richard Johnson (r).

As the winds slowly but surely gained strength, the light-weight Duncan team found it increasingly difficult to cope and ended up losing to Jim and Ali who scored 3-3-2-2 in grabbing the runner-up position. The Duncan killer was a near-capsize the water from which - even in a Mark IV - they found hard to drain off and which accounted for their 6th in their 1-2-6-3 scores.


In series 5th, we had Lake Townsend's AnnMarie Covington (above) who teamed up with Matt Stalnaka and looked quite at home in conditions that many Wayfarers would find too threatening! Well done, AnnMarie and Matt!!

Our "newest "Wayfarer and half of our newest Wayfarer couple, Scott Bogue, had Lake Townsend's Mike Sigmund at the helm of their new W1392 while Scott learns the Wayfarer ropes. Mike and Scott nailed down a fine series 6th - ahead of top-seeded Jim and Linda Heffernan whose peace of mind came from reefing but at a heavy performance price. Also learning by crewing was Scott's wife, Trish, who combined with Ken Butler and took a fun-filled series 8th.

Last but definitely not least was Chip Cunningham of Oxford, Michigan, who braved these tough conditions single-handed. Way to go, Chip!!

Post-race relaxation as a deceptively benign-looking lake looks on.


This is what it was really like as we finished.