Wayfarers Blown Out at Tawas

(180910)  Too much wind for us at Tawas on the weekend of Sept 8-9. No races sailed although Bill Coberly and his committee were more than willing. Marc and Julie were checking the line in the countdown to race 1 start but it soon became apparent that they would be sailing solo - so to speak. In a spirit of good sportsmanship, Marc and Julie asked the RC to blow the race off. And that, my friends, was as close as we got to racing.

But we all got onto the water for some exciting sailing and had lots of time to compare notes and share time with our lovable hosts and fellow Wayfarers. Saturday's weather made it a tough call whether or not to race. The 15 knots of breeze were doable but the far stronger gusts and suddenly cool weather ultimately swung the needle to abandonment. It was a tough decision, especially since the forecast was calling for even cooler and windier weather Sunday.


Ever the optimist, Uncle Al left SHADES a.k.a. Days in the same slip that did in his heel (above) and resulted in a hospital trip last year and with crew, Shannon Donkin, was the only boat to sail in Sunday's cooler, stronger winds (below) once further racing had been cancelled.


As well as Uncle Al, we had Canadian Wayfarer Association Chair, Rob Wierdsma and daughter, Samantha (above)  and David and Anne Pugh (below) making the long but oh so worthwhile journey in from Oakville, just west of Toronto, Ontario.





The Pughs' buddies from East Lansing, MI, Marc Bennett and wife, Julie Seraphinoff (above) were of course also on hand, and as USWA Racing Captain, Marc, had hard decisions to make: to race or not to race, that was the question. And the right choice was definitely made, as I see it.

A trio of Wayfarers from Fonda Lake, Michigan got excellent adventure and learning opportunities. Mentor, Dave McCreedy, and Peggy Menzies (below)  encouraged the owners of his two pre-Mark 4 Wayfarers to attend the Easterns.





Above we see Matt Dailey and Nick Burtka taking Gliondar (W1389) out onto the big water for the first time. They were doing fine until their rudder head fell apart and they slowly drifted into the soft, sandy arms of Tawas Point to await rescue. A passing kayaker paddled over to let us know (below) so that we could get the base station at TBYC to alert the safety boats to the W1389 problem.