... is the lesson to be learned from this year's annual Tim Dowling Memorial Regatta hosted September 24-25 by the Clark Lake YC just south-east of Jackson, Michigan. Prognosticators had threatened us with intermittent rain both Saturday and Sunday, cool temperatures that would have trouble reaching the 60s Fahrenheit (15°C), and winds that would have trouble moving our boats.


Nonetheless, 34 boats and their crews, not to mention Race Officer, Bruce Nowak (above), and his fine Race Committee, risked it anyway, and were rewarded with a virtual absence of rain and even some ...

... blowing from the east on the Saturday and the north-east on the Sunday from about 6 to 12 knots, i.e. just nicely hard enough to ...


... fill spinnakers - most of the time. No problem for our Committee to get the scheduled five races in: three on Saturday and two more on Sunday. The combination of Saturday's lighter, patchier winds and ubiquitous weeds tended to scramble that day's results, to the extent that no one won all three races in any class. Our Wayfarer group had three different winners: Tony Krauss with Steph Romaniuk, Uncle Al with Shannon Shank and Jim Heffernan with Linda. By Sunday the wind had backed towards the north-east and many of us found it easier to stay on top of things.


And of course, what regatta could be the great sucess Clark Lake always is without the many cheerful volunteers in the kichen (above) and elsewhere?!


The free beer (above left) began to flow by Friday afternoon, and as you can see, the coffee was ready, hot and delicious, on both cool, misty mornings. For me and numerous others, one of the weekend's highlights was the great music provided for hours on Saturday night by ...


... former Clark Lake YC Commodore, Tom Spring (above right), and a friend whose name escapes me at this time. And even these two were not left untouched by the Wayfarers' and the Rebels' preaching of the Dark and Stormy gospel (Gosling's Black Seal Bermuda rum and ginger beer) as more than a few were converted that night. As far as I am aware, a fine time was had by everyone all weekend long. Why not plan to join us next year!!??

...


A points tie for series 3rd with Mike Codd and Kirk Iredale of Toronto, Ontario was broken in favour of North Carolina's Jim and Linda Heffernan courtesy of their third-race "bullet". Jim and Linda thus brought a 3rd-place happy ending to their three-weekend northern odyssey that had included racing in the Wayfarer North Americans Sept. 10-11 on Lake Ontario at the Toronto Sailing & Canoe Club and the Wayfarer/CL 16 Regatta a week later at the Mississauga SC just west of Toronto in the waters where the 2013 Wayfarer Worlds are scheduled to be held. By placing 4th overall at Clark Lake, Mike and Kirk, having been seeded 6th, tied with Team Bennett for regatta Most Improved honours.

For Tony Krauss of Whitmore Lake, Michigan, it looked like signing up the 2011 Canadian champion crew, Steph Romaniuk from Parry Sound, Ontario might pay golden dividends. They won the first race as Tony made his debut at the helm of his wooden beauty, W864, newly acquired from Nick Seraphinoff. But it was mid-fleet thereafter for Tony and Steph who landed in series 5th.

A mere two points back of Tony were Joe DeBrincat of Walled Lake, Michigan with his son, Jeff, making a rare guest appearance. In 7th overall we had former USWA Commodore, Mike Anspach, who teamed up with our resident Latin professor(?), Bridget Balint of Bloomington, Indiana, and was impressively competitive all weekend long.


Exciting racing at the other end of the fleet, too, as three (near-)rookies battled it out to avoid last place and ended within a single point of each other. 8th overall actually went to a complete racing novice, Chip Cunningham of Oxford, Michigan, who earlier this summer purchased W1321 Solje shortly after Gary Hirsch and Uncle Al completed their epic Tip of the Mitt Adventure. When Gary had to bow out of his commitment to be Chip's helm at Clark Lake, Chip decided to join us anyway, even helm-/crew-less. Luckily he was able to team up with veteran Rebel sailor, Nick Tanis, and enjoy a fine first regatta at the helm of Solje.


Coming all the way from Madison, Wisconsin, was another Wayfarer racing rookie, Ian Coxhead, who teamed up with East Lansing's Robert Mosher (above) and ended up tied with Michiganders, Mike Austerberry and Todd Pascoe a mere one point behind Chip. Young Adam Austerberry (10) (below) also put in some time as crew of the future aboard W2951.




In the nine-boat Rebel Fleet we had seven relatively local Michigan boats plus a pair of guests from Chicago. With a number of very possible candidates for the winners' circle ready to do battle, it was a dark horse that ended up winning the regatta.


Steve Cummings of Clark Lake had not sailed his Rebel for two years and had no high expectations as he and his daughter, Lyndsie (18) (above) prepared to launch. But they surprised everyone and not least themselves, as they won the opener and ended Saturday with 1-2-2 finishes and a two-point lead over perennial national champion, Dave Nickels of Fenton. When the latter and his pick-up crew, Tony Winnie, won Sunday morning's race 4, they moved into a tie for the lead and put the pressure squarely on Team Cummings. But when the chips were down, Steve and Lyndsie rose to the occasion by beating Dave and Tony in the finale.

Clark Lake's Neil Robb was a slow starter on Saturday with crew, Brian Johnson, before winning race 3 in convincing fashion. Sunday crew, Mark Ortiz' late arrival forced Neil to sail solo and his race 4 5th-place finish pretty much doomed him to series 3rd - despite a fine 2nd with Mark in the finale.

4th place produced a points tie between the two Chicago crews. After a pretty lack-lustre Saturday (5-6-7), the "boys' weekend away" team of John Washburn and Phil Faulkner recovered impressively with a 2-1 on Sunday. That first-place finish in the finale gave them the nod in their tie-breaker with young Jim Quiniff and Mike DesJardins.


This year, the Clark Lake team of Scott Wright and Anne Markaity was supplemented by young Soren Wright (above) and got off to a great start with a 3rd in the opener but could not repeat that fine finish and ultimately settled for series 6th.

There was a tie for 7th overall between the ageless Woody Woodruff (with Bill Locke) of Clark Lake and the slowly but surely improving Fenton team of Jay Topping and his wife, Pat, going into the finale. The wily veteran Woody beat out Jay in that race to take series 7th. Locals, Brian Main and crew, Mike Wolf, were the perfect hosts in race 1 as they placed 9th and packed it in after that.




A pair of Sunday firsts was just barely enough to give Tom Marriott and his evil? twin brother, Tim, first overall in an eight-boat Interlake fleet at this year's Clark Lake Regatta. Bill O'Donnel and Brian Hawkins appeared to be in complete control of the series after a fine 1-2-2 on Saturday but fell to a 5-3 on Sunday to just barely lose the series win and just barely hold 2nd overall by a one point ahead of the Bradley brother, Bryan and Jim.

Despite winning race #3, Ty and Felicia Cathey could mange no better than series 4th. Following the Catheys in 5th overall were Bob Sagen with Nate Alt while a close fight over series 6th ended up with Brook Smith and Elona Van Gent beating Jack Colman and Ann Taylor by a single point. Rounding out the fleet in 8th place were the Manteys, Benjamin and Kim.




A very well matched fleet of three Snipes saw each team beat the other two at least once. Defending champions, John McAllister and Tracy Hughes started slowly with a 3-2 but a subsequent string of bullets saw them in the winners' circle again this year. After winning the first two heats, Jim Towler and Don Jones held on to take 2nd ahead of Matt Heywood and Chris Bickley. I believe all three team are from the Wolf Lake YC near Jackson, Michigan.



The Mutineer team of Michael Angell and Branson Groff dominated here, winning four of the five races in this four-boat fleet, while the other Mutineer team, Dave Rowe and Larkin Pence took series 3rd. The other two entries were Sunfish, helmed by the sons of Mike Smith, a Clark Lake Rebel sailor. Brotherly bragging rights went to Thomas who took series 2nd while brother, Riley, fell just a point short of 3rd place and the other Mutineer.