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US Wayfarer
Nationals 2017 |
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Wayfarer Man lifts Uncle Al, SHADES
to exciting US Nationals win at Tawas Bay
(170930) A regatta filled with children (pic below), great
winds, fine weather, superb hosts and a
world-class sailing venue, Tawas Bay. Who could
ask for more?! And to top it all off, the exciting
sailing, which had three boats tied for the lead
going into the final race. And then the U.S. title
was won by the oldest child of them all, Uncle Al,
who was again in 7th heaven what with having Frank
"Wayfarer Man" Goulay sailing with me.
(l to r) Kate, Claire, Sarah,
Hannah, Jenna, Nick, Mary, Izzy, Kathryn,
Gabbie, Fitch, Patrick As Frank and I rolled into the
lovely Tawas Bay YC on Friday afternoon, the
weather had settled in for three days of mostly
warm sunshine with winds from east of north
starting to wake up around 10 AM. Beside the
Coast Guard Station, a Wayfarer parking area had
been reserved and, opening a Tawas-bought beer,
we made ourselves right at home.
 Facilities don't get any better than this! Even the water level was comfortable this year. Nice to be sharing with the US Coast Guard!  By the time we sailed the next
day, Frank (above) had made sure we
were set for the forecast light winds by
1. angling the SHADES a.k.a. Glory Days spreaders further aft for the first time since the 1980s, and And we were thrilled with the
cascade racing vang/kicker purchased from
and delivered to our boat by NP Boats.
  And who should be there to welcome us as the first arrivals but our regatta Race Officer, Dave LaRue (above). Despite his e-moniker "j22dave", Dave is now also a Wayfarer who has lovingly and professionally restored Reality! (W3444) which he lent to Terry Monville and daughters, Hannah and Izzy, for the US Nationals.   My buddy in lechery, Annie Princing (above), soon arrived to brighten our day, not least because she eagerly agreed to "babysit" my Nikon digital SLR both ashore and on the water, where she and partner, Richie, (above) already had safety and mark boat duty. A chip off the old Uncle Al, Annie took close to a thousand photos - most of them great - during the regatta. Many thanks, Annie. Note to Richie: Annie wants a good digital SLR camera for Christmas.  Having not yet had any of his
accidents, Uncle Al (red) was in good
time for supper at the club. (clockwise from left) Julie
Seraphinoff, Al, Samantha and Rob Wierdsma,
Anne and David Pugh,Nick Seraphinoff (NP Boats),Marc
Bennett, Don and Lee Thwing, Mary Seraphinoff,
Frank Goulay
 Uncle Al checks out the excellent atmosphere of the Tawas Bay YC bar.  Frank and Richie admire the freshly repositioned Lac Deschênes SC burgee that Frank had brought from his club years back.  Saturday morning: Cool sunshine as the Tawas wind machine begins to stir.  Being a TBYC Flag Officer does not excuse Jennifer Princing from her RC duties.  I think this was the first time these two Wayfarer treasures met: Frank Goulay (Wayfarer Man) (l) and Chip "Cato" Cunningham.  W2962 Partners in Crime needs a bit of work before Chris Princing and daughter, Jenna (11) (r) get her to the water.  Uncle Al checks in with Erin Smith
(W2420) and her youngest, the fabulous Fitch.
Our fine RC gave us four Saturday
races as planned. Weather: Occasional clouds and
even a drop or two of rain and a more or less
north to north-east wind that gradually
increased as the afternoon wore on. The
windward-leeward course (two sausages, offset mark at windward) worked well. The
Wierdsmas, Rob and daughter, Samantha, of
Oakville, Ontario, got off to a great series
start, leading for much of the first race,
before succumbing to their Mississauga SC mates,
David and Anne Pugh, and to East Lansing's Marc
Bennett and wife, Julie, in a close race. The
downwind finishes in fact, produced some very
exciting battles. I recall particularly race 3. This was the race in which Nick
Seraphinoff and Chip Cunningham shot out to a
substantial early lead but on a weekend when the
"big three" (David, Marc and Al) were sailing so
well, it was just a matter of time before their
lead was eclipsed by their nearly mistake-free
pursuers. The aforementioned truly exciting
finish was when Frank and I finished three seconds
behind winners, Marc and Julie, and one second
behind David and Anne Pugh. At that point it
looked like it would be a two-horse race between
the Bennetts (2-3-1) and the Pughs (1-1-2) with
all the evidence suggesting that Al and Frank
(4-2-3) would remain entrenched in a fairly
clear 3rd overall.
And then came Race 4 in which Frank
and Uncle Al used their weight and shift playing
to good advantage in stronger winds to score a
solid victory and remind us all that the old
Wayfarers, Marks 1 through 3, can still compete
with the sleek, new Mark 4's. When Marc beat out
David for 2nd place, we ended the day in a
three-way race for the US championship. Figuring
in the drop that kicked in once four races were
in the books, the Pughs were still leading the
series with 4 points from 1-1-2-(3) but only one
point back were the Bennetts with 2-(3)-1-2 who
in turn were one point ahead of the (4)-2-3-1
put up by Uncle Al and Frank.
 In fact, everyone - from the
youngest beginner to the wiliest veteran - came
ashore having thoroughly enjoyed the day's
sailing workout. Uncle Al was ready to make a
big dent in his thirst but that plan was
short-lived. We decided to moor the boat in an
empty slip beside a dock that had a
superstructure (photo above) that
looked for all the world like an Olympic podium.
Perhaps in hopes of influencing the fates, I
stood in the highest position - Gold medal - while holding the shroud as
Frank did some clean-up. Seconds later, I
stepped sideways to go furl the jib, having
already forgotten my elevated position. I fell,
bounced once and landed on the bow of our boat.
Nothing hurt, apart from my pride. But soon it
became evident that my right heel had sprung a
bit of a leak.
 So I limped over to the club porch,
where everyone was very solicitous, especially
our Race Officer, Dave LaRue, and Nurses, Donna
(above) and Annie, who raided the club
first aid supplies, so that Dave could bandage
me after Donna had rinsed and disinfected the
"wound" which turned out to be a chunk of
several layers of skin the size of a silver
dollar missing from my heel. My medical team
conferred, and the possibility of glueing (epoxy
or crazy) the gash back together were duly
dismissed and I was sent off to St. Joseph's
Hospital in Tawas where, in admirably speedy
fashion, the hole was deemed too big for
stitches or epoxy, was disinfected and bandaged
(above right). A delightfully cheery
nurse then gave me a tetanus shot and a start to
my antibiotics regimen and I was on my way back
to supper and drinks at the club by not too much
after 6 PM.
With a constant backdrop of Hurricane Irma updates from Florida, we all spent a marvellously convivial evening before heading out to the Bennett-Wierdsma bonfire at the Timberlane cottages next door. After the fine work-out of four exciting races, we all slept well, and we ready to embrace the forecast replica of Saturday's weather by the 10 AM start time next morning. After a fairly brief postponement as our RC waited for the wind to settle in, race 5 duly got under way in "nurse-your-boat" winds. A glance at the scoreboard revealed the fact that a three-way tie at 7 points would exist at the top if Al, Marc and David finished 1-2-3, and it would all come down to the final race. And that is indeed what happened. As we started the finale, the wind had picked up to a lovely sailing breeze that let us sit comfortably on the side decks. In a scenario that made the perfect story, Uncle Al and Frank moved out to a comfortable early lead, lost it at least twice before regaining the lead near the end of the second beat. Meanwhile, Marc and Julie were making a remarkable recovery after a premature start and its attendant re-start in last place. By the second go at the windward and offset marks, David and Anne were only about 30 yards behind Al in 2nd place with Marc and Julie closing in. Adding to the wracked nerves was the flat spot which the leaders sat in as we began the final run to the finish line. David went right in his search for wind and to get away from Al who went left of the rhumb line, and in the end, the wind gods smiled on Al and Frank who got the returning wind while David and Anne wallowed on the right side. Indeed, Marc and Julie benefitted from hindsight and gybed to port right at the offset mark and were soon Al's closest pursuers. Luckily for Frank and Al, the light-weight Team Jamaica Blue had at least a hundred yards to make up on the heavier Team SHADES a.k.a. Glory Days who were able to nervously hang on for a narrow victory in the race and the series. 
 In the excitement of the
racing, the bandage on Al's right foot
was forgotten, as was a kiss on the
forehead from the spi pole (above
right) during the final gybe just
before the finish of the last race. Note
the bloody hand where Al wiped his brow
to keep the blood out of his eyes -
luckily Al is used to this kind of stuff
as a former hockey- and lacrosse player.
How we all did: As mentioned above, it was a closely matched group at the top, with Uncle Al and Frank Goulay of Oakville and Ottawa, Ontario respectively, squeezing out a one-point victory: (4)-2-3-1-1-1 > 8 points, their first US Nationals win since 2003, that one also at Tawas. Unfortunately, there are no Most Improved caps for the US-based events this year due to CWA fiscal belt-tightening, but we did of course, have Most Improved teams - in this instance, two of them. And a beautiful bit of symbolism it was: a pair of veterans, brothers in Wayfarers since 1970, both beat their seed by two places. The 3rd-seeded Uncle Al with Frank Goulay placed first, and the 7th-seeded Nick Seraphinoff with Chip Cunningham placed 5th overall. The four new Mark IVs in the event took the next four spots as was to be expected, given the amount of recent racing experience they have gotten in this summer. The way SHADES aka Glory Days competed with the Mk IVs in this event speaks for itself.  No doubt about it; this was a heart-breaker for East Lansing, Michigan's Marc Bennett and his wife, Julie, who were this close (above) to finally winning their first US Nationals outright, before being relegated to runners-up once more: 2-(3)-1-2-2-2 > 9 points. But there was lots of disappointment to go around. The defending champions, David and Anne Pugh of Oakville, ON, were sailing the newest Mark IV in Nick's NP Boats stock, the gray beauty W11149 which they were returning to Nick in Detroit after its promotional stay at Toronto's Mississauga SC. The Pughs had begun the series with a pair of very convincing wins only to end up with 1-1-2-3-3-(3) > 10 points, and 3rd overall.  There was a tie for series 4th at 22 points and the tie-breaker went to Oakville's Rob Wierdsma and his daughter, Samantha, in Pandemonium W10977 who continued to impress at or near the top of the fleet and who put their first-race 3rd to perfect use in edging out Michigan's Nick Seraphinoff (Detroit) and Chip Cunningham (Oxford) in Earl Grey W11135. Despite a capsize prior to Saturday's finale race that led to a DNS, and the tie-breaker loss, Nick and Chip beat their 7th seed by a pair of places and were Most Improved.  There was also a battle to the end over series 6th as Ian Pouliot and Jake Wolny sailed W3999 The Gilded Lady to a final-race 5th ahead of Joe DeBrincat and son, Jeff, of Walled Lake, MI in Maltese Falcon W1115, and that single point was the difference as Joe and Jeff were pushed to 7th overall. The DeBrincats did make some outstanding strategic choices to get among the top boats a number of times but were let down by their lack of pointing ability which is going to be worked on as we speak.  Detroit's Dave Wilpula (above) made his debut as a Wayfarer racing helm in W453 Woodwind previously owned by the late Jim Fletcher of the Lansing SC. Dave sailed with a young 14-year-old hockey player from Alpena, Gabbie Smith, and did very well to match his 8th seed, a seed he acquired as Dave McCreedy's crew in the Canadian Wayfarer National the previous month in Mississauga.  And then it was father-daughter time: Chris Princing, one of two Tawas Bay YC entries, sailed with young Jenna again this year in W2959 Partners in Crime. Completing only three of the six heats, the Princings (above) did well to finish as high as 9th. Rumour has it that Jenna was impressively planning ahead for their needs for the next leg, something that all the best racing sailors do. And her dad let her call the shots, never once complaing about his daughter's choice of music.  (l to r) Terry, Hannah, Izzy Our PRO, Dave LaRue, not only donated his time and efforts, but also his sparklingly refinished Reality! W3444, which was campaigned by TBYC's Terry Monville with daughters, Hannah and Izzy (Sat. only)(above).  One of our most enthusiastic relatively new Wayfarers is Dave McCreedy who came to the Canadian Nationals at the Mississauga SC in late August with Dave Wilpula as crew. At Tawas, he had daughters, Sarah (10) and Kathryn (14) (tight) as his crew. I did get the feeling that Dave was having a little nap while Sarah helmed and Kathryn flew the spinnaker. Bad luck for the McCreedys on the Saturday as their gooseneck broke off their mast and repairs took muck of their racing day. The good news was that better days were on the horizon for Dave: He and Uncle Al were about to put together an amazing effort to snatch victory in Fanshawe's Pumpkin Regatta the following weekend. And a lovely time was had by all! May I be the first to request a Tawas stop on the 2018 Wayfarer Tour??!! Cheers, Uncle Al W3854
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