2009 Mohican Chiefs Regatta

Mohican Sailing Club, Mansfield OH

June 6-7

The Mohican Chiefs is the first leg of the District II Championships and this year saw 13 boats on the starting line.  Of special interest were the number of brand new sailors crewing and how far some of them came to participate.  Out of staters Marty and Kim Schilke made the five hour drive from Southern Indiana.  Tom Joudrey traveled back from Washington D.C. to sail with Angie Bond up from Cincinnati on her way to San Francisco.  Paul Joudrey flew in from New York, N.Y. with his crew Trilce Marquez who hails from Venezuela and before Saturday had never stepped foot in a sailboat!  Those were the local travelers. In #180 sailing in the Jet for the first time, in a dinghy race for the first time with a crew that sailedfor the first time a couple weeks before were Tobi from Germany and Hisako from Japan!  With no spinnaker on board they improved dramatically as the regatta wore on, moving up to the top five at mark roundings on Sunday.  Fantastic job.

The racing conditions were typical Mohican, unfortunately.  Light and very variable.  But there was wind, we managed six races and the weather was beautiful.

In race one Barb Joudrey with daughter Ann, back in a boat for the first time in nearly ten years, had #94 going very well and led around the course.  Only a last minute puff from the woods allowed the Parkers to over take the girls right at the finish.  Ben Stock with crew and new fiancee Amanda Reass, who was in #698 for the second time ever, sailed a very solid race only to lose several places in the same puff at the very end.

Race two was more of the same, wind for half a leg then very, very little, then it filled in and those on the correct side go first and so on.  Never the less the same crews seem to make it work anyway, and so it was the case with Bryan and Tiffany Parker who led wire to wire in this one.

Race 3, the last race on Saturday, had the best wind but it still arrived in batches.  This one belonged to Nate and Speedo Joe Minerd.  They powered through the fleet and took the lead by the first leeward mark and never let up.   The finish back in the fleet was one nose out after another.  The video tape shows 1132, with guest super crew Cara Sanderson Brown catching a puff and squeaking by the Schilkes in their best race by less than two feet right at the line.  Right behind them it was #94's turn to just over take #443 with less than 6 inches to spare.  Barb had chased Ivan and Chris all the way around the course and just had told Ann that #443 “deserves this one”, so as they passed the committee boat and heard their number first they apologized for butting in at the finish.....Women are from Venus and men are from Mars or some such thing.  Then Bradley Koinis with Adam Schmidt crewing powered past Tom and Angie by no more than a foot right at the line.

That was the last race Saturday but the excitement was just beginning.....The fleet was milling around, a few heading in but most just seemed to be enjoying the late day weather and steadying air.  The up goes a spinnaker and in huge letters someone had written “MARRY ME NICOLE”...and right in from of them were Adam and...NICOLE in #677!  Then on #677 there was hugging and kissing!!!  Very Exciting!  Congratulations Adam and Nicole!!  Thank you for sharing this happy moment with us.

Back at the dock, lots of excitement, steak dinner, then much celebration.  Great fun.

Sunday breakfast.  Pancakes, frenchtoast, bacon, homemade syrup, The crews for two boats were first in line, then loaded up and left!  They had race committee duty at their home club but were not going to miss the “HE-Man”.

The wind was maybe a little better. Now out of the south southwest which made for a better course on our lake.  Bryan and Tiffany went right back to the front of the fleet in workman like fashion, but were challenged from the right by #1134 and #120 both of whom blasted off the line right at the committee boat end.  Also, breaking out of the fleet from the middle of the line were Dave and Sue Michos in #217 and #324.  At the first mark it was #324, Trilce is clearly a quick study.   By the second weather mark #1135 and #217 had worked out a little gap on the rest of the fleet.  But the wind filled in from behind and as they started down the last run a line of boats closed in. #1135 was far enough ahead to keep clear air but the rest of the fleet bunched up at the last mark.  They exited in a line nose to stern on port, no one free to tack until the last one in line went.  They all appeared to tack at the same second, and it was a short foot race to the finish almost nose to nose.  Nate pulled out a second then third through sixth finished overlapped, with mean, mean Angie pulling Tom and #120 from inches behind to take 4^th by a whisker.

The third and final race Sunday was again sailed in a freshening breeze and the fleet seemed to be just glued together.  Out of the pack on the last run came Ivan and Chris, who made it stick for a first.  Bryan and Tiffany managed to barely hold off Paul and Trilce.

We must thank the Race Manager Mike Fulton and his committee who have year after year done a fantastic job running our races. Mohican’ Commodore Cynthia McMenamin spent the whole weekend at the club serving food and refreshment and just making sure everyone felt welcome, thank you Cynthia.  My wife Carol her daughter Emma also worked all weekend either in the kitchen or on the committee boat, thank you very much girls.  Stewart and Heather Fitzgibbon followed the fleet on Saturday and took pictures which are now posted on the Jet web site, Joe Murr cleaned up the kitchen after breakfast which allowing me to get my boat in the water and ready to sail.  Thank you everyone.  Sister Barb provided lunch on Saturday and Mike and Jon Chambers, who were unable to sail because of a wedding, came down Sunday to make us all lunch, Thank you.  And as mentioned a big effort was made by many to make a long, long trip and take the time to be here, thank you all.

Pictures
 

Results Posted 6/15/2009

Send corrections to the webmaster