2011 Mohican Chiefs Regatta

Mohican Sailing Club, Mansfield OH

May 28-29

Making the date for the event a moving target may have deterred some from attending, but most seem to figure it out as in the end we had fifteen boats register and sail.  We had plenty of water, six feet above normal and rising.  We had plenty of good food, our signature.  Barb Joudrey, #94 and this year’s Mohican Sailing Club Commodore, provided Saturday’s lunch.  It had a kind of balance; wieners and several health food type dishes.  She had vegetables in the salad and that sort of thing.  We are a polite group, it all got eaten anyway.  Wes Blazer said he had so many helpings that later he was………..”craping broccoli.”  Barb was, flattered, in a sense, but also had to ponder if this would have any lasting effect #120 which she had arraigned to be loaned to Wes and Ryan for the weekend.   

Our race committee was courtesy of our friends at the Mansfield Sailing Club, Headed up by their top flight Lightning sailor, Tom Varley.  Tom and his group made little note of the our docks floating away and the rest of the mess posed by the high water and just went about running an excellent series of races both days.  They even gave us one from their committee to sail when Bill Buckles crew was unable to be here at the very last minute.  

Well, the high water.  That meant no hoist, and no ramp per say.  So everyone pulled their bottom covers off, pushed their boats off their trailers and into the water and then rigged from a dock that was, well just about anywhere in the harbor depending on the direction of the wind.

As we lined up for the first start, the wind was unsettled, out of the south and then west, sometimes around 10 knots sometimes considerably less between these two breezes.  It was shifty, and it almost looked like leg wrestling at the front of the fleet the whole way around.  Wes and Ryan in the lead, then Nate and Joe, Then Bryan and Tiffany, then reverse the order and that was just the first leg. 

Race No. 2 and the Parkers decided they were over early and circled around to restart, no matter, they ground us all down anyway and even managed to get past Nate and Wes right at the finish. 

The wind was freshening, and maybe even steadying up a little as we waited for race No. 3.  This time the wind went pretty hard left at about 15 knots right after the start.  We all flopped and up the lake we went, us nose to nose with Bryan and Tiffany to weather and Nate and Joe off two or three lengths to leeward.  For maybe five minutes we sailed with one of us gaining a couple feet and then the other.  What a Blast.  A little right shift and we squeeze around first.  At the finish the whole fleet has tightened up, with Chris and Paula Hennon now in the mix.  We are seeing gusts maybe to 18 knots now, Buckles boat, #180 blows a jib platform, Chris Chengelis falls out of #1127, we see a couple boats on some extended planes under chutes and a couple boats with less experience at crew head for the dinner line. 

Race No. 4 would be the last race of the day and looked to be a continuation of three, but half way up the first beat it was clear the wind was backing down.  Carol and I got around the weather mark with a little gust that we rode most of the way down hill, as the rest of the fleet sat in the hole left behind between the weather mark and the off set.  What a jumble the rest of the way around.  At one point Stewart Fitzgibbon and Annette Smith looked to be breaking out, then Jim and Andrew Hermetet, then the HenNon’s, then the Michos’s.  What a way to end the day.  At the end the Parkers found just what they needed to squeeze through just ahead of Wes and Ryan.

Back at the clubhouse Bill Buckles had the turbo blender set up and was serving up orange dream drinks.  This was a great idea….or a not so great idea depending on how you look at such things.  It was hot, well into the 80’s and very humid and remember the gusty conditions, and I suppose also being early in the season should be considered, not to mention the extra work getting the boats back on the trailers…………anyway those drinks were a big hit.  For a few, they hit about an hour or so later………..  Wonderful dinner, three different kinds of steaks, marinated chicken, French fries, salad, deserts, all to great reviews. 

Sunday and for some reason a few of the crews just could not make it to the breakfast counter, even as the HeMan Beckoned.  But the wind was up and out we went.  Two more excellent races, the Parkers put it away with a win in the first with Dave and Sue in their new Allen going better and better close at second. and as is their tradition, the HenNons on the last day start to press the front with a solid third.

The last race, maybe the tightest racing of the weekend, and it is almost like we are starting over.  Wes, Nate and Bryan inches apart the whole way around the course.  This time master Nate holds them all off in very shifty wind up the last beat.

Thank you everyone that made the time to be here.  Thank you to Tom, Kyle and Greg Wills for trying three nights in a row to keep ahead of the rising waters and piece together some workable docks.  Thank you to the Mohican crew, Cynthia, Barb, Sue, and Stewart for the extra boats, food and help cleaning up.  Thanks to my wife Carol for getting everyone registered and a huge thank you to Emma for helping all weekend, cooking and cleaning up at the HeMan and then pinch hitting for Carol at her crew spot.   We must be doing something right, everyone was looking forward to the next one.  See you all there.

Marion Zaugg, #1132

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Results Posted 5/31/2011

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