2013 Halloween Classic

Mohican Sailing Club, Mansfield OH

October 12-13

Class President Chris Hennon and his cohorts down North Carolina way have us on a bit of a roll.  They put together a terrific National Championship at which just under half of the fleet were new members and Jet-14 owners.  We come back up North and Dave and Sue Michos follow up with a solid Chili Bowl Regatta.  Then we see a strong showing from both fleets at the season ending Halloween Classic Regatta.  Add to that we enjoyed at least half a dozen new faces in Jet’s at the Halloween.  All told we had a great turn out with 19 boats eventually registering.

Adding interest was Class handicapper Brent Barbehenn’s decision to pick up and sail #1159 the new Class Boat with Jonathan Smith out of Cleveland co-helming. 

So, Saturday the weather was nearly perfect, sunny, puffy white clouds, 70 deg., and while we were rigging anyway, 6 knots of fairly steady air.  Mike and Jon Chambers served up a marvelous hot ham sandwich plus all the sides lunch.  We started getting the fleet launched, Zaugg pulled the cover off his boat and the wind went to zero.

There we sat, the course set by Mike Fulton and Denny Dieball, to perfection………for the now nonexistent N.W. breeze.  Thirty minutes latter a little breeze did appear, S.E.  Quick reset of the marks and we were off.  Thanks to the smart thinking of the regatta Chairman who inserted a three minute starting sequence to……”help keep things moving along”……some were late for the “We’re off” part by two or three minutes……There is no way to soften it up, it was difficult racing.  Big velocity variations and angles on almost every leg.  You can study the results a long time trying to find a boat that consistently was on top of every new wind.

So at the end of the first lap of race No. 1 we saw #120 Tom and Anne Joudrey solidly leading the fleet.   #1159 and #1134 Nate Ireland and Ben Stock (great to see Ben back in a Jet) had slowly but methodically worked back through the fleet, just behind the leader.  On the final run the wind filled in a little from behind and the battle was at the last mark.  Brent, oh here is a surprise, had #1159 ripping and nailed it with Nate, Tom, Ian Moran( driving Ernie Michaud’s #1136 with Ernie in front) and Charlie Bark( with the lovely and effervescent Megan McIntyre crewing…..man Charlie you should thinking about dating her or something..) winning the sprint to the finish.

Race two and we saw the beginning of what would become a trend, Bill Buckles just plain flying in his old Jet #1131.  Bill had arrived early and had spent the entire morning removing the rigging and adjustments other owners had tried and put #1131 back into the form he used to win the National Championships at Saratoga just over a decade ago.  By the end of the series he was very nearly just pushing the rest of us aside.  Dave and Sue Michos, shook off getting caught on the wrong side of the course in race one and sailed through the fleet for third.

Race three and young 13yr old Ian Moran just plain out sailed us.

Race four, Keegan and I were in second closing on the last weather mark when Jonathan Smith driving #1159 with Brent coaching………and coaching………and coaching……came back from around seventh, tacked under us, sailed through us and sailed away for a huge come from behind second.   Bridget Ireland with Joe Minerd back up front quietly were finding their groove with their second  fifth.

It was getting late, we were all pretty tired, but the wind forecast for Sunday morning was less than not good.  So we went ahead and sailed what has become a bit of a tradition at the Halloween, a crew race.  The helm gets in the front of the boat and the crews drive.  It is always a lot of fun and worth the extra effort.

Sunday, well, overcast and not any wind.  Really, nothing.  A couple of ripples and we decide to go out just to make sure.  Knock me over with a tell tail, 10:28 a.m. and it is blowing steady down the lake 6-8 knots.  Best race of the weekend by far, and a different boat leads at every mark.  Bringing up the rear is Class newcomer Brad Black with both his boys on board, Justin and Hunter, grinning from ear to ear, it is their first sailboat race and they think it is the most fun thing a person can do.

Thanks to Mike Fulton and Denny Dieball for setting the courses and making lemon aid out of lemons.  Thank you to Mary Fulton for running the kitchen and rest of the regatta.  Thank you to my sister and Tom for stocking and running the bar, to Steward and Heather FitzGibbon  and Tom Wills for help at the grills and in the kitchen.  And a special big thank you to my step daughter Emma who got up at 5:00 a.m. on the only day she can sleep in to help me put the He-Man together.

Let’s keep it going next year,  Marion

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Results Posted 10/21/2013

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