Lighthouse Regatta

Hosted by Fond Du Lac, WI from 6/5/1999 to 6/6/1999

THE 1999 LIGHTHOUSE REGATTA, FOND DU LAC, WI

Posted by: Kyle Metzloff

The Lighthouse Regatta is a low key regatta for Lightnings early in the season to tune up and analyze the participant's sailing skills. This year Greg Fischer from North Sails came and videotaped the racing and analyzed the videotape afterwards.

Inland 20's were invited to participate in this event on the same or modified racecourse, but with an earlier start than the Lightnings. This worked out great, although there was some confusion when using the modified course. In the first race, a down-wind finish for Lightnings and an upwind finish for I20's happened at the same time, making it difficult for the race committee to record finishes.

Liz and I were sailing our new I20 that we purchased this past winter. This was to be the first time sailing this boat in a regatta and we were very excited to receive a boat completely devoid of yellow gelcoat (the previous color scheme included a yellow rolled edge). With the boat was a very nice galvanized trailer which has the added "benefit" of being able to stack two I20's on it. So, loaded with a Hoofer Sailing Club I20 on top we set out for Fond du Lac.

The Fond du Lac Yacht Club is situated in a harbor at the south end of Lake Winnebago and is very protected from the large waves that can come with a north wind and a 28 mile fetch. The yacht club is on the opposite side of the channel from the beautiful lighthouse for which this regatta is named. The yacht club has a nice bar and the members were very pleasant and helpful throughout the regatta. All in all it was a convenient place to sail from, and you could wet sail if you wanted which allowed you to sleep (recover) a few more minutes the second morning.

There were two races Saturday and two Sunday and there was plenty of wind to go around for everyone, with lots left over for the thirteen I20's that set sail. The first race was sailed in about 20 knots of wind and it was a ride. In fact most of my memory of this regatta is of water cascading very fast astern and steering the boat under the spinnaker. The only bother was to have to go up wind again, and after the race to wait for the Lightnings to finish so we could do it again.

One thing you have to remember though, is to put your bailers down, because when you are going that fast the chain plates kick up so much water that you can get 6" of water in your boat before you know it. The boat was literally doing a "wheelie" down the course and more than half of the boat was planing out of the water!

Ok, back to the racing. Steve Yost and Mary Kay Bates won the first two races and we finished fourth and second. I could have given a much more detailed report if my brain had not been washed free of memory by the rush of water and adrenaline. There were a few capsizes and some interesting carnage in some particularly decimating puffs, as my wife yells "there goes ____," and I say "that will be us if you don't pay attention to your spinnaker." So a blur of purple and teal later and we are on shore drinking cocktails at the world's cheapest bar (good drinks for a pittance at the Yacht Club). Then on to Salty's for a great meal with snails escargot, fish and I thought I was going to burst. To bed!!! ZZZZZZZ.

The next day we lucked out again with a strong south wind for many thrills with the minimum of rollers. The races were started promptly and Liz and I got an ok start in the first race, but were about in 5th on the first down-wind. We ended up going back toward the center and a great puff found us at the mark in second. Up-wind we battled it out with Paul Bates in "I Gotcha!" and at the windward mark we were still in second. We got inside on the way down again and rounded the leeward mark in first. Cover Cover Cover and we won the race.

At this point, Mary Kay, Steve Yost and ourselves were very close so we knew we had to beat both of them to win it. We played it conservative for the next race and got ahead of them and then covered. We ended up with a fourth place and squeaked out a regatta win!

Regatta Results

Sail #	Skipper	Crew	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4	Total
N/A	Kyle Metzloff	Liz Metzloff	4	2	1	4	11
N/A	Mary Kay Bates	Nadine Nassif	2	1	5	6	14
N/A	Steve Yost	Jamie Gwidt	1	3	3	7	14
N/A	Paul Bates	Brad Koehn	6	8	2	9	25
N/A	Andy Gratton	Ann Gratton	7	7	10	2	26
N/A	Andy Gratton	Ann Gratton	7	7	10	2	26
N/A	Grant Frauschi	Anita Bersie	3	14	4	5	26
N/A	Mike Peters	Mitch Reiser	6	5	11	8	30
N/A	John Hodges	Alec Chabalowski	8	14	7	3	32
N/A	Geoff Catlin	Jake Hammer	14	4	8	12	38
N/A	Jeff Kirchhoff	Erica Mather	14	14	14	1	43
N/A	Peter Huff	Theresa Huff	14	6	12	11	43
N/A	John Hayashi	Curtis Burgess	14	14	6	10	44
N/A	Brian Anderson	Bill Niemeyer	14	14	9	14	51