The 2001 Inland Lake Yachting Association Championship Regatta was held this year on beautiful Lake Minnetonka with its historic Yacht Club and scenic shoreline. The hospitality that the club and their volunteers provided was incredible, with every boat having a home dock to moor to. The meals and social events were wonderful.

The first race turned out to be more of a race of wills. Light and variable winds made it anybody's race. Emily Green had an incredible start and quickly pushed to a commanding lead over the fleet. You could almost hear her laughing as she drove over the fleet to the right side of the course. Much to her dismay, and most of the fleet’s, the wind shut off and the right side became a parking lot. Being at the tail end of the fleet, we noticed home lake specialist Dayton Walker on a good port tack going up left center. We followed him and were able to avoid the parking lot and round the first pin in third. The wind again shut off and it was interesting seeing one boat close hauled a couple of boat lengths from one with a full chute, going the same direction. Dayton Walker held on as we drifted around the course, followed by David Kickhafer and us, until we got to the last leeward pin. A favorable shift allowed our boat, along with Stefan Schmidt, to pass the leaders and cross the finish line within the time limit. Another note for light air; make sure you look up the lake so that rogue puff doesn’t surprise you. Hey, how's the water, Emily? Geoff?