ILYA Invitational
Hosted by
Neenah, WI from
6/29/2001 to
7/1/2001
2001 ILYA I-20 Scow Inivitational Regatta
Posted by: John Spargo and Jim Brust
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he afternoon of Friday, June 29 was sunny and warm as boats arrived, rigged and launched at the Neenah-Nodaway Yacht Club in Neenah, Wisconsin, in preparation for the 2001 ILYA I-20 Invitational Regatta. Several Neenah-Nodaway Yacht Club members were on hand to greet sailors as they arrived at the park-like setting. As boats were rigged, they were towed to the other side of a beautiful bay where they were wet sailed (tied to docks for convenience) along with the 50-60 club members’ boats that were on buoys. Friday evening was on your own after visiting with friends and greeting new ones.
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aturday morning arrived with sunny skies and a brisk 10-15 mph wind from the southwest. With the location of Neenah at the northwest corner of Lake Winnebago, the waves were going to be reasonable, small for Lake Winnebago! Ten boats attended, all I-20s except for host Geoff Catlin with his bright yellow M-20, Wind Dancer. It was an easy sail from the beautiful quarter mile long bay with parks on both sides as the boats entered onto the open water of Lake Winnebago.
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or the entire regatta, the starting lines and race courses were extremely well laid out. Four of the scheduled 5 races were held with all races being windward-leewards, and the windward mark a little over a mile from the start line.
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he first race Saturday saw a clean start, and the fleet split. The wind was strong all across the course, so recognizing the shifts was important, as was clean boat handling for speed. The first race finished on a run and was won with a good lead by Steve Scheck and Leigh Leonard on Zephyr. John Spargo and Jim Brust on Excalibur took second in a close finish line duel with John Hayashi and Anita Bersie, who took third place on Conundrum.
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he wind dropped some and had shifted to the right for the second race. Most sailors recognized the shift and used it in a manner that caused several boats to be at the windward mark at about the same time the first time up. Several teams used the shifts efficiently on the first run, and a number of boats also met together at the leeward mark, causing some fun and exciting spinnaker dousing and maneuvering for position on the next beat. The fleet then spread out on this W-2 1/2 course. John Spargo and Jim Brust went out front to win with Steve Scheck and Leigh Leonard taking second.
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he fleet and judges then went in for a super “build your own sandwich” lunch under the tent and trees in the park next to the bay. After lunch the fleet was called back to the course in what appeared to be a dying wind that no longer could be called a breeze. The course was set, moved and then reset. With a lot of doubt by the sailors as to the possibility of a race, the preparatory flag was hoisted and the gun fired. Boats were maneuvered for position. The strategy was to hopefully be in the correct spot should any pressure fill in - but where? The start of the race sounded, boats moved ever so slowly, and about 6-7 minutes into the race, with the leaders approximately 25-30 yards from the start line, those hoped-for 3 blasts came from the committee boat signaling cancellation. Sails dropped, and all the boats were graciously towed back to their moorings.
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fter cleaning up, Saturday late afternoon and evening were spent enjoying good fellowship and eating delicious grilled barbequed pork ribs and chicken with lots of side dishes and deserts. There was also a birthday cake with an actual photo of Zephyr and crew, made out of frosting. The night was complete with everyone singing happy birthday to Leigh Leonard, led by Mary Kay Bates!
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wo races were scheduled for Sunday morning. The day started sunny, very chilly, with winds 15-20 mph. All crews put on foul weather gear and headed out to the course. The wind was more northerly creating larger waves (or maybe we just got wet sooner and thought the waves were larger). The first race was a W-2 with the second being a W-2 1/2. There were large shifts from the far left side of the course to the far right. In the first race, the boats seemed to be spread out until several converged at the first leeward mark where Grant Frautschi and his crew Nadine did some real acrobatics. Several boats were coming to the mark, the wind was blowing strong, and something happened to make Grant think Recycled was about to capsize. Grant yelled at Nadine to get out on the other side, to right the boat should it capsize. The boat, however, came right back up, throwing Nadine into the water. It was quite a sight; Grant was pulling Nadine back into the boat by the leg, Nadine was hanging on to the sidestay, they were trying to avoid heavy traffic and round the mark, all at the same time. After all this, Recycled still finished 4th in this race.
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teve Yost and Scott Noles won the first race Sunday morning on Pizzazz by taking the far left side of the course on the run, and going out further than anyone. Then the needed shift came as they reached the corner, which took them from about 5th place at the windward mark to 1st place and an insurmountable lead at the leeward mark.
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he last race was started with two or three boats over early during an aggressive start and being called back while the rest of the boats took off. During this race the shifts became even wider with the pressure toward the left side of the course. The wind was still good, but every once in awhile a boat would find a hole with virtually no wind. Very strange. Early in the race John Hayashi and Anita Bersie on Conundrum took the lead and continued to build on it, taking first place by a large margin. Most of the fleet had gone to the far right side of the course on the last beat. John Spargo and Jim Brust on Excalibur went to the left after rounding the leeward mark in 9th place due to starting last–the penalty for being over early. About halfway up the beat the wind made an abrupt shift to the left causing the fleet on the right side to sail a header toward the finish line. This shift also gave Excalibur a tremendous lift allowing John and Jim to finish 2nd. Next to finish was a group of boats all trying to squeeze across the finish line at the same time. There was some bumping followed by “polite discussion” which concluded with Steve Scheck and Leigh Leonard demonstrating their good sportsmanship and withdrawing from the race due to a foul.
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ven though there were not a lot of boats at the regatta (10), the racing was excellent. In four races, there were four different winners. Only 7 points separated the top five boats.
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aron Lynn is to be congratulated for being at the regatta on his brand new I-20 that he put a lot of time and labor into building under the direction and support of John Hayashi.
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ppreciation is extended to the Neenah-Nodaway Yacht Club as hosts of this ILYA Invitational Regatta. The organization, the judges, the meals, and the help and support were all first class. Theirs is a beautiful venue, and, hopefully, more I-20 scows will be able to attend should we be invited there again. Thanks to Geoff Catlin and all of his group, including that great husband/wife barbeque team!
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he ILYA is also recognized for their terrific and strong support of the I-20 Scow Class by having Jim Smith, Executive Secretary of the ILYA and Tom Hodgson, Chairman of the ILYA Race Management Committee in attendance. Many thanks also to Jeff La Bonte, P.R.O., for a great effort.
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opefully we will see more I-20 scows at the Inlands, and everyone at the Nationals in September.
Regatta Results
| Sail # | Boat Name | Skipper | Crew | Race 1 | Race 2 | Race 3 | Race 4 | Race 5 | Race 6 | Total |
| H-677 | Excalibur | John Spargo | Jim Brust | 2 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| H-632 | Pizzazz | Steve Yost | Scott Noles | 5 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| H-216 | Recycled | Grant Frautschi | Nadine Nassif | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| H-652 | Zephyr | Steve Scheck | Leigh Leonard | 1 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| H-11 | Conundrum | John Hayashi | Anita Bersie | 8 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| H-42 | Breaking Wind | Mary Kay Bates | Paul Bates | 4 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 22 |
| 556 | Wind Dancer | Geoff Catlin | Jim Jilek | 6 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 23 |
| H-5 | Callipygian | Stefan Schimdt | Josh Juergens | 9 | 8 | 7 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 35 |
| FD-656 | | Alec Chabalowski | Jordan Chabalowski | 7 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 38 |
| FD-524 | | Aaron Lynn | Christy Weibel | 11 | 11 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 38 |
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