A small but talented group of I-20 sailors in Neenah, Wisconsin on the beautiful north end of Lake Winnebago on
Friday August 6th for the 2010 ILYA Championship. With four past ILYA I-20 champs vying for the title in 2010
(Geoff Catlin, Aaron, John Spargo & John Hayashi) and a handful of fresh young faces the competition was shaping
up to be tight. Racing began on the first day after lunch with solid but shifty winds out of the Northeast. PRO
Devon Farley and his race committee team have had their hands full with shifty varying wind conditions. Local
Winnebago sailor Aaron Lynn and his crew Keith Rosenbaum showed off their expertise leading the fleet for the
majority of the first race. Conditions continued to shift North and varied up and down for the duration of the second
race. The lead changed multiple times throughout the race, with many places being decided right at the finish line.
John Hayashi and crew Anita Bersie-Chabalowski squeaked out the race 2 win after a tense tacking battle with
sailors Steven Catlin & Jack Boatman.
The second day of racing brought a new wind direction and new racing conditions. Medium winds out of the south
produced wavy and shifty conditions for the morning race. John Hayashi (WA-5) got out to an early lead, and led
at each mark rounding until he was finally ground down in a tacking duel by Aaron Lynn (J-11) on the last upwind
leg to take the win. After lunch the fleet headed out for more racing as the winds shifted to the southwest and grew.
Choppy conditions and puffy racing made for some exciting racing on Lake Winnebago. More than one boat in
the fleet took a little swim during the third race, but with plenty of support boats from the Neenah Nodaway Yacht
Club everyone was taken care of. Aaron Lynn (J-11) earned his third race win of the regatta after some close mark
roundings with Stefan Schmidt (H-5). Winds looked to be building for the third race of the day, but the weary
sailors pressed on. Those who were able to work through the waves made out the best in the final race. This time it
was Stefan Schmidt (H-5) who beat out Aaron Lynn (J-11) for the last bullet of the day. The racers headed in for a
filling steak dinner at the Whiting Boathouse on Saturday evening, with one race remaining in the series for the final
day of racing on Sunday to determine the regatta outcome.
The sailors awoke Sunday morning to the tail end of big storms passing across the State of Wisconsin. The wind
was blowing hard 30+ MPH from the Southeast as the storm cells moved out of the area. Southeast is the long
direction of the lake in Neenah causing large waves. Closer to the 10:00 am scheduled start the wind clocked
around to the southwest and dropped to just under 20 MPH, which also allowed for flatter water protected by
Kimberly Point. The RC decided to send the fleet out and try for race 6. Shortly after the first two boats made it out
of the river onto the lake, the wind went back up to 25+ and the waves and gusts were determined to be too much so
the race committee wisely abandoned. Aaron and Keith sailed upwind and set a chute anyway for a quick ride just
for fun.
The results from Saturday night turned out to be the final standings due to the wind conditions on Sunday and no
6th race to drop. Aaron Lynn and crew Keith Rosenbaum won their 2nd Inland20 ILYA Championship beating
out John Hayashi and crew Anita Bersie-Chabalowski by just one point. Stefan Schmidt and crew Tom Gleason
rounded out the top three just three points behind 2nd place. The Inland20 class would like to thank our regatta
hosts the Neenah Nodaway Yacht Club for their excellent event and PRO Devon Farley for setting some great
courses on Lake Winnebago.