2010 Highlander National Championship - Pymatuning, PA

Highlander Nationals, Pymatuning YC

I was lucky enough to sail with my friends Jim Allen and his son Tyler.  Jim and I teamed up last year, at North Cape, and thought it would be fun to do it again.  We have sailed both against and, more recently, with each other in his Lightning and both love coming to Pymatuning.  My thought going into this regatta was since he and I both crewed for Tyler last year at Jr Nat’s, why not bring him aboard for the Nationals…and end up crewing for him again at Jr.s.  They had to work their schedule around a camping trip, but I am very grateful that they could squeeze it in.

Day 1 found beautiful sunshine and shifty conditions from the NW-N-NE.  After 2 races, we found our groove in the last race to cap off the day with a win.  This helped us get into the mix with the leaders.

A well judged postponement on shore on the morning of day 2, PRO Rob Ruhlman sent us out and set some great courses in a very challenging W wind.  We had a nice comeback in race 4, to take a 2nd just behind Rob Spring.  During the fifth race, an approaching storm shortened the course and the Championship Fleet was finished at the weather mark while the President’s Fleet was abandoned.  Ed Spengemen’s team ducked into the finish area at the last minute and us right behind.  All made it to shore safely!!

An issue was discussed on shore amongst many of the competitors as Ed’s finish was in

question as he came through the finish line from the top in Race 5.  After a series of talks, Ed chose to withdraw from the race to avoid having to go through a protest hearing.  I commend Ed, Erin and Ben for their sportsmanship and for “doing the right thing”, though it was very painful.

For the last day, the conditions were perfect for Pymatuning.  12-18 out of the N-NW, with a little chop.  Not ideal for a smaller team.  Well, Jim and my biggest concern this week was if it blew from the North, how we would be able to hold the boat down.  With Tyler being all of 75 pounds (wet!!), we could not count on him to really lay it out.  

Our race 6 was less than stellar as we posted our worst finish.  I did everything I could to move us backwards, bad start, could not hold a lane, tacked when we should have held.  It did not help that I did not have a lot of confidence in our performance in the breezy conditions.  We had to go in and do a quick spinnaker repair before the last race.  It is exhilarating trying to ride a bike back to our housing to find repair tape, repair and get back out to the starting line.  Sure enough, we made it with a little time to look at the breeze.

Jim and I talked about how shifty it seemed and how we could do a better job of staying in phase.  We noticed a left shift with about 2:30 before the start, so we kept ourselves towards the pin end.  I managed to get us off of the line with very good speed.  Once the boats on our hip had their bows down, we tacked to get on the favored shift.  It was a little surreal as we were on layline, and no one around us.  The angle did fade and brought Bruce Busbey and Bob Bauer into the picture.  We tangled with them at the weather mark and managed to keep somewhat clear breeze downwind to stay on Bruce’s tail.

We both chose the left gate but Bruce’s rounding was much better than mine.  Also, Fred Bauer had a great downwind, rounded right behind us and also had a great rounding.  We were stuck in bad air and could not tack.  Panic?  Nope.  Jim kept me calm and said we need to foot to clear air and stay fast.  I asked how it was working and it got very quiet.  Jim mentioned there was a nice lift inside of us.  I looked and it appeared the entire fleet was lifted inside of us, heading towards the mark.  We were not bow up, on the right side and just lost 10 boats!  Panic????  Nope.  Jim again kept me calm and assured me that we had breeze coming our way.

Well, the inside faded and we were able to cross towards the mark on a nice heading,

getting over most of the fleet.  Approaching the layline on port, we noticed Bob Bauer a little overstood, so we lee-bowed him and got around just behind Bruce.  Bruce decided to gybe right away and we just did a bear away with lots of breeze.  Looking underneath, we managed to get over Bruce and have better speed and angle towards the last gate.  Fred Bauer had another great downwind leg and took the right gate after we took the left.  The nerves were going nuts now as we waited for a shift to go back at Fred.  We got a small one and it appeared Fred passed us.  His angle faded and we lee-bowed him to lead him back to the right.  One last tack to the finish and we were able to hold him off.  Wow, what a race.  We needed it to win the regatta and did it!!

Not only did we have success, our sails prevailed again in the Master’s, Women’s and Jr.s, with a 1,2,3,4,5 in the Master’s, a 2,3 in Women’s and a 1 in Junior’s!!  In the Championship Fleet, Dieball Sailing sails took 1,5,6,8 and the President’s Fleet the sails took 1,2,4,5,7,8!!!

I can’t say enough about sailing with Jim and Tyler over the past week.  We endured ups and downs, but Jim kept us calm and focused.  I want to thank them a ton for taking time and sailing with me.  It was a lot of fun!  Also, my wife Jacqueline being there with our son Dean.  What a treat it was to come off the water every day and see them.  Dean did not seem to care how we did, but I know he was rooting for us when he gave me one of his priceless smiles. 

A bunch of other thank you's….My Dad.  He is the MAN! He helps keep my brother and me going with his unconditional help and expertise.  Lance Polen.  He has been extremely helpful to our team the past few years.  Team Mojo.  Thanks for all you have done to help our Highlander program get to where it is!!  Team Pymatuning.  Thanks to Rob, Abby, Bridget, the Werley’s and everyone from the RC and volunteers for running great races and being the typical outstanding hosts!!  Team BYC.  Steph and Harold and the rest of the crew did an outstanding job running this regatta.  We will see you in Rock Hall in 2011!