2010 Michigan Lightning Districts
Great turnout with a weekend of almost all conditions. Report by Skip Dieball.
The Michigan District is going through resurgence, and it all comes from the enthusiasm of folks like Mike Welch, John Heagy and George Sipel. These guys have been active in reporting on events, rating events (with categories like “best food”, “best beer”, etc.) and creating great awareness of upcoming action. That effort is directly affecting events like the Michigan Districts where we had over 20 boats!!!
I had the Districts on my calendar since St. Pete regatta where Kristin Medwid, Tom Starck and I sat down and drafted some practice weekends. The great thing about sailing up at Crescent is that I could commute from home, see my family, etc. Another great reason to do Districts is that it would provide a great opportunity for us to sail in a notoriously tough venue, in terms of wind, chop and competition. Our decision was to be greatly rewarded…
Saturday’s racing was, in a word, EPIC. The wind, temperature, wave pattern and overall conditions yielded some of the best Lightning sailing in a long time. For a moment while on port tack, the water was blue, wind was fresh and temps were just warm enough that if you didn’t know it, you could have thought you were on Biscayne Bay…no joke! Maybe that is why we did so well on Saturday’s races (those who know me know that I’m not shy in calling Biscayne Bay the best spot in North America to sail!). Though we won all the races on Saturday, the racing was incredibly close. Those that did well managed to manage the chop, both upwind and down. Opportunities were hard to find, but apparent if you focused. Tom, Kristin and I worked really hard on every wave and we were rewarded. The standings were extremely tight 2nd-7th.
Saturday after racing Tom and I went back to La Salle and Kristin back to Grosse Isle. My wife had a great dinner plan for us, which included special guest World Champ Matt Fisher and his wife Lisa. We had a great evening and, though I know Matt was excited to follow his son Stu around at a Jr. event, I could tell he was envious of our great day of Lightning Sailing!
Sunday was, in a word, TOUGH. The wind was light and variable. The water was unsettled (thanks to left over chop and freighters & motorboats). And there were….BUGS! It was very hard to stay focused.
In Sunday’s first race, we were in the right spot at the right time. Tom Starck called a great windshift just before the start and we ended up with Doug Scheibner’s team on port tack at the pin only a few degrees off the top mark. Though the wind would go back to the right ½ way up the beat, we were able to carry a nice puff across the fleet and cruise to a nice finish. John McCree did an amazing job staying focused through the light and variable racing to win that one. Tom Klaban’s team finished right behind us for 3rd.
The last race was a wire to wire win for Mark Allen’s team. They came off the pin on starboard, took the gain and covered the fleet nicely throughout the race. John Mathers, from Pontiac, sailed a great race to finish 2nd with Tom Klaban 3rd. Our 4th gave us a nice finish, considering we were as deep as 10th at one point. We were able to use good speed and smart fleet positioning to get back with the top group.
Congrats to Crescent. You guys did a great job. My good Thistle Friends: Champ, Paul, Peter, Tim, et.al. ran some great races. The Vickers family did a great job organizing with the help of the rest of Fleet 51. Thanks for a great time!
