Back-to-back races this morning in Class E and MC – to catch-up on what was lost Thursday. Generally SE. On the E course, top mark (at 100 degrees) centered deep in Grunow’s Bay (under the ski hill slopes): leeward mark off Conference Point. Fleet on schedule - 9:10 am start. W 2 ½. 10-15 (maybe). Gordy Bowers (M-11), starting to leeward, worked north (left) side to middle of the course along with Buddy Melges (I-1). Up the first leg, Buddy tacked early to go south toward the pin while Gordy’s boys continued-on perhaps another 50 yards for a wind-line more to the east. The short wait paid-off, as on their tack south, they lifted over Buddy with more pressure to round first, followed by Madison’s Lon Schoor (H-7), Vince Driessen (GL-6), Tom Burton (M-9), Peter Slocum (M-15), I-1, Rob Evans (M-1), Jack Strothman (M-10), Dan Buckstaff (J-46), and Art Larson (I-26) at the next top turn. Down the lake, the leaders played it conservative working middle to north out in the lake – in the air that brought Gordy his lead. But Evans gybed early to find a path along the south shore, then out to cross the lake. He rounded the gate first by a comfortable 150 yards (which very well could have been the championship, as Brian Porter (I-49) trailed well back in the fleet). Then Buddy, Gordy, Slocum, Strothman, Schoor, Burton, Driessen, Bill Allen (M-4), and Larson. As the race progressed the wind tended to lighten and the south shore seem to offer more of an advantage. At the finish it was Evans, then Bowers (sailing with four) after breaking a friendly tacking-duel with Buddy (later to be repaid in the next race in almost identical conditions), Slocum and Schoor for the top five. Bill Allen 6^th from a 17^th at the first turn to make the only significant change in the top ten. Porters recovered to 20^th.

Going into the final race Evans (M-1) now led Buddy Melges by 2.7 points and Porters by 6.3 points. Under the bonus (Olympic) scoring system - not much of a margin. And as Race Six played out, it wasn’t any sort of a cushion at all. Again, marks about in the same locations (now 120 degrees) W 3 ½. Lighter SE at 10 eventually dropping to 2 or 0 (if you got stuck at the top). Splattered areas of wind and little wind. Start 11:06 am. While the south looked like the way to go, the start brought a brief lift to the guys tacking early to port. Starboard starters whistled these boats by in fear that it would be worse to have them tack in one’s face than to simply sail across (even though the port-takers were often no better than half a boat length past before the starboard had to duck behind). Out of this mess, it was Donny Nelson and Jack Rillema of White Lake, Michigan (WH-12) who carried the lead around the first mark, followed by John Dennis (M-2), Jason Sutherland (GL-31), Tom Burton, Peter Slocum, Rick Kazwell (CL-1), Gordy Bowers, Jule Hannaford (M-7), Bill Allen, then Porters and Buddy 11^th. By the second-top-turn it was all Minnetonka with Slocum, Dennis, Evans (coming-back from a deep 23^rd for his second recovery of the day) and Bowers, Porters (I-49) 5^th, WH-12, Hannaford, Chris Jewett (UM-1), Burton, Paul Kobs (UM-44), and Sutherland. At the third-top-mark it was still Slocum, then Dennis with Bowers up to 3^rd, but it was here that the two leaders got what some didn’t – to open up a notable lead. The last time up found the right hand side up along the south shore to major advantage…..with Minnetonka continuing her dominance at the finish with John Dennis (M-2) first, Peter Slocum (M-15), Rob Evans (for the regatta win), Tom Burton (M-9), and Chris Jewett (UM-1, from the other side of that "tonka" bridge) 5^th, Porters 7^th, Buddy 10^th.

Saturday was a great day for Minnetonka boats with Rob Evans (M-1) taking a 1-3, Peter Slocum (M-15) 4-2, Tom Burton (M-9) 8-4, Gordy Bowers (M-11) 2-11(an intentional long shot when 3^rd looked easy, but didn’t matter much in the results), and Bill Allen (M-4) 3-10. Only Buddy Melges (I-1) broke into this group with a 3-10 and, along with Evans, was the only other top ten boat not to finish out of the first ten in any race.

Over on the MC course (in Fontana’s west end), the pattern was about the same as for the E’s but without the big negative influence of a squirrelly top mark near shore. Race Five: W 2 ½, SE up to maybe 12 at 100 degrees, start 9:40 am (on schedule). At the first mark it was Muskego’s Dan Fink ahead of Terry Mestan (master) from Big Cedar Lake, Andy Burdick, Scott Slocum, Randy Kotz (Clear Lake, Iowa), Paul Wood (Geneva), Byron Beasely (master, Clear Lake), Beulah’s Kent Haeger, Kelly Reese, and Cedar Lake-r Bill Lieber for the top ten around. By the next time up, the top three still led the fleet with Kent Haeger moving-up to fourth; Kelly Reese to eighth. At the last gate, Burdick split with the leaders (who were more concern about themselves as being much closer in the standings with yet another race to go, while Burdick held a commanding regatta low point score) to find an advantage and another win, with Dan Fink, second; Terry Mestan, third; then Slocum, Beasely, Haeger, Wood, Kotz, Reese, and Harvey Schaefer (grand master, Cedar Lake) for tenth and as the only boat to break into the top ten after the first rounding.

MC Race Six was off at 11:37 am. W 2 ½ in a SE (110 degrees) at no more than 6 mph with not much in many areas. Zack Clayton and Eric Hood noticed a left-hand shift developing before the start and had enough speed (and courage) to make it to the leeward end (north end, most near the new shift) by the gun. Working the left (north) to middle, Zack and Eric rounded 1-2 to begin the run followed by Scott Slocum, Kevin Neal (junior), Matt Berman, Tom Schmidt (grand master, Geneva), Andy Burdick, Cedar’s BJ Best, Jim Mueller (grand master, Cedar Lake) and Rick Wilfert of Okauchee. Hood passed Clayton on the run leading by perhaps 100 yards at the gate. Up the second beat Hood advanced his lead to enjoy over ten minutes of space between himself and Clayton, leading: Slocum, Beasely, Burdick, Neal, Berman, Brad Farrar, Hardy Will (grand master) and Jim Mueller. On the regatta’s final beat, it was Hood covering a fleet approaching from both sides - to win: with Burdick 2nd, Neal 3^rd, Slocum 4^th, Clayton 5^th, Mueller 6^th, Beasely 7^th, Tom Wilfert 8^th, Farrar 9^th and Brian Heimsch up to 10^th. It was the final four of the top ten who advanced into the front group, and only three of the regatta top ten were able to place there in this final race. A tough day at the races.

Overall in the MC class, it was Andy Burdick by an extreme margin of over 93 points. Second to Geneva’s Kevin Neal and top junior. Third to Kent Haeger (sixth earlier in the week as B-12 in Class C); Paul Wood of Geneva, fourth; Scott Slocum from Rush Creek, Texas, fifth; Pewaukee’s Bob Burdick, sixth; from Cedar Lake BJ Best, seventh, and Rick Trester, eighth, (both with a bad-day-Saturday), Kelly Reese (Geneva), ninth; and Dan Fink, tenth (after taking a lot of extra points on the final course).

The E and MC fleets head home now. Championship completed. All races raced, albeit in trying conditions. A-scows begin arriving. To race tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon for the first time. Sunny. Southeast winds expected, again. …………M. Kurzawa (September 5, 2000)