(PS If you’re wondering, perhaps looking, for the Saturday report, it exists only in stories told around the regatta site and among those who have returned home already. We apologize for the delay, which continues. We are resolved to check-out the rumors, looking for facts. We could tell you what you probably already know, and that is….. Rob Evans (M-1) won the E Class with a 1,3 the final day. That Buddy came second after a 3,10. Or that Brian Porter dropped to third after getting squeezed in the first race start by Bill Allen (M-4) coming-up from leeward and Gordy Bowers (M-11) romping-down over the hapless I-49 (for a "Tonka Hug")….. and that eight tacks later the Geneva boat still couldn’t find a sense of things or a lane at least to the first mark, rounding deep near 60th. Not to be discouraged, they rallied back to 20th, positioning themselves less than seven points back from Evans. But Rob Evans did what he needed to do with a comfortable finish in very squirrelly conditions….. for the class championship. John Dennis (M-2) won this last race (for 9th overall), with Peter Slocum (M-15) second, then M-1, Tom Burton (M-9) 4th overall, Chris Jewett (UM-1) 6th overall, Rillema/Nelson (WH-12) sixth, I-49, Bill Allen (M-4) 5th overall, Jule Hannaford (M-7) ninth (and we will try to tell you about a mysterious pig’s head up the Bowers mast at a later date), and Buddy for tenth. In the final standings….. David Ferguson (M-67) 7th, Peter Slocum (M-15) 8th, and Lance Puccio (H-7) completing the top ten. Minnetonka boats claimed six of the top ten; add an Upper Minnetonka boat to that….and it was a very good regatta for boats with "M" on their sails.) In the MC it was Andy Burdick; see "Final Results" webpage. More soon.

On to Sunday’s racing……..We’ve got nineteen A-scows…..and if you figure seven to a boat (crew usually six, but someone has gotta get the beer) that’s a good size group – the equivalent of a 65-boat MC fleet in people and 45 MC’s in boat length (not even considering the extra beam, or mast height, or cordage and wire). The only scow requiring a gin pole to step the mast. Or permitting the exotics – Kevlar, carbon fiber, graphite. Not a noisy group either. On shore you may not even know they are here. At sea the sounds are only discernable inside the cockpit or near-by as they ghost-by at something like 10-15mph. If you don’t see them coming, you’re likely not to anticipate their presence (kinda the same reason there are gates at railroad crossings, but this is much more subtle – no rumbling warning…..they just sorta appear…you in the crosshairs of their bow sprit). The 3pm sequence got the regatta off on schedule; the fleet was hard upwind shortly thereafter for a W 3 ½ out of the southeast (3-13mph) with the top mark smack-dab in the middle of Grunow’s Bay (a fluky spot indeed) (well maybe the mark wasn’t quite that close-in, but that’s the neighborhood and the conditions). The fleet worked mostly the left side of the course (toward the north shore) but eventually needed to cross-over to complete the leg. Teams coming-in from the north seem to have an easier approach with Rob Evans (M-100) around first, then David Bohl (V-969), Gordy Bowers (M-11), John Porter (I-49), Jim Klauser (V-999), Todd Haines (V-115) and Buddy (I-1). The parade headed on the original gybe towards Williams Bay….. some went further past Conference Point….. some gybed earlier to head-back towards the middle – all dependent upon where (you thought) the wind-line was for where you were. And gosh….. these boats are fast….. even in this sporadic wind – it doesn’t take much to get ‘em going (and again no sound). By the way, the lead boat completed the first leg in 13 minutes, the following run and beat in 21 minutes, and the next combination in 24 minutes. As the wind becomes a little more steady and strong - these times will fall.

By the next windward turn, it was still Evans, although Porter had crossed them earlier in the leg. Both had worked middle to north. Bowers continued third (going more middle), then Bohl, and Melges who began testing the south shore pattern. By windward-leg 3, with Evans and Porter continuing to duke-it-out north, Buddy conducted his attack off the south shore. Guiding the "Kanza" team on port into the shore (west of Brookwood); the subsequent starboard found them lifting straight-on the turn mark, a tack they negotiated nicely to hold a commanding lead beginning the final run. To an uninformed observer it looked-like a shoe-in for the rest of the race for the Melges boat was they skimmed over the mountainous spectator chop in decent air and angle. But it was far from over…. the guys in the back found it better and stronger out of the south and down the middle – gybing early to fast reach ….Porter most south together with Evans, both moving fast and slicing the Melges lead. Buddy saw ‘em coming…..gybed early heading….. southwest back to the middle, the wind-line, and second and third place. The route was slow, almost stopping….. to a standstill as the sprit reached to grab some of that new air….there was a pause….. a wait…..more wait….. then….. they got it…..joining Evans and Porter in the ride…..with a shorter lead. After the turn, the beat to the finish was a cover and an attack. The Melges team held it together through the lulls, chop, shifts and large spectator fleet (we will not mention the observing boat which took a bow-sprit to the mid-section by being too close to the leeward-end of the starting line and dead in the path of a re-rounder). To win. John Porter second. Rob Evans third. David Bohl and the "Piranha" guys fourth, then Todd Haines, Tom Burton, Bill Mattison/Lon Schoor (H-714), Jim Klauser (V-999), Gordy Bowers (M-11), and Brian Henke (V-57). They go again tomorrow, first start 10am……M. Kurzawa