CARLYLE SAILING ASSOCIATION                     
                              Lightning Fleet 266             
                                     2005
                             Mid Continent Regatta            
       5 Races in series.   0 Races needed to qualify.   5 Races scored.
                       13 Boats participated in series

 Sail  Skipper                              4/  4/  4/  5/  5/    Place Score
  #    Crew, Crew                           /30 /30 /30 / 1 / 1

 15234 Todd Wake                             1   1   1   4   1       1    8.00
       Bret Liebmann, Hugh Sugar             ^   ^   ^   ^   ^
 13817 Brian Phelan                          5   2   5   2   3       2   17.00
       Mori Martin, Rick Evens               ^   ^   ^   ^   ^
 14636 Tobi Moriarty                         3   3   8   3   2       3   19.00
       Dan Moriarty, Ian Moriarity           ^   ^   ^   ^   ^
 14798 Rick Bernstein                        4   5   6   1   7       4   23.00
       Stacy Zerban, Kay Ward                ^   ^   ^   ^   ^
 14766 Terry Burke                           2   8   4   7   4       5   25.00
       Edd Burke, Bryan Burke                ^   ^   ^   ^   ^
 15081 Jim Gagnon                            9   7   2   5   5       6   28.00
       Maureen Gagnon, Christina Leiterman   ^   ^   ^   ^   ^
 14901 Ian Schillebeeckx                     8   6   3  10   6       7   33.00
       Tom Paoli, Mike Hill                  ^   ^   ^   ^   ^
 13872 Doug Olson                           10   9   7   6 DNF       8   46.00
       John Hough, Barb Strutz               ^   ^   ^   ^   ^
 14193 Gary Leuer                            7  11 DNF   8   8       9   48.00
       Pat Meiers, Steve Adamski             ^   ^   ^   ^   ^
 14130 Mike Merketoris                      12  10   9   9   9      10   49.00
       Greg Beardmore, Brian Johnson         ^   ^   ^   ^   ^
 14920 James Chapin                          6   4 DNF DNS DNS      11   54.00
       Nick Beckman, Ron Frerker             ^   ^   ^   ^   ^
 14089 Joe Petitjean                        13  12  10  12  10      12   57.00
       Mike Straetz, Jeff Holly              ^   ^   ^   ^   ^
 14260 John Folwell                         11  13 DNF  11 DNF      13   63.00
       Rick Allard, Dale Forguson            ^   ^   ^   ^   ^

Number of boats
       in each race                         13  13  13  12  12

Explaination:  DNF - Did Not Finish  DNC - Did Not Start  DSQ - Disqualified
                      ^ - Race counted

Article by Bret Liebmann crew for Todd Wake, regatta champion

On the weekend of April 30 2005 , I (accompanied by my trusty skipper Todd Wake and mid-crew Hugh Sugar) was fortunate enough to attend the Mid-continent regatta at Carlyle Lake , Il .  For those of you who have never attended a regatta hosted by the Carlyle Sailing Association, let me start by telling you about the wonderful facilities.  When you pull in and park in the parking lot, you can’t help but notice the massive drysail lot, three hoists, and plenty of dock space allowing you to spread out and have all the room you would ever need to rig.  There are numerous picnic tables and a pavilion-style shelter to protect you from the elements.  If the conditions outside become too hostile, there is a large very functional clubhouse decorated with trophies and pictures of the many fleets that sail from CSA.  It truly is one of the best facilities I have ever had the pleasure of sailing out of.

When we arrived on Friday afternoon, the weather greeted us with temperatures in the mid 50’s and a constant drizzle allowing us to test our foulies while putting the boat together.  We eventually finished rigging and after stalling for a while, decided to go out for a short practice.  As it turned out this was a very good idea as it was my first time on the bow of a Lightning and Hugh’s first time sitting middle.  We thought a little chute work might be in order, so we headed out of the harbor and hoisted.  After trying a number of different techniques for gybing the pole both on and off the foredeck, I finally settled on a preferred method, and just to make sure we were paying attention, my skipper decided a nice round up dragging the boom in the water might wake the crew up before we headed back upwind to the docks.

Saturday morning came around and after a short skipper’s meeting, the fleet headed out.  In all, 13 boats including 5 from Green Bay participated in this year’s regatta.  Racing started off with a very shifty Northwesterly wind and the race committee sent us off on a modified windward leeward twice around.  The first beat was very tricky but at the weather mark Terry Burke with his boys Edd and Bryan as crew emerged in first.  This turned out to be an important race for us because after we executed a beautiful douse at the pin end of the starting line, Hugh and I were not greeted by a “nice job” or even “good drop, guys” from our always even tempered skipper, but rather “How come none of the other boats have their spinnakers down?  Put that F*$@ing kite back up NOW!”  I probably should have read the sailing instructions more carefully I guess, but the fact that we were at least 5 boatlengths behind Terry and he still had his spinnaker up and full might have been a good clue for us as well.  Oh well, lesson learned.

Throughout the day the wind remained extremely shifty, but built.  By the third race it was blowing hard enough for full hiking and major depowering.  On the run the shifty, 20+ knot gusts claimed a few victims causing at least five capsizes and getting a number of sailors very cold and wet, but thanks to some terrific safety boat work by the race committee, everyone made it back to shore safely and only a few boats had broken equipment.

The Carlyle fleet is one of the friendliest and most welcoming groups of sailors you will ever meet.  After sending the fleet to shore as the wind continued to build, the home fleet hosted a nice lasagna dinner that included plenty of ice cold beer and good camaraderie.  Unfortunately, I was a little over served in the beverage department that evening and I do apologize to anyone I offended with my storytelling.

On Sunday morning the race committee started us off nice and early as the forecast was for the wind to build quite strong again.  Rick Bernstein, Stacy Zerban, and Kay Ward started strong by showing the fleet the way through the shifts to win the first race of the day.  The final race of the regatta began before 10 am (meaning we would be packed up and home at a reasonable hour, thanks again RC).  On the final run, a well executed gybe by Tobi Moriarty and crew Dan and Ian Moriarty quickly turned a 3 boatlength lead for us into a four boatlength lead for the Moriarty family.  Lady Luck, however, partied with our crew the night before and due to a spinnaker that wouldn’t come all the way down, we were able to squeak out a close win in the final race.

I would like to thank the race committee and the entire CSA fleet for hosting such a wonderful regatta, and if you ever have the chance to attend a regatta hosted by the Carlyle Sailing Association, you are definitely cheating yourself if you don’t attend it.