2009 US E Scow Nationals Oshkosh - News,Results and Images

by Sail-World.com on 20 Sep 2009 Results and images from the 2009 E Scow Nationals hosted by the Oshkosh Yacht Club, on Lake Winnebago, Wisconsin, was sailed a week ago. Here is the report. More images will be added soon

While this was the 51st E National Regatta, it was the the first E National Regatta in Oshkosh in over 20 years.

There was almost zero wind for three full days, but PRO Blake Middleton was patient and got one race off Thursday from 5:30- 7pm in 6-10mph when an evening wind finally came in, and then two races off between 4:0pm and 7:30pm on Friday evening.

Minnetonka sailor Tom Burton was the stand out performer in the very light conditions, placing second in first race winning the second and holding on to a fifth place in the third race in the series..

There was no racing on Saturday, just not enough breeze. However as the rules required three races to make it a regatta, and there were three quality races against all odds, Burton with crew Bruce Martinson, and Andy Fergusen were declared the 2009 E Scow champions.

2009 National E-Scow Championships Oshkosh Yacht Club |

 E-Scow (46 boats) Series Standing - 3 races scored

 

Pos Sail   Boat   Skipper Division Yacht Club    1  2  3   Total 1   M-9   Intrepid   Tom Burton      Minnetonka     2   1   5     8   2   M-42   Madame   Sam Rogers      Minnetonka Yacht Club     9   4   3     16   3   I-49   Wide Open   Vincent Porter      Geneva     6   7   6     19   4   LE-73      Jeffrey Bonanni      Little Egg Harbor YC     12   6   2     20   5   I-0   Scratch   Brian Porter      Geneva     4   9   10     23   6   BH-22   Virginia   Bobby Koar      Bay Head - NJ     17   5   4     26   7   CR-66   Black Pearl   Rob Terry      Crystal Lake - MI     1   19   7     27   8   M-12   E=MC^2   Jeff Solum      MYC     11   11   11     33   9   V-37   BigWheels   August Barkow      Pewaukee YC     13   12   9     34   10   H-7   Mirage   Lon Schoor   Master   Mendota     10   3   22     35   11   SC-27   Vamoose   Robert Wilkins      Carolina Sailing Club - SC     5   24   8     37   12   X-20   Maash Pit   Peter Maas      Pine Lake     14   2   24     40   13   X-751   Mudpuppy   Jim Gluek      Pine Lake     15   13   14     42   14   MA-10   Rocinante   Richard Wight   Master   Mantoloking     20   8   15     43   15   CH-6   Painkiller   Rick Turner      Chautauqua Lake - NY     8   17   19     44   16   J-80   Harpoon   Jon Schloesser      Oshkosh     19   15   18     52   17   I-17      Iggy Labanauskas   1stTime   Lake Geneva     3   39   13     55   18   WA 99      Casey Call      Wawasee     7   29   20     56   19   H-13   Wild Turkey   Patrick J Heaney      Mendota - WI     26   16   16     58   20   GL-11      Mark Unicume      Grand Lake - CO     33   10   17     60   21   LE-3   Bob Sled   Bob Donat      LEHYC     25   25   12     62   22   TO-101   HAPPY FEET   Art Brereton      TORCH LAKE     16   22   29     67   23   T-17   Ol' Blue   Chad Hillyer      TRYC     27   44   1     72   24   J-5   Fruitcakes   Bill Wyman      Oshkosh     21   27   26     74   25   SS-1   Blind Squirrel   John Brown      Seaside Park     22   32   21     75   26   BH-8   Thundercrack   Russell Lucas      Bay Head - NJ     28   21   28     77   27   M-2   Flyer   Tom Meyer   Master   Minnetonka     32   14   33     79   28   J-55   Maximum   Jeff Schloesser      Oshkosh Yacht Club     18   33   30     81   29   V-27   E-pete   Matt Peterson   [1stTime][Red]   Pewaukee Yacht Club     24   28   35     87   30   V-551   Stick-E   George Rolfs      Pewaukee     39   18   31     88   31   J-11   SerendipitE   David Sitter   [1stTime][Red]   Oshkosh Yacht Club     31   26   32     89   32   X-4   Windhover   Elizabeth Harned   Red   Pine     29   43   23     95   33   J-515   Bullseye   Ed Bowen   1stTime   Oshkosh     36   35   25     96   34   D-42   Blood Sweat & Beers   Richard Beers      Delavan - WI     40   20   38     98T   35   IH-11   Island Heights Sailing Foundat   Chase Hillyer   1stTime   Island Heights - NJ     34   30   34     98T   36   J-25   Boomstick   Thomas Castle   [1stTime][Red]   Oshkosh Yacht Club     23   42   37     102   37   WA-47   Eholic   Robert Herdrich      Wawasee     42   36   27     105   38   M-77   Geezer   Woody Jewett   Master   Minnetonka     41   23   44     108   39   H-38      Justin Segersten      Mendota - YC     38   31   42     111   40   CH-8   LakeEffect   David Bargar      Chautauqua Lake - NY     30   41   43     114   41   J-2   Grey Wolf   Robert Cummins   Master   Oshkosh Yacht Club     35   40   40     115   42   CR-12   Liberty   Richard Halliday      Crystal Lake - MI     43   37   36     116   43   GL-7   7   Jason Sutherland      Grand Lake - CO     37   34   47/DNF     118   44   WA-200   ICEE   Ricky Lemberg      Wawasee Yacht Club     44   38   41     123   45   CH-1   Brass Balls   Christopher Creighton      Chautauqua Lake - NY     47/DNF   45   39     131   46   H-3   Unsecured   Andy Evensen   [1stTime][Red]   Mendota - WI     45   46   47/DNF

 

 

Notes
- Scoring System is ISAF Low Point 2009-2012
- Finishes in [brackets] denote throwouts

Here is the complete report from Andy Burdick

Day-1 National Championships in Oshkosh WI

Take away the ripples on the water and the flag flying over the Oshkosh Yacht Club and you have an idea of what it was like for most of the first day of the Championships. Boats on the trailers and lifts, and people making a tour of this glorious reconstruction of the original yacht club building. Magnificent.

Blake Middleton, the PRO, kept the sailors informed on the radio about every 15 minutes throughout the day. It could have been a recording. However the plan was clear, they were going to do everything they could to get a race in and that meant pushing back dinner and waiting for the late day breeze to fill in from the east. At 4:30 you could see it start across the lake and the postponement flag came down for a 5:30 warning signal.

The course was a windward leeward 2 1/2 with 1.2 mile legs. An 8 mph breeze from the southeast, 135 degrees, was a blessing compared to the flat water we had been looking at all day long.

The race got off clean with one boat over in the middle, GL-11. The boats grouped up at both ends of the starting line. The windward end, because they liked the extra pressure and the leeward end because they liked the angle. Brian Porter hit the line at full speed at the committee boat and only had one inch to spare before being over at the start. Then there was Rob Terry (CR-66) at the leeward end heading to the left side where the angles improved and he got a great port tack slant from that side of the course to lead at the weather mark. Iggy Labanauskas, sailing I-17, was second around also from the left side of the course, followed by Jeff Scholesser (J-55). Tom Burton (M-9) played more of the middle of the course and rounded 4th, followed by Commodore Rick Turner (CH-6), and Casey Call (WA-99). Brian Porter was 9th. The story goes that Iggy was supposed to race the I-0 boat belonging to Aaron Roth while Brian would sail the I-17 boat. But Brian convinced people that he should sail the I-0 boat (supposedly faster) so Iggy got the 'slower' I-17 boat. Guess they will re-think that choice!

A couple of big changes the second time around saw Jeff (J-55) drop back to 12th and Brian (I-0) move up to 4th, behind Tom (M-9), Iggy (I-17) and the leader Rob (CR-66). Robby Wilkins moved from 12th to 5th, and Sam Rogers (M-42) moved from 16th to 8th. Lon Schoor (H-7) dropped from 7th to 13th (ouch!) getting caught in the 'soup' that first downwind and passing a few boats on the next upwind. Brian hit the mark during his 4th place rounding - I think he might have caught the anchor line and the mark dragged into him. Jon Scholesser dropped from a 10th at the first mark to 19th at the second upwind mark.

Positions settled in and the last time around Vincent Porter (I-49) passed three boats, moving from 9th to 6th, Lon (H-7) too got a few boats to finish 10th.

2009 E-Scow National Championships
Day 2 in Oshkosh WI

Another beautiful day in Oshkosh. The National E Scow Fleet sailed out this morning for a 10am start. There was wind and some of the wind was fresh so PRO Blake Middleton was hopeful to get a start in on time. We did notice some of the fleet was slow to move this morning. The party at the Waters last night was rockin' and many stayed out late dancing to a fantastic band! Still, all 46 boats made it out in time for the first start.

After a brief postponement the fleet entered a starting sequence. It was light as the breeze had trouble reaching 5mph. This meant there was one person on the high side, maybe. Just before the start gun there was another postponement as many boats were over the line, many had trouble getting up to the line. It was evident that the fresh breeze that some sailed out in was now fizzling away.

Another attempt by the Race Committee took place as it was very evident that a race needed to be added to this series as the forecast for the remainder of the day was ultra light and the forecast for the final day of the event was not much better. So, with just one race in, the picture was being painted and it was not a pretty one. After another attempt at a start it was clear that there was just not enough wind to get a race in. Blake showed his experience by being patient and waiting - not sticking a bad race into a National Championship Series. Smart!

It was clear that the wind was not coming so our PRO sent the sailors in for shade, water and lunch. In all of his updates Blake was very clear that the fleet needed to be ready to sail at any time and to be ready to sail until dark if needed. Preparations on shore were taking place - a late race was inevitable. Blake was great though - he allowed the fleet to go do what they wanted - simply listen to his updates and be ready to go when the time came.

At 3pm today the time came. Blake asked the powerboats to tow the E fleet out to the race course area in hopes of a race. Wait, there was no wind on the water! What was he thinking?! Blake knew what he was doing. In the weather system we have been presented with we have seen little wind during the day but, we have seen an evening breeze for a week straight. He knew that if the fleet was on the water and ready for the arrival of wind that the fleet could have 2 races.

The breeze moved in and it was a fairly steady 4-8mph. The first race of the day / second race of the series started at 4pm. A clean start and a W2 course but only a .75 mile beat so this put a premium on the start. The fleet was almost evenly split up the first beat. M-9 Tom Burton won the right side of the course and M-42 Sam Rogers won the left side of the course. H-7 Lon Schoor and X-20 Peter Maas were right in the hunt too as the four boats met at the top mark. Lurking just back from this group was Brian Porter and Vincent Porter. The move of the race was an early jibe on the run. I-49 Vincent Porter did this and gained big on this run. New breeze filled down the right side of the race course and Porter was in line for the best stuff. Burton followed with a jibe - still with a healthy lead but in line for the new breeze with Porter.

At the leeward gate many tacked on to starboard to sail the starboard shift. The boats that extended on port really made money on this beat as the wind clocked right slightly with better pressure. Burton kept the lead by Mass and the X-20 team ground them down to be close at the top mark. Lon Schoor and Sam Rogers followed. Because of the clocking breeze it meant that a jibe after the offset was immediate. Burton never missed a beat. He set, jibed and raced down the lake with Maas following. As the leaders continued down the lake Maas decided to throw some jibes in to keep things interesting. Good move ho