Bow Lake Sailing News Letters 2006
by Bob Shapiro

The 2006 Bow Lake sailboat racing season is over! It was a fantastic season. Fifty different sailors and thirteen different boats participated in a total of twenty-two races in the Bob Evans regatta. In the Ed Hinds Memorial regatta last Saturday, we had a total of twelve Lightnings, thirty-three sailors, and five races. Attached are spreadsheets showing the detailed results.

In the Bob Evans Regatta Open Class trophies were awarded to Dennis Unger for first place Keelboats, Greg King for first place Centerboards and Kerry McCoole for first place Catamarans. The Lightning trophies went to the Boyntons, fourth place to Norb, Dave and Bob in Three Men in a Tub, Mike Aversa in third place, Ned Hinds in second place and Bob Shapiro in first place.

Jim Murphy, Ron Gray and Mike Aversa weren't there to pick up their skipper trophies; lots of crew weren't there to pick up their crew trophies. Please contact me to arrange to get your trophies. Skippers were awarded engraved apothecary jars while crews received engraved shot glasses. Crews under 21 received engraved votive candle holders. (Same as everyone else but we couldn't call them shot glasses!)

The One Day regatta was good sailing and loads of fun. Saturday morning was cold, dark, rainy and ugly, but our reputation for holding a great regatta brought eight visiting boats and four Bow Lake boats to the regatta. The rain slowed down and finally stopped shortly after we began racing, the temperature rose to a balmy 60 - 65 degrees and the sky was gorgeous with clouds and fog hanging low over the hills. Pam, Werner and Pauline Daigneault ran five fantastic races, while Roger Williams, Dennis Unger and Emma King manned a couple of crash boats. Pam and Emma took lots of pictures during the day - see below for links to the NINE HUNDRED pictures they took!

Visitors took home all of the hardware. Ned Hinds, sailing with his bride Karen and his trusty crew Jeff Baker, topped the local boats losing a squeaker of a tiebreaker for third place and falling into fourth. Ned finished his season by winning the last race! Bob Shapiro had Mike Baker and Tris Wallace on board for some fantastic downwind sailing. Unfortunately the races also included windward legs, so Bob and his awful boat speed finished in eighth place. Bob and Sandy Boynton came out for the regatta with catamaran sailor Kerry McCoole. What Now? had some great moments, including rounding the leeward mark in one race right with Miss Behavin'. Bob, Sandy and Kerry each skippered at least one race. Watch out for Kerry; he had fire in his eyes when he was at the helm - maybe we'll see him in his own Lightning next year! Three Men in a Tub had the full complement of three men; Norb Church, Bob Murphy and Dave Sandmann were right in the thick of things for most of the races.

The after-party at the Grange was amazing! The Boyntons provided a ton of vegetable, fruit and cheese appetizers, which went well with the chips, salsa and guacamole whipped up by Margo. Karen and Margo provided salad, tacos, enchiladas, chicken, beef, rice, guacamole, lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, onions and who knows what else for dinner. And desert was a spectacle, with yummy cookies homemade by Jeff and a return of the tub-o-booze-and-chocolate made by Amy. Let me tell you about the reputation we have for this party/dinner. Art Cunningham was unable to sail in the regatta due to some kid commitments, but Art, his brother, his wife and two kids came for dinner and paid (unsolicited) $50 for the privilege! Meanwhile, the 900 pictures taken during the day were set up in a slideshow and projected on a screen hanging from the ceiling for all to see.

The Race Committee and kitchen crew received trophies to thank them for their help. Roger Williams was presented with a Bow Lake Sailing Race Committee windbreaker to recognize him for his super service to Bow Lake Sailing this summer, and Roger might have had some moisture in his eyes. Bob Boynton made an emotional presentation of the Martha Comstock Award to Thad Comstock and there wasn't a dry eye in the house - especially Bob's and Thad's. It was great to see Thad again after a few years absence from the sailing scene. Thad and his wife Martha sailed in the open class for many years, and as Thad said they "weren't very good but Martha sure was competitive!" The rest of the Bob Evans trophies were awarded, and when Bob Shapiro got his trophy it was time for more emotion. Bob explained how difficult it has been to find steady crew for the last couple of years, and announced that he and Margo were working on a solution to that problem. Our new crew will appear in late January, and in about six or seven years she will be ready to take on the foredeck! Thank you to Pam and Werner who provided sparkling apple cider for everyone to use in joining in a toast.

Many many people gave huge amounts of time to make the regatta a success. I'd like to single out a few of them. Karen and Margo did a ton of cooking, Ned spent an hour mopping the floor of the Grange after the party (and took home all of the stinky bags of trash). Tris Wallace made lots of visitors smile by shuttling them back and forth between the boat ramp and the Grange, the Boyntons provided breakfast and appetizers, Three Men provided refreshments, Jeff and Amy made desserts and Greg King provided garlic bread (even though he hates garlic). And I am sure that other people brought other items and I just don't recall.

But the most amazing stars of the show were Emma and Caroline King. Emma was doing Community Service by helping at the regatta. Since she is a minor her records are sealed so we don't know exactly what she did to be ordered to perform Community Service. But we are glad, as she spent all day out in the rain taking pictures, and then spent about 3 hours slaving away in the kitchen. She washed more pots and pans than the number of boats I lost on windward legs! And Caroline King made the mistake of offering to help out in the kitchen and got roped into being the primary preparation, serving and cleanup person, not to mention having to run out and buy some supplies. Caroline slaved away for a few hours in the morning and then from 3:00 PM all the way through to the end of cleanup at about 8:30 PM. THANK YOU Emma and Caroline!

Bob and Sterling Bush won the One Day regatta. Here is a writeup from Bob that might help explain to the rest of us what we should have done to finish better.

After arriving late due to travel from Dulles airport to Manchester (which was supposed to happen on Friday night rather than Saturday morning), we arrived at Bow Lake. The rain was letting up and during the races it hardly sprinkled at all. From the ramp we were given to a tow out to the race course to meet the other 11 competitors. The early wind was around 10 in the puffs, but more routinely around 5 knots. With the cloudy, threatening skies, there were almost no motor boats, so 5 knots and 0 waves is plenty for a Lightning.

The RC favored the boat end heavily, but we started every race about 1/2 way down the line, just to get clear air and be closer to the puffs which came from the left side. Boats that tacked at the starting line typically did not have enough wind to stay with the other boats.

Since the puffs were enough to make one boat go about 1.5 - 2 times as fast as boats not in the puff, it was important to stay in the wind, regardless of the angle. Consequently, our objective was to connect the puffs as best we could. When in doubt (which was often), we tacked to the left side.

Bow Lake is quite round with one particular island that affects the wind. The windward legs were typically shifty (20 degrees) and puffy. We played for more wind most of the time and did not care (but complained often!) about the angle. The left side had more air, the right side had plenty of chances as the wind moved right as we made our way up the beats.

Downwind, we always worked high on the left side of the course (right side looking downwind) as the wind was lighter at the top of the race course and we just wanted to keep the boat moving fast. Once we cleared the island, the breeze picked up and we could drive straight downwind or jibe if the wind shifted. This paid dividends in nearly every race.

Race 1. We saw Ken Deyett briefly during the first windward leg, but he and his team of Ali Deyett and Jeannine McKay were not to be caught. We ended second with Brian Gibbs third.

Race 2. We rounded second, went high (thanks in part to Mark Gardner forcing us high) and got to the leeward mark in front and held on. Mark got a well deserved second.

Race 3. Ditto of race 2. Dan Hertzer sailed a great race for second.

Race 4. Brian Gibbs outsailed us up the beat and was not to be taken. Mike Boardman and Beth Holland flew Brian's spinnaker perfectly - up in the lulls, down in the puffs. That classic strategy worked perfectly.

Race 5. Ned Hinds (with teammates Jeff Baker and Karen Hinds), who had been playing the right side of the beats with some success all day, played the shifts better than 3 or 4 other boats on the last part of the beat, won. We were forced low in the run - and looked really good for about 15 seconds before the three leaders got their puffs and stayed ahead. Brian was second and Tripp Blair from Newfound Lake with Laura Felosky and Scott Wilkas on board were third.

Bow Lake is a fun place to sail and the fleet puts on A great dinner. Next year, mark you calendars for their one-day regatta.

Here are links to the pictures that Emma and Pam took (also some taken by visitors on Ken Deyett's boat):

2006 Bow Lake #1 photos http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/finallybk/album?.dir=/57e2re2

2006 Bow Lake #2 Photos http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/finallybk/album?.dir=/e7b9re2

2006 Bow Lake #3 Photos http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/finallybk/album?.dir=/f63ere2

A huge thank you to everyone who donated money to Bow Lake Sailing! We had a large number of donations, including 3 or 4 very large donations, and we collected a total of $1135 – thank you to everyone! Please let me know what you spent for the regatta. I'll reimburse you, or you can choose to donate that money as well. And then I'll send out an accounting of it all.

Don't forget Docks and Shore Stations tentatively on Saturday November 4, and stay tuned for the Second Annual Bow Lake Sailing Ski Day in February.

Great Sailing!

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