Article by Joe Terry:
All photos by: R.J. Bangs
Sailors representing Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, and New York, met in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin on the south shores of Lake Winnebago for the Inland Lake Yachting Association’s (ILYA) Inland 20 Scow Invitational.
Fifteen teams made up the class hosted by the Fond du Lac Sailing club for racing on Saturday and Sunday, June 23rd and 24th. With most of the teams arriving on Friday evening, a great time was had setting up boats and catching up with friends in beautiful Wisconsin summer conditions.
As the boats were prepped and splashed, the winds started filling in toward the forecasted 9 mph from the southeast. While the wind conditions were a little lighter than what most of us prefer in the high powered Inland 20, the highly adjustable rigs were tuned to be powered up in the lighter stuff and the sailors skimmed over the flat water unusually smooth for lake frequently called “Windybago”
Race 1 began on a very short starting line with everyone starting cleanly. My wife LaCinda and I liked the winds up the center of the course and while the pin end seemed preferred, we chose to try to start on the right side of the line. We made a nice hole and hit the line for a great start at full speed and quickly worked our way up the middle of the course. The winds were nice, and we kept our Inland 20 on it’s lines with firm mainsheet tension, a touch of vang, and some backstay when the puffs filled in. In fact, we were working the backstay more than the mainsheet on the first beat.
The good start paid off as we rounded the first windward mark in first place. The fleet as a whole sailed pretty tight and the downwind leg was challenging. Choosing speed vs. angle can be a tough decision and while we opted for speed early in the leg, as the wind diminished slightly, we started working deep. We rounded the leeward mark still in first place, but found some holes on the second leg that George Winter and John Hayashi avoided and we took a respectful second place.
The winds dropped to next to nothing for the second race. We got off to an awful start when we found ourselves between a barging boat and a luffing boat and became the double crunch between two scows. Fortunately, the Inland 20 was built to take a beating and no damage – not even a mark – was left on the boats as the barging boat tacked away for penalty turns. Unscathed, but way back in the fleet, we had our work cut out for us. We worked our way back toward the middle of the fleet when the wind all but died. On the last downwind leg of a W 2 ½, in nearly zero wind, we opted for a wildly unconventional sail plan – we dropped our main so we could use the asymmetrical to head dead toward the mark. While we wouldn’t necessarily recommend this practice, it was effective in a couple of ways: First, we managed to make our way back into the top five boats by keeping the chute filled in nearly no wind, and second, after some refreshing beverages later that evening, everyone had quite a few laughs when we all agreed that no one can remember any scow sailing a downwind leg without a main sail, and catching up with the leaders.
The racing was called after two races due to no wind and at the end of day one, we found ourselves tied in second place with Stefan Schmidt and Juan Gonzolas with a very tight field of very good sailors behind us.
Sunday’s forecast didn’t look good, and there wasn’t much hope early in the morning, but the big lake became it’s own weather machine and while the forecast called for 5 mph southeasterly winds, the lake produced it’s own 5 to 8 mph northerly.
The boats splashed after a short postponement and race three was underway. Once again there was a very close and clean start and for the entire regatta, there were no individual or general recalls. Our objective was to protect our second place ranking as first seemed quite optimistic, so we worked hard to keep in contact with the contending boats. The winds, were spotty, resulting in a lot of hunting going on. We managed to stay with the leaders and by the second windward leg, rounded in first place just in front of Grant Frautschi and Carolyn Curry. We rounded the last leeward mark again a few boatlengths ahead of Frautschi and Curry and because our primary competition was a few places back, we kept our distance and worked together with Frautschi in attempt to gain some insurance on the rest of the fleet. We were excited as we approached the finish line a few boatlengths ahead of Frautschi, but whom did we see coming in on starboard? Youngsters Steve Catlin and Andrea Gratton! We were about to cross clear ahead when we were stopped dead by some chop generated by a huge power boat who felt it necessary to cross in front of the entire fleet. We got our tack in laying the finish line, but Catlin and Gratton had just enough speed to sneak across the line about a foot in front of us and take the bullet.
The time limit came after one race on Sunday and when the scores were tallied, our consistency paid off and for the first time ever, LaCinda and I brought home the first place trophy. And while we’re extremely proud of the accomplishment, what is truly unique is that until this year, we’ve been the lone Inland 20 on our lake. The only one-design experiences we have had are traveling to ILYA and National Inland 20 Scow Association regattas over the years. So the people we really have to thank for our victory is the rest of the Inland 20 fleet. It’s those sailors – and you ALL know who you are - who have unselfishly dedicated themselves to bettering the fleet as a whole, who have shared their “secrets”, rig setup, sail trim techniques, tactical suggestions, etc. so the rest of us have been able to get up to speed and be competitive.
It was a proud and memorable victory for us, but we’re more proud of the class and friends with whom we sail.
