The summer sailing season is coming to an end and the kids are back in school. We still have plenty of great sailing ahead of us during the beautiful months of September and October. Docks Out is scheduled for Saturday, October 29th along with our annual meeting. The Past Commodore’s Steak Roast was a well-attended success with 15 PCs in attendance including 1981 PC Dan Sadivnychy. Special thanks to PC Jeff Tyndall, the social committee, and the Flying Scot fleet for making this event a success! (See the photos below) I want to congratulate our Junior Race Team for winning the I-LYA Junior Traveler’s Series Overall Trophy for the second year in a row! This is a huge accomplishment and we are the only inland club to ever win this trophy. We really do have a fantastic junior program we should all be proud of! Thanks to all of the parents and volunteers who make it happen. (See more about Juniors here in this Leadline.) Work has begun to rebuild the bridge. A team led by John Church has started the initial work and plans to finish before the end of September if the weather cooperates. I’m told the first work party included 6 members with an average of 75.8 years old! Thank you for all of your hard work! Finally, Stephanie and I were saddened to learn of Bill Kotys’ passing. Bill was our House Chairman this year on the Board of Governors and active in the Interlake fleet and the club in general. Bill was in the process of moving to North Carolina to be closer to family and looking forward to sailing at Lake Townsend Click on any picture to enlarge. After a long time away we plan to hold our annual banquet back at the Royal American Golf Links, 3300 Miller Paul Road, Galena, OH 43021. Details will be sent to members in October. You can always find club events listed on our website here. Wow, what a season! Over 40 kids enrolled in our JRT (Junior Race Team) program this year. Please don’t let that number mislead you. You know the sailing, “quality is better than quantity”? I prefer both. Not only is Hoover one of the largest Junior Race teams in the ILYA, but we are also constantly on the podium at every regatta. We had so much success on the water, it was great to witness all of our athletes’ hard work pay off. They practice 2 times a week. Many of them sail in the club’s Wednesday night series as well. On top of that, they pack up their boats and head to regattas every weekend, and some weekdays. Usually waking up around 5 AM to get to the regatta on time. I’d like to start by thanking Dwight Robertson, our JRT chair who has done so much to guide us this year. I work with a great team of people including Nadia Reynolds our other coach. With all the travel this requires none of it is possible without all the parents that volunteer their time (and their trailer hitches) to help get kids, boats, and gear to regattas. It really does take a village to make this happen. I am very thankful for my village. I don’t have enough space to thank you all individually. So, THANK YOU ALL! A special shoutout to one parent volunteer in particular, Ed Spengemen. Ed is our Opti Gold Coach. He is 100% volunteer, and he puts in probably over 40 hours a week to coach the Optis. He tows his own Whaler to every regatta (he uses that boat to coach our Opti team on the water), and is always willing to lend a hand to any of our athletes, not just the Optis. Always willing to stay late to help me fix a trailer, or a boat, or anything that needs done. Thanks Ed! I would also like to thank Jamie Jones. Our two programs are so closely coupled, without Jamie’s help, the summer season probably could not happen. Speaking of boat work, when I run out of time and I’m trying to figure out how to get something done. I usually hear Jamie say, “I already fixed that for you”. That is just the tip of the Iceberg, he does so much to support our program. Thanks Jamie! I would love to list all the accomplishments of our young sailors, but there is not enough room on the page to do so. If you would like to look at the results, you can find them at https://sites.google.com/view/i-lyajuniorsailing/home . So many First-Place finishes! Some of our competitive highlights include Emma Friedauer winning the US Sailing Chubb Junior Sailing Area E Championships, when the regatta was over Emma counted 8 points in 7 races. Emma also won Jr. Bay Week, netting 17 points in 16 races. Dylan Robertson finished 2nd at Jr Bay week this year as well. Jr Bay week was a big week for Hoover Jr. Race team. Brady Smith, Kaden McClary and Molly Jones won the Thistle fleet at Jr Bay week. Next in line was Mason Shaw, Colleen Corson and Marshal Wellejus in 2nd at Jr. Bay Week. Nick Robertson and Matthew Fu finished 5th at Jr. Bay in the 420 fleet. To recap, Hoover Jr. Race team was 1st AND second in 2 of the 3 fleets at Jr. Bay week. With a 5th place finish in the 420 fleet! The ILYA has a Jr. Travelers series that wrapped up at Hoover Sailing Club this year. And it was a good day for Hoover. SO, many people on the podium, again not enough space to list them all. I would like to make a special shoutout to our Optimist sailors, they really boosted the team this year the some of the most consistent results we have ever seen. We had multiple Opti sailors on the podium at EVERY regatta. In the overall travelers series, our Optis finished as follows Vincent Ireland 2nd, Quinton Ireland 3rd, and Ben Spengemen 4th. When it was all over, Hoover Junior Race Team was crowned the Overall ILYA Team Champions! This was the second year in a row that Hoover JRT won the ILYA Junior Travelers Series. What a season! This past July 20-23 the Interlake Nationals were held at Mohican Sailing Club. It was an incredibly well-run regatta on and off the water. We appreciate the volunteers from Mohican Sailing Club that took time away from their week to make the participants feel welcome plus Matt Bounds, the PRO who is one of the best around. At Mohican, with shifty breeze and a confined course size, he added entertainment to his communication on the radio but still set square lines and square beats. The competition was outstanding. 22 boats competed and 8 were from Hoover. Women and Juniors raced on Wednesday; our Irelands were represented in all 3 categories. Jamie Jones crewed for me and we won the regatta in the last two races but were well behind the Parkers and the Irelands at lunchtime on Friday. I will highlight what we did and what worked and what didn’t. Jamie and I made the plans to sail together in June at the George Fisher regatta at Hoover. Jamie couldn’t sail Thursday because he was the lead PRO at Junior Bay week at Put in Bay so I called good friend Jim Ward and asked him to sail with me. Jim is a multi-national champion and an excellent crew. I crewed for Jim in the Nationals at Lorain in 2017, which he won. Our first hour on the boat together was pretty much a disaster. Earlier this year I noticed that the battens in the main were very tight to put in and I didn’t want to wear out the elastic; so, I popped them out so the elastic could relax. I forget to put them back in. We had two top battens in the bottom of the boat and put one in the top and one in the middle, and it was 6” short and that wasn’t a good look. Next, the first race starts and we were OCS. We rounded the first weather mark about 20th. Fortunately, there were 3 laps and we were able to come back to 4th. We were also OCS in the second race. After the racing Thursday, we appeared to have a lead but with a throw-out, Bryan Parker had a 1-1-2, so he was actually ahead of us and the Irelands were close behind in third. Friday dawned with the same direction—westish—and a little lighter as an average, but actually the puffs were the same or maybe more in the brief moments when the puff was on. The Parkers started the day Friday with a 1-2 and we had a 3-3. Irelands had a 5-1. Steve Aspery and Will Miller started sailing well and had a 2-4. The racing was close and fun. We were not winning at lunchtime by any stretch. As a matter of fact, Parkers had 7 points and we had 11 at noon on Friday. Irelands had 15. We were close more than once and finished 3rd. Parkers had a 6th and Irelands were 10th. We ended up winning the last race with Bryan OCS and he ended up 6-7 in the last two races to our 3-1. Ireland family got a 10-9. As it turned out there was no sailing on Saturday as a big storm line was coming to the Mansfield area by 11 or 12 pm so the PRO and regatta leaders wisely called the race off, sealing our win. What seemed to work: At Mohican it was 100% oscillating, and we were also watching the velocity. When it got lighter (under 8-10mph) we were very aggressive in looking for the next breeze. When it was below 7-8mph, velocity becomes more important than if you are lifted or not. But 80% of the weather legs we sailed in all 8 races at Mohican were over 10mph. We were frequently back in the pack during the first couple of races so we could see shifts on the boats in front. We don’t stare at the compass during the race, but it is a quick reference. We did everything we could to stay on a lift in the breeze. We would hang in someone’s bad air to ride out a 25-degree lift until the header came in. The weather marks were where big gains and losses occurred. We got closer to it, we moved from watching the shifts when it was blowing 10-15mph, to looking for breeze and which side the puffs were forming. In the light air at the weather mark, we would tack or drive/foot to where we thought the puff was headed. On Thursday we made big gains at the weather mark. with Jimmy looking for puffs and which side to tack towards. One of the many positive traits of Matt Bounds course setting is that he didn’t set the leeward marks farther apart than 5-6 boat lengths. That removes some of the strategic part of which mark to round. The decision then rests on where you have the clearest air if you want to continue and what kind of shift you are on, going into the mark. Determining what “phase” the wind is in is most critical so that you know if you are lifted or headed as you round the mark. If we were rounding the left mark facing downwind, and at 50 yards to the mark, the pole goes forward for more of a reach, we knew there was a right phase and we wanted to get onto starboard as quickly as possible after rounding the mark so that we were in phase. Same with if we were going dead downwind going into the mark, we knew port would be a lift so we would take the spinnaker down early so we had a little distance in front of us to hang onto port. I know this is basic, but we always thought it was critical to get in phase at the bottom of the weather leg. I have to admit we felt fast upwind and downwind during the Nationals. Jim Ward and Jamie were both very good about helping get into tune when a puff comes in and we were slightly overpowered. Jim spent a lot of time on the vang on Thursday and it was a huge help. Jim is actually one of the fastest in big breeze in an Interlake and he and Skip Dieball both put a tremendous amount of vang on to flatten the bottom of the main and help depower the boat. Trimming a boat properly through a puff still takes quite a lot of good technique and the balance between feathering and easing the main. But trimming properly in a lull is equally, if not more demanding, to change gears to stay in the perfect trim. You have to make changes and change gears quickly for proper main and jib trim and more heel helps keep the boat moving through a lull. I think that I am easing the main and jib more in the lulls and making sure that the vang is all the way off. I see people on Hoover with the vang on when they are not overpowered. It is my opinion that this is not fast. When we are overpowered, we have the outhaul tight. The bottom half of the Interlake main is incredibly big and important. When you pull the outhaul on you are opening up the bottom of the leech and causing the lower batten to point straight back. I don’t think you want to do that in under 8; I think it helps your pointing to allow the lower batten to point to weather a little bit. In mid-August, I attended the ILYA (Inland Lake Yachting Association) Inland’s Championship at Lake Geneva Yacht Club in Wisconsin. The ILYA is made up of many clubs in the Midwest that primarily sail some type of scow. ILYA is a very large, engaged organization that oversees regattas all across its area. If you go to their website here you will be impressed. The ILYA championship is called the “Inland’s” and is a very unique format that I doubt any of you have seen. I had never attended a regatta like this. There were 4 classes of Scows competing: A Scows (about 40 ft.), E Scows (rocket ships it seems) C Scows (a big MC with 2-3 crew) and MCs. There were about 180 boats, with 79 MCs. The MCs and the A Scows started about the same time each day on different courses and the C and E Scows sailed in the other half of the day on different courses. Probably half of the people sailed two boats; an MC in the morning and maybe a C Scow or E Scow in the afternoon. Ted Keller also sailed this regatta and sailed his MC in one half of the day, came and took his boat out of the water then went out with Eddie Cox from Melges. A lot of MC folks sailed either C Scows or E Scows after we took all 79 MCs out of the water. Lake Geneva is a beautiful lake and Lake Geneva Yacht club is an impressive sailing club. It has a big restaurant, bar, 4 hoists and lots of docks. It is also the home of Buddy Melges who is likely the best sailor the US has had; he won a bronze medal in 1964, Gold in 1972 and skippered the America’s Cup boat to victory in 1992. I didn’t see Buddy but I heard he was at the club Wednesday night. Lisa and I decided to make the trip because LGYC is about 90 minutes from where my daughter Amanda lives. Unfortunately, I have never checked google maps at 7:00am because it is likely 2 1/2 hours on weekday mornings. But we enjoyed our trip. The sailing was shiftier than what the brochure indicated but a lot of fun. The first day it was 5-10 mph out of the SW and the second day it was 8-18. The starting lines were long and we had quite a few recalls. With large fleets and long lines, there is a lot of advice telling you to start near the middle. I am here to tell you that you have to see what phase the wind is in with 5 minutes to go and start at the end that is favored and get on the lifted tack. The line is too long to be conservative, but it seemed like the leeward end was favored 10-15 degrees each start and one had to be at that end. The distance was too great. We were happy with our end result of 4th, as some of the top folks in the class were at Lake Geneva. Ted was 5th and it seemed like we were around each other the entire regatta. My biggest learning was how to sail the boats downwind in a big fleet. I was demonstrating how not to sail downwind. We rounded the first weather mark in somewhere between 2nd and 8th place in each race. The top 10 would be maybe 15 boat lengths apart. The starboard layline upwind behind us was bow to stern and it seemed that if you jibed at the offset mark, you would be in the lee of that line of boats with little wind. But what I saw guys doing is dive deep on starboard and go by the lee for maybe one minute to get away from the line of boats that stayed on starboard going downwind. They would gut it out low for a minute and then there was separation and they had clear air. In the meantime, most of us were fighting each other off and not sailing dead downwind in the breeze but driving each other high of the rhumb line during the first 200 yards after the offset mark. I thought I knew this but seemed to always find myself above a little pack that kept me from diving lower. Ted did a much better job of getting free of the pack than I did. It was a great event and like Brian frequently says, it is great to sail at Hoover because our MC fleet has quite a few top sailors and we have great competition at home. But it is also good to get to local and regional regattas to see how you are faring with folks other than your home fleet. We will definitely go back next year—the Inlands are at Lake Geneva next summer also. Our MC fleet at Hoover is doing well with participation still up for the year. We are getting 7 to 10 boats out each weekend. As the year winds down, come try the loaner sometime, we would love to have you! Photos of the Inland’s Championship can be seen here. https://medoramedia.pixieset.com/biginland2022/ Let’s give a hearty welcome to new Thistle Fleet Member Kaylie Freewalt, who bought a Thistle that was advertised on our bulletin board. That boat was owned by a person who lived nearby. Before that, it had been owned for many years by Dave and Susie Rausch, who were both Commodores of Hoover Sailing Club at various times. The Rauschs moved to the lower peninsula of Michigan, near Traverse City. Susie passed away many years ago, and Dave raised their only child, a son. I don’t know how that former Hoover Sailing Club Thistle made its way back to Hoover—that would be a question for Kaylie! Kaylie Freewalt is a former Hoover Sail Instructor, and she has sailed with Bob McNitt several times recently. Another new Thistle Fleet 126 member is Fred Poulton, who raced for many years at Cleveland Yachting Club in Rocky River. Fred is a salesman of veterinary supplies, and his son, Hudson crewed for Reed Schworm on one of our Junior Thistle teams. Tim Taylor and Carmen Fernandez joined our fleet earlier this season. In addition to racing Thistles on Senaca Lake they have raced Hobie Cats on Lake Ontario and Long Island Sound, and raced from Booth Bay Harbor, ME to Annapolis, MD. Our last Race Committee duty of the season was Wednesday evening, August 24. We had plenty of volunteers in addition to those who were assigned for that stint. Many thanks to all who did such excellent work, both Wednesday and throughout the season. The Midsummer Midwest Regatta scheduled for July 9 at Edgewater Yacht Club was blown out, according to District Governor Tim Vining. He reported that the wind speeds were 25-30 knots. In other news, the Hoover Junior Thistle sailors had a great summer! The team of Brady Smith, Molly Jones, and Kaden McClary finished fifth in the Sears Cup competition at Vermilion on July 12 and 13. Reed Schworm’s team with Alex McBride and Hudson Poulton crewing also competed. Then at Junior Bay week, Put-in-Bay, the team of Braden, Molly, and Kaden finished first (see featured photo above), followed by the other Hoover team of Mason Shaw, Coleen Corson, and Marshall Wellejus. The team from Mentor Harbor was third, and Buckeye Lake came in fourth. Last, but certainly not least, Hoover’s very own Junior Regatta on July 30 featured all three of our Thistle Junior competitors. Brady, Molly, and Kaden won, followed by Mason, Coleen, and Marshall; and Reed, Alex, and Hudson finished third. (See photos in the Junior Race Team article.) Congratulations to Steve Lavender and Bob McNitt, who finished in second and third place, respectively, behind winner Mark White in the August Pursuit Race! Our first Lake Erie Fall Series Regatta is history. The Kickoff Regatta at Berlin Yacht Club was raced on 8/27, and 9 boats competed in 3 races. Jack Finefrock won in a tiebreaker against Mike McBride with Bob McNitt crewing. Other Lake Erie Fall Series Regattas include: 2023 Schedule Fair warning, the legend of the fall season here on Hoover is that the lake level will recede and the shores will widen. That is especially true where the shore is shallow. The high bluff just north of the Club stays about the same because what we see above the water matches what is below the water. That is because similar minerals erode at similar rates over time. A good rule of thumb is that when you look straight down, if the water looks brown you are looking at the ground and you need to tack. If you get stuck, first pull up your centerboard. If that doesn’t work, pull up the rudder. If you are still stuck, take off your shoes and jump out of the boat so you don’t weigh it down. When your boat is finally free—don’t let go of it or it will float away! Be sure to jump back in the boat and remember to tack sooner next time. See you on the lake, not in it! Windmill Fleet 60 celebrated the Fourth Of July with its annual LobsterFest at Hoover Sailing Club. In fact, Windmillers and friends have gathered for twenty years to enjoy this annual holiday feast. “Double, double, toil and trouble. Fire burn and cauldron bubble.” Shakespeare had it right. Twenty-one Windmillers and guests fervently awaited as the fire burned and the cauldron bubbled. As the water slowly boiled, Bernie Himmelsbach, Dave Stetson, Jim Ferguson and Tim Bachman prepared the crustacean creatures for their delectable demise. Red hot and delicious! Windmill sailors from Fleet 60 recently returned from the 2022 Windmill Nationals in Maryland, July 14th through July 17th. Team Pennells, Boyer, and Bachman caravanned to Rock Hall Yacht Club, on the Chesapeake Bay, to sail and compete against Windmill sailors from Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. This year’s Nationals proved to be a challenge due to scattered, light southwest winds and extreme humidity. Twenty-six teams competed in only four races. Two races on Friday with 4-6 knot winds followed by two races on Saturday with lighter winds and a thunderstorm ending the day. Waiting for the wind to build on Saturday morning, Ethan Bixby, of St. Petersburg, FL and our current national champion, conducted an impromptu, hands-on tuning clinic for all three Hoover boats. His valuable advice and experience are always appreciated! Despite very light winds on Sunday, the Race Committee advised competitors to sail to the course (2 miles off-shore) in hopes that wind conditions would improve. But to no avail. For several hours our boats floated around the course and were eventually towed back to shore. Friday evening after sailing, Allen Chauvenet, from Arlington, Virginia, provided a Maryland crab feast for all participants. Allen, an avid Windmill sailor, is retiring from full-time, competitive sailing. We enjoyed his stories and slide presentation depicting Windmill regattas from over the years. Many sailors shared fond memories and best wishes for Allen’s retirement from sailing. Allen did remind us, that he still plans to attend a few Windmill regattas each year, including our Midwestern Regatta at HSC It’s hard to believe it’s July already. It’s great to see all the activity around the club! Memorial Day and the 4th of July weekends were very successful and fun. I would encourage everyone to get out and sail as much as possible. If you need some help or are looking for advice rigging, launching your boat, sailing, docking, etc., please reach out to me personally at commodore@hooversailing.com, and I will put you in touch with members who are more than willing to help. Thanks to the Windmill fleet for hosting an excellent New Member Reception in late May. (Click on photos below.) It was our first reception since 2019 and in that time we’ve had over 35 new members join the club. The social committee along with help from others pulled off a fantastic Island Party last month. Thank you to everyone who helped out and contributed to this event! Mark your calendars for the Past Commodores Steak Roast on August 13th. Our Junior Race Team is posting excellent results with 4 of 8 regattas completed. We currently hold 1st place overall in Laser and Optimist and 2nd place overall in 420. Congratulations to all of our young sailors and thank you to the parents who are towing the boats and getting our juniors where they need to be. The Junior Travelers Series will culminate with the final regatta and awards ceremony at HSC on July 30th. The board voted in May to approve moving forward with ClubSpot for our website and club management system. If you’ve traveled to a regatta recently or checked results online, you’ve likely been on ClubSpot. We have a committee currently working to learn and integrate ClubSpot into our operations, and we hope to go “live” around Labor Day. Members won’t notice much change initially, but this will make a huge difference in our behind-the-scene processes and streamline so many aspects of our club which currently a handful of members spend hundreds of hours every year performing. Finally, I want to encourage all members to get more involved in our club if you aren’t already. Email your committee chair and ask if she/he needs any help (I promise they do). Get involved with your fleet, go sailing, join the “Sail to the Bridge” event on the second Fridays, attend social events and start thinking about joining the board for next year. The board needs new blood every year for the future leadership of the club. I can tell you it’s the best way to get to know your club, your fellow members and to give back. See you on the water! Editor’s Note: Several of our club members are raising the next generation of Hoover sailors, and some of them were junior sailors back in their own youth here at HSC, e.g., Kim Pasley , Alex’s mother. They dedicate their time and energy to supporting this activity. In these stories below, each proud dad recounts his son’s participation at the 2022 Thistle Juniors and Women’s Nationals. By Mike McBride Saturday brought big wind (gusts deep in the 20’s) and bigger waves than we get on Hoover. It’s probably safe to say our Hoover team had never seen a sea state like that. One race was held. 3 women’s boats retired, 2 with breakdowns and 1 after a capsize. Our team flipped, but self-rescued and took their finish, earning kudos from all for their grit. Sunday was much more manageable. A handful more races were sailed and the fleet was tight. Our gang got some pretty good finishes, and ended up tying for 2nd place. They lost the tiebreaker and took 3rd, but given the spirit they showed and the fact that they are still eligible for a few more years, they have a pretty good shot in coming years should they choose to try again. Alex gave me the following summary: “It was good”. (Click on the pictures below.) By David Schworm On June 17 we packed up #3075 and headed north. The weather forecast didn’t look promising for the first day and that was confirmed by the howling and occasional 50kt gusts that rocked our bunks on the member boats they generously provided as our accommodations through the night. After the skippers meeting the AP flag went up due to strong winds and chop on the lake with the hope of starting after short delay. Around 12:30 with winds measuring 12-16 mph if memory serves, the decision was made to send the Women and Junior fleets out for a combined start at 1:45. All eight boats (5 women and 3 junior) took the start for a 2WL in what looked like 1-3’ waves (see photo below) and increasing wind. By the end of the first leg, one women’s boat had capsized, another retired for unknown reasons, and another lost a chainplate and was fortunate to get back in with their mast intact. Meanwhile, 3075 had partially swamped and lost ground to the remaining fleet. Winds were reporting 16-18 mph with gusts in the 20’s when our team rounded the weather mark for their final leg. All was looking good until a gybe was needed to get to the finish line. The boom was in the water midway between the transom and the shroud and after a severe upwind turn and righting of the hull, the boat succumbed to the water pouring over the starboard rail, and down they went. Our team was able to get the boat recovered without assistance, furiously bailed out, thanks to some video of capsized Thistles we reviewed in transit to the club, crossed the finish line in P5 (P3 junior), returned to the yacht basin wet but in good spirits. Racing was abandoned for the day. Day 2 was much more pleasant with winds around 6-8 mph and we saw some exciting racing in both groups in the combined fleet. #3075 lead the junior fleet in the first two races, including rounding the first mark P2 overall in race 2 but were overtaken on the downwinds, having issues with spinnaker handling for all three of them. They lead at one point in the third and final race but fell victim to the light patches that frustrated the 2nd place junior boat which they tied on points but lost in the tiebreak. In summary, they all had a great time plus did our JRT, club, and fleet proud. They will continue to sail together starting with the Sears Cup area E qualifier in Vermilion July 12-13. You’ll likely see them on random Sundays and Wednesdays as the season goes along as well. Cheers. As the Commodore mentioned we have reached the halfway point of the Summer Wednesday Night Racing Series. We have enjoyed many races, lots of camaraderie and a few (hundred) burgers and beers. See the photos below. Even if you do not race, be sure to come out for the ever-popular sunset views and burgers and beers. We have just 2 more pursuit races left in the series, July 20th and August 17th. The best 3 out of 4 pursuit races will determine the Hoover Sailing Club Champion. The standings are close, very close only 2 points separate first from fourth. Racing starts every Wednesday through August 31 at 6:50 pm. Hope to see you on the water. -Jeff Tyndall Editor’s Note: Our second pursuit race of the season was held on June 15 with some very sporty breeze. Eleven boats participated, including Mike McBride and daughter in their Laser. Bob McNitt with Kim Pasley as crew shot up through the middle of the course to come in second. He tells the story here. By Bob McNitt/Thistle 3891 We were overpowered and feathering frequently, but undeterred. The temperature was in the mid-90’s and as we came to the end of the second beat, we were exhausted and did not feel like we had the strength to fly the spinnaker on the next reaches. We didn’t gain anything on the reaches without the chute, but we didn’t lose much and we rounded the leeward mark with more energy. We closed the gap on the third beat and the leaders were not too far ahead. This third time around the course we flew the spinnaker and after the reaches we thought we still had a chance. There were three Interlakes and one MC Scow ahead of us as we rounded the leeward mark. They stayed on port tack taking them to the right side of the course. I thought the angle was better on starboard as we rounded, so we tacked after rounding and went left. We held starboard until Kimberly pointed out there appeared to be less wind farther up the left side and we tacked back toward the middle of the course. The three Interlakes and the MC, on starboard now, crossed in front of us on port, in the middle of the course, but we were closing the gap. The two leading Interlakes tacked over to port. I went a little farther on port and then tacked back to starboard. We had picked off the MC and the third Interlake and I was hoping the two remaining Interlakes would ignore me and battle each other as we fought toward the finish. As we approached the line, the leading Interlake was just too far ahead – we needed just another minute to overtake it, but the second Interlake was at the edge of our grasp. We took its transom with good speed as it crossed us on starboard tack and then tacked over us with 25 yards to the finish. We were able to come up under it and maintain our speed as both boats fought for the finish. The gun sounded for the first Interlake and a few seconds later the RC called out “Thistle, Interlake.” We beat the second Interlake “by a grommet” according to the PRO. Congratulations to the winner Interlake 1382 skipper Mark Presley crew Scott and thanks to our other fellow competitors for the very enjoyable racing. For the 4th of July Holiday series, the Race Committee’s work for the weekend was impressively taken care of by Hoover Juniors. Nadia Reynolds was the PRO on Saturday and Dave Alvarado was PRO on Sunday. Conditions were challenging for competitors but likely more challenging for the Race Committee, and Hoover Juniors did an outstanding job! Here is Matt Fisher presenting a his award to Dave Alvarado for his efforts. This is great leadership and teamwork practice for the juniors and it also relieved a fleet from those duties. Commodore’s Comments
2022 Past Commodores Steak Roast Photo Album
Upcoming Events-Save the Dates!
Docks Out & Annual Meeting Saturday, October 29
2022 Annual Awards Banquet, Sunday, November 13 at 5 pm
Junior Race Team Successful Summer of ’22
Interlake Interlude
Upwind Oscillating Shifts
Weather Marks
Leeward Marks
Trim
Scow Scoop
A Hail from the Rail
Milling Around
Busy July for Windmill Fleet 60
LobsterFest 2022
Windmill National Regatta
Commodore’s Comments
2022 New Members Welcome
Hoover Juniors at Thistle Nationals
This year the Thistle Class experimented with holding Nationals early, with the idea that the event was being held in Florida, and holding it early increased the likelihood of wind. Not sure it panned out that way, but a side effect was that Women’s and Juniors was spun off into a separate event. This 2-day event was held at Crescent Sail Yacht Club outside of Detroit, June 18 & 19 on Lake St. Clair. Hoover was represented by a junior team consisting of Reed Schworm, Hudson Poulton, and Alex McBride. There were 2 other Junior boats, one from Crescent, and another from upstate New York. Ours was the youngest team out there. The Juniors and Women sailed on the same course at the same time and were only separated for scoring purposes.
Sometime earlier this year, when the daffodils still had flowers on them and we were just getting used to mowing the lawn every 4-5 days, Alex McBride and Reed Schworm decided they wanted to have a go at the Thistle Junior Nationals. Our team was complete when Hudson Poulton agreed to join them a week later. They began sailing together in the club races and practicing with the JRT whenever they could. Over the next few months, we watched and sometimes cringed as they learned what they could in the short time we had before the mid-June event. Thanks to coaching from Mike McBride and JRT coach Dave Alvarado they figured out the basics of the spinnaker and often kept pace with some of the faster Thistles.
Club Racing is Fun!
Wednesday Night Burgers & Beer
June Pursuit Race
There was a SSW breeze at 12 with stronger gusts. The conditions were ideal for a Thistle with 3 aboard, but unfortunately, most of the Thistles were sailing 2-up. Steve Lavender let me barge in, so I got a good start. I was able to sail my race for the entire way. Being able to get around the racecourse unobstructed is extremely important since we aren’t really racing the boats around us but are racing against boats that are still ahead.4th of July Holiday Series
