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| Midwest District Championship at Geist Reservoir, Indianapolis, IN. | August 23 - 24 |
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| 2008 MIDWEST DISTRICTS
August 24-25, 2008 For the 9th consecutive year, the Windmill Midwest Districts were held at the Indianapolis Sailing Club on Geist Reservoir the weekend before Labor Day. Mark your calendar now – we have already been invited back for next year (perhaps because Windmillers do dishes for the Saturday night dinner??). Friday evening became a bit of a “round robin” event at Loon Lake Lodge as the travelers arrived in a staggered fashion. The restaurant is known for its wild game and fish offerings, and, of course, the ever-popular “Snake Balls”. This year’s gathering included 2 boats from Kansas City (Barry Skikne with wife Marge and crew Bill Smith), 3 boats from Columbus (Graham Alexander with crew Dina Tayim – an up and coming new sailor – Bernie and Julie Himmelsbach, and Monica Coolidge and Roy Underwood in a beautiful woodie built ~35 years ago by Monica’s father), Chris and Cam Demler from the Cincinnati area, and Rick Beale out of Chicago. ISC came through for us and recruited a crew for Rick. He was assisted all weekend by Jim Rapp (a former ISC member) who was visiting from Pagosa Springs, CO. Saturday dawned with the dreaded “3-H Forecast” – hazy, hot and humid – with light winds. Racing was to begin at 10:30 am, but was delayed for ~45 minutes to wait for the winds to develop. Windmills are the 6th start (out of 7 total), and the winds came up nicely to ~5 mph just in time for the start of our 7-boat fleet. Team Lewis led the way to the windward mark of the WLW course – clearing the way for others to take over. Team Demler won the race, and thanks to Graham Alexander’s U-turn to the real finish line, Team Lewis landed 2nd place. (ISC has a very organized race committee who is able to finish fleets to the starboard side of the race committee boat while simultaneously starting fleets to the port side). The light winds seemed to be holding, so RC elected to run a 2nd race before breaking for a lunch of burgers and dogs on the deck of the clubhouse. We all hoped for better winds for the afternoon, but it was not to be as they seemed to dwindle even more. All fleets managed to “bob” their way around the course through Race #3, so the RC decided to persevere and try for one more – since the forecast for Sunday was not very promising for wind. The 1st leg of Race #4 had ‘Mills drifting all over the course. After being “buried” at the start line, Team Himmelsbach had tacked away to port, and suddenly found themselves skimming straight for the windward mark in their own private jet stream (Bernie later attributed this miracle to strict church attendance). Team Alexander was the only boat close enough to work their way to this mysterious air, while the rest of the fleet continued to drift to the W mark. Bernie and Julie led around all marks with Graham and Dina closing in. Team Alexander sneaked by on the last leg for a 1st place finish with Himmelsbachs in 2nd – while the balance of the fleet “bobbed” toward the leeward mark. By the end of Saturday, Chris and Cam Demler had displayed great racing form. With a total of 6 points, they would be unbeatable. Graham Alexander and Dina had a solid grasp on 2nd place, assuming things went well on Sunday. Third place was up for grabs depending on how things went for Teams Himmelsbach, Lewis and Skikne/Smith (each only 1 point behind the other). After a very hot day on the water, everyone was pleased to retreat to their hotel rooms for a refreshing shower before reconvening at the club for a steak dinner put on by the Y-Flyer fleet. It has become a tradition that the skippers of the Windmill fleet volunteer for KP duty following the meal, and Commodore Lewis took advantage of this captive audience to hold the District annual meeting. Dishes were cleaned and Bernie Himmelsbach was elected 2008-2009 District Commodore – with only one dissenting vote (Bernie’s). The “3-H weather” held into Sunday, and racers headed out in little to no wind. Two fleets were started in even less wind and the race committee abandoned the day. Racers headed for the dock … in a new wind … that died completely as the 2nd half of the fleet neared the cove. Boats and gear were packed to the trip home, and everyone gathered once more for lunch and awards on the deck before hitting the road. As always, Indianapolis Sailing Club put on a great regatta. Each year they welcome us with open arms and share their wonderful facilities with us. We look forward to our annual visit to renew this friendship. |
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