2009 WMYA E
Invitational Regatta
Hosted by Crystal Lake Yacht Club
Saturday morning brought dark
skies, chilly temperatures and winds around 20 mph
from the northwest, keeping a few boats on their
trailers.
Tom Munroe WH-77 came loaded for bear with
Charlie and Coye Harrett on board.
They were smokin’ fast in the big breeze and
immediately jumped out to a lead in race 1.
It turned into a four boat race until some
boats came together at the final leeward mark and
left Rob Terry CR-66 in the drink .
Brett Hatton SL-27, with Jamie Kimball and
David Fox, finished second and Doug McNeil WH-111was
third.
There was a long delay between races as several
boats flipped and one of them was completely
submerged and had to be towed back to the club.
It was more of the same in race
2 as Munroe moved out front again.
Terry decided to keep the pointy side up and
finished second, followed by McNeil and Hatton.
A few more boats went over, but no swamping
and the fleet headed in for a late lunch.
The breeze settled into the low
teens and the skies cleared a bit for race 3.
This time Casey Call WA-99 punched out and
rounded first ahead of Terry and Rich Halliday
CR-12.
At the bottom, it was Terry leading with Munroe on
his tail and Call close behind.
Brian McMurray WH-88 got into the mix by
working the shifts up the left side to round second
behind Terry.
The downwind finish saw Terry hold off
Munroe, Call and McMurray.
Conditions got a little mushy
for race 4 as it got late in the day, so shifting
gears and staying in the pressure became critical.
After dominating much of the early action
Munroe got into trouble at the start and was over
early.
He fought back, but could do no better than
eleventh.
Terry moved to the front of the fleet with
Hatton in pursuit and McNeil coming in fast from the
right side of the course.
Hatton made a late charge as Terry hung on by
less than a boat length at the finish with McNeil
right behind.
Great racing!
Munroe led by one over Hatton
and four over Terry as sailors dug into a dinner of
delicious Dinghy’s ribs prepared by Steve Christian
and his team.
Many sailors headed straight for the nearest
anti-inflammatory, liquid or otherwise, as others
made their way over to Point Betsie to check on the
progress of the Chicago-Mackinac fleet.
Sunday morning delivered
sunshine, light winds from the WSW and mild
temperatures heading toward the 70's.
Conditions were tricky with plenty of shifts
and holes.
These are the kind of conditions that often
bring Don Nelson WH-12 or Pete Price TO-12 to the
front.
The wind went left in the pre-start and Tom Munroe
tacked off the pin end to lead the pack.
Nelson was with him the whole way, finishing
second with Steve Johnson TO-33 in third.
Hatton was fourth with McNeil fifth, keeping
the battle with Nelson for second overall very
close.
Terry got hung up at the start and could manage no
better than ninth, putting a likely end to his
regatta hopes.
The breeze picked up a little
for the final race, as teams were all hiking in the
better pressure, but there were still plenty of soft
spots to avoid.
Patience was critical as you worked your way
to the next breeze.
Disaster struck early for Tom Munroe as he
got buried at the pin end by the entire fleet.
The regatta was up for grabs again with five
or six teams poised to capitalize.
Nelson, Hatton and McNeil were all in good
position early after working up the left side.
Pete Price stormed into the lead on the
second beat with a masterful job of working the
shifts and the pressure up the right middle.
Terry, out of it for all intensive purposes
after another rough start, had a nice run to the
final leeward mark and got back to the middle of the
fleet.
The contenders headed left up the final beat with
Price trying to cover.
Johanson and Paul Wicklund SL-22 led Terry
out to the right.
As the breeze moved right this group tacked
and moved on top of the fleet.
Price tried several times to get back to the
right, but couldn’t get across.
Terry found a shaft of breeze and pinched up
into it, eventually getting over Wicklund and out in
front of Johanson, who had dug back into the right
again.
Price finally found solid breeze as he approached
the port layline to the finish and was able to cap
an excellent race as he nipped Terry at the line.
Johanson, Wicklund, Nelson and McNeil
followed.
With Munroe finishing back in the fleet and a
throw-out coming, it was unclear how things would
end.
As it turned out, Terry’s last
race, last leg, crazy comeback was the difference.
His 2-1-1-9-2 topped Munroe’s 1-1-2-11-1 by a
single point!
This was another near miss by Tom Munroe, who
sailed extremely well, but caught a couple of tough
breaks.
Hatton, McNeil, Nelson and Price all finished within
three points of each other.
Great competition and great drama.
Terry’s unlikely recovery gave
him his third straight WMYA E Invitational title and
fourth overall.
