Right up front, let me give the credits. Renka and Adam Gesing have shown their incredible side again. They pulled together an amazing regatta from scraps. Of course, they have experience, contributing to the organization of several major, successful regattas, including the 1990 Worlds, a few North Americans, and several Canadian Championships, but they showed the same intensity and dedication to the Midwest Champs as to these more high-profile events. Their club, The South Port Sailing Club, was host to this event and the club also simultaneously hosted its annual Invitational Regatta for keelboats. Therefore, the Gesings had to pull together meals, committee boats, marks, and race committee. Also, we had a bit of financial security added by Huron Valley Steel Corp., a car recycling company from the Detroit area and employer of Adam. The race committee was a patchwork of SPSC members and imported dignitaries, headed by Carol Alexander (wife of Graham, mother of Brooke and Claire, and prominent Windmill sailor at the same time, almost) as Race Committee Chair. Though the committee lacked GPS and VHF, they didn't lack SMARTS, so the races evolved smoothly (with the help of one high-level competitor dragging marks between races. Try this at the Worlds, Hugh! I dare ya! Nudge-nudge, wink-wink). All of these pieces came together and it worked!
 

One other bit of documentation/credit. This regatta redefined the "Midwest" as all space between the East Coast and the Mississippi River, almost. Of course, this is in line with the cartographic considerations, and this is the way many of us Midwest 5-ohers have always seen it, but this was the first year in many that most of the territory was represented. Apparently, Windsor is the place to hold this event. We had crews from Montreal to Chicago, and many locales in between, 20 in all. That makes this the best-attended Midwest Champs in the memory of the geezers whose memory is starting to go. Among these crews, we had seasoned crews in hot boats and new-comers in classics. We were joined even by John and Krista Zarling, grad students from Michigan Tech on the UP (that's "Upper Peninsula" to the non-Midwesterners), 12 hours north-by-west of Detroit, who entertain the notion of joining the fray. They volunteered to drive the gate boat, and they got a taste of 5-ohing in 15-18. They're pumped.
 

Now to the racing. Saturday morning, we rigged with a nice northerly blowing at 10-12 mph with low clouds/old fog rolling through. By the start of the first race, the wind moderated to 1-5, with puffs to 6 in patches. This placed a huge premium on clear air and acceleration post tacking Those other watercraft that depend on fossil fuels often came through, coming for a look or just going from one there to another, and created some interesting wave conditions that also called for effective acceleration.. Hugh Morrin/Michael Hoffman broke clear immediately after the start of the first race, developed substantial speed, and separated themselves from us mortals. Brook Hamilton and Jeff Boyd (Jeff was for the absolute first time crewing in a 505 regatta) latched onto the green boat's wake and hung in well. I could detect no particular favor to either side of the course, so racing was tight. Boats converged from both sides at the windward mark. Places changed a bit on the reaches, especially in the second phalanx, but the final outcome and an overall pattern were determined. Hugh continued to show us the way during the rest of the day. I somehow did a few things correctly and sneaked in for third in the second race; a few of the luminaries faltered during that race, a few others in the next, but a few remained consistent. At the end of the three-race day, which for some couldn't come too soon, Hugh and Michael had reason to be cocky, but weren't, and there was a three-way tie for second, with Hamilton/Boyd, a Chicago boat (Kaiser/Badtke), and the Montreal syndicate (Bertrand/Molimard) baiting each other in anticipation of the next day's competition. That evening, the club sponsored a chili/salad dinner, and we hung around chatting..
 

Sunday was different, at least in some respects. A weak front went through during the night, leaving us to rig in a light southwest. The weather services forecast 10-15, building to 15-25, and, believe it or not, that is what we got for the next four races, each of about 50 min. duration. Because of the wind's direction, the waves were quite modest. The first windward leg was short enough that the start (appropriate end of the line, of course with clear air) was a large determinant in the final outcome. In all races, one side or the other was favored. On a few lucky instances, I got it right. Certainly, others got it right more often. In the first race, we had one great demolition derby at the leeward mark the second time around. It was kind of fun to catch glimpses of it going on behind me. That situation and these four races gave several crews a chance to practice their ability to recover from a capsize. There was some incentive to do it correctly because the deepest part of Lake St. Claire is 18 feet (6 m) deep. Where we sailed, the depth was more like 10 ft. (3 m). Nevertheless, consider the conditions: planing to windward in 15-20 consistently (a few puffs higher, rare lulls), exhilarating off-wind rides, air temps in the low 80's F (25-27 C), water temps in the high 70's F (23-24 C), bright sun, good old friends, good new friends ... This is 5-ohing!
 

Hugh Morrin left no doubt that this pilot of rotary-winged and horizontal fixed-winged craft can also pilot a vertical-winged craft, with the able assistance of Mike Hoffman. Jeff Boyd, a 505 skipper of considerable renown, a past-commodore of Kingston Yacht Club, an international sailing coach, and principal in the Canadian America's Cup effort, showed that he can learn a few new tricks, though he was heard to mumble something like "never again." He and Brook made an effective crew. Shona Lovshin-Moss, an outstanding Olympic Canadian in Europe dinghies but a 505er at the core, and hubby Steve Lovshin showed speed and consistency to place third. OK, I will begrudgingly grant that the Canadians did well on their home water, taking the first four places, six of the top ten, but hey, "our dollar's bigger 'n your dollar!" But seriously, folks, the best crews were just that, and it was good to have the Midwest Champs include them, finally.
 

Non-5-ohers please note: several novice teams were present in non-SuperBoats and they were in the thick of it. There were four female drivers, two in the top four, two more females crewing, and one thirteen-year-old skipper (Barrett Rhoads). There is room for all who want to join us.
 

More power to ya! Therefore, more vang!
 

Dave Stetson
 

1998 INT. 505 MIDWEST CHAMPIONSHIPS, WINDSOR, ONT. 22-23 AUGUST

 

						RACE
#	SKIPPER	/	CREW	Sail	#	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	TOTAL	DROP	TOT  minus  DROP	Sail No.
1	Hugh Morrin	/	Michael Hoffman	CAN	8442	1	1	1	10	1	3	1	16.8	10	6.75	8442
2	Brook Hamilton	/	Jeff Boyd	CAN	8192	2	2	9	1	3	1	4	21.5	9	12.5	8192
3	Shona Lovshin-Moss	/	Stephen Lovshin	CAN	8260	5	9	10	4	2	2	2	34	10	24	8260
4	Renka Gesing	/	Adam Gesing	CAN	7605	14	11	5	2	6	YMP	3	46	14	32	7605
5	Ki Kaiser	/	John Badtke	USA	8600	3	7	3	9	7	7	5	41	9	32	8600
6	François Bertrand	/	Allain Molimard	CAN	8233	6	5	2	7	10	6	7	43	10	33	8233
7	David Stetson	/	Mike Agrell	USA	8624	11	3	12	3	4	8	9	50	12	38	8624
8	Graham Alexander	/	Brian Richmond	USA	7685	7	6	7	8	5	12	6	51	12	39	7685
9	Marg Hurley	/	Peter Wood	CAN	7798	4	10	8	DNF	8	4	8	61	21	40	7798
10	John Dohan	/	Anthony Abate	USA	8439	8	12	13	5	9	11	10	68	13	55	8439
11	Jim Tuten	/	Mark Koenig	USA	8265	13	13	14	6	11	5	11	73	14	59	8265
12	Jason Breeden	/	Angela Breeden	USA	7061	10	8	11	11	DNF	10	12	81	21	60	7061
13	Clarissa Bush	/	Chris Gillies	CAN	8410	9	4	6	DNS	DNS	DNS	DNS	103	21	82	8410
14	Phil Terman	/	Eric Gunderson	USA	7347	15	15	16	DNF	14	9	15	103	21	82	7347
15	Joe Stoodley	/	Allan Brown	USA	6663	16	17	15	13	15	15	14	105	21	84	6663
16	Hennessy	/	Hennessy	USA	7857	17	16	17	12	12	14	16	104	17	87	7857
17	Barrett  Rhoads	/	Andrew Gassman	USA	4379	12	14	4	DNF	DNF	DNS	DNS	110	21	89	4379
18	Michael Black	/	Jeff Southworth	USA	5309	DNS	DNS	DNS	14	13	13	13	116	21	95	5309
19	Marek Balinski	/	Nora Hoffer	USA	8	18	18	18	DNF	DNS	DNF	DNS	132	21	111	8
20	Geoff Cashman	/	Jim Mcauley	USA	6660	19	DNS	DNS	DNS	DNF	DNS	DNS	143	21	122	6660