August Race Report
Hello fellow ECSC Sailors and Racers,
July has been a great month. Wednesday and Sunday races continue to be a blast. Temps are high, but so are water levels.
Nick and Sheela Prepping for the Beach Party
ECSC Regatta and Beach party proved to be one of our best Racing events of the year. Saturday had some great racing, but unfortunately Sunday the wind didn’t quite cooperate and there were no races Sunday. Dr. Bob and his crew handled the Race Committee duties with expertise and we had some great racing Saturday. Nick Mates and his crew threw one of the best parties of the year. The band played until the wee hours and the dancing and singing was plentiful.
Jeff and Sarah Hanson at the ECSC Beach Party
Red Fleet was won by Nan Schulze in Dutch Mob, 2nd was Perry Cameron in Sublime, and Austin Graef finished third in Don’t Panic. White/Blue Fleet was won by Rich Fox, 2nd went to Chuck and Nancy Goff, and third was Mark Walker. The green fleet was won by Geoff Endris.
Racers at the Skippers Meeting
On another note, Our club was represented for the first time ever in the Bayview Yacht club’s annual race to Mackinac. This is a large yacht race from Port Huron, Michigan to Mackinac Island in Michigan. Club Member Tony (“Toe-Knee”) Hubbard entered his John Alden Challenger. She is 38 feet long and was built in 1961 in England. Her home port is Sandusky, Ohio, but she proudly sailed for and displayed the Eagle Creek Sailing Club Burgee. Her crew included family, along with
Integrity Charging towards the finish of the Bayview Mac Race
extended sailing family. This included many former junior sailors that Tony has mentored over the past decades. Aboard for the race were Toe-Knee Hubbard, his sons Jason and Jacob Hubbard, Cam Borkowski, Barrett Rhodes, John Bergan, and myself – Rick Graef. Delivery crew also included Jim and Bonnie Wolfinger.
Integrity proudly displaying her full colors
The adventure began with a three day delivery from Sandusky to Put-in-Bay to Bayview Yacht Club, then on to Port Huron. After several days of race prep in Port Huron, Integrity began her first race in decades. We battled light air, medium air, and even squalls filled
The view from aloft with lots of canvas in the air.
with lightening, rain that pelted your eyeballs and 45 knot winds. Our only
Integrity flying her A-Kite…before it blew up.
casualty was our asymmetric kite (from a J105) that exploded in 20-25 knots of wind. Integrity finished a respectable 7th out of the 15 boats in her section, and 15th overall out of the 109 yachts competing on the shore course. Following the race, her crew relaxed for a few days on Mackinac Island before beginning the long delivery home to Sandusky. There are lots and lots more stories – so saunter up to me or Captain Tony at the liars table and we would love to share them.
As I write this blog three ECSC J24 crews are preparing their J24s to head north to Put-In-Bay, Ohio to compete in the I-LYA’s Bay Week Regatta. This is often referred to as Senior Bay so as to not confuse it with Junior Bay week. Don’t Panic, Dutch Mob, and Quixotic are all making the trip and will race this Friday through Sunday. This is also the J24 District championships and should be a great regatta.
Have fun, sail often, and sheet in.
Your race chair,
Rick Graef
