2014 Geneva Spring Regatta - Report

After two days of absolutely perfect racing conditions, Chris Jewett (M-3) with his team of Harry Melges, Pat Hughes & Hunter Sharpe, win the 2014 Lake Geneva Spring Regatta with just 16 points.

Chris going upwind in his new Melges E-Scow showing what winning trim looks like. I guess Harry must think looking around is more important than hiking - good thing Pat Hughes was doing more than his fair share! :)

This years Geneva Spring regatta had a number of new faces - So exciting for the class to see the enthusiasm and excitement they are bring to our fleet. It is no surprise to see seasoned E-Scow sailors the likes of Jewett, Barkow, Brian and Vincent Porter, Bonanni, and Strothman in the top of the standing. However, some new faces will be challenging them as the season progresses. Tim Krech and Ben Burgum partnered up to buy an E-Scow we'll know as M-20, Iceburg. A 7th place finish in their first E-Scow regatta is a statement. Tim is a ILYA Championship C-Scow sailor - welcome to the E-Fleet.
Coye Harrett (SL-41) is a talented young sailor with tons of success in all the scow classes as crew and as skipper in the Melges17. His third place in race #4 says it all. Jake Erdman (WH-54) is another young sailor making a big move to a new Melges E-Scow from the MC Fleet. Jake is a winning MC sailor and surely will be repeating that success in the E-Scow as he gets more comfortable in the boat.
Mendota has a couple of new boats this year that can claim the Geneva Spring Regatta to be their first E regatta. The "College Kids", former UW Sailing Team members, are Phil Morley, Brendan Boylan, and Andrew Fox (H-3, Shiva). They partnered in a boat and plan to attend many E-regattas this summer. This was their first time racing the E and showed some real promise in the third race to stay ahead of a majority of the boats, including some winning skippers - watch out Toby Sutherland (GL-7), Mark Jordan (I-14), Matt Peterson (V-27)! Erik Kerlow (H-73) bought a boat after he gained some experience last year in a boat he leased from the Mendota Yacht Club E-Fleet (That will be another article at a later date). Eric has a number of Wisconsin sailing team members crewing for him this summer. Eric is coming to the E-scow from a Tartan10, but he's also had some dingy experience. He will be a great addition to the fleet bring some enthusiasm and new ideas to make the Mendota E-fleet even more fun - if that is even possible!

Sunday's racing was much like Saturday except the wind was SW and a little stronger. Most boats took a couple of turns on their uppers and a turn or two on the lowers and maybe even dropped the mast the slightest of bit back. Pre-race radio chatter by the RC was saying puffs to 20, and that was enough to make some necessary tuning changes. Augie Barkow got off strong and with 720 pounds on the rail was driving fast upwind. Augie headed on port toward the point on the north shore and then hooked into a nice starboard slant into the the first mark. Vincent Porter (I-2) was next, followed by Coye Harrett (SL-41) Matt Peterson (V-27), David Strothman (M-10), Brian Porter (I-49), and Tim Krech (M-20). Most boats followed the south shoreline downwind and jibed near the lay line for the leeward mark. By the next upwind the deck had shuffled a little - Barkow kept the lead, Chris Jewett was second (he was 14th at the first mark), and Coye Harrett slipped past Vincent Porter who was followed by Brian Porter , John Dennis (M-43), and Peterson. Next was Ken Wruk (I-71) who came out of nowhere since he was mid twenties at the first mark. Barkow held the lead to the downwind finish, Harrett passed Jewett and they were followed by Vincent Porter, Dennis, Brian Porter, Wruk, and Peterson.

In the second race of the day the wind was less and so were the gusts, but still absolutely great racing conditions. The fleet took a long starboard off the line and were greeted with a nice south shore lift on port tack into the first mark. Wish I had thought of that! Barkow again lead the way with Jewett, Peterson, Krech, Brian Porter, and Jeff Bonanni (T-73) in the chase. This time down the boats that jibed earlier faired better while some got stuck on the south shore and didn't have a good slant back to the leeward mark. Barkow and Peterson slipped back a little while Jewett, Brian Porter, Vincent Porter, and Mark Jordan (I-14) moved up. On the last downwind to the finish Jewett kept the lead followed by Brian Porter, Jordan (passing two boats), Krech (also passing two), Vincent Porter (losing two, but passing one), Peter Strothman (passing one), and Barkow (losing four).

For the final results, Jewett expanded his points lead, Jeff Bonanni (T-73) dropped dropped from second to fifth place (with last day finishes of 13 and 12), Lon Schoor 9h-70 dropped one place to finish fourth (last day finished of 9 and 13), and Barkow moved up to second (last day finishes of 1 and 7) and Brian Porter (last day finishes of 6 and 2) moved up to third place overall.

A beautifull day of racing in Lake Geneva with 35 E-Scows on the line. Winds down the lake from the west at 5-15 with major shifts. Three 4 leg races – the downwind finish got the fleet off on the second race 5 minutes after the last boat finished – with a slightly longer 15 minute delay between the second and third race to scarf down on board lunches.

Leading it Chris Jewett (M-3) followed by Jeff Bonanni (T-73) and Lon Schoor (H-7). The shifty puff conditions made it hard to have consistently good races as boat might easily change positions by as much as 12 boats between marks.

In the first race it was Augie Barkow (V-37) a few boats up from the port end of the line. He was just a step ahead of the boats around him hitting the shifts and pulled away to round first – mostly working the left-middle side. He was followed by Chris Jewett (M-3), Vincent Porter (I-2) David Strothman (M-10), and Jeff Bonnani (T-73). David Davenport (I-303) was sixth.
Downwind saw Brian Porter start to make his move to eventually win the race, going from 12th to 7th, , then to 4th upwind, and then the win downwind! Mark Jordon (I-14) went from 8th at the first mark to 6th at the next upwind and on to 2nd at the finish. Chris Jewett (M-3) finished 3rd.

The second race was much like the first except it got much shiftier in the last quarter of the leg and Jeff Bonnani (T-73) solved the wind puzzle and rounded 1st. Steve Johanson (TO-33) 2nd, followed by Tim Krech (M-20), Jon Schloesser (J-80), Peter Jewett (I-9), and Chris Jewett (M-3).
This race saw some big position changes after the top 8-9 places. Brian Porter (I-49) went from 9th to 22nd at the finish – I think this included a 360 turn at the top mark. Augie Barkow moved up from a 10th to a 6th at the finish. Lon Schoor (H-7) had a good second beat and passed 6 boats and then a couple more downwind to finish 4th. Jon Schloesser (J-80) held his position through out the race, not easy in the wind conditions many were cursing at, to finish 5th. The winner was Steve Johanson (TO-33). Steve has been doing better each year and this may have been his first race win - at least at a regatta I have attended that I can remember (I'm sure someone is going to correct me on this - me with my foot in my mouth). I can attest to the fact that he has his boat moving fast as he rolled me on the first leg of that race on a port tack shortly after the start. Great job Steve!

In the third race I had a horrendous start and really don’t recall how or where the lead boat had success. But I did get a chance to see them as then came down wind into my view and Chris Jewett (M-3), Steve Johannson (TO-33), Phil Zalog (H-88), Peter Strothman (I-9) and Brian Porter (I-49) were leading. Peter Strothman (I-9) had a great downwind to move into the lead, Tim Kresh (M-20) did too and passed 4 boats to round next at the leeward pin. Other comebacks were Brett Hatton (SL-4) moving up 7 boats kn the second upwind leg . Lon Schoor (H-7) moved up 8 places late in the race. It ended with tight packs of boats finishing – Peter Strothman (I-9) won race three followed by Chris Jewett (M-3), David Strothman (M-10), Steve Johannson (TO-33), and Brian Porter (I-49).

Final Results