The 88thWMYA Championship was held at beautiful Crystal Lake Yacht Club August 2nd– 7th, 2017. 25 E scows competed for the Championship with a new 2 race per day format highlighted below. The new format was great for the E fleet as we would have only sailed 3 races with the old format versus 5 with the new schedule.
Day one saw winds out of the NW at 12-18 knots with sunny skies and cool temperatures. G-7 Jamie Kimball jumped out to a big lead and never looked back. 2nd-5thwas Munroe, Cox, Terry and Johanson. Race two saw a very tight battle between Hatton, Munroe and Kimball with Brett taking the bullet followed by Munroe and Kimball. Eddie Cox and Brian McMurray rounded out the top 5.
Day two had a light and shifty North East wind with cloudy damp conditions. In race 3 Jamie Kimball played the shifts well to take the win followed by Eddie Cox, Brett Hatton, Doug McNeil and Brian McMurray. In race 4 the wind had moved east with a little more velocity and still shifty. Eddie Cox played a big shift on the first downwind and went on to win. Brian McMurray sailed fast taking 2nd, followed by Pete Price, Jamie Kimball and Tom Munroe. After 4 races Kimball had 9 points, Cox had 10, Munroe with 15, and McMurray had 19.
The forecast for Friday afternoon looked ominous and boy was it ever. The fleet left the dock with winds out of the SW at 15-20knots. The forecast was for a big shift and a squall to the Northwest which hit near the last third of the first upwind. The shift brought many capsizes and wild rides with winds topping 35 knots. The race was cancelled and the fleet struggled to get back to the club with a downpour and the breeze making for great stories back at the club.
Race 5 on Saturday was a much calmer WSW at 7 to 10 knots. Cox and Munroe played the left and were rewarded with a big shift that had them out in front at the first upwind mark. Eddie was a little premature on his chute set and got caught up on the offset allowing Munroe to pop out for the win. Rob terry sailed to a 2nd, Eddie held on for third, Doug McNeil and Pete Price rounded out the top 5.
The 3rdfor Eddie was good enough for the regatta win with 13 points, Kimball and Munroe ended up with 17 points with Kimball taking the tiebreaker. McMurray and Hatton rounded out the top 5.
Next year’s regatta will be at Muskegon Yacht Club August 1st-4th. Hope to see a great turnout at a great venue in 2018.