Coming Home

This week was “Star Week” at the Lake Sunapee Yacht Club in New Hampshire, kicking off with the Jr. Western Hemisphere Championships, followed by the Sunapee Open, and culminating with the 12th District Championships. I was happy to find the time to make it home for the Open and take the helm against friends who had traveled from Annapolis, Michigan, Toronto, and other points north.

Growing up on Lake Sunapee was a special experience where I was exposed to an enthusiastic group of sailors who happened to comprise the largest inland fleet of Olympic Class Star boats in the world during the 1980’s. Lake Sunapee is surrounded by mountains - known for its fickle winds, and is certainly a difficult place to sail. Growing up I use to find the highest vantage point possible and watch the puffs fill across the lake, bend around points, and die out under the hills.

The light shifty winds on Sunapee taught me patience, perseverance, and above all, no matter what happens, you always have a shot a coming back. This was demonstrated on Saturday in the second race when my crew John Corrigan and I had a beautiful start, two boats down from the pin, and lead the fleet towards the weather mark. A few boats tacked out behind us as we continued straight towards the mark and fell into a gaping hole (area with no wind). John calmly gave me the play by play as the rest of the fleet sailed around us on both sides. We did everything we could to keep the boat moving and made it to the weather mark in 14th. Seemingly out of contention with the leaders minutes ahead, we methodically plotted our course downwind connecting the dots with puffs barely visible on the water.

By the time we reached the leeward mark we were just boat lengths behind the lead boat in a cluster of five trying to sneak around the bottom mark. The wind held steady for the second lap and we were able to hold a 6th place finish for the race, our second of the day. The 6, 6 score line put us in 5th for the day only 2 points out of 3rd.

Sunday brought a second day of beautifully sunny skies, but unfortunately, no wind. The competitors stayed on shore and enjoyed the mountain views form the club and floating in the lake as no wind ever materialized. All in all, it was a wonderful weekend, as much about seeing friends and enjoying a beautiful place as it was about the racing.

Next up Andrew Campbell and I head to Weymouth England, host of the 2012 Olympic sailing events, for the final leg of the ISAF Sailing World Cup. Andrew and I are 3 points out of the overall lead after six events and hope to move up with another solid result.

Thank you to all the LSYC members who put on a great regatta each year and helped me get my boat to the lake, and ready to race. Also to MacDesigns Inc. for providing the beautiful decals for the regatta.