Nite News 3/2/09
2009 INCA National Championship Report
Frautschi wins 2009 Nite Nationals
4LIYC skipper Grant Frautschi notched another Nite National Championship over
two days of exciting and challenging conditions on Lake Geneva February 28 &
March 1, 2009. Going into Sunday's racing, Grant led the fleet followed by Mark
Prange, Craig Adams, Mark Wilfert and Tom Sweitzer. Saturday we raced in a
declining breeze that faded to nothing midway through race number 4.
Sunday, as they say was a brand new day. First, three additional boats
registered for the registered for the regatta bringing our fleet up to 27,
something of a record turnout. But the real fun for sailors on day 2 was the
wind. While I'd call Saturday a "breeze", Sunday was a "blast". When the flag
was dropped on race 4 at 10AM under a perfect blue sky, our race committee
estimated the north wind rolling down the course at 18 - 20, and it pretty much
held there for the rest of the day. The first boat around covered Saturday's
course in about 15 minutes. Today, the first boat crossed the finish line about
10 minutes after the flag was dropped. Wow, things happen fast. Generally
though there were few mishaps and none put any boat or skipper out of action.
But, I digress... Back to the action on the ice. Most of the boats were back in
the pits by 1:00 with five races completed for a total of eight in the regatta.
Completing the fifth race gives everyone a throw-out and many of us needed that
throw-out to stay in the game. Five races today, three different winners.
Thanks go out to Vice Commodore Rick Wilfert and his brother Mark for organizing
our Race Committee and taking care of the scoring duties. A big thank-you also
to our Race Committee: Rusty, Matt, Dave, Deb and Ron who dropped the flag,
kept us on time, wrote down numbers, persevered in the face of shifting winds
and cold temps and snapped lots and lots of photos which will be posted on the
Nite website in the next few days. And, speaking of the next
few days, come back when I hope to have another
story that will explain what happened in the last two photos in this report.
Donald Sanford
INCA Commodore
[email protected]
Between Races
Sunday's Fleet
Some of this year's competitors gather for a group
photo after the awards presentation
What happened here?
Commodore Sanford sports new style telltales?