January 2017
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Pipers C of C’s Bluegrass Hoover Fling Clamdigger HIGHLANDER Volume LXIII, No. 1 January 2017 The !1 The HIGHLANDER President's Pespective Official publication of The Highlander Class As I write this, it’s looking to be 14 degrees tonight and International Association Highlander Web Page blustery, Not typical Highlander weather. As I sit at home www.sailhighlander.org without Skye winterized, I wonder how many of the projects I Webmaster: Boyd Barnwell will actually complete on the boat before mid winters… and if [email protected] Editor: Gillian Bauer I will be able to find where I “stored” all her gear… that's next [email protected] year’s issue! President: Chris Hansen [email protected] 2016 was a good year for the Highlander fleet! We had Charlestown, RI good breezes, too big breezes, and no breezes; and that was Executive Secretary-Treasurer just one regatta! The 50th Pipers was a great turnout this year. Debbie Busbey The weather was fickle in the breeze department but otherwise Greer, SC, [email protected] P: 864-244-6433 a great weekend and an awesomely hosted regatta. I was glad to see so many HCIA members travel to support such a Commodore: Doug Fisher Xenia,OH, [email protected] monumental regatta despite the weather predictions. Vice President: Pete Breidenbach Looking forward to the 2017 season, I am brought to one Vandalia, OH of my favorite subjects; youth sailing. As none of us are getting Secretary: Ashley Breidenbach younger (except the ladies, of course) getting youth involved in Englewood, OH the Highlander class is a huge issue for me. Locally, within fleet Chief Measurer: Bruce Busbey Greer, SC, [email protected] 47, we try to expand out ranks as much as possible with the O: 864-254-3394 H: 864-244-6433 young sailors in the area. This allows us to get more boats on Growth and Promotion: Karl Felger the water each week. As my son is a Optimist sailor, sometimes Pittsburgh, PA our schedules conflict but having youth on the boat is Builder: Allen Boat Company Inc. refreshing! While his suggestion of adding trapeze to the boat 370 Babcock St., Buffalo, NY 14206 might not work out, I am happy to have him supportive of the 716-842-0800, [email protected] Highlander racing circuit. Even though he was not available to Directors Jeff Curtin (2018) support Pipers, I was ecstatic to have the Kafsky Girls (Reid Westerly, RI and Lane) on board! Having them excited to come out and Mark Paisley (2018) race (and whoop Mom and Dad) was awesome. I would Hallowell, MA Gary Steinbach (2017) encourage all of us to get our kids and grandkids or even Massilon, OH random kids out and racing. They are our future and we must Rick Robertson (2017) Avon Lake, OH invest in them to keep the class alive. Nominating Committee Gary Vinicky Chirs Kafsky Chris Hansen 2016 National Champions Conor Ruppen, Skipper Skye USA 542 Joyce Spring, Crew Carrie Patterson, Crew !2 Hoover Fling drive the MOJO! Jamey had to twist my arm pretty hard to get me to take the tiller… By Jason Japikse Hoover is a regatta Kaity and I always attend because we grew up in Columbus. Hoover is very similar to sailing on Cowan Lake. It’s a lot of fun and the wind doesn’t make any sense 95% of the time… But the clubhouse and the people are great, so it’s a regatta we don’t miss. Mike had a conflict for this regatta, so it was just Kaity and I. We told ourselves that rarely do you need a 3rd on Hoover so we didn’t bother looking. Boy were we wrong. The Photo credit: Lisa Kreischer forecast was calling for winds at 13-14 at starting time, manageable, and 19-20 with gusts up into the 20s by 3pm. Not so manageable… We didn’t want to do it, but we left the boat in the bag for the weekend. Jamey and Tanya were 2 handed and Jay and Boyd were 2 handed for the weekend. We decided that even if we didn’t get the boat in the water, we were going to have a lot more fun if we split up and made a couple of 3 man teams by So we headed out. I sailed with Jamey and leaving 1 boat on shore. It didn’t have to be said Tanya, and Kaity sailed with Jay and Boyd. It that if someone was going to leave a boat on quickly became clear that splitting up and leaving shore it was going to have to be me. Jamey had the boat on the trailer was the right decision. committed to sailing not matter what, and Jay Sailing 2 handed would not have been enjoyable. wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to gain Steve Bauer was another boat that was those ever so crucial Larry Klein points on me. light on crew. He and Jack don’t add up What he didn’t count on was Jamey letting me The Highlander, January 2017 !3 enough for winds in the high teens, but he was Sunday morning there wasn’t a breath of air able to find some more crew also. on the lake and races were cancelled. Such a large difference from the day before… At the end All day long, Steve was putting on a of the day, Steve Bauer would have won the seminar for sailing in heavy air. The only thing that regatta if he hadn’t taught Jack the dangers of a saved us was flying the spinnaker, and we were thunderstorm while on a sailboat. As storm clouds the only ones to do so. I found myself sitting on the started to roll in during the last race on Saturday, transom a couple of times as it felt like half the hull Jack informed Steve that the proper plan of action was out of the water. I didn’t realize how fast we was to take a DNF and return to shore. Thanks were going until one race we blew past Tom Fee, Jack! If only the rest of us weren’t so concerned who was planning on main and jib… There were with winning, maybe we would have made the storms in the forecast for late afternoon so we proper decision and headed in with you. completed 3 races and promptly headed for sure just in time to put boats on trailers in pouring down rain. Save the date: More Highlander info on Nationals page 15 July 8th-13th !4 Bluegrass By Jason Japikse Bluegrass has always been, and will probably always be, one of my favorite regattas. The hospitality is incredible, and the racing will keep you on your toes. The wind on the river always seems to surprise me. This year, for many reasons, the attendance was less than usual. There were 6 boats competing this year. 3 local boats, and 3 Cowan Lake boats. I had a feeling there would not be large turnout when we pulled in to the club late Friday night to find we had the place to ourselves. Saturdays winds were on the light end of the spectrum and the current was strong. Or at least, I think it was. For someone who only sails in not considered is that the high shorelines of the current once a year, it was a lot of current. Due to Ohio River rarely leave much wind to work with. As the current, rounding the marks became a very it turned out, the boats that made their way into the interesting task. The wind was blowing opposite middle of the river fared much better simply the current, which means as we were sailing to the because they had more consistent winds. We weather mark, we were sailing down river. That’s played along in the middle of the course for the all great until you try to make a tight rounding at remainder of racing. the top of the course. I learned the hard way that if LSC provided a delicious dinner as always you start your turn around the mark as you would and the unforgettable Sunfish bar. I can’t think of under lake conditions, you will quickly find yourself anything better to do with a Sunfish… The party several boat lengths to weather of the mark, wasn’t as lively as it normally is, but that’s what unintentionally. On the other hand, if you were happens when there are so few boats. having trouble fetching the mark, the current was there to bail you out and get you up to the layline. Sunday morning brought more of the same Heading down to the leeward mark (up river) I had conditions, but with much shiftier winds. The day’s it in my head that I needed to stay closer to shore racing started with windward leewards running the to avoid the extra drag of the current. What I had length of the river, but after a larger persistent wind shift RC was forced to go to a triangle course across the short axis of the river. It’s not ideal, but it was a nice little race course. All of the races this weekend were short which allowed for a higher quantity of races. 8 races were sailed, though only 7 were scored. LSC put on a great event, as always. RC was run by John, who always gives an excellent experience on the river. If you don’t regularly attend Bluegrass, you should consider it.