This is the summer of distance racing on Lake St. Clair and the sailors of Detroit have one big challenge ahead of them next month when more than 300 teams will sprint a couple hundred miles to Mackinac Island for the 100th edition. To prepare both boats and crew this year they’ve got the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series Detroit and two days of distance races, the first of which set off this morning under sunny skies and moderate but shifty winds.
Twenty-seven teams in total set off on a 22-mile race, led by the nine-boat ORC A group. Tim LaRiviere and his team on the Sydney 41 Eagle One were one of the early boats off the dock this morning, and with a good start that followed they were on their way to a race win to put their first keeper score on the board.
David Bauermeister’s small and sporty Donovan 27 was first across the finish line off host Bayview Yacht Club’s yardarm, followed by James and Paul Kraft’s Corby 33. Cameron Paine’s crew on the C&C 35 MK2 Underdog was the top PHRF finisher in the 10-boat fleet, and were quick to celebrating at their slip at Bayview. “The day was pretty awesome,” Paine said. “There was plenty of wind—12 to 15 knots—which is perfect for our boat. A happy crew is a happy boat and a happy boat is a fast boat.”
While the day felt and looked tropical, the easterly wind direction blowing across the Canadian shore kept the race committees busy all day as they hustled to deliver as many as four high-quality races for the regatta’s one-design fleets. PRO Matt Bounds was as whipped as they sailors by the end of the day.
“It was a tough day with the wind oscillating from anywhere from 160 to 200. Trying to get four fleets off with wildly different speeds was tricky. The call of the day was getting off starts between the fleets, which worked most of the time.”
On the busy Division B circle, the J/35 class is living up to its reputation as a challenging fleet with a lot of veteran sailors. Class stalwart, Bill Wildner’s Mr. Bill’s Wild Ride, put itself atop the fleet with a pair of seconds to take the lead from Sheri Dufresne’s Firefly. But Firefly got the last word for the day with a convincing win in the final race. There’s only 1 point between the top 3 and therein lies the battle.
In the J/111’s Jeff Davis’ Shamrock piled on three more race wins to its scoreline and now has a 13-point lead over their rivals from Cleveland on Black Seal. “Today was fantastic, being here in Detroit and being able to sail here in the southerly breeze was great,” Wally Cross, of Quantum Sails. “I think everyone in our fleet had a wonderful time, but the key today was about sailing the boat fast. Jeff has a great crew and the boat is fast.”
Over two days of racing thus far the J/120 has been producing some amazingly tight racing and today especially boats were overlapped at every corner of the racecourse. Nothing came easy for Greg Baker’s team on Kairos, which went 1-2-4 to lock in the lead by 2 points over Mike Fozo’s proof. But Mike and Bob Kirkman’s Hot Ticket is putting on the pressure, sitting third overall with a win in the day’s final race. “It was a pretty good day for Hot Ticket,” says the boat’s young tactician Michael Kirkman. His teammates praised his tactical calls. “It was just staying in phase and finding the pressure,” Kirkman said.
A four-boat ORC division joined the regatta on the second day as well and Chuck Stormes’ Italia 9.98 went undefeated in three races, as did Keith Ziegler’s Thor in the Cal25 class, which actually won all four of its races. “It was a good day for us because the shifts went our way” said Thor’s bowman Dana Cinquepalmi. “Going far right at the end of the first leg was key. There was shift over there that paid off big.”
Standing remain unchanged in the three other Division C fleets: Bruce Ayers’ Monsoon, Trey Sheehan’s Hooligan and Andrew Morlan’s Avatar lead their Melges 24, T10 and Santana 35 division’s respectively.
Close to the Michigan shoreline, the J/70s added four additional races and the battle continues between Tod Sackett’s 313 and Wes Whitmeyer’s Slingshot: the two are tied with 13 points apiece.
