Press Release from Krista Paxton. Pictures by Andrew Jowett.
Sept 17th 2019
A second day of unusually moderate winds on Lake St Clair had regatta organizers and participants both trying to anticipate the shifts. With the individual recall flag up at after the first start, the fleet set off with a spread as diverse as the participants themselves. The light and shifty conditions favored the left side on the first beat with boats that went far left making big gains. Team Gollwitzer/Walz, after returning to the start under spinnaker, was able to dig back to a fourth at the top mark on that side. Unfortunately, not all teams took the cue and cleared their OCS starts.
As the breeze waned on the first run, the fleet leaders, Robbie Daniel/Gary Chu, Todd Riccardi/Dalton Tebo and Maxime Loiselle/Oliver Pilon slugged it out upwind. The second beat saw a game of chutes and ladders play out as pressure became uneven across the course. And as the wind filled in on the last run, places were secured by getting to the new pressure first. The brother-brother team of Paul and Dean Krutty capitalized on the gains.
Currently, Todd Riccardi/Dalton Tebo have taken the series lead with Robbie Daniel/Gary Chu, Maxime Loiselle/Oliver Pilon, Ulrich Gollwitzer/Liam Walz, Steve Stroebel/Michael Risoer completing the top 5 overall.
Claus and his daughter Jesse Schnabel remain the top mixed team now in 13th overall. Lise Duchesne with Patrick Caux as crew is the top female skipper for the day while Alex and Samantha Hart remain the top Classic boat on a Hobie Tiger.
Racing is scheduled to continue at 10am Wed Sept 18th through Thursday Sep 19th. Results can be found at https://yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eID=6144 or check out the USF18 Facebook page.