Battle of Lake Erie

The fleet assembled on time for the Skippers meeting, but the breeze did not. The race committee believed that conditions would improve by Noon, so the regatta went into postponement. At 11:30 the Erie Yacht Club Foundation generously provided a catered lunch. During the half-hour lunch a light NE breeze of 5-6 knots filled in as predicted and the boats were sent out at Noon for the first rotation. Because the breeze was light, the race committee started with W2 courses for the first two races in each division. By 1:00 conditions settled in with steady winds of 8-12 knots and all subsequent races were W4s. This was good because the race committee only had to make minor changes to keep the course square. The stable conditions allowed for shorter times between divisions. By 4:00 the wind was still steady from the northeast and the pressure was consistent at NE at 12, but the gusts also built, with some puffs over 15-18 knots, and racing was stopped around 5:00 after completing 12 races.

Regarding teams, competition for the top 3 spots see-sawed between RIT, Penn State, and Penn State Behrend, although all the teams sailed well in these moderate conditions. The competitors showed fine Corinthian spirit: A couple teams did a penalty turn, no recalls, and there was one non-redressable breakdown. Looking ahead to tomorrow we do not expect a repeat of today's conditions so teams were instructed to report early to be the on the water at 9:00 AM in order to take advantage of the typical overnight offshore before it dies around 11:00. The committee expects to get two races in to complete the full Round Robin.

As expected, the earlier start of racing (9:00 AM) provided light winds of 5-10 knots from the south in order to complete all rotations. However, south winds are tricky in Presque Isle Bay, especially because the south shore is a hundred feet above bay. South winds can be especially shifty, and the competitors needed to continuously look for the favored side/and or the favored tack. The courses today were W3s to facilitate divisional swaps on the floating dock next the Erie Yacht Club lighthouse on the east side of the club instead of at the Rickloff Community Boathouse on the west side. Congratulations to RIT for consistently strong finishes throughout the regatta to finish in first place. Host Penn State Behrend finished second and Penn State was right behind in third. Thanks to all the teams for a challenging and fun regatta.

Finally, a big thanks to the Erie Yacht Club for the loan of the well appointed Racing Fleet Committee Boat, and thanks to the many yacht club volunteers who served on the Committee Boat and in two safety/markset boats. See you next year!

The following chart shows the relative rank of the teams as of the race indicated. Note that the races are ordered by number, then division, which may not represent the order in which the races were actually sailed.

The first place team as of a given race will always be at the top of the chart. The spacing from one team to the next shows relative gains/losses made from one race to the next. You may hover over the data points to display the total score as of that race.