2007 SEASON SUMMARY HOME FLYING SCOT DISTRICTS

PHOTO HIGHLIGHTS

Michigan – Ontario Flying Scot Districts Gets Big PYC Turn-out

The 2007 districts were held Sept 8-9 at Crystal Lake Sailing Club in Crystal Michigan. The fab five of Jim & Marie Davis, Todd & Suzanne Moore, Ela Sliwerska & Michael Ehnis, BJ & Tina Johnson and Jack White and Bruce Bongionni were among 14 boats that participated in this year’s event. Absent from this years festivities were the Hawkins (Brian actually had to take a rare trip out of the country for work) along with their hellion children Sarah and Sam as well as Fritz who was saddled with going to a friends wedding.

With sunny skies, for the 5th consecutive year the sailors were greeted with an east wind blowing up to 12 and then at times down to 3. With such a variance in wind speeds (and the occasional shifts), there was plenty of lead changes though no one could cross the line faster than former PYC sailor Forest Rogers in any of the events first three races. It was in race #3 that we saw Jack White protest Governor Davis #784 at a downwind mark rounding while confronting another boat coming in on the inside, on starboard, with an overlap. Apparently Jim’s boom almost hit Jack in the head. The protest remained unresolved until the next morning but both competitors surely thought they were right.

After a competitive day of racing the group along with Bill Pfund (honorary PYC member) went to the Brickyard bar for dinner. There was plenty of sailing talk, conversation about Michigan's huge loss to Oregon in football (39-7 ouch!), and of course Marie Davis and Suzanne Moore feeding Juke Box with tunes and doing some dancing to boot (though no one took pictures of our kilt-cladded party goers) .

Sunday brought a decision in Jim's favor regarding the protest much to the surprise of Jack, who upon hearing this from his crew Bruce in the parking lot, charged off like a rocket to the clubhouse to read the committee’s decision. The author quickly thanked Bruce for firing up Jack and getting the rest of us in trouble knowing it’s never good to wake a sleeping giant, which is exactly what happened. In race # 2 and the final race of the event Jack took a bullet as he impeccably sailed the course and finished 4th overall for the highest place from the club followed by Sliwerska in 6th, Davis in 7th, Moores in 9th and Johnsons in 12th.

After all the boats were pulled Ela and the author were all invited over to Todd and Suzanne's boat to play one of the most popular trailer games of all time: "Can you thread my trailer strap". Certainly a high stakes game with all the pressure of a race start, this game not only features mind blowing concentration, but it also requires a great deal of patience with the winner always being the Moore's and their ability to trailer their boat home. This years contestants, were able to conquer this puzzle in a time of 7 minutes. What a way to conclude a regatta!