2010 Season Summary

Text by Clark Chapin
Photos by Steve Schewe

2010 was the 57th year of sailboat racing on Portage Lake. The year showed how vibrant and active the racing activity is on Portage Lake. There were both new and old faces at the front of the fleets and quite a mixture of conditions.

The first new addition for 2010 was a group of new cylindrical orange marks that were far more visible from anywhere on the race course. Dave Moody also constructed a series of floating anchor line spools that drastically reduced the number of lost anchors. Sailors could go around the marks in the wrong direction, but at least they couldn’t claim that they weren’t visible

Gold Series

The Interlake Gold Series was a see-saw affair. Seven different teams won a race or more. Bill Chapin’s spinnaker and tactical calls kept Clark’s head screwed on straight and they won the Gold Series. It was the fourth Gold Series win for Clark but the first time with Bill as the principle crew. The “Team of Toms” (Ehman and Kimball, that is) were second, Bill O’Donnel and Brian Hawkins (or Marj, at times) were third and Greg Harrison and Elona Van Ghent made a strong late-season push to end up fourth.

Silver Series

The Tuesday Evening Series saw Steve Wiseman win twelve of the eighteen races in the Laser Class, but Roy Toth, Jim Sunstrum, and Ty Cathey also notched one or more victories and the racing was always tight. Ray Howland was similarly dominant in the Sunfish, but Jill Rogowski and Carole Moody were also winners on one or more evenings. In the MC Scows, Jack Coleman won convincingly, but second place was a tight competition between Ann Taylor and David Auner. David won more races by a 4-3 margin, but Ann eked out the second place finish by 1.9 points over eighteen races.

On Thursday evenings in the Interlakes, Greg Harrison made a late-season charge, winning four of the last six races to surge to victory in the Summer Series and finish fourth overall. The Silver Series winners were Clark and Bill Chapin followed by the Team of Toms and Bill O’Donnel. Eight different boats won at least one race.
Meanwhile in the Flying Scot Class, Brian Hawkins and Forest Rogers had a see-saw battle in the Summer Series, but Brian emerged victorious and also took the Silver Series title.  Fritz Wagner was consistently competitive and finished second in the Series.

Commodore’s Cup

The 2010 Commodore’s Cup saw eight Flying Scots registered, including Michael Ehnis who was always near the lead and won one of the five races, but was edged by Fritz Wagner whose 3-1-2-2-1 combination was unbeatable.
Tom Ehman and Tom Kimball won three of the five races to dominate the 11-boat Interlake fleet.

Scowfish Regatta

For the first time this year the Scowfish was, like the Hot-to-Trot, a Saturday-only event. The turnout for the regatta was greater this year with 11 Sunfish and 12 MC Scows. The wind conditions were quite light, but four races were run. The Sunfish were dominated by Derrick Fries of Waterford, MI but the racing was tight for the other positions.  Meanwhile in the MC Scows, Richard Blake of Hoover Sailing Club in Columbus, OH won two races to amass a score of only 8.5 points. His second place in the last race was enough to keep the second place finisher, Doug Kiser, at bay.

Hot-to-Trot Interlake Regatta

The 2010 Hot-to-Trot was sailed in light-to-moderate breezes under sunny skies. The first race had four different leaders and Clark and Bill Chapin robbed Tom Ehman and Tom Kimball at the finish line for the win. In the second race, Tom and Tim Marriott won with Brook Smith and Shari Hartlep close behind. The top two boats had identical scores of 4.75 points. The first leg of the third and last race had Marriott and Chapin rounding 1-2, but Bill O’Donnel found a puff that nobody else did and was gone. Marriott managed to recover to second and thereby won the event over O’Donnel. Bryan and Jim Bradley rounded out the top three.

Hot Scot Regatta

This year, the Hot Scot Regatta was designated as the Michigan-Ontario District Championship. Brian and Suzy Hawkins dominated the 11-boat fleet in this two-day event with wins in each of the four races. It was an historic victory in that Brian’s brother had previously won the District Championship and HPYC alumnus Dave Winston had previously won the Championship as the original owner of Brian’s boat, #3288.  Paul Lee and Gabreille Boelstler of Detroit Yacht Club were second with Bill, John, and Olivia Pfund of Gull Lake in third and  Jim and Marie Davis in fourth place.

No Sweat Laser Regatta

The season was rounded out with the No Sweat Laser Regatta on Saturday September 25. This Saturday-only event marked the debut of a new course configuration called the “A-Course”. It featured more reaching and mark roundings for the racers along with upwind and downwind legs. Craig Pearson of Barton Boat Club won the event after breaking an upper mast section before the first race. Lucky for him that six races were completed which allowed a throw-out. Craig’s scores were DNC-3-1-2-1-2 for a convincing win over Dillon McCormick of White Lake.  The surprise competitors of the event were Ken Hopkins and his children Andrew and Julia who sailed long and hard in the cool and windy conditions. We look to see much more of them in 2011!