MC Fleet 45 - News Letter

MC Scow Fleet 45 had another successful season on and off Cowan Lake. Outside of Cowan, the Landis’s and Pratt’s chartered and skippered a yacht through the BVI. Several MC Skipper’s raced in Michigan. Michael Graham, raced J-109s (“Merengue”) and J-105s there and finished first within the J-105 class in the Chicago Mackinac race aboard “Banshee”. The Pratt’s and Phil qualified and sailed in the annual Blue Chip regatta in Spring Lake Michigan, finishing 20th and 22nd respectively out of 33 boats in this extremely competitive best of the best invitational regatta. Also, in Michigan this past season, Phil took 5th at the Diamond Lake regatta. In Ohio, Pete Japiske was the top MC fleet 45 skipper at the spring Cow Town regatta in Columbus, Ohio (Hoover Lake) and Phil kept the Ohio Championship trophy at CLSA/MC Fleet 45 for the second-year by a slim margin.

Locally, Dave won his 11th consecutive CLSA season MC fleet championship and finished first in approximately 60% of all the races he entered after throw-outs. Note: Dave’s overall average score for the 2004 season (after throw-outs) was 1.50 - his worst CLSA ever year! (1.00 = perfection). It seems like I say this every year, but the competition within the fleet keeps getting tighter at all skill levels. If you are looking for a fleet to join to sharpen your racing skills – consider joining the fleet or borrowing an MC. I haven’t talked to directly to Jim Taylor about this issue, but I have a feeling it is one of the reasons he hopes into an MC once or twice a season. To back my observation up with numbers, approximately six skippers had an average finish after throw-outs in the 2’s, two skippers in the 5’s, four skippers in the 6’s, and two skippers in the 7’s.

Silver Fleet Results – 2004 Second Half:
Bill Landis solidly won the second half silver fleet series followed by Steve Fanthorp in second. Two other skippers missed qualifying by one race.

A special thanks to everyone, including fleet and family members and the CLSA Lightning fleet for making this past year’s Cowan Scow’n Regatta another great event. This year’s regatta added another technical feat when John Ray and Pete Japiske teamed up to photograph and print regatta photos using their own equipment. Also, after five years of waiting (since 1999), the regatta attendee’s that stayed into the evening got to enjoy views of heavens above through a large telescope. The results of the regatta can be found on the internet at http://www.mcscow.org/fleet45/2004/. Mike Risewick, from Cedar Lake, Iowa won the regatta and Jim Taylor was the top CLSA sailor finishing in 3rd place.

Welcome to our newest fleet member Carolyn Price! She has lots of sailing experience in including racing the challenging and athletic International 505 class. She purchased MC #1486 from former CLSA member, Tom Rheinecker, in October and has bought a lift already. We look forward to her presence on the race course next year and beyond. – the welcoming committee.

A farewell to Karen and Duke Howard-Nordan. Karen and Duke have been MC Fleet 45 and CLSA members for several years and have helped the fleet and CLSA out in many ways. Karen and Duke will continue their boating enjoy along the shores of a lake in Alabama in the very near future.

Winter Dinner – hosted by Judy Hearn, Jan. 22nd is a Saturday

This past Spring Season has been a real test of mind, muscle, and machine. The winds have ranged from 0 to 25 mph with a greater frequency toward the windier end of the spectrum. The sturdy MCs have survived the challenges with Carl and crew Marie Pratt coming out on top of both the Spring and Memorial regatta series. During the Memorial regatta - final race, Pete and Mariebeth Japiske won while sailing in gusts in the mid to upper twenties (mph). I was able to watch this race from the shore and estimated that Pete, along with a few other MC skippers achieved a speed off of the wind of around Mach .8 (1.0 equals the actual wind speed in Phil math). To date, the racing in general has been very fast and close, although so far the only thing resembling the sound of a sonic boom has been the hailing of “Starboard!” Several new faces have appeared on the MC starting line this season including, Steve Fanthorp (MC 1176), Addison Tanner (MC 1695), and Mark Maney (MC 2282) our newest MC Fleet 45 member.

The Cowan Scowin’ regatta is just around the corner on Oct. 2-3 and with all of the new MC skippers that have joined the fleet in the past two years, this year’s regatta could be the largest local MC regatta ever.

This season the MC Fleet is having our fleet dinners on the second Sunday of each month. The first dinner in May had a good turnout.

For more information on MCs, sailing, and racing please visit:
www.mcscow.org (our National Internet site)
http://members.nuvox.net/~zt.weilerp/ (The MC Fleet 45 Internet Site)

Phil
MC #1755
MC Fleet 45 - 2004 Captain

The 2003 season had slightly more wind this past season than last, which allowed many crews to strap into MC cockpits. Crews included Will Hardenbergh, Marie Pratt, Kara Graham, Marybeth Japiske, friends of David Glazer, Dave Furderer!, Karen Howard-Nordan and several other crews that I am sure I didn’t jot down. In 2003, Dave Furderer continued his racing dominance as the annual Fleet Champion by winning 68% of all the races that he entered sailing in his 1991 MC, #1411 “Full Tilt”. Despite Dave’s dominance, seven skippers in addition to Dave won races this past season. Carl Pratt MC #1887 and Phil Weiler #1755 were each able to finish ahead of Dave 24% of the time with several other skippers displaying the ability to catch up to our fleet founder, “old man” Dave. During the second half of the 2003 season, three skippers qualified for awards in the silver fleet with two other skippers missing the eight-race non-regatta qualification requirement by one race. In the silver fleet, Bill Landis finished 1st, Michael Graham 2nd, and Steve Fader 3rd. The MC fleet continued to have male, female, and junior through grand master aged skippers racing. Pete Japiske, won the 2003 MC Fleet’s Most Improved Skipper and received the rotating trophy from Mark Hardenbergh at the MC Winter Diner on January 18th at Bill and Mary Landis’s – Congratulations Pete! The MC fleet added three boats in 2003 and one spring/fall skipper. New members include: Michael and Kara Graham MC #1884, Steve and Marcia Fanthrop MC #1176, Steve Fader #1795, and Bruce Matasick MC #2039. It would not surprise me if three more MCs will round the slip #1 point and head out to join the MC fleet in 2004. The 8th annual Cowan Scowin’ regatta was another great success do to the hard work of MC fleet volunteers, MC fleet family members, and the race committee from the CLSA Lightning fleet. Three CLSA MC skippers finished in the top five at the regatta - (Carl Pratt 2nd, Phil Weiler 3rd, and Michael Graham 4th). Junior Laser skipper Jason Japiske had a very impressive final race and Judy Hearn sailing MC #2020 “Hindsight” won the last race of the regatta. For complete online regatta results visit http://www.mcscow.org/fleet45/2003 at the National MC web site. (See attached regatta photos from John Ray).

For additional MC Scow Info please visit:

http://members.nuvox.net/~zt.weilerp/ (Fleet 45 with tentative dates for 2004 events posted from the MC Winter dinner).

Phil Weiler
2004 MC Fleet 45 Captain
MC #1755