International 14 Mailing List
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From: Gregory J. Mitchell (grmitche@cisco.com)
Date: Mon 12 Jul 1999 - 06:00:41 BST
The California fleet was in a quandry a couple months back, when we found out that Ron Boehm wasn't going to be able to make the annual Lake Cachuma regatta. Ron and 14 Sailing on the lake are synonymous, so we set about finding an alternative. We chose the 46th annual Lake Huntington High Sierra regatta. A nice, 3 mile long lake located, where else, in the High Sierra, 7000' above sea level. Very picturesque, nice camping, etc. 9 boats made the 5-7 hour drive, 7 from Northern CA, 2 from Southern. Enough fluff.
With the breeze building into what was expected to be a normal 12-18 knot valley breeze, the race committee sent the 14's out on the long distance multihull course, basically a long tour of the lake with a long WL, a shorter WL, a reach, etc, etc. The breeze held for approx 1/2 of the race and then shut down, with ghostly 5 knot puffs providing elusive burst of forward motion, followed by agonizing lulls, puntuated by bad air from approx 100 other boats wallowing around, and wakes from the occasional jet skier. Very close tactical racing was the result, with the lead changing frequently. With Rogers in a comfortable lead at the reach mark, he slipped on his new racks(recently raised 2 inches) and capsized. Beninghaus(bad air) and Klipfel(inverted main) couldn't quite capitalize on the opportunity. Heym was able to sneak above the competition at the jibe mark and hold the tight reach in to the shortened finish for the win.
It had been 14 years since the last time a race had to be postponed due to lack of wind - close the books on race 2. (Puntuate the evening with time at the saloon, roaring campfires and experiments on how far a beer can will fly when BBQ'd unopened. Unknow, cement obstacle stopped the can before gravity had a chance.)
The postponed 2nd race started in more breeze than Saturday's, but the race committee set up a shortened course anyway. Rogers, closely followed by Flook, rounded in 1st and 2nd, then promptly sailed the 3 mile downwind in the fading breeze, completely horizoning the rest of the fleet, finishing in the same order on another, yes, shortened course. Welcome back, lulls, puffs, etc for the rest of us. A lit cigarette would've been the only way to tell which way the breese was blowing, however, the rain (yes, the rain, California, summer) would've put a damper on even that. The lightning was making a few a bit nervous. Close tactical racing again was the order of the day - with Heym squeezing out Twardowski on a well timed jibe for a personal puff. Race 3 cancelled.
Question to the 14's at the end of the regatta - shall we return again next year? Answer was a unanimous yes. The location is fabulous, the camraderie was great, the racing tactical and nail biting to the end. Next year we may even get the fabled breeze.
Final Results
Race 1 Race 2 Final
Rogers/Kohli 2 1 3 Roger's first ever 14 regatta win, Kohli's first ever regatta win as crew - Bieker II
Heym/Mitchell 1 3 4 Morrison VII
Flook/Vasenius 6 2 8 Mod ICE (Kiwi)
Arens/Schmidt 5 5 10 Cuddihy III
Beninghaus/Hoffberg 3 DSQ 13 Bieker II
Twardowski/Twardowski DSQ 4 14 Bieker I
Klipfel/Morse 4 DNF 14 King
Scala/Mark? 7 DNF 17 Mod ICE (Kiwi)
Bertram/Andrew DNF DNF 20 Mod ICE
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