i550 Cobweb Regatta

[Kevin]

Looking for an opportunity to blow the cobwebs out of the boat and work out the kinks with fellow i550's.

Chad started this idea in the building status thread, but it will bet quickly lost there. So here it is on it's own thread...

Timing: Spring 2013. Potential dates - Memorial Day weekend 5/24 - 5/27. 2nd weekend in June 6/7 - 6/10

Location: To be determined. Southern Lake Michigan or Western Lake Erie are likely candidates. We need cheap launching, Hopefully dock space for over nights and close by camping or cheap hotels.

Concept: Regatta is used loosely here. This is a tuneup event with boats running side by side. Plan on sharing what works and what doesn't work. Everyone is welcome. Crew will be trades throughout the event. You can count on a nightly party with good food and fun stories.


Thoughts??? let's get something on the calendar.

Kevin.

[Chad]

Is late April too early? I'm new around here, but looking at a picture library of last year it seemed like decent weather by then...

Just interwebbing around, and Indianapolis Sailing Club looked interesting. Launch facilities, hot showers, and camping on their property available. Memorial Day definitely not a good time for sailing there, though!

(I haven't followed it in years, but I assume the indy 500 is still memorial day, and pretty popular? I saw the first F1 race they held there, and Indy is a really neat town.)

[ryderp]

The problem is that the water is really cold in the great lakes until late May.

[ryderp]

I hit the submit button before I wanted to. I'd be happy with any of those options (lake Michigan Lake Erie or some smaller lakes in Indiana or even southern Michigan

Phil

[Kevin]

Phil is right on the great lakes, Michigan in particular. You don't want to go into Lake Michigan before May unless you are fully kitted out with drysuit. Water temps are in the 40's at best. The lake is deep and the wind causes the lake to "turn" with cold water coming up on the leeward side. If/when you go in water, you have minutes before you start loosing muscle control. Lake Erie is much shallower so it's water temps may rise faster in the spring. There are also so nice state parks along the south western coast of Ohio if we are going to "roll our own" if you will.

Indy could work. Being farther south they would have an earlier spring and temps probably 5-10 degrees warmer than Chicago. If we are thinking early May then getting crew for me is more challenging. Family has lots of commitments that time of year. Looking at the calendar, May 10-12 is probably the best weekend for me. It would be good to know when the club has there first events of the year too. That would be a good way to know when the lake gets safe.

Kevin.

The weekend before memorial day would also be ok.

[Kevin]

And here is an excellent video on the effects of cold water (45 degrees). Kevin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1xohI3B4Uc

[ryderp]

Lake Erie is also very cold in the spring. Water temps usually don't go over 50 deg until Memorial day. The Sandusky area might be a good place. If the weather is good we could go out in the lake, if it's not, we could stay in the Sandusky Bay. I also hear that Lake Wawasee in northern Indiana is nice, but I've never been there. I guess that we have plenty of time to figure it out.

[Kevin]

Wawasee looks like a cool place to sail and it's closer than the other options. They have a small club with mostly scows and lightnings and lasers and such. There is a free ramp at the south end of the lake. Looks like they have mostly cart launched boats in their fleets. And they opened the last weekend of April last year so that 2nd weekend in May might be the winner.

And yes, we have some time to figure this out. But if I don't have it on the calendar soon it will get planned over and not happen. It's just the way it is with teenagers.

Kevin.

[cstay]

I know it's far for everybody but lake Champlain is an awesome lake to sail on. There is a free ramp and people are welcome to stay at my place .5 miles from the bay

[Kevin]

If my son gets into Bennington, then that could be a possibility. Wouldn't that be a funny sight, dropping the kid off at college and unpacking his stuff out of the boat. Then going sailing for a couple of days. I like it.

Kevin.

[admin]

I have relatives in Burl, so yeah, the Champlain thing could really work out well. Here's the view from the Burlington Sailing Ctr (Lake Champlain Community Sailing Center, looking west towards cstay) ...there's a lot of water out there.

--TF

[Chad]

Seems like Toronto for Marino's "North Regatta", then a week of camping/road tripping, then a weekend around Champlain would be a fun combo.
Otherwise it's a bit of a drive to do both separately the same year.

[Kevin]

I would put that under the category of Epic Sailing Road Trip.

[cstay]

I can talk to the marina about overnight docking. There is a free ramp which is verry nice right there or there is a hoist that you can use I believe it's like 25-35 bux. If wanted I can run this thru my club for use of the comitee boat and race comitee or I can use my power boat and borrow some marks have friends run the races and just bang bouys.

[Chad]

Just to bump this thread up alongside the other "north regatta" one...

It looks like we're talking about an early May (say, 10-12) meet up in one of the smaller lakes like Wawasee -something more or less between Cleveland and Chicago- for some informal racing and sailing.

I'm going to plan a trip to the NE separately if we can get some boats to gather there, but we should maybe keep that discussion over in the north thread.

[Kevin]

May 10-12, 2013 looks like a good weekend for me. We talked about a couple places. I'm not super picky and we don't need a huge lake. Just a ramp with 4+ foot of water depth. The biggest pain is rigging and unrigging each day. A venue where we don't have to do that would be great. Close by camping would only add to the craziness.

Kevin.

[Chad]

How are folks looking for this May get together? Re-reading this, it looks like May 10-12 is the current plan. Looking at calendars again, would anybody prefer Memorial weekend? I'm open to either...

[ryderp]

Memorial day weekend works better for me.

[Kevin]

Well, dang! At this point I don't have a good weekend in May or June to travel away from home. Confirmation, graduation, birthdays, recitals. 5/10 was the open slot but I think there is something talked about the other day which knocks that out. Such is life with a 8th and 12th grader.

As a posible venue, there will be 2 boats at Montrose harbor in Chicago. Hosting would be very doable, especially if we ask nicely. Some camping in my yard (30 minutes from the harbor) and a guest room. It may be possible to link up with an event already scheduled by the local club or we can do our own thing. I realize it's not "in the middle" as we had been hoping for originally.

Kevin.

[Chad]

Well, dang! At this point I don't have a good weekend in May or June to travel away from home. Confirmation, graduation, birthdays, recitals. 5/10 was the open slot but I think there is something talked about the other day which knocks that out. Such is life with a 8th and 12th grader.

As a posible venue, there will be 2 boats at Montrose harbor in Chicago. Hosting would be very doable, especially if we ask nicely. Some camping in my yard (30 minutes from the harbor) and a guest room. It may be possible to link up with an event already scheduled by the local club or we can do our own thing. I realize it's not "in the middle" as we had been hoping for originally.

Kevin.

I'm open to whatever works, but it sounds like Phil's schedule might be harder to manage with an even longer drive to Chicago/Montrose versus say somewhere in N. Indiana.

[ryderp]

Actually, I don't mind driving to Chicago. I do have a couple of graduations those middle two weekends of May

Phil

[Kevin]

How about Memorial day 5/25 - 5/26. weekend. There is bike the drive on Sunday morning which will require some creative driving to the harbor if we start before it's over, they close Lake Shore Drive to cars for the morning. I'll check in with Erwan as well to see if he is going to be in town that weekend. He already has his spot at the harbor.

[Chad]

That'd work for me. If we're going to be in L Mich, it'd be nice to have had a few more days of shake down sailing first...

[anakin]

hello,
I will be in town this week end. Sounds like a great idea!!

[ryderp]

So are we set for that weekend in Chicago? If so, I need to hustle and finish up a few projects. I also need to arrange for crew - of course anyone who can show me how to sail this thing is welcome as guest crew.

Phil