July 2001 Papoose Article

The 2001 sailing season has already brought us some good wind and some exciting racing. The Gabor Cup Regatta, sponsored by the Lightning Fleet, was scheduled to be held on May 27 but was postponed until June 3 because of rain. This year's event was won by Richard Miner and crew Gail and Lincoln in Richard's Lightning. In second place was Jeff Urbanski with crew Gregory in a Snipe; and in third place was Monika Holbein with crew Walter and Joe in their Lightning, Meister Eder.

In addition to some of our regulars, participating in the event were new member Mark Marussich in his Lightning (recently acquired from Perry Anderson who will soon be sailing a new Nichols built Lightning), new member Lincoln Rowley crewing for Richard Miner and guest Nick Hammon with his son Michael in their beautiful wooden Merlin. We extend a "welcome aboard" to our new members and we invite Nick and Michael to join us again.

Two boats turtled in the race. John Marx in his Snipe, with crew Kristen, went over in the shifty wind that was blowing at 10 to 15 knots out of the southwest. Yours truly, in Tomato Sloop also went over (all the way over) and gave crew Ditti and Silka a dunking. These cheerful "meister seglerinnen" actually enjoyed the experience. My thanks to John Miller, Lincoln Rowley and company for their assistance towing our craft.

On the following week, we shanghaied Jim and Madeleine Okner into serving as race officials so we had four Lightnings off the line as well as two Snipes and a Sunfish for two races. Bill Batchelor took his Snipe Birdie (former member Clint Smith's boat) out for her maiden voyage only to wash his boat and, in the process, show his crew Kayoko the reason for a preventer. Alas, that's not the first centerboard sacrificed in our waters.

Please remember that our Annual Family Picnic will coincide with the LMCC's July Fourth celebration and will start at 6:00PM. There will be one more open regatta, the Commodore's Cup, on Sept 2. Board meetings will be held at 7:00 PM July 22, Aug. 19 and Sept. 16. The annual meeting will be held on October 14 in the Papoose Room of the LMCC and our awards brunch will be on Sunday, November 18, 2001.

Race Official Assignments are posted on the bulletin board outside of the buoy room. Please contact Don Okner, Race Committee at 729-5794 if you need to reschedule. The assignments for the month of July are as follows:

July 01.....John Marx

July 08.....Rich Miner

July 15.....Hank Jelinek/Ditti Holbein

July 22.....John Miller

July 29.....Howard Gooblar/Jack Robertson

Finally, please remember to visit our terrific, new web site at: www.lakemohawksailing.org. You can Email us at: info@lakemohawksailing.org.

Until next month, smooth sailing!

Don Okner

John Marx and crew Lorraine Oeters