J/Crews Sweep Awesome Dobson Cup Regatta

(Bayfield, WI)- When you sail on Lake Superior, on the northwest shoreline of Wisconsin, you are always grateful for reasonable sailing conditions on one of the coldest sailing lakes on the Planet Earth- it is not unusual to see water temps in the forties (Fahrenheit) as you are beating upwind in 20-35 kts from the west/northwest (your typical breeze when monster fronts blow in from the Arctic Circle and sweep across the northern parts of North America).

Nevertheless, Lake Superior sailors are the hardiest bunch of sailors you can imagine. When the weather is beautiful, they enjoy one of the prettiest archipelago of islands and shorefront in the world… which is, perhaps, why the keep coming back to Bayfield, Wisconsin. The spectacular, pristine waters of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore is simply stunning… for those of you wishing to add a “bucket list” place to go sail!!

At the end of summer, Ken Dobson’s Black Hawk Boatyard has sponsored a two-day, season-ending, regatta in Bayfield for the past six years. The regatta is run by the Apostles Island Station of the Wayzata Yacht Club and takes place on the pristine waters of Lake Superior. The regatta brings all of the area's racers together, windward-leeward and random-leg focused, in an incredibly fun weekend of racing around spectacular, picturesque islands and marks. It is a very challenging test of boat speed, navigation, tactics and crew work.

The first day was the 22.0nm Around Oak Island race. Starting in 1-2 knots of a drifting breeze, the fleet ultimate saw over 25 knots, from several angles, as the day progressed.

The second day was a 17.0nm journey. The RC set a nice upwind start, followed by a close reach to Grant's Point, a broad reach around Basswood Island, and then upwind to the finish. A wide variety of sailing conditions in nice winds. Reefs were put in and taken out, peels occurred and sail inventories were well-explored!

In the end, three J/Teams swept the podium because of the wide variety of weather conditions; light to heavy, beating to reaching and running. The catch? Four boats were tied for first place! What was the mathematical probability of that happening? Perhaps in the “millions to one”. Winning was Jim Vaudreuil’s J/109 ZIGZAG with 5-1 scorecard for 6.0 pts. Losing on that countback was Rich Baker’s J/120 BLACK SWAN with a 4-2 to take the silver, and then Charlie Schroeder’s J/109 CHASE took the bronze with a 2-4! Close, to be sure. Nevertheless, unimaginably tighter than anyone might have expected!

Thanks to our sponsors, volunteers and, of course, the competitors!” Thanks for this contribution from Bill Hooper. Add to Flipboard Magazine.


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