2007 J. Holt Thomas Memorial Regatta

Report by Rick Brethorst

The J. Holt Thomas Memorial regatta will never be confused with some of the top regattas around the Star world but has been a solid regatta in the 4^th District for the past 39 years and one of my favorites personally because I grew up sailing stars here and always look forward to returning home for this regatta.

The water is muddy brown and shallow and at least once a race you will have a barge coming thru.  Despite a stacked deck against it the regatta is successful because the Illinois River Star Fleet and the folks and the IVY Club show great hospitality.  Another star sailor once told me, “ the venue (Illinois River) is not the best but no group of people work harder and putting on a regatta an making you feel welcome.”  They have people always helping on the hoist, taking photos of the sailing ( enough photos to fill several DVD’s) and making sure you are entertained on Friday and Saturday night. 

This was our third straight weekend sailing up in Peoria since the water in Springfield was too low the previous two weeks.  The forecast looked like your typical Holt Thomas, good wind building throughout the weekend. 

All weekend the wind was out of the South and race one started in 10-12 mph.  We were 5^th at the windward mark but managed to get to the left of everyone downwind and catch some good breeze to get in the lead which we held one to win the race.    

The second race was starting to lighten up a little and that trend continued throughout the race.  Todd Gay took the lead on the first downwind only to watch it disappear the next downwind when the wind shut off completely.  We finished 6^th which considering where we were wasn’t all bad.  Gene McCarthy with his son Glenn won the race.

The third race saw the wind fill in 10-15 mph and Chris and Mickey Nielson dominate the race from start to finish.  Todd Gay was second and Jack Rickard was third.  We finished the day with a 4^th. 

Somehow at the end of the first day we were in the lead but only three points separated the top 6 boats.  Sunday was going to be interesting and the forecast was for a good blow.  At dinner that night the conversation focused on how hard it was going to blow on Sunday as the winds were strong all night. 

After a hard night of drinking by a few boats and a visit to the local art fair by even more boats we were greeted by winds of 10-15 mph that morning.  As soon as we got out on the course the winds began to die again now around 5-7 mph.  We had a horrible start and Patrick Gudat won the race with Gene McCarthy second, Todd Gay third and we battled back to fourth edging out Chris Nielson at the finish. 

Now Patrick held a two point lead.   Was the wind ever going to fill in like it was supposed to?    The wind had built since the first race back to 10-12 mph.  This time we got off to a good start and were leading halfway up on the first beat.  Patrick was deep after the first leg with the help of anyone around him feeding him bad air.  At the second windward mark Patrick has closed to 3^rd with Todd in 2^nd .  Right as we were going around the mark the wind filled in around 20-25 mph and very gusty.  We managed to jibe around 6 times  and stay on control as boats were rocketing around the river out of control .  On our last jibe at the mark we pulled out our jib car lines and had to tie them into place going upwind.  Now it was really pumping a solid 25 mph with gusts.  We continued to lead and went on to win the race with Todd 2^nd and Patrick dropping to 5th during the downwind.    

I would have bet good money that at least one mast would have come down but every boat out there handled the conditions and finished the race. 

The win in the last race gave us the regatta win.  Having started sailing stars on the Illinois River 25 years ago in this fleet and having finished 2^nd at this regatta a number of times made this a very emotional win for me and a great way to finish out the season.