2010 Tulip Time Tune Up

Reports By Tom Londrigan

Gull Lake, MI --  The weekend after Mother’s Day, a time to breath easy.  This year, the weekend marked the 57^th Annual Tulip Time Regatta; a Midwest tradition and the kick-off of the 2010 Star sailing season in the Great Lakes region.   

24 four teams from multiple countries arrived to race in beautiful Gull Lake this year; many familiar faces but many unfamiliar boats.  This year marks the first time that the newly crafted American-made “P-Star” makes its appearance in the Midwest.  Jon VanderMolen, the P-Star builder, purchased the mold and design of German Olympian Marc Pickel and built his first few boats this winter.  Several were on the water this year and they are unmatched in craftsmanship.  Their performance has already been established. 

I sailed the practice race with Marc Pickel, we sailed back to the harbor when the lightning began.  Marc was miffed.   

He asked me, “[A]re you afraid of the thunder?”   

I said, “[n]o, it’s the lightning that gets me jumpy.”   

“This weather… it makes you frightened?” he mocked me in a heavy German accent. “Uhm, yes”, I admitted. 

Marc finished his dripping sarcasm with, “I admire your seamanship and ‘safety first’ attitude.” 

Afterwards, we enjoyed a tour of Jon VanderMolen’s new boat building facility.   We were allowed to see a boat in various stages of construction and the Irish Olympian’s boat (Peter O’Leary of Cork).  Peter’s boat was in the final stages of finishing and Jim Babel was particularly interested in the quality of Peter’s finish. 

The first day of racing brought very little wind, crews started sitting on the high side of the boat but by the end of the race, they were sweating it out on the low side.  The first weather mark was set to the northwest and the line favored the pin by five degrees and port tack by ten degrees.  We slipped down towards the pin and within ten seconds were able to flip to port and cross the fleet.  Many other boats tacked as well to drive up on the long tack to the mark.  Near the mark, it was apparent that the right side of the course was where the breeze was best and Chris and Mickey Neilson rounded in first with Peter Wright/Nathan Quist in second and me and Steve Cutting in third.

 The downwind leg saw the wind trickle away, we lost Jeff Schaefer and Rob Walker to slip to fourth, otherwise much was unchanged.  The third leg saw another team slip past us, and the last leg another; we retained a sixth.  The Neilsons held on to first with Wright/Quist in second and Schafer/Walker in third.  The lake smoothed out and we were all towed-in for the day. 

Jim VanderMolen and Jon Klerk decided to sail a new boat this year.  Most Star boats are painted white; Jim went a different way, his is silver.  The boat looks like it is made of stainless steel, or tin, you choose.  These boys are delicate with their new boat (no one is allowed to look directly at the boat), but it doesn’t stop the two from smoking on board; for the record, most world class athletes smoke regularly (Google images of Jimmie Lowe or John Daly). Upon further reflection, I suspect the color may hide any lingering ashes.   

Reduce Jim’s score by two points for his well-planned color scheme.   

I suspect Marc Pickel may suggest that I paint my boat yellow, “yah, that’s right, to hide your little girly-man urine stains when the thunder and lightning come out and the sky goes boom…”  Yah… that’s right. 

A photo slide show was on display during dinner as well as a computer GPS tracking show provided by Kattack.  Nearly every boat was outfitted with a GPS, somehow Jeff Schafer couldn’t figure out where to place the GPS.  After the races, we watched an animated recreation of the race.  Each boat had the skipper’s name on it and a display of the speed (except for Jeff’s).  The race could also be watched online, in real time, if you could not attend the event.  Kattack was well-received and I suspect that we will see it used more often in future events, particularly races in which Jeff doesn’t show up.   

On Sunday morning, we packed in three races.  The wind was slowly building over the three races, by the final race, crews were hiking hard.   

On the first race, Steve and I quickly tacked to port near the committee boat to drive towards what appeared to be fresher breeze on the right side of the course, we were right.  We then crossed the fleet in a conservative tactical move, big mistake.  Every boat that we abandoned on the right rounded in front of us; we were in tenth.  We did no better by the finish.  Rick Brethorst and Bob Carson took a healthy drink on that right side the second time up the course and passed five boats to win the race.  The invisible Jeff Schafer and Rob Walker ghosted into second and the invincible Wright/Quist nailed down third.   

So, Steve and I put on our thinking caps.  We decided that everyone saw Rick Brethorst score on the right when the wind flipped over to 160 degrees.  The “group think” will have everyone elbowing each other to get to the right, the problem is that the wind was already at 160 degrees and they will have to drive out on a header to get there, and then hope for even more of a shift to get back to the weather mark.  The thought of fighting everyone for the last sip of a stale beer put us off a bit, so we casually cruised out to the left-side on a lift, fresh beer, and then flipped over to port and rounded first, no elbows required.  We jibed in a little puff.  However, everyone else stayed on starboard… why?  We found out, 12 boats later at the next mark.  Cripes! 

Greg Smith and TC Belco won the race with the German team of Jens Burmester and Markus Mehlen in second and new P-Star owner Canadian Stu Hebb and Canadian Olympian Mike Wolfs in third. 

This time Steve and I were determined to weed out the mistakes.  We fought for that left side again and rounded in first with Greg Smith/TC Belco and Ukrainian/Siberian/American Arthur Anosov and his Canadian teammate Dave Caesar in a close second and third.  The three teams traded places the rest of the race and enjoyed a final leg tacking dual.  Greg and TC held us off as well as Arthur and Dave to win the race. 

In the end, Peter Wright won his 11^th Tulip Time and Nathan Quist’s won his first Tulip with scores of 2, 3, 4, and 5 (with that trend, we all would have had them with another 20 races).  Chris and Mickey Neilson were impressive in second with a 1, 4, 6, and 6.  And, Greg Smith and TC Belco came on strong with a 5, 11, 1, and 1.   

They are primed for the Great Lakes Championship next month in Michigan City, the fourth District’s newest and one of its oldest fleet.  It’s charter was renewed this year.