I now know first hand what it's like to be in "Pig Heaven!" Great
wind, great facility, great race committee, great hospitality and
great entertainment all served up on a Great Lake. Who could ask
for anything more? Well, maybe just one more thing. How about a
great win?! That's "Pig Heaven" and I'm one lucky guy to be
there!
After sailing in a J/22 southwest circuit regatta on the weekend
of July 19-20, 2003 in Oklahoma City in a record breaking 107
degrees, my wife, Barbara and I headed for East Tawas, Michigan to
drop off the boat and wait for the 2003 J/22 Eastern Great Lakes
Championship Regatta a month later. Chris and Jennifer Princing
met us in Saginaw with open arms and made arrangements with Tawas
Bay Yacht Club for us to leave the boat in a secure area. We left
the car in Detroit to be serviced and flew home to San Antonio
counting the days til we could return to cooler weather and what
promised to be great sailing in a beautiful community. Our
routine flight plans turned out to be anything BUT routine. The
day before we left for Detroit the lights went out, not in Georgia,
but in the entire North East! We were determined to get to East
Tawas and DID. How we got there is another story which Barbara,
who is never at a loss for words, will gladly share with anyone
who's remotely interested.
I can't begin to compete with the article Kevin Doyle, winner of
last years Eastern Great Lakes Championship, wrote, BUT, I can
tell you, it was all true. My brother, Gary, from San Antonio,
friend Eric Kownacki from San Diego and I agree that Tawas was a
great place to sail with good winds, flat water, lots of sun and
outdoor A/C. You may have figured out from previous articles that
all the boats entering this regatta have to have a name relating
to pigs. I'm not exactly sure why, but rules are rules, so my
boat, Shredder, was renamed "Pork U", not to be confused with J/22
International Chairman Peter U.
The race committee, headed up by John McCree was superb! We had
four races starting after noon on Saturday. Each race was about
an hour long and there were no general recalls, no moving the
line once it was set and no bobbing around between races.
The first race the water was flat and the breeze was building so
we just pinched the "pig snot" out of the boat upwind and were
able to hold on to a narrow victory over Chris Doyle sailing on
"The Other White Meat." The second race was the most exciting,
with the first four boats finishing within a boat length of each
other. Kevin Doyle sailing "Mo Bacon" led the way around the
course and finished first with Tim Finkle (sailing "Little Jerry
Swinefeld"), Chris Doyle and yours truly in hot pursuit. In race
three, Tim Finkle got the early lead and did a good job of
covering the fleet and protecting his position. He won, but had
"Pork U", "Mo Bacon" and "The Other White Meat" closing in at the
finish. Race four was more of the same. This time is was Chris
Doyle's turn to cross the finish line first with "Pork U", "Little
Jerry Swinefeld", and "Mo Bacon" falling in behind. Saturday
night had Tim, Kevin, Chris and "Pork U" within two points of each
other. Four races, four different winners. I would like to take
this opportunity to thank Chris Princing for convincing the
Youngstown group that it was better to win the party than the
regatta. While they were working on their bar tabs, we were at
the Bambi, a family motel, not a strip joint, catching forty
winks.
Sunday morning found us at the starting line twenty minutes before
the start. Looking back at the club, we only saw two other boats
with their sails up. The party winners did show up after John
wisely postponed the start by five minutes. The fifth race found
us rounding the first mark in about sixth or seventh, but we were
able to work our way back through the fleet. We had moved our
fairleads back about 3/8" before the race and were able to foot
off a little more. We felt like we had good boat speed and
enjoyed the wind and the win. Kevin Doyle finished a close second.
WE had our best start in the sixth race and were able to keep our
lead, but Chris Doyle was definitely closing in at the finish. The
win put us in "Pig Heaven!"
Chris Pricing is a prince of a guy with a princess for a wife from
a club that treats all guests like royalty! We may have won the
regatta, but Tawas Bay Yacht Club wins the award for the "host
with the most!" I will fly my Fleet #44 Pig Flag proudly and will
end with Kevin Doyle's closing remarks from his article last year.
"Come, sail, party, win and write the article!"
