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     1999 SOUTH HAVEN INVITATIONAL Rating: N/A |
1999 SOUTH HAVEN INVITATIONAL (reported by Chris Sundberg) On Saturday, June 5, the 9.1 Meter fleet started the 1999 Great Lakes racing season with clear skies and a warm southerly breeze off South Haven Michigan. Although only six boats made the start, ten owners were present. Gary Hendrickson, the new owner of Nomad, jumped on Odyssey to help Lewis Buell and Loren Thompson raced Sunday with Dick Daniels aboard Entropy. Class webmaster Russ Fender assisted the Race Committee and Commodore Scott Corder stopped by on his way to Chicago. In the first race, Spectra showed how fast they would be all weekend leading at the leeward mark. A stuck spinnaker halyard gave the others hopes of passing them and stealing victory. The crew battled to get the kite down, Greg kept the boat going the right way and Spectra was back in front at the end of the race. This would be the only opportunity Spectra gave its competitors as they sailed a perfect series the rest of the regatta. As the day continued, light breezes that seemed to stay above the water made it hard to find the pressure. While Spectra seemed to be consistently in the evasive breeze, the rest of the fleet enjoyed some close racing. On Sunday the fleet awoke to a stiff breeze that had crews on the rail at the top end of their #1’s. Again close racing and tight mark roundings. Slingshot showed great speed in the higher winds, finishing second in the first race. Three boats were called over early in the last race and two went back. While Entropy kept going and had a great duel with Stimulator, Slingshot sailed through the fleet from a restart to finish second behind Spectra in the final race. After five races, only 2 total points separated Entropy, Odyssey and Slingshot in third, fourth and fifth overall! RESULTS 1. Spectra 1-1-1-1-1 =5 2. Stimulator 2-3-3-3-3 =14 3. Entropy 4-2-2-4-8 =20 4. Odyssey 3-4-5-5-4 =21 5. Slingshot 6-6-6-2-2 =22 6. Tenacity 5-5-4-6-5 =25 2000 SOUTH HAVEN INVITATIONAL DATES June 3-4, 2000 |
