By the time this newsletter gets to all of you the biggest chunk of the season will be over. The NOODs, Queen’s Cup, Mac, Hook and many other events around the lake will be in the record books. Congratulations to all of the winners and the event organizers. And for the rest of the fleet, just wait until next year!

Due to a scheduling conflict, I stayed at home and ran a Bemis/Smythe Junior event instead of going on the Chi-Mac. I want to commend the Mac organizing committee and RMI for the very slick tracking/plotting website. For the armchair sailors like me, it was very entertaining to watch the progress of the fleet. Thanks for the great effort.

Finally, I’d like to plant a seed of a thought in your mind. After you have put away your big boat for the fall, give small boat frost-biting a try. Either single handed or with a single crew, you can get 4 or 6 starts and dozens of mark roundings in a single morning. Keep the competitive juices flowing and keep your yacht clubs busy until Thanksgiving. You could even issue a team race challenge to other club or another fleet. Have fun with it.

Good sailing this Fall!

 

John Strassman, Commodore, LMSRF

jstrassman@wi.rr.com

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Now that the excitement of one of the Chicago to Mackinac's fastest races and accompanying storm has subsided, it would seem necessary to clarify the events that led to the 44 foot trimaran Caliente's capsizing and rescue of her crew. For the record the boat's owner is Michael Steck, Winfield, Il. Crewmembers were Trey Ritter, Libertyville, Il., Bruce Warthen, Libertyville, Il., Tim Doran, Grays Lake, Il., Patrick Tierney, Evanston, Il., and Mark Muehler, Homer Glen, Il.

At about 8:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time the Caliente rounded Shoal Buoy #3 into the Straits of Mackinac some 30 miles from the finish. Wind direction was from the southwest and boat speed 10-12 knots. No other racing boats were in view. The only vessel was a freighter approaching from behind and to the west.

A starboard jibe removed the Caliente from the freighters course. The western sky began looking ominous. After a brief discussion, sail reduction was commenced by first furling the screacher. In less than a minute the storm was upon the multihull with wind speeds later reported as high as 90 m.p.h. Whether a microburst was involved is inconclusive, however, the force of the wind that flattened her fully eased mainsail seemed consistent with such a metrological phenomena.

Upon releasing the mainsheet, Muehler turned to see the screacher half furled and the remaining portion of the sail flying unsheeted in the wind. The bow was digging into the water much like a submerging submarine. Within a few brief seconds the Caliente sounded what appeared to be a soft groan and rolled

to port. When the trimaran’s heel approached 90 degrees, three crewmembers (Doran, Tierney, and Muehler) fell into the water. Steck retreated to the boat's main cabin where he later exited through an escape hatch purposely designed for a capsizing. Something from the over turning boat caught Warthen’s inflatable life vest or attached tether and pulled him under. Rather than attempting to untangle, he unclipped the vest and after surfacing, swam to the boat. Ritter stayed close to the boat and quickly returned aboard the overturned vessel.

Of the three on the port side, Tierney made it back to the boat and climbed aboard utilizing the bow sprint. Doran had a Musto life vest that was inadequate to keep him afloat. He called to Muehler who swam to his rescue. By the time the two men were joined, the Caliente had drifted about 30-40 feet and was being pushed by the wind faster than the two could close ground. At that point, the drifting sailors realized their rescue depended on the Coast Guard receiving a signal from one of the two 406 EPIRBs which Steck deployed upon capsizing.

Muehler was wearing a self-inflating Mustang life vest that seemed to keep the two buoyant, although with 5-7 foot waves crashing on top of them they swallowed considerable amounts of lake water. After 15-20 minutes the wind subsided and the waves calmed to 2-4 feet, but the men were still taking in water and somewhat terrified by the thought that drowning is possible even in a life preserver! Fast approaching darkness added to Muehler and Doran's concern over their peril. After a half hour of drifting, the separation between them and the boat exceeded ¼ mile and the two lost sight of the overturned craft.

Aboard the Caliente, Tierney was able to cut the netting and retrieve a calamity bag carried for just such a situation. A flare was fired and a may day call broadcasted over a waterproof hand held VHF radio. Doran and Muehler's spirits were revived when they saw the flare. They hoped other vessels would soon respond to the distress signal. By now it was dark enough for them to use their strobe light. Within a short time, the two could see lights approaching, which they mistakenly perceived to be the Coast Guard. Actually, it was a Canadian freighter illuminating the night with a powerful search beacon. The sailors were perplexed at the distance the vessel maintained from them. After the rescue, the two learned they had drifted into shallower water beyond reach of the freighter. The crewmen on the Caliente had seen Muehler's strobe light and notified the freighter of the drifting men's position.

When the freighter directed its search beam on the Caliente, Muehler and Doran were amazed to see the capsized vessel only a few hundred yards away. The Caliente's mast had lodged on the shallow bottom preventing her from further drifting. Soon after, the crew of the freighter sighted the two in the water and steadied a beam to aid the racing vessel Kokomo, a Schock 55, with the recovery.

Doran and Muehler spent 90 minutes in the water. Fortunately, the lake water was uncommonly warm (nearly 70 degrees). Neither man felt hypothermia to be a significant danger up to that point. Doran's strength was sapped clinging to Muehler and the two were taking in perilous amounts of water right up to their rescue. The Kokomo then proceeded to recover the remainder of the crew aboard the capsized Caliente. All were united below with dry sleeping bags and hot food. The superb effort of Kokomo's crew has since been appropriately recognized.

In retrospect, much that was done in compliance with the Chicago Yacht Club's safety requirements avoided what could have been a tragic loss of life. The EPIRBs, and especially the calamity bag with flares and radio, as well as knives carried by each crewmember, were critical in the successful recovery.

MILWAUKEE, WI. July 24, 2002: Milwaukee Yacht Club Hosted the 2002 Bemis- Smythe Semi Finals on July 22 –23, 2002. Twenty-two 420 and twenty Laser Junior Sailors from all over the Midwest came to Milwaukee for the event.

Monday’s racing was postponed until early afternoon due to a line of showers that had caused high wind and lightning west of Milwaukee. The cool front that caused the trouble stalled right on top of Milwaukee and prevented any breeze to get organized. Two light air races were completed before the RC called it a day. The big story on Monday was Chicago Yacht Club’s Matt “Woody” Woodworth’s two bullets in the Laser fleet. As the competitors finished putting away their boats the front blew through, the skies cleared and the wind began to blow…

Tuesday morning dawned with the trees shaking and the Lake making a lot of noise. A 20-24 knot Northeaster had established itself. The forecast was for moderating wind during the day but at the 10 AM warning signal the breeze was still around 18-20 knots with 5-6 foot waves crawling over the breakwater. The RC decided to set the racecourse inside the government breakwater out of the waves. The wind direction allowed the RC to set a modified windward-leeward course with legs with a distance of approximately 0.8 NM. The racecourse presented the competitors with ‘nuking’ wind and very flat water.

There were two particularly spectacular performances on Tuesday. Craig Thompson and Blake DeBoer of Columbia YC (Chicago) had five bullets in five races in the Bemis Division. The Columbia team found the upwind planning formula and powered away from the fleet. In the Smythe Division, Don Thinschmidt of Macatawa Bay YC ground down the rest of his fleet. Don had three firsts and a total of nine points for the day. His closest competitor on Tuesday had nineteen points.

The wind never varied more than +/- 10º nor decreased below 16 knots all day. By the end of the fifth race of the day came around, the wind was back up to 20 knots and nobody complained when the RC told them to head home. Many, many competitors became familiar with the shape of their centerboard during the course of the day. The Series was completed with seven races.

Bemis Division:

1 Thompson/DeBoer - Coumbia YC

2 Turney/Lumkes – Chicago YC

3 Blanchard/Leomporra – Minnetonka Sailing School

4 Whilhelm/Rothstein - Chicago YC

5 Randall/Bosworth - Minnetonka Sailing School

 

Smythe Division:

1 Thinschmidt - Macatawa Bay YC

2 Karlan – Chicago YC

3 Porter – Lake Geneva YC

4 Woodworth – Chicago YC

5 Pinahs – Okauchee YC

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