Comet Territorials - Eagle Creek, July 2004

Seven Comets -  five from St. Louis and two from Columbus, Ohio came
to race in the Comet Territorials at Eagle Creek, Indiana. The five from
St. Louis were: Greg Polanik and Corina Iukovici, Nelson Laffey and Tom Lester,
Don Hanson and Mark Wissner, Phil Cotton and John Lark, Eric Waldschmidt
and Karen. (unfortunately Jerry Chapman couldn't fix the fittings on his new
mast so he couldn't make it - we missed him!) The two boats from Ohio were
Dick and Judy Harmon and Mark Hess and Ann Filbert.

Eagle Creek is one of the most enjoyable places to go to a regatta because everyone
there is so friendly. On Friday night they waited for us with hamburgers, bratwursts
and beer. Then on Saturday after the races they had a GREAT dinner and in the
evening they organized a beach party, with a DJ and dancing. Unfortunately Greg
and I were totally wiped out from the heat, so we went back to our motel room and
we were fast asleep by 8:30. The rest of the gang stayed for the party, as they were
camping out at the club (they have wonderful facilities with showers and fridge and
tables and barbecue pits).
 
In the front: 
Don Hanson, Mark Wissner, Nelson Laffey, Ann Filbert, Judy and Dick Harmon, Karen
In the back:
Mark Hess, Greg Polanik, Corina Iukovici, John Lark, Phil Cotton, Eric Waldschmidt
Photo sent by Dick Harmon

There were 3 races on Saturday and 2 on Sunday. Dick Harmon (many time world champion)
said that this weekend he had experienced some of the best competition in a while.
(Read more of his comments below)

The BIG battle was for the 1st place. On Saturday, Mark Hess took one 1st and two 2nd.
Dick wasn't having a good day and was trailing behind Mark with one 1st, one 2nd and
one 4th. He wasn't happy about it at all. On Sunday, Dick fought back and had an excellent
first race finishing 1st and Mark 3rd (in a race that Nelson had a great run and finished 2nd!).
And the last race was the deciding one - whoever finished 1st, was going to win the regatta.
Dick finished 1st and Mark 3rd. (Phil took 2nd). This sealed the victory for Dick.
Never say never! It Was exciting!

Another tough battle was for 4th place between Don and Greg. They were either tied or
separated by one point eiter way. In the last race on Sunday which decided the outcome,
Don had a very good race and took a well deserved 4th place in the regatta and Greg 5th.

Phil had very good races both days, including a 1st and 2nd finishes and placed 3rd in
the regatta. A few of us celebrated this and his 72nd birthday later, on the way back,
at a great little restaurant in Effingham where Brian and Mary Uhmansiek (they live(d) in
Effingham) joined us. Btw, they are moving back to St. Louis in a few weeks.

Eric had a few tough races, finding the holes more often than not, until the last race when
he had a good 4th finish, tying him with Nelson and winning the tiebreaker he placed 6th.
Karen, Eric's crew is a brand new sailor and she really enjoyed the regatta and we hope to
see her more often at Valley.

Our appetite is now well wetted for sailing and we hardly wait for our races to start on
the river!

Corina Iukovici

P.S.  The comments below were sent by email from Dick Harmon.

"  What struck me was that everyone had a good race going at some point.
There were quite a few VERY close finishes. Many were overlapped or nearly so.
Certainly, finish line tactics made a difference in several races.

A lot of people (I know we did) sailed extremely focused and hard. It was a very tough
series. One thing I like about Eagles Creek is that the legs are long enough and the wind
good enough to be able to try some different things and gage their effect on speed.
We cannot do this on our lake with the squirelly air.  Judy and I came away feeling
we had learned some things about the speed of our settings and sails."