Port Clinton Yacht Club
Port Clinton, OH
Sept 2-3
This year I sailed with Surge Vanderhorst on his family's Tartan 10. The Labor Day weekend event started with the Robert Henry Memorial Race, which serves as a great, relaxing feeder race to Port Clinton. The wind was out of the Northeast and it was a fetch out of Sandusky to Marblehead (about 5-10 miles), another fetch toward the west to Mouse Island (another 5-10 miles) and then a run/broad reach to PCYC. We ended up 5th out of 17 T-10s and was a great sail. We found that by hanging close to the shore, there was less breeze due to the heat of the land. The boats that did well were offshore about a mile and had better pressure and angle.
The highlight of the weekend is the PCYC bar. They serve great $1 Bloody Mary's and incredibly cheap Brandy Alexanders. We definitely took advantage of this!
The Green Island race is a 20-something Mile race around the psuedo-bay that connects Port Clinton to Put-In-Bay. This year's race was a series of puffs and lulls. We managed a decent start in the 21-boat T-10 fleet. With a port-tack fetch to the first mark, we were the 2nd boat to the pin with decent pressure. The breeze went soft nearer the shore and was spotty in the lake. We connected the puffs nicely and rounded the first mark right behind Gary Disbrow's boat. The next leg was a beat to Green Island and we had a few opportunities to pass, but again the breeze went soft. The last leg (Green Island back to PCYC) was again a beat and we held off charges from both Heidi Riddle and George Ward to finish 2nd right behind Gary Disbrow.
Other classes included PHRF, Multi-Hull and JAM. It was a great turn-out and Toledo-Based sailors did really well. Looking forward to the Snowflurries!!!
SD