2003 Western Regional Championship Regatta

January 4-5, 2003

This year's Western Region Championship was held on Lake Poygan just Northwest of Oshkosh, WI. The lake is 3.5 by about 7 miles and we were able to set a full mile between the marks. Some frozen drifts made for an occasional bump, but the ice was generally smooth and very fast. Saturday's breeze was light, but with fast ice, there was no problem getting up to speed and even the occasional hike was to be had. We have been running the races as close to NA format as possible. With 59 boats we split the fleet in half and had a silver fleet mini-qualifier advancing the top 6 to the gold fleet. This is in an effort to get people thinking about how the big regattas are run. It also rewards sailors who participate at the National level and encourage people to attend them. We all know how incredible National level regattas are.

The Silver fleet had many place changes and mixed finishes. It is inspirational for me that 2 of the top 7 finishers were Masters. Finesse!!!

The Gold fleet finishes were pretty much in order of the ranking system. Ronny cleaned the slate, but Matt Struble was looking like a champion and ahead of Ron several times. As usual, Greg Smith, Rob Evans and Paul Goodwin were not to far off the pace too.

After the racing was over on Saturday, there were a few mishaps on the way in that will be the topic of conversation I am sure. For now, I will concentrate on the sailing. Sunday morning brought ¾" of snow and no wind. There were three races in each fleet on Saturday, so we called it a regatta.

Many thanks to the people who helped make it happen and to those who helped those in distress.

John Davenport - Western Region Rear Commodore

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 Pos    Sail#        Name         Race>    1    2    3  Points
 --------------------------------------------------------------
  1   US   44      SHERRY,         RON     1    1    1    3.00
  2   US  183     STRUBLE,        MATT     2    2    2    6.00
  3   US 3662       SMITH,    GREG (S)     3    3    8   14.00
  4   US 4975       EVANS,      ROBERT     5    4    5   14.00
  5   US 4061     GOODWIN,        PAUL     6    7    3   16.00
  6   US 4824 CHRISTENSEN,        MARK     7    6    4   17.00
  7   US 2000      LEBEAU,        LEON    12    5    6   23.00
  8   US 5014     ISABELL,        MARK     9   10    9   28.00
  9   US 3283    WILLIAMS, J.BRUCE (S)    18    8    7   33.00
 10   US  406    WOODRUFF,       PETER    10   13   10   33.00
 11   US 2360       JOHNS,    PETE (M)     4   11   21   36.00
 12   US 4000     JOHNSON,   RANDY (S)    13   12   13   38.00
 13   US 4961   DAVENPORT,        JOHN    17    9   16   42.00
 14   US  610       JONES,  DONALD (M)    16   17   15   48.00
 15   US  294    LOENNEKE,   LOUIS (S)    15   16   19   50.00
 16   US 2301     BIERMAN,      DANIEL    11   18   23   52.00
 17   US 4974       JONES,    STAN (M)    22   19   11   52.00
 18   US 5144        REHE, MICHAEL (J)    19   21   14   54.00
 19   US   45      SHERRY, WENDELL (M)     8  DSQ   17   55.00
 20   US 4602   KICKHAFER,       DAVID    23   14   18   55.00
 21   US  602       MEYER,         TOM    20   15   20   55.00
 22   US 4192     ROGOSKI,       RANDY    28   25   12   65.00
 23   US 4926    ORLEBEKE,       STEVE    14  DSQ   22   66.00
 24   US  781      NORTON,     JOE (S)    24   20   28   72.00
 25   US 4826   CROASDALE,       CHRIS    26   24   24   74.00
 26   US 4755 LEMBERG, JR,        RICK    27   22   26   75.00
 27   US 4923      LOOMIS,    JOHN (S)    25   23   27   75.00
 28   US 4915        COOK,  ROBERT (S)    21   27  DSQ   78.00
 29   US 4155     LEMBERG, RICHARD (S)    29   26   25   80.00

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 Pos    Sail#           Name         Race>    1    2    3  Points
 -----------------------------------------------------------------
  1   US  445           CAVE,         BOB     2    3    1    6.00
  2   US 4811     CHATTERTON,     MARKHAM     4    1    4    9.00
  3   US    1       LOENNEKE,        ERIC     3    2    5   10.00
  4   US  805          PEGEL,    JANE (M)     5    4    8   17.00
  5   US 3271      JANKOWSKI,        MIKE     1    8   11   20.00
  6   US 1873      CROASDALE,     RAY (M)     7   11    2   20.00
  7   US 4137     SMITH, JR.,         KEN    12    5   10   27.00
  8   US  216        POTCOVA,     RICHARD    15    7    7   29.00
  9   US 1059        ULBRICH,     MICHAEL    11   18    6   35.00
 10   US 5214       MCDONAGH,         JIM     9   12   15   36.00
 11   US 4148          DIXON,         TIM    20    6   12   38.00
 12   US 5172       BETZOLDT,   GLENN (S)    14   16    9   39.00
 13   US 4140         HOEPER,   PETER (S)    10   22   13   45.00
 14   US 5285           TEAL,       CHRIS    16    9   20   45.00
 15   US 5033          Bemis,       Jason    18   13   14   45.00
 16   US 4293       SCHUETTE,        PAUL    13   17   17   47.00
 17   US 4291        KALLMAN,        RICK     8   10  DNF   49.00
 18    P   71      Ziolkowah,         Kes    24   15   16   55.00
 19   US 3865          BOWEN,         TED    27   27    3   57.00
 20   US 1277         BOWMAN,     HAL (M)     6   29   24   59.00
 21   US 5053           Reis,      George    23   19   18   60.00
 22   US 3433        CUMMINS,  ROBERT (S)    17   14  DNF   62.00
 23   US 1313           RAST,  ROBERT (S)    19   20   23   62.00
 24   US 5300    Montplaisir,        Rich    22   24   19   65.00
 25   US  360         BAUSCH,   ELMER (M)    25   21   22   68.00
 26   US  327      Jankowski,      Stefan    21   23   25   69.00
 27   US 1830       CASTELLI, FRANCIS (M)    29   26   21   76.00
 28   US 3934 Reichelsdorfor,        Rich    26   25   26   77.00
 29   US 2237          DAKIN,    HERB (M)    28   28   28   84.00
 30   US   11         Schell,       Larry   DNF   30   27   88.00