In this Issue:
LMSS 'Q' Race
West Michigan Regatta
Launch schedule for the Race
Match Racing Worlds
S2 7.9 Internationals

For more Sailing News see
Sailing Daily
Recent editions covered:
The Start North Americans
and the Verve and Clipper Cup
See http://www.torresen.com/sd/august99

Lake Michigan Singlehanded Society 'Q' Race
Submitted by Ben Broughton
    The Lake Michigan Singlehanded Society had its first Q Race
on Friday, August 6. The course was a 51 NM sprint from Chicago to
Racine, sailed singlehanded, with an 8:10 am CDT start. The
forecast was for SW winds, so everyone had their chutes ready for
the start. But the real wind was West. Several boats started under
main only and got jibs up shortly after the start.
    The first couple of hours were very fast with 14 to 18 knots
of true wind at 70 to 60 degrees apparent. Most of the boats were
marching along at about 7 knots. Then the speed dropped about a knot
as the wind lightened to 10 to 15 and moved forward to 50 degrees.
    At about the halfway point the wind dropped to under 4 and
clocked to the NE. After about 15 minutes of slow going, not
necessarily in the right direction, the wind steadied in the NE at
4 to 10 knots for the rest of the race. The first four boats had a
one-legged beat to the finish with a fair amount of pinching by the
leeward boats. The remaining four boats all had at least one port
tack out into the lake.
    The scratch boat, Bill Miller on Miller Time, a Schumacher 40,
crossed the finish line at 16:40. All but one boat was in before
dark with elapsed times under 11 hours.
    First place honors were earned by Fred Stritt on Frolic &
Cyn, an Ericson 35. Fred corrected out almost 16 minutes ahead of
Ben Broughton's Freedom 36, Manana, who edged third place El Nino,
a Kirby 30 sailed by Bob Graves, by a mere 6 seconds.
    Miller Time corrected into fourth place, and LMSS President
Mark Richardson on his Pretorien 35, Inflexible, finished fifth.
Bob Manning's Beneteau 400, Fianna Gael, was sixth, followed by
Neil Donovan on Surprise, a Scampi 30, and Tom Reinert's O'Day 25,
Shoot'n the Breeze.
    All the competitors agreed it was a marvelous day sail with
all but the two smallest boats averaging at least 5 knots over the
51 miles in flat seas and sunshine. Racine Yacht Club proved to
be a wonderful host as the sailors traded stories about autopilots,
sail changes, and the lack of crew to blame for foredeck, tactical,
and any other errors. One boat, who shall remain nameless, even ran
a man overboard drill to retrieve a horseshoe buoy.
    For more information on the Lake Michigan Singlehanded
Society please see their website at: http://www.torresen.com/lmss

1999 West Michigan Regatta
    Recently concluded at Spring Lake Yacht Club was the 1999
West Michigan Regatta. Sponsor was the Western Michigan Yachting
Association.
    Racing took place in 6 classes, mostly various types of scows.
Below find the top 3 places for each of these classes.
M 20
1. Ron Schlommer LGYC 5.7 pts
2. Chuck Gorgen MYC 22.7
3. Craig Rawlings GRYC 40
Laser
1. Paul Wickland MYC 13
2. Adam Schiller MYC 21.7
3. David Freye MYC 25.7
E Scow
1. Doug Mcneil WLYC 16.7
2. Peter Price TLYCC 23.7
3. Relllina/Nelson WLYC12 25.7
Open Butterfly
1. Ben Fredricks SLYC 3
2. Duane Pierson WLYC 16.7
3. Bryan Mishman SLYC 33.4
MC Scow
1. Peter Fox SLYC 17.7
2. Brien Fox SLYC 21.7
3. Dave Bandstra 47.7
Junior Butterfly
1. Joe Rotonda SLYC/WLYC 10
2. Mike Pinckney GRYC 22
3. Ben Martin WLYC 26.1
C Scow
1. Charlie Harrett LGYC 16.7
2. Tom Keenan LFYC 45
3. Chad Hough SLYC 45.7

The Race- Plans for entered boats shape up
    The Race is no limits non stop, no assistance around the
world race scheduled to start 31 December 2000. With the start date
drawing near it is becoming clearer how some of the entrants will
prepare their giant multi hulls for The Race.
    A survey of team training plans shows that this winter we
will begin to see these radically fast boats circle the planet.
Following the paths of these boats will be interesting.
    Already launched is Steve Fossett's Playstation. The 105
foot catamaran is scheduled to leave New Zealand by container ship
in late August. Once in the United States Playstation will tune up
in Newport RI. This leading up to a late September transatlantic
record attempt. The in the 1st viable weather window after Christmas
Playstation will make an attempt at the Jules Verne Trophy. The
Verne trophy signifies the fastest non stop circumnavigation and is
currently referenced at 71 days.
    Britain's Goss Challenge expects to finish building their
boat by Christmas. Early January will see the launch. Directly after
launch they'll cross the Atlantic and return for Jules Verne attempt
in March or April of 2000.
    Two French entries still have not had their owners disclosed.
Due to this they are referred to as Code Zero and Code 01. Code Zero
should be swimming by the spring of 2000, whole 01's launching will
be June or July of next year.
    Another British challenger is Tony Bullimore's Millennium
Challenge. Bullimore and team are adding length to the hulls of their
catamaran which has previously been known as ENZA and Royal and
Sun Alliance.
    By October or November Millennium Challenge should be making
an Atlantic Record attempt. Early next year is the window of a Jules
Verne attempt.
    The Polish group for the race sponsored by Alka Prim has an
April 2000 launch date. Several Atlantic crossings will be used to
train for The Race.
    The Dutch Challenge is building a 130 foot Aeoro Rigged
catamaran. The boat will feature twin 151-foot high masts. They
plan to launch in August of 2000.
    The American trimaran Rave will be launched this month in
Hawaii.
    The above projects for The Race are all more of the fact
than fiction variety. There are several other groups that could
still get a giant multi hull built in time.
    American Cam Lewis is still searching for final funding for
a 118-foot cat. A possible builder is Goetz of Rhode Island. There
have also been reports of a joint venture between Lewis' group and a
Spanish team.
    Loick Peyron the new holder of the Fastnet outright record
is rumored to be considering a 100-foot Lombard design. It is
possible that Marten Marine in New Zealand is preparing to run up a
boat for a New Zealand group. Finally, word is that Explorer
Bruno Peyron's legendary catamaran maybe sold and reconfigured for The Race.
    The website for The Race is at:
http://www.therace.org/english/index.htm

Cottonfield Cup is Worlds for Match Racing
    A 10-sailor field begins racing today in Denmark. Racing
will continue until Sunday with top sailor becoming the 1999 Match Racing
World Champion. First prize for the event is $ 37,000.
    Sailing will take place in Skovshoved Harbour north of
Copenhagen. The boat used for the event is the DS 37 One Design
Match Racer.
    The field is determined by the ISAF's match race rankings so
it is tough. Invitations are issued to the Top 10 sailors on the
raking list. Heading the list is Peter Gilmour who is the defending
world champion and also defending champion at the Cottonfield Cup.
Gilmour will sail with the Japanese America's Cup team.
    Number 3 in the ISAF list is Sten Mohr of Denmark. Mohr is
Denmark's highest ranking competitor.
    4th in the rankings is Frenchman Bertrand Pace, and was the
World Champion in 1995. He will sail the French Boat in the coming
America's Cup.
    5th is New Zealander Dean Barker. Barker is a fast mover
rising up from a ranking of # 37 last summer.
    6th is German Markus Wieser. 7th in the rankings is Swede
Magnus Holmberg. This will be Holmberg's 7th world cup.
    Also sailing in his home country is the 8th ranked Morton
Henriksen. Coming in as the 9th ranked sailor is Jesper Bank also
a Dane.
    Chris Law is the British representative. Law is coming off a
disturbing performance in the Admirals Cup.
    The final sailor in was German Jochen Schumann. He is ranked
11th, but a spot became available when # 2 ranked Gavin Brady stayed
in California for America's Cup Preparations.
    Today is the first day of round robin racing and so far
competition is very even. Through the first 5 flights all sailors
have suffered at least one loss. In fact, in the championships first
match, # 1 ranked Peter Gilmour was beaten by # 11 Jochen Schumann
by 17 seconds. However, Gilmour along with Markus Weiser has only 1
loss.
    Sten Mohr, Bertran Pace, Morton Henriksen, Chris Law and
Magnus Holmberg have 2 losses. With 3 losses are Jesper Bank and
Dean Barker.
    Round robin racing continues until Friday. Then the top 4
sailors advance to Saturday's semi-finals. The event finals are on
Sunday.
    To follow the event please see:
http://194.255.91.150/index.html

Boston is S2 7.9 Winner
Submitted by Doug Slade
    For the fifth time in his 7.9 racing career, Spike Boston,
from Sarnia Ontario Canada, won the S-27.9 Internationals. All three
days were sailed in good N.W. breezes.
    For the last three years Spike sailed John Musa's boat, with
John as crew. This year Spike persuaded John to sail his own boat
and John edged out five other boats for second overall, with a 4th
place in the last race.   
    Boston showed that he was determined to win this year when
he started the first race in clean air and worked his way through
the fleet for the win. Scott Smith and Jeff and Doug Padnos of
Holland, were 2nd and 3rd in race one.
    In race two Gary Shoemaker and Bill Jenkins, from Detroit,
got "Crime Scene" going and won, with Spike 2nd, and Don and Jean
Bergman, of Holland, 3rd.
    Chris Nielsen and Dan Johnson sailed over from Racine on
Monday and got "Challenge" geared up as they moved away from the
fleet in race three to win, followed by the Padnos team and Spike Boston.
    In race four, the Bergmans got cranked up and finished 1st,
with the Padnos boys right on their tail for 2nd. Spike Boston
stayed right with them for 3rd.
    Race five had a twist. John Musa, who was over the line
early in race four and ended up last, won race five and six.
Scott Smith stayed in the hunt and got two seconds. Getting
into the duel was Steve Tepel in "ParrotHead" from Detroit,
who finished 3rd in race five. Mike Elliot, sailing "Bernoulli",
also from the other side of the state, getting a third in race six.
    Race seven was bizarre, to say the least. Scott Smith
got around the first mark, of a six-leg race, followed by
Doug Slade in "Hard Tack", from Holland. John Musa was 14th.
At the end of the first run, Scott Smith got tangled up with
leeward mark and dropped to last place. John Musa, who was
14th at the beginning of leg five, took a flyer to the
starboard layline and picked up 10 boats. His 4th , and
Scotty's 15th moved John up to second overall and Scottie
back to 6th. Steve Tepel's 1st moved him into second,
and a 7th by the Padnos brothers moved them back a notch
to 4th overall.
    The awards dinner Friday night was fun. The top five
earned trophies. Daily firsts through thirds also got awards.
Prizes were given to Larry South, John Musa's crew for coming
the farthest and delivering his boat. The Wilcoxes from MN,
in which the whole family races, got the best mixed crew trophy.
Scott Smith got a fishing lure one of the sailors found while
sailing in the Thursday night JY-15/S-27.9 crew races.
It was called " The best catch of the day" award.