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Day 1 of Race Week saw only 1 of the 2 scheduled races sailed in Division 1. Division's 2& 3 sailed the scheduled compliment of 2 races.
Fine Line from Alabama was the One Design 35 Race One winner. For her narrow victory Fine Line received the boat of the day award. Fine Line's victory was ultimately a product of a very fine last leg. Fine Line rounded the last leeward gate in 5th. However, on the last leg Fine Line nosed into favorable current and benefited from a lefty wind shift. This last leg produced a one boat length boat length which equaled out to 7 seconds. Looks like all the Great Lakes racing the Alabama based Fine Line did over the summer was beneficial.
The large contingent of Great Lakes One Design 35's had several strong showings. Northern Bear of Milwaukee was 2nd in the first race of her first regatta, only 7 seconds from a bullet. Holland MI based 35's took 3rd and 4th, with 3rd being Windquest and 4th Spot- also a first regatta boat.
In 12th was David Bowen's Hippy Chick from Muskegon. 15th was Pronto from Holland MI, with Chicago based, and again in her first regatta, Détente next. 18th was the usually strong Heartbreaker and 19th was White Knuckle from St. Clair MI. Current national champion Roxanne was 7th, slowed by snagging a crab pot.
Winds were lighter than expected as, the winning One Design 35 took 2 hour 55 minute to sail the 12.6 mile windward/leeward course. In addition to the light air lumpy confused seas added to the conditions. Still, from 1st to 21st the time spread was only 12 minutes 33 seconds.
In PHRF 3 Muskegon's Lunatic Fringe finished 3rd. Lunatic was less than 2 minutes from a win.
In Division 1 Class A the top 3 boats were: Breeze, Highland Fling and Rubin. In Class B Brava Q8 was 1st, Hawk 2nd and Heatwave 3rd. Class B has Vim III of Grand Rapids MI in 3rd and Chicago's Nitemare taking 6th. V-Max from Chicago was 10th in Class B.
The Farr 40's saw a 4th place by Bandit from Grosse Pointe MI. Iskara from Chicago was 14th among the Farr 40's.
PHRF Class I was won by the only One Design 48 at Key West, Starlight.
Division 2 Class A is led by the Mount Gay 30 Surprise.
Class B which is composed of Viper 830's and is led by Guy de Boer sailing RE.
Class C is all J 29's. Milwaukee based Fast Lane is currently 7th.
Division 3 is composed of 3 one design fleets- Henderson 30, Mumm 30 and Melges 24.
The Henderson 30's are paced by Speedracer with 2 first in day 1.
In the Mumm 30's Malinda holds a 1 point lead after finishing day 1 with a 2nd and a 4th.
The Melges 24 lead is held by Planet Loaf, with 3 points after day 1.