The Egyptian Cup Had 21 Boats and Perfect Conditions – Let’s Hear it for the Pharoh!

Well, I meant to post something before we left for the Egyptian Cup at Carlyle Lake, because we knew before we got there that we would have 20 boats. That's an awesome turnout! As Mike Pitzer, the "Pharoah" for the regatta, explained on Sunday, he was hoping for 20 boats to help mark the 20th anniversary of the Cup being held at Carlyle. Before that, for those of you not familiar with the regatta, it was hosted by a lake in southern Illinois. The regatta has a long and storied history. If you ever get a chance to look at the cup you'll see names like Gordon Douglass and other Flying Scot greats on it. When they closed up shop, they asked Carlyle to continue the tradition, which they did and they have.

Meanwhile, the weather gods, whether Egyptian or otherwise, seemed to be pleased with the Carlyle race committee because they provided perfect weather all weekend: wind between about 8-11 and moderated temperatures in the low 80s, down from the high 90s of the previous weeks, so we were all very thankful.

In addition to four boats from Clinton Lake (Ben and me, Eric Bussell and Bryan Hunt, Chris Tesdal and Stephanie Temple and Frank Gerry, with Roselyne Hazard, a pick-up crew from Carlyle — since Marianne is getting ready to be with their daughter, who is expecting her first baby), Geoff Endris and Tom Moorefrom Eagle Creek Sailing Club (Indianapolis), and Ryan Malmgren and Stacey Rieu from Madison/Ephraim, we also had two boats from the Ohio District, Bruce and Lynn Kitchen from Cowan Lake and Mark and Maria Benner from Moraine Sailing Club.  But consider this, unless I'm overlooking someone, that means Carlyle had 12 boats from its own club participating in the regatta. That is phenomenal!! FSSA President Frank Gerry commented on the resurgence of Scot sailing at Carlyle. Keep it up guys and gals! And make sure to join FSSA while you are at it!

Ben brought his nice camera and lent it to Sandy Pinkel from Carlyle, who very ably photographed the regatta from the committee boat. Here is a link to a Flickr account with pages of photos from the weekend.

Ted Beier and his crew ran five great windward-leeward races. After the first one Saturday, which Bill Vogler and Marc Schillebeeckx won, and in which Dan and Tobi Moriarity (last year's champs) grabbed second, Ted sent us all in because of a storm on the horizon. We ate lunch as it dissipated and then we headed back out. The wind all weekend was fairly steady at about 200 degrees though it showed an inclination to shift left a little bit. Ben and I liked the left side for most of the weekend, though we mostly just played the shifts. Ryan liked the right side the first two races, much to his disappointment, since it didn't pay off. But by the third race on Saturday, Ryan and Stacey had
found their groove, getting not only a bullet on that race, but also winning the two races Sunday by a large margin. 

Ryan Malmgren and Stacey Rieu (#6077) leading the fleet

The standings after Saturday were Dan and Tobi with 6 points, Ben and me with 7 (consistent sailing, though no wins), Bill Vogler and Marc S with 10 and Ryan and Stacey with 12.

Sunday the winds were about the same, though they gradually lightened and shifted a bit more to the south. We used the vang a lot less on Sunday and I was having to shift my weight a lot more, spending a fair amount of time on the low side going upwind.  The first race, Ben and I were fourth place (behind Ryan and Stacey, Dan and Tobi, and Bruce and Lynn Kitchen) so we thought our chances of catching Dan and Tobi were out of reach. We concentrated
instead on trying to fend off Ryan and Stacey, who were catching us fast!

The final race of the regatta Ben got an awesome boat-end start and we liked where we were. We rounded the first windward mark in about sixth place, however, not as high as we would have liked. Still, we dug in, and tried to keep our speed up going downwind, focusing on boat balance, topping lift adjustments and the like. Luckily for us, three boats got tangled up and stalled at the leeward mark, and Ben and I were able to scoot around them and
head back into the lake. Then, somehow, we had a magical leg. We caught every shift just right, and by the time we were half way up the leg we'd left those other boats 20 lengths behind. The only boats in front of us were Ian Moriarity and Ryan. We managed to catch Ian before the windward mark. At that point, we tried to sail conservatively, since Ryan and Stacey were at least a half leg ahead of us!

Little did we realize, if we hadn't caught Ian, Ryan and Stacey would have caught us in the standings. As it was, when we got to shore, Ben and I weren't sure exactly where we stood. Had Dan and Tobi held on to the lead? Had Ryan caught us? Who had won the regatta? I thought we might have won, but in any case I was very happy with how we sailed, no matter how it turned out.

The race committee tabulated the results by hand and it took quite a while, what with 20 boats and all. Mike Pitzer, the grand Pharoah of the regatta, did a really good job raising the tension, insisting that everyone give a drum roll
as he announced the results.  In the end, Dan and Tobi had finished 3rd,and we had beat Ryan and Stacey by only one point...if we hadn't caught Ian, we'd have been tied and they'd have totally wiped us out in the tie breaker, since they won three races and we'd won none!! I guess that's a case of consistency beating out brilliance!!! Bruce and Lynn Kitchen came in a strong fourth and Ian M., following in his dad's footsteps, had a strong showing in fifth place.

Winners Ben Williams and Deb Aronson!