The rain came somewhat heavily through the night and into the morning with a hopeful forecast of clearing and getting sunnier throughout the day.  By 9 or so just in time to start setting up the boats, the rain had stopped.  The winds began to build and by 11 at the starting line we had brisk breezes from the northwest.  Almost cancelled, the Buckeye regatta had 7 boats entered this year, 4 from Hoover and 3 out-of-towners. Those included brothers Kevin and Kendall Kunz, who hadn’t sailed together for 30 years, Kendall traveling all the way from Seattle and Kevin from Indiana, their hopes nearly dashed by a broken tiller in the first race, they were able to achieve two bullets once a replacement was found.  Heidi Kloos with Dave Hutten and Wray Van Voorhis with Jon Reichman came up from Cowan Lake to join the action.  Marty Sweterlitsch from Hoover also competed with two new crew members, Butch Olds and Dave Mitchell.  Shortened to 5 races in one day, three triangle WLW races were held before a break for lunch.  The skies continued to clear and the winds kept building through the afternoon with a hint of whitecaps on the water. Two more triangle WLW races were held before the end of the event. Race management was handled smoothly and efficiently by Bernie Himmelsbach and the Windmill fleet.  Top honors went to Scott Stephen with Mark Presley crew, second place for Ray Trask with Jay Huling, and third place to Steve Rendina with Rich Amiton crew.  Prizes included framed artistic certificates, bottles of “Flying Scotch” and gourmet pesto.  Everyone who wanted one received a Flying Scot Fleet 37 beer glass.  A lively party with pizza and special North Channel gin and tonics concluded the day .

Thanks to all who helped, participated, and encouraged making this a fun and memorable event.  Thanks to Lisa Kreischer and Mark White for taking photos on the water, link to those coming soon!

For those of you from out-of-town - I don't have your crew's emails so please forward to them.  Thanks for making the trip here and making this regatta happen. We appreciate you!