2013 Thistle Lake Erie District Championship Results & Report

By Airwaves contributor Terra Lee Berlinski

The 2013 Thistle Lake Erie District Championship was hosted in July by Edgewater Yacht Club in Cleveland, Ohio. During the two day regatta, five races were held and 57 boats competed.

Most boats arrived Friday night to rig and take advantage of the noon start on Saturday for some guilt free pre-race shenanigans. Race committee was adamant about not waiting for boats to reach the starting line before the first gun would go off; no time to delay, get yourself on the water!

A big fleet made it vital to have a good start, if not you were stuck eating dirty air making it hard to have any kind of rebound.

The Saturday breeze was pretty consistent in direction and pressure around 8-10 knots with big rolling waves in the Cleveland downtown brown.  At the far end of the course the honest blue of the great lake surfaced.

On our way out to start the regatta we witness a boat drop their rig while someone swam to retrieve what we guessed to be a skied halyard. It’s hard when your day is threatening to end before it begins.

Sunday was scheduled for a 10 am start. When one of two hoists broke RC took notice and raised the AP allowing all competitors to get to the course. Breeze was lighter at the start, growing towards the end of the fourth and beginning of the fifth race with it dying down at the finish.

There was a youth incentive offered to promote the class and regatta. It was a great push to get plenty of juniors on the water.

St. Petersburg, Fla. was representing with Stuart Grulke, bow number 870, taking home the long distance award; traveling from one end of the country to the other, but only a couple more miles then the winner of the regatta, Chris Klotz.

“Because comfortable and safe sailing in St. Petersburg, Florida in the summer is not very likely and the racing of sailboats including Thistles is great in the northern climes in the summer, I decided to take the month of July and come to northwestern PA and northern OH, for some Thistle racing where all the action is!” Chris said.

It’s worthy of noting that Klotz is bow number one. You don’t often see those low numbers on the water, let alone still competing.

Chris continued, “My wife Antoinette and I were fortunate to pick up an advancing junior star, Ryan Milani, as our third crew. We were able to mesh as a team right away and I was fortunate this weekend to be in the right places out on the course to get most of the favorable wind shifts and win the regatta out of 56 boats. It was memorable win for me and hopefully I can follow through with continued success of some sort at the Nationals in Sandusky, Ohio in a couple of weeks.”

For Antoinette, the weekend was about good times. “It was a great venue, and a fun regatta!   I guess you could say that our middle, 13 year- old, eighth grader and future engineer, Ryan Milani, was our lucky charm!  All three of us were laughing and had so much fun on our downwind legs,” she said.

Antoinette pointed out that Chris had won this district regatta about four times in the past, so it was a nice come back for him to return, after 20+ years and win it again.

To get involved with the thistle class, click here and check here for more detailed results.