Seven Lido 14’s and one Capri 14.2 sailed this event on a warm and sunny Sunday. Breezes were medium…just to where both skipper and crew needed to hike out in the stronger puffs. Three races were scheduled and sailed, all of them being (essentially) windward leewards up/down the main "channel" of Westlake "lake". For those that haven’t ever seen Westlake, it is a man made reservoir with 80 acres of surface area. Much of that area consists of fingers of water between points of land with houses and docks, similar to Huntington Harbor, CA. The main channel referred to is about 75 to 100 yards wide which makes for excellent short tack sailing. There are a variety of lifts and headers along the shore lines, especially near one of the points so a good strategy depends on utilizing them.

A little advice for visitors to this wonderful little lake. First, the launching ramp is a bit strange and often requires backing a bit further into the water than any of us would normally like to…so be careful. Second, the water gets pretty shallow near the edges and there is a restricted area 10 feet around all private docks. Third, several marks are in the wind shadow of houses and trees and thus makes for a challenge to round without loosing one’s wits or place. Lastly, try to keep out of the water; it is relatively static and very much "enriched" by a large population of waterfowl. Take it from our friends Steve Mueller and Debbie Shlens who capsized in race #1 while working on their roll tacking technique…keep dry.

+John Papadopoulos

* Sailing a Capri 14.2