Vancouver Lake Regatta

June 5 & 6, 2004

Hosted by Vancouver Lake Sailing Club

Report by Steve Salas

Carl & Lia Heisel of Fleet #25 (Portland, OR) handled the wild conditions best at the annual Vancouver Lake Regatta to win the 1st place trophy.  Vancouver Lake is a shallow body of water a few miles wide located just north of the Columbia River from Portland.  Thanks to everyone who traveled from Oregon, California, and Utah to sail in this event - Lidos have not participated here in several years.  It was also good to meet Jim Sterner from Washington who traveled down and introduced himself.  He promised to be at the next local event - Emerald Cup in Eugene.

Saturday started with a nice SW breeze when we arrived at VLSC, but it quickly built on the water by the first race.  Bud Temple of Utah was dismasted before the start and took a number for the crash boat as the other fleets had capsizes all over the lake.  The breeze lessened by the end of the first windward-leeward race but built again as more squalls passed over the lake while waiting for the second race of the day.  At this point your reporter noticed that the constant flogging of the main had torn the inboard end of two batten pockets.  Apparently races two and three were sailed in deteriorating conditions by the three remaining boats on the water (I was practicing my sewing skills).  The fourth scheduled race was thankfully not sailed.  The forecast for Sunday did not look as nice as Saturday...

Fortunately the forecast was wrong - lots of rain and slightly cooler but the southerly wind was lighter.  The first Sunday race was another windward-leeward won by the Heisels but a close finish for 2nd through 4th places was snagged by Ron Runyan by a margin of about one foot (confirmed on the video replay in the clubhouse later that afternoon).  Jerald Skeen of Fleet 81 sailing with his son won the fifth and final windward-leeward race to conclude the regatta.

1st - Carl & Lia Heisel (Portland)
2nd - Allan Stults & Terry Sellers (Fern Ridge)
3rd - Ron Runyan & Jeff Hennings (Portland)

Official Vancouver Lake Regatta info at VLSC Website