If you missed Sunday's July 26th racing, you missed the following:

1. A very unexpected decent wind day where 5-8 mph beat the forecast of 4 mph - Yes!

2. The unexpected company of thirty sailors on twenty boats - Yes!

3. The natural beauty of Hueston Woods in midsummer - Yes!

4. The Joe X Course of 4-3-2-1 - What?

Yeah, that was, uh, interesting. A tight box in the middle of Acton Lake with the biggest turnout of boats of the summer. There were comments before, during, and after, to be sure. Here is one crew conversation at mark 2: 

• "Which side do we round this mark?
  "I think we round it to starboard."
• "No, I think it is a port rounding."
• "We are in a great position for a starboard rounding."
• "But we are supposed to round it to port."
• "Nobody's looking."
• "Don't tempt me."

Let's just call it the day of Really Interesting Mark Roundings Involving Members of Multiple Fleets. In the end, it was generally regarded as a good exercise in creative course design and a good lesson in paying attention to committee signals and signs, as well as to the complex rules and physics of starboard-mark roundings. The committee was apparently well aware beforehand that their eXperimental course would elicit... concern. 

Mastering the maze of boats and marks was the team of Bode and Henthorn, who overcame fouls and pole-less downwind legs to conquer the Y Fleet that turned out six Flyers. Phil Robertson and grandson Landon made their first appearance of the season and made things difficult for the usual suspects at the top of the fleet. 

Charlie DeArmon had Kevin Worobey aboard as crew, joining three other boats yesterday with new or relatively inexperienced crew. All four are previous Intro to Sail participants. Brett Hart and Yours Truly further mixed and matched as they took turns on the tiller. 

Anything unusual happen? Well, Pete and Rose inexplicably ran into the committee boat and finished fourth in a race they led to the finish, almost. The Y's pretty much stayed together for much of the two-two-lap races, making it fun at the finish. There was at least one finish where it was inches as Brett shot the line and edged out the Curt.  Might even have been millimeters. 

Y Results:

1. Roger and Bobbie 1 2.  3

2. Pete and Rose 4 1. 5

3. Mike and Brett and Brett and Mike. 2 4   6

4. Phil and Landon 3 3   6

5. Curt Donahue and Diana Gross 6 5. 11

6. Charlie and Kevin Worobey 5 6.  11

In the Sunfish/Capri contest, Lauren Anderson ditched her family vacation in Wisconsin and returned to Tipp City in time for racing, in this case, in a Capri 14 with ITS grad Barry Gross as crew. They finished last but gamely in a club Capri just behind the Jerry Brewster/Diedre Mahle Capri. (Welcome back, Diedre!)

Light air is Bill Molleran's go-to condition and, even though he had to chase down chief rival Laura Peters at times, he prevailed and took both races. Bob Fletcher was on the two leaders' transoms for most of the competition and continued to find new ways to make his Sunfish racing better. 

Sunfish/Capri Results:

1. Bill Molleran 1 1.  2

2. Laura Peters 2 2  4

3. Bob Fletcher 4 3. 7

4. Brendan Draper 3 4 7

5. Jerry Brewster/Deidre Mahle 5 5. 10

6. Lauren Anderson/Barry Gross 6 6  12

The Big Boats Division saw Sunfish guy Dom Everaet, out for the day with wife Laurie and daughter Skylar, move into his Catalina 22 and, in raw scoring, besting the fleet's usual Sunday champ Stephen Cook in a tiebreaker.

Jim Milks and son Matthew with sailing kitty Nyx aboard stuck it out for both races and grabbed a third-place finish. Nyx jumped ship a bit early, returning to the docks and got a lesson in distance/time/space from boat to dock. The rescue was a success. However, by deserting ship, Nyx forfeited all wages and prize money.

Stephen Cook, hearing of the incident, had this to say: "I was sorry to hear how Nyx had come a cropper..."

Stephen also reported that the Joe X course had "rumblings of discontent"  in his fleet, but that he was happy just to be messing about on Acton Lake with such a fine group of mariners.

O Day 222's John Hawthorn grabbed a third in the first race but retired before race two after boat camping Saturday night and after seeing others in his fleet struggle to round marks with what Stephen called a "pirouetting wind". 

Cruiser Results: 

1. Dom Everaet/Laurie/Skylar Catalina 22.    2 1. 3

2. Stephen Cook Sage 17  1 2  3

3. Jim Milks/Matthew Milks Mariner 19. 4 3.  7

4. John Hawthorn O Day 222 3 DNS 9

5. Dave Judy Catalina 22 5 DNS 11

Don Fecher welcomed Kevin DeArmon back to the race course and, though the younger man won both starts, the elder won the races. Both were very excited about the X course and the mark traffic where they tried to go fast amid a herd of slow-moving wind machines. 

Hobie Results:

1. Don Fecher 1 1.   2

2. Kevin DeArmon 2 2.  4