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Bretwalda 3, Flying Jenny IV and Rum Win their Classes at 2010 US-IRC Great Lakes Championship

Bob Pethick and "Bretwalda 3" Team declared Overall Winner

Three boats earn sweeps

Saturday, July 10 - Three sailboats dominated Day 1 of the Great Lakes IRC Championships in lower Lake Huron.

Bretwalda 3, Flying Jenny VI and Rum earned three first-place finishes in their respective classes Saturday.

"We had a pretty decent day," said David Askew, the owner and skipper of Flying Jenny VI out of the Annapolis (Md.) Yacht Club. "It was a great day for racing.

"I enjoy buoy racing. We're from the East Coast and we do a lot of that out there."

Race director Nick Ward said Thursday he hoped to get in four races Saturday, but he had to settle for three because of the light wind conditions . The 15-team regatta wraps up today with three more races.

"The maximum number of races is seven, but one race makes a regatta," said Ward, the co-owner with Greg Kinney of Rum. "I don't think we'll have any problem getting in three races Sunday. The conditions are suppose to be better than today."

All but three of the boats in the fleet will be sailing next Saturday for the 86th running of the Port Huron-to-Mackinac race.

The Great Lakes IRC course is in lower Lake Huron on the Canadian side. There was a long course for the bigger boats and a short course for the IRC 2 and 3.

"It was a beautiful day out there with plenty of sun," said Ed Schwanz of Rebel. "The winds were about 4 to 6 knots all day. It kicked in a little bit later in the day and probably got up to 6-7 maybe 8."

Askew, a former member of the Bayview Yacht Club, and his crew are winning the IRC 2 Short Course.

Rowdy, owned by Val Saph of Marine City, came in second behind Flying Jenny VI in each race.

Also competing in IRC 2 is Robert Bert's Liberty, which earned a third and two fourths.

"We didn't do very well today," Bert said. "Val is doing well, but Flying Jenny is too tough. They are sailing good enough to be up a division.

"This race is good for our crew. We had a chance to work on a lot of things today. It's better to make the mistakes now than next weekend.

"The out-of-town crews like this event because they get their boat here with a spot for Mackinac. It also gives them two good days of sailing. It gives us good competition."
 

Wind halts Great Lakes IRC Championship

Sunday, July 11 - Skipper Greg Kinney and the rest of the Rum crew hoped to get one final race in to prepare for the Port Huron-to-Mackinac Sailboat Race.

Kinney and his crew will have to settle for the next best thing — a victory.

The second day of the 2010 US-IRC Great Lakes Championship was canceled Sunday due to limited wind.

But Rum was still declared the winner of the IRC 2-Short Course championship because it won all three of its races on Friday.

"We had a blast," said Kinney, who co-owns the boat with Nick Ward, the Race Chairman.

"The wind was light the past two days, but it suits our boat."

Over 100 sailors competed on 15 boats in three classes.

On Saturday, there was enough wind for each class to get in three races.

On Sunday however, little to no wind materialized and the event was eventually called without a single race.

"We had hoped that today would be better," said Tim Rumptz, the Principal Race Officer. "It just didn't turn out that way. We hung out until 2 p.m. From 11 (a.m.) to 2 (p.m.) it simply wasn't enough wind. It wasn't steady enough in its direction to have a fair race."

"Port Huron is awesome to work with. Good people, good racers, good race committee. Sorry to disappoint them today but it was just the way it was."

The overall winner of the event was Bretwalda 3 of the IRC-1 Long Course Division. Its owner, Bob Pethick of Orchard Lakes said he enjoyed competing in Port Huron once again.

"I love Port Huron," he said. "I’ve come to Port Huron for the better part of 30 years. It’s always fun to come back. We had a new boat this year that we are getting ready for Mackinac."

That was the theme for most of the participants.

Kelsey Bert, who was on the Liberty crew in the IRC Division also hoped the event would help prepare her for the Mackinac Race.

"This is kind of like our pre-Mackinac to get everything in tune with the boat and each other," she said. "We got a lot of stuff worked through yesterday."

Flying Jenny VI was the winner of the IRC 2 Short Course Division.

Complete results can be found on Yacht Scoring - 2010 US-IRC Great Lakes Championship

Interested in using IRC?

Owners and Organizing Authorities wishing to adopt IRC for their events should contact US-IRC Executive Director Luiz E. Kahl for help with the process luiz@us-irc.org.

The US SAILING Offshore office administers the IRC rule in the US. Yacht owners should contact Eric Baittinger at irc@ussailing.org for help with certificate application or with rating questions.

For all US-IRC latest news, events and seminars check out the US-IRC web site at www.us-irc.org and go racing with us.