Thanks to Chris Princing for this recap:
Nothing has seemed right to Tom Barnes since that fateful Sunday in 2018 when Bill Coberly wrestled away the Cranberry Cup from Tom’s mantle. Since then, Tom has been runner-up in the J/22 Michigan Championship three times in the six-year history of the Championship. You would think his team winning this year was a big deal, right? It was, but the real prize was becoming a granddaddy a week earlier! The setting was Gull Lake in SW lower Michigan. Gull Lake is about 1 mile wide and almost 4 miles long in the NW to SE direction. It is surrounded by tree-covered hills with houses overlooking the lake. Average depth is 34 ft. My team had never been there before and were amazed at how beautiful this place was. We were greeted by Bill, Joe and Steve, the idea guys in the Gull Lake J/22 fleet. They were also the defending champions of the 2023 J/22 Michigan Championship. Second week in September in Michigan, forecast is for mid 8….oops I mean lower 60s?! Thank God the water was still mid 70s, and it was sort of pleasant once you got out there. Forecast was lower 60s with winds 14-18 knots from the NW which is the long fetch on the lake. Everyone shoved off and headed out onto the lake which is only 100 feet away and deep enough to sail most places. We were instructed to check in with the RC and on our boat, we didn’t have much time to get a look around, although we did a little upwind work to make sure our settings were ok. Time to go racing! I will try to summarize it below:
It was windy! The least wind we saw was coming in after sailing, and it was probably 12 knots, which felt like a parking lot after four races. I was curious, I normally don’t depower by popping off the mainsheet, but I vang sheeted most of the day to keep us flat, or kind of flat. When I checked the local airfield Sunday night, it was 20-25 knots during our racing, and that made a lot of sense. Lulls were probably 13-15 knots, and the biggest puffs were near 25 knots. Up and down, up and down all day, with big shifts. No wonder everyone was tired when we were done. We looked for patterns, but we couldn’t find any. What worked one time didn’t work the next. The wind was shifting, a lot, but it was extremely localized. You were probably not in the same air as the guy right next to you, which made it hard to tell if you’re going fast or not.
USA 454 Squealer, Mike, Tim and RJ were probably the fastest boat in the first half of each race. I think they led to every first mark and three of the first four leeward marks. Often by a lot! However, they couldn’t get a read on the second half of each race and still sailed well to finish fourth with scores of 4,3,7,4.
USA 48 Pork Bellies, Mike, Greg and Tyler, this year’s MOST improved team by far! They found the going a little rougher, but they also had some fast moments and will be much more confident going forward (seventh place 7,4,6,8).
USA 275 The Other White Meat, Bill, Paul and Jason. They were super-fast in races 1, 2 and 4. They found a pothole in race 3, but these guys were in the hunt right down to the last 100 yards of race 4.
USA 1552 Evil Dr. Pork Chop, Jennifer, Lillian and Chris. We’re not sure what happened. We thought we had it figured out in race two only to find out we didn’t. Made too many mistakes in race three and needed to find a couple more boats lengths in each to take a couple spots. Jennifer and Lillian were great! (second place, 1,5,3,1)
USA 483, Reckless, Tom , Suzanna, Stan and Jake. I say USA 454 was the fastest, but these guys won! If you saw the stuff they did in race one and still finished second, it was mind blowing! They are always fast, always flat and always willing to help you out. This team is why we LOVE the J/22 Class! Congrats and well sailed! (First place, 2,2,1,3)
It was a crazy and fun event. Every inch mattered—a bad tack, bad jibe, calling a take down too late… was a couple boat lengths and that might be a point or two on the score card, something USA 483 figured out early. Final thoughts: great Class, really good sailors. There were four past champions in this fleet. Now there are five. No one has ever won this event more than once. It was incredibly physically and mentally challenging. We were all tired, but you get that rush from this, (“like, we just did that”… it is hard to explain as a competitor; I know I just crave this). As we sailed around before the fourth and final start, we knew with the big number we took in race two that we were probably out of it, but if we had any shot we had to win that final race. I am sure Bill said the same thing. For us, the first two legs weren’t great, but we kept it close enough to finally have something make sense the last half of the second beat to round first and then, the perfect way to finish, screaming down the run, chasing puffs all over the place, jibe after jibe to keep the two closest boats behind us. Yup you guessed it, old Ben Coberly (third place overall) and Grampy (first overall).. amazing! Photos: https://camilleriley.smugmug.com/Regattas .Next year’s event is already being planned for Lake Charlevoix.
