Tom Jones – Mutineer

By Jim Force

Picture a perfect summer day–blue sky, puffy white clouds, green hills bordering a sparkling
lake.
Now picture the same scene lined with brilliant white triangles and brightly colored puffs
moving along that shoreline.
That was the scene the weekend of June 21-22 as 26 one design Lightning sailboats scooted
across New York state’s Keuka Lake near Hammondsport at the annual classic Lightning
regatta.
16 of the boats were restored woodies, and 10 were modern boats competing in a separate
race.
I participated as crew on Ed Ferrier’s Lightning 5450, built in the early ‘50s. From Fort Wayne,
Ind., Ed had found this old-timer in a garage and had spent two and a half years on the
rebuild.

The owner had died, and Ed got the boat for free from his widow. “Did you like to sail?” Ed
had asked her. “I hated it,” she said. “Did your husband like to sail?” he asked. “He hated it,”
she said.
Ed said when he trailed the boat out of the garage, the family all gathered in the empty
garage and took celebratory photos of themselves.
He had rebuilt and refinished everything, from the bottom, to the centerboard trunk, to the
spars, rigging, rudder and tiller, and the deck which he coated with a non-skid rubberized
coating called SoftSand. The boat was brilliant red, topsides, deck and bottom.

Ed insisted on using the original sails, turning down offers from others to lend him newer
ones. The oldies were made of some archaic fabric that may have been the prototype for
dacron. In any case we finished 14-14-11 in the three classic races, 13th overall.
The classic regatta is the brainchild of Bob Astrove, an accomplished Lightning sailor from
Maryland. This was at least the 15 th we’ve held over the years. Boats have to have been built
before 1990 and many carry wooden masts, although aluminum is allowed. This year entrants
came from as far away as Kansas City. The oldest was boat #348, built in the early ‘40s.
The event is hosted by the Keuka (pronounced Q-kah–ask Rich Barker)) Lake Yacht Club.
Volunteers and a knowledgeable race committee make it happen.

The Y-shaped lake is nearly 12,000 acres in area and 20 miles long. The nearby Finger Lakes
Boating Museum hosts a Friday night pasta dinner and conducts tours of their building (an old
winery) which houses many fine old woodies–canoes, power boats, and sailboats. A highlight

is the original wood form used by the Skaneateles Boat Company to build the first 19-foot,
hard chine Lightning back in 1938.
At age 86, I struggled a bit to move about and hike, but I’d love to go back next year.

Hi All,

Here are the results for the first night of racing.  Conditions went from light moderate to light to hardly nothing at all over the course of 2 races.  I had good luck working the left side of the course, as the wind seemed to be dying from right to left.  I wish I had paid more attention to where Tom Zalac was on the first race, as he beat the second place boat by over 2 minutes to take the first win of the 2025 series.

I was more focused on the other MC Scow on the course, skippered by Joe Terry.  Joe helped me out by walking over the top of me on the windward leg of the first race.  What a discouraging feeling to hear the chop, chop, chop of his bow getting closer and closer as we worked up the leg on port.  Even worse as he passed me and took my wind.  But then I noticed that his boom was sitting out over the corner of his transom, while mine was sheeted near the centerline.  Once I eased my sheet like Joe, I immediately picked up speed.  In retrospect this made sense as In light air, the air flow over the water is laminar, and the speed of the wind over the water changes with height.  Because our boats sail on the apparent wind,  this means the wind flow at the top of the sail hits the sail at a different angle than it does the bottom.  Thus, you need to have twist in your sail to match the twist of the apparent wind.  This changes as the wind increases and turbulence mixes the high and low wind together.  At that point, twist becomes undesirable (unless you are trying to depower your boat in heavy air). Leech tell tales are probably the best way to tell if your sail twist matches the apparent wind.  If all of your leech tell tales are periodically streaming, you are probably in the right ballpark for mainsheet trim.

Big thanks to Mike Koss and Cody Fritz for handling race committee duties.  And also to everyone who came out to sail.

-Dennis

Early Saturday morning, I picked up my brother in law John, and headed over to Lake Pepin to check out the Messabout event.

We were not able to launch Moonshine from the launch near the Messabout campground, as the parking lot was 100% full at 9AM.  Instead we launched from the Lake City marina downtown.  There is a $10 launch fee, but the ramp is paved and steep to aid launching.  Also, it is protected from wind and wave by a breakwater and large marina building just to the South.  There was ample parking for the boat and trailer.  You will,  however need a motor or oars to navigate out of the narrow channel to the harbor.  Once out on the lake we found ourselves in 1 foot chop and winds from SE in the 5-7 mph range.  As we headed downwind over to the Wisconsin side of the river the wind began to build to 10 or so.  About 3 miles of sailing and a couple of jibes took us down to the beach North of Lake City where the Messabout was taking place.  There were probably 10 boats sailing off the beach.  They were mostly homebuilts ranging in length from 10 to 18 feet.  Balanced lug rigs seemed to be the most popular rig choice.  All of the boats I saw seemed to be handling the sea conditions just fine.  By that time, the wind had built to 10-12, and there was a pretty good chop running up the lake.  We sailed a few squares off the beach area and then anchored about 50 yards offshore for lunch and cigars.   The sky to the South was starting to take on a darker shade of gray that suggested rain, so John and I decided to start the sail back to the marina.  I had put in my first reef while at anchor.  This was a good choice, as the boat sailed with much less heel and we made better angles beating back upwind.   I was expecting to need 6 -8 tacks and at least a couple of hours sailing to beat back up to the marina, but, I was pleasantly surprised to make it back with only 3, in something like an hour.  Honestly, I was enjoying the sail, and wouldn’t have minded exploring the lake a bit more, but at that point we were getting a little light rain on and off, and I could see that my crew was getting a bit chilled.  So we dropped sail and headed back into harbor.  

After putting the boat away we drove down to the beach area and talked with a few of the Messabout sailors.  We talked with a guy sailing an Oz Gooze and got a look at a newer Scamp.  They seemed like nice folks, but the party was kind of breaking up at that point due to incoming rain.  

I expect to go back to Lake Pepin again, as it’s a beautiful lake.  The water is surprisingly clear for the Mississippi River, I thought, and the scenery is interesting with the surrounding bluffs and waterfront.  There are a few cities on the lake that could be visited that appear to have nice restaurants and shops.   It has a bigger lake feel to it – kind of like Lake Petenwell.   With the wind coming right up the river over a 10 mile fetch, you do get a pretty good chop running against the current.  The larger waves we saw on the sail South might have been 2.5 – 3 feet.  That was with a 12-15 mph wind.  With winds above that I would expect conditions could quickly become “interesting”.   We saw a few big river barges pass on the Wisconsin side of the lake.  Neat to see, but I would give them a wide berth.

-Dennis

Gratuitous photo of Author’s boat at Lake City Marina launch

Here are results for today’s Governor’s Cup racing.

We managed to get in 2 races before lunch today in a light to moderate breeze from the East.  More wind was forecast for the afternoon, but instead the wind died during lunch.   The weather outlook wasn’t looking too favorable after lunch either, with some lightning flashes showing to the South and the radar showing storms moving in from the West.  Getting the boats put away before the rains came seemed like the correct move, so racing for the afternoon was cancelled.

Corey Fritz dominated in the first race with his Montgomery 10 (“Mighty Mouse”?), with the next best boat over 2 minutes back on corrected time.  Dennis managed to eak out a close win in the second race, with Robert Kreczner in his Flying Scot and Tom Zalac in a Laser finishing close behind.

Here are the final standings and race details.  This is low point scoring, where the lowest sum of places wins, so Dennis finished first overall with a total of 3 points.  There was a tie for second between Robert and Cody where both had 5 total points.  To break the tie we line up the scores left to right and lowest to highest and start comparing.  Cody’s first place finish in the first race beats Robert’s second place finish in the second race, putting Cody in second place and Robert in third.

Congratulations to the trophy winners and to everyone who came out to race today.  Also thank you to Mike Koss and Chuck Jagodinski for handing race committee duties once again.  

	Skipper	Boat	R1	R2	Total
1	Dennis Gamble	MC Scow	2	1	3
2	Cody Fritz	Montgomery 10	1	4	5
3	Robert Kreczner	Flying Scot	3	2	5
4	Tom Zalac	Laser	4	3	7
5	Mark Clark	Capri 14.2	5	6	11
6	Sea Scouts	Hunter 23	7	5	12
7	Tom Jones	Mutineer	6	7	13

	Governor’s Cup 09/21/24	Race 1
Place	Skipper	Boat	Min	Sec	Decimal	Beaufort	HC	Corrected
1	Cody Fritz	Montgomery 10	21	11	21.1833	6.7 mph	133.0	15.9273
2	Dennis Gamble	MC Scow	16	0	16.0000	2	87.4	18.3066
3	Robert Kreczner	Flying Scot	16	38	16.6333		90.4	18.3997
4	Tom Zalac	Laser	18	9	18.1500		92.3	19.6641
5	Mark Clark	Capri 14.2	22	41	22.6833		99.7	22.7516
6	Tom Jones	Mutineer	22	22	22.3667		96.1	23.2744
7	Sea Scouts	Hunter 23	24	35	24.5833		97.7	25.1621
		Race 2
1	Dennis Gamble	MC Scow	13	47	13.7833	7.3 mph	87.4	15.7704
2	Robert Kreczner	Flying Scot	14	30	14.5000	2	90.4	16.0398
3	Tom Zalac	Laser	15	2	15.0333		92.3	16.2875
4	Cody Fritz	Montgomery 10	22	50	22.8333		133.0	17.1679
5	Sea Scouts	Hunter 23	19	23	19.3833		97.7	19.8396
6	Mark Clark	Capri 14.2	21	31	21.5167		99.7	21.5814
7	Tom Jones	Mutineer	20	46	20.7667		96.1	21.6094

31-aug-24

Apostle Islands Cruise 2024

A good showing was seen for the annual LDBSA Cruise, this year held in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in Wisconsin’s Bayfield County/ Redcliff Band Chippewa Reservation. The boats and crews were

Not named, Norseboat 17: John Richter and Patrick Hager

Valkyrie, Seaward 26, Tammy & Russ Hessler

Sojourner, Seaward 22, Zac Szepreda and Brice Sturmer

Pocketship 18, Luna, Bob Swoboda

Blewboat, Catalina 22, Chuck Jagodinski and Mike Koss

Kookaburra, Cal 24, Sterling, Sterling and Sterling Wall.

Unfortunately, Kookaburra did not make the trip, after a vehicle breakdown south of Wausau on the trip up. Many thanks to Cody Fritz for offering to help the Wall’s.

All the other boats met up on Sunday Afternoon, 18-AUG-24 at Bayfield Municipal Marina, except for Norseboat, which put in at Legendary Waters harbor & Campground, also known as Buffalo Bay. Dinner was had at the Pickled Herring Restaurant in Bayfield, right across the street from the Madeline Island Ferry Office.

I unfortunately was trying to shake a persistent bug and so though it best if I not infect my shipmate Chuck, and to stay home and sleep and shake it off once and for all. Not Covid, but nasty. Chuck pulled Blewboat up to Bayfield with his van, and I followed on Tuesday about noon.

On Monday morning, a skippers meeting was held on Blewboat to decide the day. Winds at that time were northerly, but expected to swing to the south later in the day, which would make Raspberry Bay a logical choice to anchor out Monday Night.

As Norseboat is an open boat without sleeping facilities, they decided to daysail out to La Pointe on Madeline Island, to take in some attractions there, including the newly refurbished maritime Museum.

The other boats in the fleet sailed against the wind, tacking all the way, up past Raspberry Bay, towards Raspberry Island. The winds died out short of Raspberry Island and so the fleet retreated to Raspberry Bay on the mainland, to anchor for the night. The persistent swell off of open Lake Superior made for a rolly night as I am told.

On Tuesday morning a skipper’s meeting was held on Valkyrie, and all decided to make for Bayfield, as some folks had other commitments in the real world. Winds were out of the South, making for “on-the nose” conditions for the West Channel. The fleet attempted to sail south, but the winds were not cooperating, so eventually all resorted to the “Iron Jenny” to pull into Bayfield Marina later in the afternoon.

I arrived in Bayfield a little after that, and after the boats were tucked into slips, we walked a couple of blocks to Morty’s Pub for dinner. Having been more or less worn out by the previous day’s sailing, it was an early night.

The next morning, Norseboat, Luna and Sojourner Seward 22, had to pull out due to prior commitments.

After a skipper’s meeting with Valkyrie, we decided to sail if possible, up to Rocky Island, anchor out there Wednesday night and plan from there.

The winds turned out to be very light , and so we motored the whole way (approximately 18 miles) to Rocky Island, up the West Channel, east of Oak Island, south of Manitou Island, past Otter Island to the Park Service Dock at Rocky Island, which we had to ourselves, except for a fishing boat that tied up later in the afternoon. We took advantage of some of the hiking trails- I personally walked out the sandspit at the southeast point of the island- this is a magical place.

The Park Service prohibits cooking with any open flame above decks, so we set up our gas grilles at the picnic area next to the dock, and had food fit for a king! The picnic area has a few tables, benches and a fire ring, and made for a perfect dining spot.

After dinner was put away, we needed to vacate the dock by 6:30 pm or pay the $15.00 use fee to stay tied up overnight. We have found its always better to anchor out than to stay tied to a dock, unless you’re in a marina. The motion is much gentler and more conducive to sleep.

On Thursday morning, a Skippers meeting was held at the dock, and it was decided to head back to Bayfield, as some heavy weather was in the offing for late Thursday night. Winds on Thursday were SW at 10-12 mph all day, very steady with few gusts. The sailing south was spectacular- Blewboat maintained around 5.5 knots all day, close-hauled. By Three o’clock in the afternoon, were at the Red Cliff Point buoy, and the sky in the west was starting to look threatening, so we dropped sails and started to motor southwest down the West Channel, past Schooner Bay, Buffalo Bay, Roy’s Point, and on to Bayfield, to beat the weather by a couple of hours.

Valkyrie had to pull out that night due to other commitments, but Chuck and I thought we would sail to Madeline Island on Friday to visit the new Maritime museum in La Pointe.

Thursday night was exciting with thunderstorms that rolled through all night. We had put up our boom tent and of course had the Catalina’s pop top up, so stayed snug and dry in the cabin.

Friday morning dawned rainy and cloudy, which dampened our desire for more sailing that day, so we pulled out at the Bayfield City boat launch, had a tailgate lunch out of the back of Chuck’s van, and headed for Central Wisconsin a little after noon.

All in all, this was a great trip, made all the better with great company, and pretty good weather.

Mike Koss

Blewboat (Catalina 22)

After several years of wanting to participate but letting other things get in the way, I finally signed up for the Classic Lightning Regatta in the Finger Lakes region in New York State in late June.

Glad I went. I didn’t trail my boat out to New York, but signed up to crew for Mike Yates (Skaneateles, NY) on his #378, built sometime in the early 1940s.

Along with retired doc Dave Little of Vermont, we finished 5-5-7-4 in a fleet of 16 classic Lightnings, and won the competition among boats still sporting a wooden mast. (Many woody skippers have elected to go with aluminum sticks which stand up better in a blow and are easier to step and unstep. Plus, replacement wood masts are hard to come by).

We sailed out the Keuka Lake Yacht Club on Keuka Lake , a wishbone-shaped clear and deep body of water near Hammondsport, NY. Gorgeous green rolling hills along the shoreline.
A  modern fleet of 11 Lightnings was also on the water with us for a total of 27 boats–quite a site. There’s nothing quite like a fleet of one designs hitting the starting line in a good breeze.

The Lightning is a 19-foot hard-chine center-boarder deigned by Sparkman and Stevens in Skaneateles in 1938. About 15,000 have been built.

Just as fun was the chance to meet many older Lighting sailors who’ve been in these boats since the 60s and 70s, as I have. We correspond through an active chat page, but it was cool to see the various restorations and rigging on these classic boats in person.