(Harbor Springs, MI)- Every year the Little Traverse YC hosts their
“Ugotta Regatta” after the infamous Mac Races (Chicago-Mac and
Bayview-Mac). It does not matter which race is first, the “ugotta-go”
to a regatta after the Mac Island finish is paramount to having closure
to your offshore season on the Great Lakes. It is a tradition that has
only grown over time for many a J/Team in both races.Harbor Springs is a little village that is seemingly torn out of a pulp-fiction novel, replete with its own intrigue, old summer families from Chicago and Detroit inter-mixing on the water and off the water, lots of sailing and one helluva lot of fun! The Ugotta Regatta in recent years has acted as a catalyst to bring the larger world around them to their door-steps, for better or for worse. In most cases, it has been a resounding success; especially with Dave Irish’s Boat Shop handling most (if not all) the hosting duties for the regatta, including the famous t-shirt giveaway/ extravaganza. Plus, breakfast in the morning down at the boatyard before sailing starts is not half-bad- just ask former J/World rock-star- Mike Esposito who runs the place!!
Sailing news? Oh. Why? The Social Stuff is Far More Impo'tent in THE Springs than that, right? OK. Well, maybe not for those Chicago folks intent on stealing all the silverware for back home and trading it on the trillion dollar exchanges they all seem to run! CBOE, CME, CBOT, NYSE, NASDAQ, be damned! Sure. For a few nano-seconds in the Harbor Springs summer. In such an environment, it was time to have fun on their J/Boats come hell or high water first. Then, ice-cold wine spritzers and Italian snow-cones (or gelatos) on the "high street" were next!
Enjoying their time in ORR B Class was Geoff Brieden & Jeff Clark’s J/120 SCOUT, posting a 2-3 to take second overall. Third was another J/120, Curt Kime’s VICTRIX 3 with a 5-2 to win the tie-breaker for third place.
Perhaps the most demanding class was PHRF A with three J/122’s racing against a Sydney 41, a modded Farr 40 extreme and an Archambault 40 custom. In the end, it was Robert Mampe’s J/122 GOTTA WANTA that really “wanta’d” winning class with a 2-2. Third was Matt Songer’s J/122 EVVAI with a 1-5, losing a tie-breaker on 6 pts. And, just one point back was Chicago-Mac overall winner in 2014- Mitch Padnos’ SUFFICIENT REASON.
In PHRF C Class, it was famous St Louis, MO venture capitalist Carter Williams’ J/105 CREATIVE DESTRUCTION that took 3rd in class. Bill Petzold’s J/105 GREEN FLASH was next up J/105 in 7th place.
PHRF Non-Spinnaker again saw a runaway victor. It was the globe-girdling crew on Bill Stellin’s J/42 JAYWALKER that took class honors with a basic 1-1 for total class domination.
The
MONSTER fleet at the Ugotta Regatta was the J/70 class. Nineteen boats
overall and twelve teams were Corinthian! Cool. Winning was a Texas
guy- Rick Shaffer’s NASTY BABY, counting four 1sts in their scoreline.
Second was Stan Edwards’ LICKITY SPLIT with 27 pts, third place went to
Corinthians Winner- Polk Wagner on ESCAPE. Fourth was Scott Sellers’
TRES BURRITOS (2nd Corinthians) and fifth place was John Arenshorst’s
20/20 (3rd Corinthians).The J/111 one-design class had very close competition amongst the five teams. While local hero Dave Irish and his crew on NO SURPRISE were the eventual winners, it was clear as mud who were the ultimate podium winners behind them. In the end, it was Tracy Brand’s SOLUTION that won a tie-breaker over Carl Hanssen’s VARIANCE, both sitting on 15 pts each. Fourth was Brad Faber’s UTAH only one point back! Fifth was the trio of George Miz, Peter Dreher and Mark Hatfield.
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