Ensign News – July 2008

Also appears in Motor and Mast

By Bob Anschuetz

Vulcan represented the Edgewater Ensign Fleet for the Mentor Harbor Regatta. Three of the four Mentor Ensigns also participated. In light air on Saturday, Vulcan turned in a particularly undistinguished fourth place finish. The final day of racing featured much more of the wind that had been absent the day before. Seeing many of the J22s heeled excessively as they left the harbor, two of the Mentor boats decided not to leave the sheltered waters of the lagoon. Vulcan and Jager saw that the Thistles were on the course and competing, so we did sail. Jager was manned by three generations of the Collins clan with longtime Ensign Champion Jack Collins, tow of his sons and two grandsons, all aboard. It was an exhilarating sail on the course but there was more excitement to come.

With a sunny day and good wind, we decided to make the trip back to Edgewater, even though the wind was “right on the nose.” There were no weather warnings as we left Mentor, but as we approached Cleveland, we could see dark clouds out on the horizon. They seemed to be staying out on the lake and were moving west to east. As we approached East Light, we could see that not all of the weather cells were headed east and we were soon hit with sustained winds of 35 miles per hour, and gusts reported at the airport as high as 49 miles per hour.

Once behind the break wall, the big waves diminished, but the wind was still so strong that it was hard to tell whether we were being hit with spray or rain. Luffing the sails allowed us to stay under control and away from the rocks. After this true exhilaration, the winds died down and disappeared altogether briefly allowing us to return to the friendly confines of the Edgewater basin under power. When dry clothes had replaced the wet ones, it became more of an adventure and less of an ordeal.