It was a great experience for a bunch of dingy sailors from Lansing. Eight of us got in a 34 foot boat we had no experience with and sailed against most of the best sailors in the class. Our goals were to have fun, learn more about sailing, try our hardest - and we did.

One final race today - a drifter for much of it. We went from back of the fleet to second to back of the fleet and finished 18th. A top ten finish would have meant 2nd place for the entire regatta - but it was mostly luck today and the wind cards didn't fall our way. Many of the sailors we talked with after the race were surprised that the race wasn't cancelled - with very light winds and shifts of 180 degrees. A cancellation would have given us a third place regatta finish.

At Bayview Yacht Club, after the race, we were sought out by a number of the skippers and congratulated. They were very complimentary of our performance. One of them asked us to sail with him in the National Tartan Ten Championship later this summer in Chicago. Several others said there was a spot on their boat for any of us if we wanted to do more Tartan Ten sailing. There are no plans or commitments - but it was very gratifying to be recognized and asked to sail with some of the best Tartan Ten sailors.

"Tenacity", the boat we sailed, was sold. After today's racing we cleaned the boat up, took a few pictures and delivered it to its new mooring place at Grosse Pointe Farms Marina.

Now we are home - exhausted and bruised, but with a real sense of accomplishment.

Thanks for the interest many of you have shown and your encouragement. Special thanks to Gil Chesbro, Larry Koster and Jim Newtown who sailed with us in practice sessions leading up to the 2002 Detroit NOOD Regatta.

That's it from the Lansing NOOD Team: Doug Carlson, Pat Dolan, John Fishbeck, Terry Kleiman, Vladimer "Kuli" Kulinichenko, Mike Moody, Neil Harrison and Sheila Troxel.