Carlson Wins Laser Championship

Doug Carlson won the 2003 Laser Fleet Championship on Lake Lansing - scoring 27 first place finishes in the 38 races he sailed during the summer. Mike Moody was second, George Siegle third and Olav Messerschmidt fourth. Click the title for season standings and complete race results

Chesbro the Sunfish Fleet Champion

Gil Chesbro has won the 2003 Lake Lansing Sunfish Fleet Championship with a total of 214 points. John Fishbeck was second with 173 points and Dave Vietti third with 145 points. Click the title for the final standings and race by race details.

Pontiac Yacht Club's Tom Klaban Wins May 3 Lightning Regatta Saturday

Tom Klaban, of the Pontiac Yacht Club and sailing with his two sons, Brian and Eric, won the May 3rd Lake Lansing Tune Up Lightning Regatta.

Twelve boats participated in this event, including crews from Bay City, Chicago and Fenton as well as Lake Lansing. Click the title for complete race by race results.

David Nickels of Fenton, who won last year's event was this years runner up. David finished one point ahead of Bay City's Chris Jacobsen, who was third. Chris had Gus Dey and C. Dotts aboard as crew.

Lori Katz, who is new to sailing and was a participant in last weeks Crewing Seminar at the Lansing Sailing Club, stepped in when one of David Nickels crew wasn't able to participate. David said she did an excellent job. Nice going Lori! Tim Coles was David's other crew member.

George Siegle, of East Lansing was fourth, sailing with Ann Siegle and Sheila Troxel. George was also the highest finishing Lake Lansing Boat - taking home the "Ye Olde Silver Platter" award. In addition, George was the highest finishing MSU alum - and took that trophy home as well.

Mike Moody, with crew Ken Knight and Terry Kleiman, included two third place finishes in the five races and took home the fifth place award.

Gil Chesbro and Bob Miller sailed with Pat Dolan on "Wind Dancer". They finished sixth overall with a second place in race 3 as a highlight.

Also among the Lansing Sailing Club contingent were John LeFevre and Neil Harrison with their crews. Leif Alton and Scott Watkins sailed with John and they came close to breaking into the top half of the group in race 4 with a 7th place finish. Alanna Harvey and Dan Harris sailed with Neil. This was Dan's first time crewing, but Neil and Alanna talked Dan through the various boat handling maneuvers very well on a day when the best crews were challenged by shifting wind conditions - including multiple gybe spinnaker sets.

Merrick Hurlbutt, who has had his Lightning for only a couple of weeks, had an adventure. Sailing with Merrick were Dan Sutkovs, another Crewing Seminar participant and Julie Pierce. For a new boat owner and a new crew, they were doing very well until a sudden wind shift with a huge gust of air capsized them. The water is still cold - so they put the boat away at that point and sought dry clothes.

Larry Koster, longtime LSC Lightning sailor, with crew Tom Rasmussen and Jim Fletcher showed their stuff as the day went on, improving each race and including a fifth place finish in race 4 and a fourth place finish in race 5.

Visiting from Pontiac Yacht Club were Jennifer Armburster, with Ryan Flack and Kevin Morin crewing. They finished in ninth place. Bill Gibson came to participate in the regatta from Chicago and wound up finishing seventh overall. Crewing with Bill were Dave Gibson and Steve Kenkins.

Derrick Fries Wins 2003 Sunfish Regatta

Derrick Fries of the Greater Detroit Sailing Club won all but one of the five races Saturday, June 21st to take the first place trophy in the 2003 Lake Lansing Sunfish Regatta. Fries took a second in the other race. In all, eleven sailors took part in the regatta. Dan Norton of the Devils Lake Yacht Club had a first, three seconds and a fourth to go home with the second place trophy.

Pat Dolan, of the Lansing Sailing Club, took the third place trophy with two thirds and a second in the five races. Jon Wedemeyer went home with the other trophy handed out for fourth place.

Other Lansing Sailing Club members participating in the regatta were Gil Chesbro, Jim and Maribeth Fletcher, Neil Harrison, Dennis Dudley and Sunfish Fleet Captain Alanna Harvey.

Thanks to the Girl Scouts who served the group a great lunch and in turn will work on their sailing merit badges next weekend with the help of Lansing Sailing Club volunteers.

Thanks also to Sid Mook, Mike Moody and Blaine Severin who served as race committee. They were again challenged by highly variable winds and big shifts - but were up to the challenge and ran the races very efficiently.

Click the title for complete results.

Lansing Sailing Regatta Sends Representative to National Championship

Twenty Laser sailors, including seven Lansing area sailors, participated in the Michigan Laser Class District Championship held yesterday (Saturday, June 14, 2003) on Lake Lansing. The winner was John Van Tol of Grosse Point Park. As a bonus to his win, John now heads to the National Single Handed Sailing Championship this August. In the five races that constituted this regatta, Van Tol had three first place finishes, a second and a third. Tom LaBelle of Rochester Hills, Michigan finished second.

The highest placing Lansing based Sailor was Doug Carlson who barely missed a first place finish in race three, but took second in that race. Local sailor Patrick Dolan had a fourth place finish to highlight his day on the water. Another local sailor, Dave McKenzie of DeWitt, walked away with a trophy for the highest placing Novice Sailor. John Leahey of St. Joseph, Michigan was the highest placing collegiate sailor.

Click the title for complete results.

Indiana's Barrett Rhoads Wins 30 Boat Spartan Singles

Barret Rhoads

There were a lot of Laser sails on the waters of Lake Lansing on Saturday and Sunday, September 20th and 21st for the Spartan Singles Regatta - sponsored by the MSU Sailing Club in cooperation with the Lansing Sailing Club. In all, 30 boats participated including eleven collegiate sailors and 19 "Open" (non-collegiate) sailors. Barrett Rhoads of Indiana University won the Collegiate Division and was also the overall winner. Click on the title or picture for a picture story and results.

LeFevre's New Lightning Gets Toasted

LeFevre's New Lightning

John LeFevre, Michelle LeFevre and Shelly Kindig took the new LeFevre Lightning on the water for its first race on Lake Lansing. After racing, John broke open a bottle of champagne and sailors joined in toasting his new acquisition. John and crew showed the boat is fast by leading everyone to the windward mark in race three. Click on the picture or title for a larger picture of the new boat.

Chesbro, Miller and Winters Win as Crew Takes the Helm

Gil Chesbro, Bob Miller and Lisa Winters came away the winners of this years "Crew Takes the Helm" race at the Lansing Sailing Club.

The challenge met in each case by these three was overcoming the handicap of having the skipper in the front of the boat. Between spinnakers that looked like an hourglass and centerboards sticking in the mud, it was a big handicap to overcome too.

Nice going you three - and to all the others who participated. It is very rewarding to see the quality of driving that is coming from our crew members.

"Discover Sailboat Racing" Class Excels

LSC's Discover Sailboat Racing was a success. Students learned the basics of crewing, how to recognize the marks on a race course, and how the starting sequence works. They also learned some advanced concepts such as laylines and ladders.

Laser and Sunfish Clinic Huge Success

Seventeen sailors found there way to the Laser and Sunfish Clinic at LSC on Saturday July 19th and came away sailing better, faster, smarter and safer. Thanks to Mike Moody, LSC Vice Commodore, for organizing and putting on this clinic. For more detail on what went on and comments from participants, click the title to read the article in e-Sheet.

Lisa Winters' First Solo Sail

Lisa Winters First Laser Sail

Check out pictures of LSC's April 26th Crewing Seminar in the Pictures Section

"Wind Dancer" Leads LSC Contingent in Pontiac

The "Wind Dancer" team of Pat Dolan, Shelly Kindig and John LeFevre sailed consistently to finish 15th in the recent Whitecap Regatta on and lead the five boat Lansing contingent. Note: Larry Koster participated in the recent "Whitecap" regatta and prepared this summary.

Pontiac Yacht Club held its 45th Annual "Whitecap" regatta September 6 and 7 with 43 boats and crews participating. Jim Allen of PYC won the regatta with Tom Klaban of PYC one point behind. PYC sailors took 7 of the 10 top places for the final standings.

Two crews came from Ohio, one each from Cincinnati and Columbus. Chris Jacobson of Bay City represented the Saginaw Bay Fleet and placed 5th in the regatta. Paul Nagel and Tom Vickers with their crews came from the Crescent Sail YC from Grosse Pointe Farms on Lake St. Clair. Tom placed 8th for the regatta. Three Lake Fenton skippers, Dave Nickels, his son Kevin and Dave?s brother George, sailed. George?s crew, son Brian and Brian?s son Tim, took a 2nd in the first race and placed 9th for the regatta.

Would you believe that Lansing Sailing Club sent 5 boats and crews to the "Whitecap"? The "Wind Dancers", Pat Dolan, John LeFevre and Shelly Kindig, were the most consistent LSC crew by placing 18th, 17th, 14th and 17th for the 4 races sailed and finished 15th in the regatta. "Moody?s Booty" with Mike Moody, Ken Knight and the alternating fore deck crew of Kim Knight (Saturday) and Anna Hamilton (Sunday) steadily improved with each race: 33rd, 27th, 16th and 8th in Sunday?s last race to place 22nd in the regatta. Nice going, Mike, in race 4.

The bunch of "Bananas", Jim and Maribeth Fletcher, with Larry Koster as the middle crew, were the top LSC crew in the 1st race with a 17th. The other 3 races were a 30th, another 17th and a 27th to place 23rd in the regatta. Not bad for a bunch of Old Salts and old, old sails!

LSC?s Blaine Severin, skippering "When Pigs Fly", with Julie Pierce and Tom Dietz placed 31st for the regatta. The LSC "Klompen Krew" (Dutch wooden shoe) with Terry Kleiman, Lori Katz and Lisa Winters placed 33rd at the "Whitecap".

The mark roundings were another story: All the clutter of converging boats at the windward mark, the gigantic pin wheels the leeward mark and which gate to round at the leeward end?

The PYC folks provided great sailing, great hospitality, great tee shirts and great food. It is a fun regatta to attend, my first return visit since 1997. Larry Koster