2006 Kentucky Bluegrass Regatta, Louisville, KY.

I got back from Louisville last night where I sailed in the famous Bluegrass Highlander Regatta this past weekend. My friends from Louisville, Erin and Ed Spengeman, started talking to me about this event during the Highlander Nationals in July. I was placed on their email list and would get a weekly reminder about when the dates were and directions how to get there. I had sailed there once before and had a great time. There is usually a theme involved, and this year it was the Jimmy Buffett Bluegrass Regatta…make sure that you bring your grass skirt and Hawaiian shirt!! At one point I was told Jimmy was scheduled to attend, it was later confirmed that he could not make it. I am not sure if this was to help me decide to go or not, but screw Jimmy, I am going anyway!!

My girlfriend Jacqueline and I got a late start out of Toledo on Friday and arrived at the LSC around 1:30AM!! A bit later than I wanted to arrive, but there were quite a few Highlander sailors still up playing some sort of Bean Bag Toss game, right next to the keg. We joined some familiar faces and caught up on some old times. The Bauer brothers (John and Steve) were still going strong, as were Jason Hubbard, Barret Rhoades, Eric Milliman, Justin Busbey and a guy named Rob. There were a few others that I did not recognize…but noticed a face I have not seen in a few years. It was Jess Gerry, who came in from SoCal to race with Ed and Erin!! It was cool to see him again and I think the clock was edging towards 3am when we retired to our tents!!

With a later start, you have plenty of time to get breakfast and get your boat together. My team, Steve Bauer and Liz Bauer ;-), were up and ready and had the boat ½ together before I got to it! The breeze started out light in the morning, but filled in nicely for a 1pm start. When launching the boat, you need to hang on. The current was moving, between 3-4 knots!! We sailed out for a few practice tacks and gybes since we had not been in a boat together. It was amazing how slow you went upwind and how fast you went downwind. The breeze was out of the N-NE with a few right shifts to be taken advantage of. Louisville has tall hills (floodplain) and current relief was tough to come by since there was not a lot of breeze along the shore. And…your crew needs to keep an eye towards the Indiana side of the river as this is the channel where barge traffic frequently passed by!!!!!

The first two races were tricky as the breeze and current kept the right side of the course mostly favored. Many lead changes came and went, but Jason Hubbard and John Bauer were the race winners. The third race was a bit challenging as we managed to get around the windward mark just ahead of Jason. After a quick gybe inside of him, we pulled away for a nice lead. Holding the rum line, I wanted to make sure that we can take any breeze down that we could and stay below the mark. Well, the wind shut down ½ way down the leg when I called for a gybe to get back across the river and BELOW the mark. The chute collapsed and we were charging downwind, sideways, towards the leeward mark. I called for chute down and jib up so that we could try to go upwind and still cross the river and get BELOW the mark. That did not work either as we zoomed right by the leeward mark, on the wrong side. Jason, seeing the struggles we had, tried the same thing, only to just miss the leeward mark also, on the wrong side.

Kevin Hughes, Joe Collins, John Bauer and Charlie Brehob and Adam Probst managed to come in with some breeze and barely make it around while Jason and I traded tacks, ducked each other to unwind ourselves and get around the leeward mark the correct way. Neal Deaves and Norris Bourdow had no clue what we were doing as we tried to stay out of their way as they rounded. Finally, we managed to get a bit more breeze and make around with Jason right behind us. We played the left side as there was more breeze. Somehow, and I am not sure how, we battled back to 5th and felt fortunate as it could have been a lot worse.

We got the boats out of the water and packed them up for the night. As Steve and I walked up the stairs to the club, we talked about the different ways we could have handled the situation…but settled on there was not much we could have done; it is time for a cocktail!! Getting to the top of the stairs was the remedy that we needed as we were greeted to Jimmy Buffet music, an open bar and countless munchies. Right after we got off the water!!!

The dinner was great, along with a live solo guitarist and we traded war stories with other boats that had similar struggles that we did. Erin Spengeman organized an awesome Buffett Jeopardy. It was great to end the day with sailing friends and a relaxing atmosphere.
Sunday awoke to no breeze and the current still ripping. The RC made the correct choice and called the racing for the day. We tore the boats apart and had a very nice trophy ceremony. Winning the tie breaker, congrats go to Joe Collins for mastering the conditions. We were 2nd with John Bauer coming in a point behind us. 4th was Neal Deaves and Adam Probst 5th.
Many thanks go to the RC team and all of the volunteers of LSC for making the ’06 Bluegrass very memorable. But I need to thank Erin and Ed for inviting and reminding me that I needed to come. They did an amazing job of organizing and making sure everyone had a good time. I plan on being back next year, ready to challenge the mighty Ohio again!!

Ernie Dieball