Sailors compete in Interlake National Regatta on Charles Mills Lake
LUCAS — For the first time in 57 years, Charles Mills Lake hosted the Interlake Sailing Class Association National Regatta.
Competitors from Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Washington D.C. competed in the regatta. The winner of the National regatta will represent the Interlake Class Representative in the "Championship of Champions."
"It was a great event. We had plenty of breeze and plenty of wind on both days," said William Sanderson, the commodore of the Mohican Sailing Club and the Local National Regatta Chairman. "Actually three days because Wednesday was the women and juniors. We got eight races completed for the championship racing.
"The race committee had to set a course that was hard to set because of the direction of the wind was more squarely coming from the West, which is the skinny part. It's much better on this lake if it's going north or south but it never did because we had a thunderstorm coming this way."
The racing champion for the Interlake National Regatta was the group of Matt Fisher, Jamie Jones and Jim Ward from the Hoover Sailing Club in Westerville, Ohio.
Second place was the group led by Brian Parker from the Sandusky Sailing Club in Sandusky. Third place went to the group of Nate Ireland, Bridget Ireland and Vincent Ireland also from the Hoover Sailing Club.
"The racing was high competition," said Sanderson. "There were several past national champions in the regatta this year but the guy who won it was also an international national champion. The team that finished second and third did an outstanding job. They were really pushing hard and the top three battled it out. It was pretty amazing."
The last day of the regatta was scheduled for 9 a.m. to noon Saturday but the race was cut short early due to thunderstorm warnings.
"Most of the competitors were ok with taking the side of safety and cancelling a portion of the race," said Sanderson. "We had eight races, so it was a fair regatta."
The championship racing took place Thursday through Saturday. A race manager and three judges oversaw the entire event. Those four set the course, tracked and logged the finishes, and settled any rules disputes that may occur during the races. Some of the top race managers in the country oversaw this year's regatta.
Sanderson described the feeling of having this prestigious sailing event at Charles Mills Lake for the first time in some decades. "It's a smaller venue compared to other places like Lake Erie, Traverse City, Michigan, and other venues," he said. "It's about as small of a lake as you can possibly be to hold an event like this."
Overall, Sanderson felt the the event was a success and wouldn't mind seeing the Interlake National Regatta return to Charles Mills Lake in the near future.
"It probably won't be back soon but I'd like to see it back here again," said Sanderson. "We'll be down on the list because other places will be bidding for it. Next year it will be at Traverse City."
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Nation's top sailors compete in National Regatta on Charles Mills Lake
