The 2009 Menominee Water Front Festival Regatta took place this past weekend, August 7th through the 9th. There was a total of 30 registered racers along with their families at the event.
Sprinkling and light showers made appearances throughout the day on Friday, but they didn’t stop the Russian folksong-campfire from happening Friday night. Â Heavier rains showed up during the night, causing Andy Gratton & co. to set up another tent inside of their first tent which had an inch of water in it.
Racers milled in to the Yacht Club Saturday morning for registration, speculating about the wind for the day. Conditions were decent in the morning but declined around noon to almost no wind. After watching some patches of wind approaching, a race was called around 3 pm. The wind held up for the beginning of the race; Tim Cleary, Peter Hartwich and Blaise Gratton were dueling to keep ahead of Roman Kaplan and Andy Gratton on the tandem Wayler longboard. Blaise Gratton crossed the finish line first, planing in the last puff of wind, after which the wind promptly shut off for the rest of the day.
Saturday evening brought the festivities typical of the Menominee Regatta: food at the Yacht Club, followed by fireworks, and then another Russian campfire. Rains were predicted, but nobody ended up floating away in their tents. Sunday brought stronger winds and overall yielded three races. Tim Cleary and Kevin Gratton showed up on another tandem board, continually harassing each other to “take it up!” With a windward mark close to shore, the upwind legs were very shifty, followed by downwind drag racing through the gybe marks.
All in all, fun was had by everyone. There were some youth sailors in the new O’pen Bic boats, and Gary Loivine even dragged along a Hobie catamaran. There was plenty of windsurfing done by non-racers, and several people tried windsurfing for the first time this weekend.
Many thanks to Bill Caley and the Marinette-Menominee Yacht Club for running another successful regatta for MOWIND.
The next event on theMOWIND Race Series is the Tour da Croix on August 22.
Blaise Gratton reporting