Torch Lake
MC Scow Nationals
June 21-23

It's really difficult to describe our experience at Torch Lake. 

We spent most of Tuesday setting up our boats.  We got careless with the dolly and I took a pretty deep cut to my right index finger joint.  A fellow sailor patched me up and we decided on a butterfly bandage over stitches.   It wasn't in a bad place and I really didn't notice it sailing.  I did work to keep it clean and avoid infection as that would have been painful.  At the end of the day we went to Docksides for dinner and enjoyed burgers on the deck.  I had to return to my car for a jacket.  It was that cool!  And that is how the weather was the entire weekend.  Day time highs never topped 77.  Night time lows got to 50.  One had to be careful and wear sunscreen because the cool temps could lull you into thinking the sun wasn't baking you.

On Tuesday night we moved into the "deTar" lake house.  Our "coach" Jeff Annis invited us to stay when he found out we were going at the CYC clinic we hosted.

The "deTar" lake house is an old frame lake house .6 mile up the coast of Torch Lake from the club.  It consisted of a huge great room flanked on either side by two bedrooms.  The hallway to the two bedrooms doubled as a bathroom on each side which made us all agree up front to come and go to our bedrooms via the doors that opened to the screen porch.  John opted for a bed that was ON the porch along with a ping-pong table that featured a 2X6 net!  John and I wore out the ping pong table Tuesday evening.  I took one of the bedrooms and shared bunk beds with Brian Slater from Augusta.  The house also featured a huge bedroom with private bath and king size bed off the back carport.  Jeff took that!  The interior was all wood.  The decor was a combination of nautical things, family pictures, and family hand-me-downs.  One family picture showed Mr. deTar with his 12 children.  We were fascinated by the all the lights that the owner managed to make from sailing objects.

We returned from Docksides to find the house full of sailors.  On my side, Eric and Nancy Protzman took the other bedroom.  On the opposite side, Bill and Ann Rembold occupied one room while the legendary Eric Hood with new wife Sue took the final bedroom.  All in all, there were eleven residents!  Eric P. brought a neat battery powered music box and kept his I-pod running sixties hits all weekend.  Sue and Eric brought an unusual back massager that consisted of a bar and two roller balls.  They swore it would change your life!  Sue gave everyone a treatment most nights that consisted of rolling the balls up and down your spine 20-30 times.  We all swore by it!

We sat around the great getting acquainted.  What great, friendly folk.  Before we all turned in, Jeff announced there would be a meeting of "Team Don't Suck" Wednesday evening to go over the SIs.  We were in rare company indeed.  Eric Hood's resume' needed no introduction.  Jeff Annis was only the number two ranked MC sailor in the country.  Eric Protzman "lost" the 2006 MC Masters on a tie breaker to Peter Toumanoff. 

Wednesday we took our time rising.  John and I actually drove the 30 miles back to Traverse City for breakfast at McDonald's.  We returned to the club and took our boats out for the first time.  We arrived early enough for some prime storage options.  John would use the Seitech dolly on the beach.  I would use a "shore station", a neat lift that would take my boat out of the water every night.  Sailing out, it was impossible not to be awestruck by the beauty of the lake.  The initial 100 yards was light blue indicating a reasonably shallow depth.  Then the water turned a dark blue indicating the drop off point to depths of over 250 feet.  The water was so clear that in the shallows, you could see your boats shadow on the lake bottom.  We came in for lunch, then returned for the practice races.  Midway through the first race we were sent in.  A storm was coming.  We never saw it.

Back at the lake house, the dinner table was laid out with a variety of snacks and treats.  The ladies were cooking burgers on the grill.  Man this was heaven.  A few guests came and went, but eventually it was just us.  As we finished our meal, someone reminded Eric of the SIs.  I got him my copy and he proceeded to tell us a variety of tips and stories.  Sail the hard tack first.  If racing goes late, watch for a westerly over the west shore.  The winners will sail the fewest tacks.  Play the outsides, not the middle.  I didn't even understand half of it.

That night, two noticeable events happened.  Eric H. and John actually snuck into the high grass on the south side of the house and caught the noisy tree frog that kept us up Tuesday.  And the storm that didn't develop, did.  It was a ferocious, soaking storm that drove John in from the porch.  It was the only bad weather we would see the rest of the weekend.

On Thursday night we went to Bellaire and ate at LuLu's.  Strangely enough, we ended up eating with former MC president Rick Trestor and of all things, the chief PRO.  Rick reached to shake my hand and knocked my ice water over which promptly shattered the glass.  I just moved to the other end.  With dinner over, we went back and crashed.

Back at the lake house, we watched a spectacular sunset.  It said everything about this beautiful place.  Torch Lake is so clean, clear, and beautiful, that sailors who trailered in and out every day were asked to wash their trailers.

Sunset on Torch Lake

Friday morning we went for breakfast in the nearby town of Alden.  It was a small town cafe and the eggs were great.  Then back for racing.  Friday night, we went to the main event at the Blue Pelican.  It was a sit down catered meal with very nice trimmings.  We got there early and team DS took over the patio.  We snacked on salmon and our favorite beverages.  Then we moved inside for a brief meeting and dinner.  We ended up sitting with Jack Coleman and Peter Toumanoff.  We had heard the 08 Nats would be at Peawaukie - Peter's home club.  It is three hours from my sister's and we made a pact to be there.

At the party, we got our first glimpse of professional pictures Lisa Powell took over the course of the regatta. They were shown on a projection screen and remote TV sets.   We didn't dream we would see the two us so it was really special when we were on screen in some great shots (see picture gallery 2).  We had no intentions of staying late.  Sun and sailing took a nightly toll on us.  It was easy to be asleep by 10, about the time the sun would set each night on this western edge of the eastern time zone.  But before turning in, we drove to the remote parking area, got our trailer and moved it close to our boats at the club so we could pack and roll after racing Saturday.  One thing was certain, 89 boats packing and leaving was not a sight we wanted to see.

Saturday morning the wind acted like it wouldn't cooperate.  But it did and after another beautiful day, we sailed in.  The MC Nats were over.  We skipped the awards ceremony to pack and get out in front of the crowd.  It worked and we were ready to go in a little over an hour.  In fact, we actually walked over to the clubhouse and caught leftover lunch food and some of the awards ceremony.  Unfortunately, we knew that getting caught in the mass exodus could cost us 2 hours and we wanted to clear Michigan before stopping that night.  We also had to go over to Glen Lake to drop the boats for Jamie to take to Zenda.  That was a two hour detour itself.  So, we said a few quick goodbyes, threaded our way through the winding clubhouse road, and turned south for home.  The safari was over.

Oh yeah, if you wanted a race report, you gotta go here.  RACE REPORT.

Notable Quotables

No, I don't dance.  Go ask him.
Do you see anybody?
We paid for 'em.  They're dated and they can't use them again.
I'm going over to the clubhouse restroom.