Andy Burdick with crew Peter Keck, Coye Harrett, and Lindsey Bartel, showed most of us a bit of a sailing lesson over the three day event as they handedly won the 2008 National Championships.

 

Mr consistency, Tom Burton was second and last years winner Sam Rogers was third.

 

All six races were completed, allowing a throwout race. The race conditions were surprisingly good considering there was threatening weather for the entire three day period. The rain downpours and thunderstorms did come but they were in the early mornings or evening. Racing saw some overcast conditions and sunny conditions. Winds were good, Friday saw light medium to medium winds for the first two races and the last race had light winds. It was a long 8 hours on the water Friday for the three back-to-back races that day. Saturday the wind was in the teens to twenties in the gusts and it made for spectacular rides and fast downwinds with the new asymmetrical configuration. There were pleanty of smiles to go around. Sunday's final race was medium winds that were a little puffy. Crew work was a premium through out the event as teams had to work hard to master the stiffer rigs we are now sailing, with the addition of the upper set of spreaders, and learn the best techniques to raise and lower the asymmetrical spinnaker. Some of the ILYA boats haven't had any racing before the Nationals because of high water and flood conditions on their home lakes.

 

There were some notable hard luck cases, but one stands out. Erick Johnson, T-18, had a black Flag in race 3, was leading the fleet into the first mark of race 6 when his forestay broke. If that isn't enough on the race course, he had a costly speeding ticket on the way home. Eric had three top races (2, 1, 2), to match his less lucky starts.

 

Lake Geneva dominated the top 10 with four boats placing and easily taking the Team Trophy.

 

The youngest and oldest teams finished for a tie for points. Harrison Burton is 16 years old, with a crew of contemporaries on his team, won the tie breaker over Dick Turner, 84 years young. Both threw out a DNF, each having tipped over in one of the races. Harrison is the son of Tom Burton and will likely get to participate in the centennial E-Scow National regatta to carry on a long tradition of Burton family sailing. Dick Turner had sons and grandchildren racing in the event.

 

The last paragraph showed there is a long tradition of family participation in the E-Scow fleet. It was one of the most often mentioned things about what will be most memorable to you in the years to come - sailing with family. "Seeing the look on my daughters face in her first big regatta." "Sharing my love of the sport with my daughter and seeing the excitement in her eyes on the downwind runs and talking about it after the race." Then there was the Sprinkman family from Lake Pewaukee where Barbie and Chad had all the children crewing for them. They had five on the boat so no one was left behind, not even the youngest, Charlie at 12 years old.