ILYA E-Invite - Day 1
There were 51 boats on the starting line in a light breeze from the WSW. After a two hour delay waiting for the wind to fill in, the fleet was anxious to race and at least half the fleet was over the line - no exaggeration. They had another attempt which ended in a postponement and on the next start under the Z flag the race got off. The leaders came from the right side and had a good margin on those boats that could not get back from the left. Rob Evans M-1 lead at the first mark of a W2 course, followed by Art Brereton TO-101, youth skipper Eric Bowers M-11, Lon Schoor H-7, Vincent Porter I-2, Sam Rogers M-42, Brian Porter I-49, Chris Jewett M-3, and Chad Olness M-8. On the downwind Augie Barkow started to make a move up the ranks passing boats on each leg. The pressure varied alot across the race course and you had to work right while staying in as much pressure as you could find. It seemed to me that the west shore was best downwind. However, the boats that played the pressure best with a couple of well timed gybes got a jump on the boats that were near them at the weather mark. Eric Bowers and team were calling it right and won the race. Augie Barkow was second, followed by Sam Rogers, Rob, Evans, Brian Porter, Lon Schoor, and Peter Strothman I-9. The race was 48 minutes with legs of 1 mile.
PRO Blake Middleton got the second race off quickly in a little more breeze. With a race under their belt, the fleet settle down and had a clean start. The course was a W 2 1/2 and the legs were about the same or slightly longer. Just as in the first race, the right side of the course was the place to be. Same stretegy worked best - get to the right as best you could and still stay in the most pressure. The Minnetonka yachts were 1,2,3 at the first mark: youth skipper Derek Packard M-87, Peter Slocum M-15, Chris Jewett M-3. They were followed by Lon Schoor H-7, Eric Bowers M-11, Chad Olness M-53, Bill Allen M-4, youth skipper Eric Good V-15. Peter Slocum was having fun sailing his 1970 wood E-scow with a symmetrical spinnaker and 2001 sails. Clearly good decision making got him to his second place at the first weather mark, and kept him in second place at the next upwind mark! Augie Barkow V-37 again was rock solid, moving up from an eleventh place at the first mark and steadily passing boats until he was third around the last leeward mark. Derek had slipped to 4th, followed by Olness, and Schoor. On that last downwind a fresh breeze came down the lake and closed up the fleet spread, making the last leg interesting - painful for some and jubilant for others. This time the left was working on the bottom part of the last leg because of the new breeze that had developed on the downwind but those that hung on too long had trouble getting back to the right. Chris Jewett didn't let it phase him and he had a good lead at the end of the race, which he had been steadly increasing since the second weather mark. Barkow passed Slocum for 3rd. There were some big gains and losses by a lot of boats. Rob Evans moved up to 4th. Packard was next followed by Strothman. Vincent Porter moved from 29th place to 7th, Brian Porter moved from 20th place to 8th. A good right shift with a breeze near the finish was their benefactor.
The race lasted 64 minutes.
After 2 races the top ten are:
| 1st | V-37 | Pewaukee | Augie Barkow | | 2.0 | 2.0 | 4.0 |
| 2nd | M-1 | Minnetonka | Rob Evans | | 4.0 | 4.0 | 8.0 |
| 3rd | M-3 | Minnetonka | Chris Jewett | | 9.0 | 1.0 | 10.0 |
| 4th | M-11 | Minnetonka | Erik Bowers | | 1.0 | 13.0 | 14.0 |
| 5th | I-49 | Lake Geneva | Brian Porter | | 6.0 | 8.0 | 14.0 |
| 6th | I-2 | Lake Geneva | Vincent Porter | | 8.0 | 7.0 | 15.0 |
| 7th | I-9 | Lake Geneva | Peter Strothman | | 10.0 | 6.0 | 16.0 |
| 8th | M-87 | Minnetonka | Derek Packard | | 16.0 | 5.0 | 21.0 |
| 9th | H-7 | Mendota | Lon Schoor | | 7.0 | 20.0 | 27.0 |
| 10th | M-9 | Minnetonka | Tom Burton | | 15.0 | 12.0 | 27.0 |
