Lake Champlain Yacht Club

The wind gods were kind to the Etchells fleet on their first Sunday E Series, June 14. The Bay had been perfect for water skiing all morning, and as the fleet left the moorings, it appeared that getting any races in might be a challenge. But by a little after 1pm, the scheduled starting time, and after a few practice starts in very light and fluky wind, a westerly finally filled in at around 5 knots, allowing the fleet to get in four races, including a windward-leeward, two double-windward-leewards and a windward-leeward-windward.

LCYC hosted the Finn NAs over July 18-20, and despite near-heroic efforts by PRO Ernie Reuter and his talented RC, only two races were completed. On Friday, the fleet the fleet completed one race in the broad lake before severe afternoon thunderstorms prompted an early end to the day. On Saturday, the fleet spent the better part of five hours floating and swimming in the vicinity of Juniper Island, waiting for wind that never materialized. Ernie then wisely moved up the starting time for Sunday’s racing to a 9am start in hopes of gaining extra time for more races.

I learned from his son that John Williams died yesterday (Tuesday, Dec 26), at age 98. John became a member of the club in 1963, and was commodore in 1968-69. In the early years he owned and raced a classic Sparkman & Stevens Six Meter wooden sloop that he named "Sue" because that was about all that would fit on its small stern. Later he owned and raced a yellow Paceship 23 Bluejacket, also named "Sue".