Wednesday, 30 September 2020 07:43

2020 Season Comes to a Close

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The 2020 season, CRAM’s 55th summer of catamaran racing, drew to an end at Caseville over the weekend. A beautiful, warm fall weekend greeted us with perfect set-up conditions on Friday night followed by the classic fireside chat back at the campground.


Saturday’s racing was a little bit of everything. The wind started out in the sweet spot of roughly 15 knots and the waves weren't the worst we've seen. As the breeze died down throughout the afternoon, the last race of the day had to be shortened at the gate after one weather mark rounding. The F18s traded races with four different boats collecting the bullets of five races. The contests were competitive with maybe only two of the starts hearing the “all clear” signal. In the Hobie 16 fleet, skippers Austin Lee and Jim West rose to the top, turning Sunday into match racing. The open fleets included one A-Class, a Hobie Getaway, a Nacra 5.5 Uni, and Liam Walz and his brother brought their 49er to test their speed against the F18s.

After racing, CRAM was able to hold its third hospitality event of the year for sailors and their families. Hosted by the Berkels and the Raterings, Tom Ratering smoked pork all day Saturday while spectating from the beach. A great turnout that ended with another fire smoldering into the quiet hours of the night.

Sunday brought the wind. 20+ knots to start the morning, gusts to almost 30. Eight of the ten Hobie 16s went out the race course while most F18s started to pack up early. James Hulderman on his Nacra Infusion gave it the ol’ college try, but returned to the beach after one bear away, deciding it wasn’t worth the risk of breaking anything to wrap up the season. The Hobie 16s ran three races, all won by Austin Lee and Alicia Wright to take the regatta. Make sure to check the results page for the final standings and times!

Huge shout out and thank you to Race Committee members Chris Tuckfield, Eric Brattinga and Jared Smith! Someone once told me that a big reason CRAM racing is so amazing is because of great Race Committee and we race in all conditions. The weekend was just that.

Thank you to all racers for a great year of attendance! We had 20+ boats at every regatta! Thank you to every officer that helped provide the resources for a very successful season. Thank you to our host cities, yacht clubs and parks; Michigan is a truly beautiful place to sail with its clear fresh water and sand dune shorelines. Even with the COVID-19 restrictions forcing cancellations, reschedules and last-minute events, we still were able to safely host eight regattas. It was a pleasure serving the club as Commodore, thank you for hanging with me.

CRAM members, please note – be on the lookout for official information regarding the 2020 Business Meeting.
Read 360 times Last modified on Wednesday, 23 December 2020 19:21

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