Gray, overcast skies did not deter the Mohican Sailing Club from launching the second day of their Halloween Jet-14 Regatta on Sunday at Charles Mill Lake. A total of 19 boats and crews were registered for the event, but only 14 of them competed on the second day. Brent Barbehenn, of Cooper River Yacht Club, New Jersey and crew member Jonathan Smith held the lead on the beginning of the second day and finished Sunday in first place in the Championship Division.
The Regatta was a one-design event featuring the Jet-14. As the name implies, it’s a 14-foot sailboat manned by a skipper and a crew member. Participants in this year’s event included not only the New Jersey yacht club, but also Cleveland’s Edgewater Yacht Club, Lake Norman Yacht Club in North Carolina, Asheville Sailing Club in North Carolina, and of course a number of crews from the Mohican Sailing Club.
Four races were held on Saturday and only one more race could be completed on Sunday before the noon the finish. The race committee members who judged and tallied the points included Mike Fulton, John Boss, and Denny Diebold.
Fulton and his wife Mary, who performed a share of the lunch detail and event preparation, are members of the club and own a Thistle, a seventeen-foot sailboat. As the racers prepared for the start, she explained that the marks are set where the racers will turn. At the sound of the horn, she noted the day’s race began with a General Recall.
When the race was under way, Mohican fleet captain Marion Zaugg, a Mansfield architect and designer, turned the first mark with a narrow lead. His crew was Keegan Gange, a new sailor this year.
Mohican club member Tom Wills was not racing on Sunday but soloed in his 18-foot Inter-Lake and watch the activities. His sailboat, named “Bobbin,” was named Bobbin because his wife Sue owns Richland Embroidery Services in Ontario.
“The wind didn’t pick up until late,” he explained, so we only had one race today. Next Sunday, we’re pulling the docks for the end of the season.” Wills joined the club in 2006.
Ian Moran, from the Cleveland club and Ernie Michaud finished in third place in the Championship Division. That is an impressive finish for a 13 year old skipper. He said he’s been sailing since he was about four years old.
Michaud explained, “They [Moran’s family] live on Rocky River. By five or six years old he was a skipper.”
Moran competed this summer in international competition in Bermuda with skippers ranging in age from eight to 15; and, for him, that has been one of the highlights of sailing. “There were 300 boats and I finished 13th.
Finishing second in the Championship division was Bill Bill Buckles of the Edgewater Yacht Club with P.J. Bloaski as crew on Saturday and Ed Edgell on Sunday. Finishing in first place in the Challenger Division was Mohican Sailing Club’s Stewart FitzGibbon with Chris Chengelis on Saturday and Dan Reiber on Sunday.
Zaugg presented the awards after lunch and thanked those who helped with the event. The full race results are available at left.
The Mohican Sailing Club was founded in 1945. It is a gem, nestled in a cove on Charles Mill Lake in Lucas. Their club house, on a small hill above the docks, records their history with a wall of photos of past commodores and trophies on the mantle.
