National Hospice Regatta Alliance Ohio

Grand River Hospice Cup 2007
August 24-26, 2007

We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails

The 2007, which was the club's 23rd Regatta,the fourth time Hospice of the Western Reserve was the recipient of the monies raised, and, the third time we were part of the National Hospice Regatta Alliance.

The relationship with Hospice that we first established in 2003 has been rewarding and enjoyable. When we send out requests for donations, most every response is gladly made to the recognizable and valued organization.

Grand River Sailing Club regatta the Grand River hospice Cup is a fundraiser and a fun-raiser! The events include a huge raffle and silent auction of items generously donated by club members and local businesses. We also host a T-shirt sale, and this year a Corn-Hole competition. West Marine was a key sponsor of the regatta and key also in assisting to make the event more fun. Hospice employees and volunteers come to the event and also assist in coffee and donut sales the mornings of the races.

The 2007 event kicked off with the Set up party on Thursday evening when most every club member helps get ready for the on-shore events. Friday evening is the Women?s Race competition. Nine boats registered for this event and after one hour and 16 minutes of spirited and competitive racing, boats started to cross the finish line. Fever a Schock 35, with Connie Aguero at the helm, finished first. The awards included chocolates! Following the fun on the water, the women of the club host a potluck party with a live band and dancing into the night.

Saturday began the two days of sailing competition. A total of 45 boats registered. We sail with the club?s set marks with courses that are windward-leeward arrangements of those marks that are set 0.89 nm from the central Start mark. The weather was breezy with gusts up to 25 knots, and the competition was fierce among the boats that favor those conditions. The two races were fast and furious; and the J/105's were in the lead! Once off the water, back at the Grand River Marina, food and beverages, sale of raffle tickets and T-shirts, review of the silent auction items continued over spirited discussions of the day?s sailing.

Sunday's weather had much less wind, very different than the previous day. On Lake Erie, high winds are followed by chop on the water. The race conditions were completely different and the results were also different. One race is all that is planned for that day to allow for time for on-shore activities.

While the results of the sailing were being completed, the Corn Hole competition took place. The winner of the competition won a set of Corn Hole boards and T-Shirts proclaiming the winners. The game can be mastered quickly and with little skill, and is fun to play and to watch. The conclusion of the huge raffle and the well fought for silent auction were concluded.

Awards for the sailing events are given to first, second and third place for each of the fleets. Overall winner for the first day of racing is the winner of the Orange Shoelace Award, given in memory of Dave Larsen, an avid sailor and member of the GRSC who always wore orange shoelaces. Overall winner of the second day of racing race is awarded the Tartan Trophy, donated by C&C Yachts, and awarded by Tim Jacket. The overall winner for the entire two-day sailing event, and the sailors that are invited to participate in the Hospice Cup in Annapolis, was an IMX 38, Mr. Ed owned and helmed by Robert Wilber. Congratulations to all!

Regatta ’06 will always be remembered as the race following “The Flood”. Thunderstorms with wind gusts up to 60 mph dropped more then 10 inches on rain on July the 28th. The Grand River rose more than 15 feet within 24 hours – a record flood stage. The water torrents created eight-foot waves in the river! Large sections of docks, and more than 70 boats were torn loose, washed into Lake Erie and crashed upon the beaches miles to the east. Many of these boats would have participated in the regatta, but did not have the opportunity.

The Sailing Club rallied to review the damage, and communicate to the surrounding communities that the regatta was still going to occur. Marinas in neighboring areas pitched in to assist and offered dockage for the boats that traveled to the regatta.

The weather the Saturday of the regatta was breezy, and we had two great races. The wind was light on Sunday and decreased, causing the third race of the event to be shortened. As you all know, reading the sailing instructions before the race is always important, and when unusual events occur, the knowing the SI’s is a must. Several protests needed to be resolved, but with the assist of several judges, everything was sorted out by the end of the day on Sunday.

The regatta hosts several fundraiser events, but the participation was not a heavy as we would have liked. We have a large raffle with donated items from local businesses. And a Silent Auction featuring items donated by local businesses and some one-of-a kind items that are handmade by sailing club members. The Sunday afternoon the blow-boat race has very active participation, and is very popular.

This was our second year as a Hospice Regatta, and the word is getting out that this is an event to be in to win! It’s a challenging race and winning the honor of participating in the Hospice Regattas National Championship is gaining recognition and local understanding. We are definitely looking forward to a bigger and better Regatta ’07!

Some say that is takes a village to raise a child. I know that it takes the whole Grand River Sailing Club to host a regatta. The club has only 52 members, and it took all 52 families to pull off the grand event.

The GRSC is a paper club – we have no property or buildings. Grand River Marina, Fairport Sailing Center is host for the Club. The Sailing Center’s pavilion is where we gather after races on Sunday afternoons and where we gather for regatta festivities. Since GRSC has no real property, we have no real need for money and we’ve always donated regatta proceeds to charity.

In 2005, which was the club’s 21st annual regatta, GRSC choose Hospice of the Western Reserve as the recipient of the monies raised. This was the second year working with Hospice. We’ve enjoyed the relationship that was established in 2004. In 2005, we became members of the National Hospice Regatta Alliance, Inc. (NHRA), and the event became known as Grand River Hospice Cup. As members in the Alliance, the overall winner of the GRSC event is eligible to participate in Hospice Regattas National Championship in Annapolis, MD in the spring of 2006, competing against the other NHRA event winners in J-105 sailboats.

GRSC regatta fundraiser and fun-raiser events include a huge raffle and silent auction of items generously donated by club members and local businesses, a T-shirt sale, Blow Boat competition, Hill-Billy Golf, cash donations and the race entry fees. West Marine was a key sponsor of the regatta and key also in assisting to make the event more fun. Hospice employees and other volunteers came to the event and assisted in coffee and donut sales before the races.

The three-day event kicked off with the Women’s Race competition on Friday evening. Nine boats registered for this event and after one hour and 16 minutes of spirited and competitive racing, boats started to cross the finish line. Fever, a Schock 35, with Connie Aguero at the helm, finished first. Music by a DJ, which included karaoke, followed the presentation of the Women’s Race awards.

Two days of sailing event began on Saturday morning. A total of 46 boats registered, a smaller fleet then in previous years. The weather was beautiful and the breeze good. Once off the water, back at the Sailing Center, participants indulged themselves with food and beverages, purchased raffle tickets and T-shirts, bid on silent auction items and engaged in spirited discussions of the day’s sailing. The Blow-boat competition drew an enthusiastic crowd of participants and spectators.

Sunday’s racing was even more spirited. The raffle and the silent auction were conducted while the results of the two days racing were being compiled. During this time, the Hill-Billy Golf competition was conducted. This unique game was invented and hosted by Grand River Rigging. Pairs of golf balls are strung together on a cord. This unit is tossed, horseshoe-style, onto a trellis-like structure. Scoring is dependent upon the rung of the trellis where the cords hang. The game can be mastered quickly, requires little skill, and is fun to play and watch.

Awards for the sailing event consist of first, second and third place for each of the fleets. Overall winner of the first race is awarded the “Orange Shoelace Trophy” given in memory of Dave Larsen, an avid sailor and past member GRSC who typically wore orange shoelaces in his tennis shoes while sailing. The Orange Shoelace Trophy was awarded to WISH owned by the Mills family and helmed by Colin Mills. Overall winner of the second race is awarded the Tartan Trophy, donated by Fairport Yachts, builder of Tartan and C&C Yachts. Tim Jackett, Chief Designer and COO of Fairport Yachts presented the Tartan Trophy to Jim Hogan owner and helmsman of THRILLER. The Grand River Hospice Cup overall regatta winner and the team invited to participate in the Hospice Regattas National Championship in Annapolis, was WISH.