Aerial Photos: Jim Stevenson

Day one (Saturday, December 20) of the Grand Slam Open brought Renegades and DNs to Lake Kegonsa. The Nite fleet chose to race locally and when your home club has ice, that’s the right call. That’s how clubs survive and grow.

Ice was hard and bumpy. Everyone agreed with Daniel Hearn’s call of a 6 or 7.

Pat Heppert brought his C Skeeter and spent all of Friday working her around the lake. On Saturday he set the course and ran the races. Pat knew the wind would build. He set the Skeeter up for a 25 mph blow, figuring the day would end with a few extra laps just for him. Those of us still near the leeward mark were in awe when he came around. Fastest many of us have ever seen that boat go. He was clearly having fun.

We ran five races in each fleet.

Renegade highlights came early. Damien Luyet won his first race ever. The fleet opened with a missing man formation in honor of Tim McCormick. Fittingly, cousin Greg won that race. The Renegades mixed it up all day with tight racing. Runner to runner at the leeward mark more than once. You didn’t know who had it until the line. New member Matt Critchley jumped straight into racing. He started the day hanging back and watching. By the end, he was making moves. That’s how it’s supposed to work.

View through a bar window.

In the DN fleet, Chris Berger dominated. So much so that he finished a race early enough to grab the flags and hold the checkers as the rest of the DNs crossed the line while Pat went to move the weather mark. First time I’ve seen that.

There was drama at one DN finish when Frankie Hearn lost a runner just before the finish line. (Pro tip. Always check your bolts.) Frankie kept it together, finished the race, and pointed hard at his plank to get his dad’s attention.

The wind came up hard in the final DN race. The fleet handled it well, turning it into a lesson on managing big downwind pressure and avoiding spinouts. Best part for me was seeing new DN racers out there. With a small fleet, it’s the perfect place to learn. Congratulations to all of you.

As I write this Sunday morning, it’s 10°F. Windy says we may see 6 mph. Enough to move the boats? We’ll find out.

Thanks to everyone who came out. One of the best parts of the day was ending it at Springers, some arriving by iceboat, replaying the races and warming up with a hot meal and a beverage.