Written by Joanne Aspinall/Feature photo by Mike Ferring
Most regattas have their ups and downs for competitors, and Dinghy Days 2025 was no exception. Literally. We went up…and down…and up…and down…on the very large wakes from the motor boats zipping by! That’s not something we normally experience at Tempe Town Lake. The waves mostly slowed us down, but occasionally a lucky sailor was able to ride a wave – a special pleasure for dinghy sailors! One wave caught San Francisco-veteran sailor Jordon Korss by surprise – and knocked him into the lake – the only capsize of the weekend! He quickly jumped back on the boat without losing any ground to the other Laser competitors, and ended up winning the fleet.
The waves were one aspect that brought a big-lake experience for the Sunfish, Lasers, Buccaneer 18s, and various other dinghies who raced October 31st through November 2 on Lake Pleasant. Another was the wind: without buildings to swirl around, the breeze was pleasantly consistent on Saturday! PRO Mike Ferring described it as uncharacteristic, even for Lake Pleasant: “We set a course in the early afternoon and didn’t need to change it until the wind went away in the late afternoon. It was never strong, settling in at 5-7 knots, but it was the kind of steady stuff that makes race committees happy and allows mark set crews to dawdle instead of racing to move marks.” A big thank you to Mike and those who helped on the race committee, including Roger Pawley, Maryellen Ferring, Ron and Lynn Simzyk, Barry Bond, Linda Park, Tiffany Picquet, Rod Sturgess, Bruce Andress, Cedric Lorch, and Peter Jeffers.
Sunday was a bit different. Mike continues: “With the Buccaneer fleet on the water and listening on VHF 68, we were able to start them off early into the fresh, northerly Sunday morning breeze. So far, so good. At 9 a.m., we put the Lasers in sequence. Then, at 9:05, the wind collapsed. What? Sunday morning at Lake Pleasant should be good until 10 or 11 a.m., right? Fortunately, it was just a wicked trick and the northerly breeze slowly returned long enough to get off a couple of races for everybody before we had to shorten courses and abandon races.”
The temperatures were up and down as well, with cool temps in the morning, and by noon on Sunday, warm enough for some sailors to go for a swim. That’s definitely not something we would [deliberately] do on Tempe Town Lake!
The competition was hot, especially in the Sunfish and Buccaneer fleets, which ended with 1st and 2nd place being decided by only one point; and in the case of Kate Crowther and Juan Casal on Sunfish, by mere inches. Congratulations to the winners of each fleet – David Haggart for Portsmouth, Tony Chapman for Buccaneer 18 (with Sean Kenealy a close 2nd), Jordan Korss for Laser, and Juan Casal for Sunfish (with Kate Crowther an extremely close 2nd). The full results can be found here.
The land activities also had some ups and downs. Overall, Spring Canyon worked well for launching and retrieving the smaller dinghies, but did have some hiccups – there was some confusion about whether or not camping was allowed, and somehow an extra lock was put on the gate Saturday night. We’ll work those kinks out! One highlight was definitely the Saturday evening dinner – after a long day on the water, Linda Park’s delicious pulled pork sandwiches, beyond meat meatloaf, corn on the cob, coleslaw, mac & cheese, whoopie pies, and cut fruit hit the spot!
Thank you to Tony Chapman, Emory Heisler, Bruce Andress, and all of the organizers who helped make this year a success. And to those who took photos, which can be found on our SmugMug page. Everyone agreed that Dinghy Days 2025 was definitely worth the drive “up” to the big lake!
Awards with Roger Pawley, Commodore. Photos by Dianna Andress.
