April 5, 2003
Hosted by Lake Mission Viejo Yacht Club
Sunny with a few puffy white clouds and beautiful views of the green hills and the Cleveland National Forest. Big winds (20 MPH) were predicted in So. Cal. and for the most part is seems they showed up. I'm guessing that the winds on the lake were in the 12-17 knot range. Despite the wind, it was reasonably warm.
Lake Mission Viejo is a man made reservoir (construction started in 1974, lake opened in 1978) formed by a dam in a canyon in the foothills below the Cleveland National Forest in Orange County, California. The prevailing winds flow up the canyon and spill over the dam and swirl their way down the lake however there are plenty of opportunities for winds to come down the sides of the hills and approach the lake from other directions. True to form, we saw lots of big wind shifts, a few large enough to count as "auto" tacks. At a more micro level, there are the geographical shifts along the shore lines that come into play - in short there was no shortage of opportunities to make good gains. As we sailed up the lake towards the dam, the wind velocity decreased and became more erratic, making for some nervous moments while competitors tried to figure out how to hold their place in the fleet.
It is standard for the race committee to set the start/finish line approximately in the middle of this elongated lake and to use the permanent marks around the perimeter of the lake for courses. For this regatta, the Lido 14s raced mostly in the upper half of the lake.
The racing consisted of three races with a short break between race #2 and race #3. Many teams parked their boats at the public docks near the start/finish line, dropped their sails, and had a quick lunch. All in all, the lake is excellent for Lido 14 racing and today's racing was surprisingly fun.
The organizers did a fine job in organizing the day's events from registration, the skippers meeting, and the awards. They were especially good at feeding the sailors: breakfast stuff at registration, snacks and dinner after racing. Thanks guys!
A very nicely run event.
Report by John Papadopoulos
| Place | Skipper & Crew | Boat # | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | T |
| 1st | John Papadopoulos & Nikki DeRelle | 6188 | BYC | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 2nd | John & Will Gresham | 4550 | LBYC | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| 3rd | Arnold & Susan Christensen | 4136 | LMVYC | 3 | 4 | 3 | 10 |
| 4th | Rod Simenz/Audrey Simenz | 6026 | LMVYC | 4 | 3 | 4 | 11 |
| 5th | Doug Sheppard/Donna Freeman | 345 | LMVYC | 5 | 5 | 5 | 15 |
| 6th | Bob Martin/Kevin Martin | 4179 | DNS | DNS | DNS | 21 |
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