2nd Annual Woody Lightning Regatta
Lake Onondaga (Syracuse) New York

July 24 - 25 2004

The second annual Wood Lightning Get-together concluded on Sunday, July 25, with Bobby Astrove and his crew of Billy Astrove and Matt Klice in first place.  Byrne O'Brien, sailing with wife Karen and Fleet 50 crew member Joe Kimak were a  point behind, taking second place.  Craig Thayer with cousins  Joe and Jeff took third.  Fourth place was won by Martin and Andrea Osterode, sailing with Fleet 50 member David Thompson. 

Other skippers participating included Jim Herz from Binghamton NY sailing # 754; Bob Prezzano from Lake Canandaigua sailing #1262; Gary Bernhak from Riverton, NJ, sailing # 7660, and Dale Johnson from Charlotte NC, sailing # 6889.

The Osterode's boat was built in Italy by an Italian boat boulder, rebuilt by Martin, and shipped over to the U.S. in a container on board a ship.  This boat, unlike its American-built counterparts, is made of Philippine Mahogany, topped with 16 coats of clear finish, and hand-rubbed to a shine making it like a piece of fine Italian furniture.

Beautiful hand-crafted wooden trophies were awarded at lunch on Sunday.

The event started Friday evening with check-in, and continued on Saturday morning with more check-in and recreational sailing on Lake Onondaga.  After the skippers meeting and a nice lunch the boats  headed out for an afternoon of racing in 10 to 15 MPH winds and sunny skies.  Eight wooden Lightnings were on the water, including # 736 (Craig Thayer) and #754 (Jim Herz).  

Bobby won the first race, came in second in the second race, and won the third race with a lead of inches.

That evening there was an outstanding steak dinner at the Onondaga Yacht Club, followed by socialization until after dark.  A special treat for David and Joe was a photo, mounted on a storyboard labeled The History of the OYC, showing the OYC marina in the early 40s, with Lightning # 32, sails up,  visible in the background.

On Sunday morning the Race Committee set the course in intermittent light breezes but was not able to start any races.  So, at Noon the day's racing was cancelled, and the results from Saturday prevailed.

On Sunday afternoon Joe took David to Skaneateles to visit the birthplace of the Lightning class.  The Skaneateles Boat Works is long gone, its location on Jordan St. having been replaced by a parking lot in the early 60s.  Joe's cousin Bob Gray however lives directly across the street from the Long House (now a condominium building) that was, in 1940, an apartment building where the Skaneateles Boat Company housed its workers.  They visited with Bob and learned quite a bit more about the Boat company and its operations in the 30s, 40s, and 50s.

Next year the race organizers hope to have at least 10 boats participating -- including our # 32.