First 40.7

BIG WIND = RECORD RACE TIME

AS RHUMB RUNNER WINS WAUKEGAN TO CHICAGO

DAS BOOT WINS CHICAGO TO WAUKEGAN

(Sunday, June 28, 2009)  Smashing the previous record time of 3 hrs. 43 min. 01 sec., set by Vayu in 2006, for the Waukegan to Chicago Race, Katie Goldman's Rhumb Runner set a new Beneteau 40.7 record today for this event of 2 hrs. 55 min. 2 sec. thanks to good seamanship and exceptional wind out of the west-northwest.  Katie later said, "It was exciting to see how well our young team works together under precarious and potentially dangerous situations."  (more...)

McDONNELL BROTHERS' SPANKER TRIUMPHS AT NOOD REGATTA

(Sunday, June 21, 2009)  "Dennis and I had modest expectations of being competitive and looking for an upper third of the fleet, for finishing position for the weekend."  So said skipper Jim McDonnell after Spanker's victory today at the 2009 Chicago NOOD Regatta.

2^nd place was awarded to Tom Weber's La Temepte, and 3^rd place to Turning Point under co-skippers Dave Hardy and Bill Bartz. (more...)

VAYU WINS COLORS REGATTA

(Sunday, June 14, 2009)  “If I could point to one incident, which more than any other, decided the outcome of this regatta,” said Ron Buzil, skipper of winning boat, Vayu, “it was that last weather mark rounding on the last race on Sunday.”  (more...)

ERRATIC WIND FINDS COLLABORATION IN GOOD FORM

(Sunday, June 7, 2009) "Better lucky than smart!"  Those were Bob Vickery's words summing up Collaboration's victory at the Hobelman Regatta today.  Of course most of the 40.7 crews believe that Vickery, The Lake Fox, makes his own luck.  (more...)

TURNING POINT WINS TWO AT 2009 OLYMPIC CUP REGATTA

VAYU WINS LIGHT AIR SPRING OPENER

Olympic Cup  (Sunday, May 24, 2009) At the first regatta of 2009 that counts for any of the season-long series, Turning Point, led by Dave Hardy and Bill Bartz, swept both races and picked up where they left off last year, in first place in the Best Beneteau 40.7 on Lake Michigan series.  (more...)

An interview with

THE "LAKE FOX”  BOB VICKERY 

Last summer, after Bob Vickery’s Collaboration 2 finished the Chicago to Mackinac Island Race in the silver for the fifth straight year we were able to interview him about his accomplishments, experiences, and about the people who mentored and sailed with him through the years.

Vickery, age 51, has been the skipper of his Beneteau 40.7, Collaboration 2 since he joined the fleet in 2004.  In his five years participating with the fleet Bob has the unequalled honor of having won the 333 mile Chicago to Mackinac Island Race three straight years (2004-2006) and having placed in that race the subsequent two years, 2^nd and 3^rd respectively.  (more...)