LOWISA 45 results
Kenora Sports
Posted By By Emily Poschner
Aug 11, 2010


For the 45th year the annual Lake of the Woods International Sailing Association regatta sailed smoothly through Lake of the Woods waters for five days of racing and cruising.

This year the regatta shrank from a week-long tournament to five straight days of racing, due to competitors travelling from far distances.


"It usually runs from Sunday to Saturday but this year it just went from Monday to Friday with no day off in the middle," explained vice commodore Rob Eby.

For the most part Eby says they had good wind and sailing conditions Aug. 2-6. Problems arose halfway through the week when a storm brought in high winds on the lake, forcing some boats to return to shore and others to help out stranded vessels.

"Wednesday we had a bad storm blow through with 50 knots of wind and had to abandon the races," says Eby.

Boat numbers were up to 47, with 32 racing and 15 cruising during the regatta. Eby says this number is up about 15 boats from last year. He adds that next year they are really going to be promoting the cruise week that happens the week prior to LOWISA, hoping to get people out for both weeks of sailing.

LOWISA 2010 division winners were: Division 1- Bob Web, Division 2- Jim Fogg/Fred Finlayson, Division 3- Pat Kabris, Division 4- John Sexton, Three Day Race Series- Jim Richardson. This year the Challenge Cup between Canada and the U.S. was won by the United States. Last Chance Race Molson Trophy went to Blair Magnusa and LOWISA's Arctic Glacier Youth Regatta winner was Adam Clark.

Many other awards were given out including racing trophies and several spirit awards. Racing awards were handed out to exceptional Canadian and American boats and boats of different hulls: Province of Manitoba Cup (Canadian boat with lowest total corrected time) - Bob Webb, Minnesota Governor's Cup (American boat with lowest total corrected time) - Pat Kabris, Bergman International Multi-Hull Challenge Trophy- John Sexton, The Hank and Ginny Henderson Cup - Pat Kabris, The Jack Cully Trophy - Pat Kabris, The Evergreene Cup - John Sexton, The Earl Nelson Cup - John Sexton.