Ultimate Regatta for Scow Country

The 2014 ILYA Annual Championship Regatta, otherwise known as the Inland, is the ultimate regatta for scow country. The ILYA (Inland Lake Yachting Association) is home to 50+ member clubs, and the Inland is a major kumbaya for the assortment of scow classes that fall under their watchful eye.

The Inland has a history of over 115 years and many of the ILYA trophies date to early to mid 1900s. For several classes, the Inland pre-dates their national championship. The Inland is the “granddad” of scow sailing where multiple fleets sail together in varying schedules in the same week.

For this year, the format was different in that four scow classes – A, C, E, and I-20 – sailed together each day at Oshkosh Yacht Club in Wisconsin on August 14-17. Typically, the logistics of a club’s property or water has most often prevented such a large gathering, but the venue this year allowed for this first-time experiment.

Because there is crossover amongst some of the sailors, the daily race schedule had the classes paired up – A and I-20, C and E – so that people could sail in two classes each day if desired. Fully taking advantage of the schedule was Vincent Porter who won both the A and E scow titles.

The ability to mingle with all sailors of the Inland proved to be exceedingly popular, with breaks during the day to watch the other fleets. Of course, having all four classes together, rather than staggered during the week, also allowed for the entire group to socialize each evening. No word yet on how much “inbreeding” occurred.

With crossover also amongst the C and MC scow classes, the MC class was held separately, one week earlier, at Pewaukee Yacht Club in Wisconsin on August 8-10. Eighty-one teams attended the MC Inland Champs, which is believed to be the largest MC regatta to date this year.

Here is the 2014 Inland winners list:
A Scow (20 boats): Vincent Porter/ Dave Navin, Ryan Fitzgerald, Greg Gifford, Chris Impens, Kyle Navin
C Scow (43 boats): Steve Schmidt/ Casey Andreski, Jeanne Andreski
E Scow (36 boats): Vincent Porter/ Clifford Porter, Coye Harrett, Ailsa Freytag
I-20 Scow (10 boats): Aaron Lynn/ Keith Rosenbaum
MC Scow (81 boats): Andy Burdick

Event websites: Oshkosh – Pewaukee