In a squeaker that was decided on the last race of the regatta, 20-year-old Wes Rapp won his first I-20 championship Sept. 13-15 at Lake Wawasee, IN. The sophomore at University of Indiana toppled three previous class champions for the win.
Rapp is the youngest I-20 champion since the class was born in 1999. But his victory was no surprise; he skippered his first championship in 2016 at Green Lake, WI as a 12-year-old, with his dad, Jim, crewing. He’s been working on his sailing for years, and he now teams with another top Wawasee sailor, Brian Bahler.
“Having the regatta come down to the last day of racing was thrilling,” Wes said via text. “Kate (Lynn) and Ben (Herdrich) did an excellent job with their crews. I was definitely pretty anxious.”
By the end of seven races, team points for the top three spots were 11-12-13.
With this younger class champ, some are seeing generational shift in the ranks of I-20 sailors.
Consider the other top finishers: Third place went to 17-year-old Kate Lynn of Oshkosh, WI, a high school senior. Kate helmed five of seven races, with her dad as crew (seven-time class champ Aaron Lynn.) Second place went to a 35-year old, two-time class champ Ben Herdrich, of Wawasee. His birthday was just days after the regatta.
Wes Rapp noticed another shift with this championship regatta. Up and down the standings, sailors saw lots of turnover and tactics. “The entire weekend felt really competitive with standings and it’s cool to see how well the class was sailing,” said Rapp.
Incoming class Commodore Joe Ewing agreed. “Just one mistake and there are three or four boats looking to capitalize on it,” said the two-time class champ from Indian Lake Ohio, who finished fourth.
Nowhere was it closer than in the top three spots. These sailors hopkotched each other all weekend. The backdrop was a fantastic three-day stretch of sailing. Day one saw winds of 12-17 with 20+ gusts. Winds settled a bit on days two and three, but there was lots of hiking for boats that found the pressure on a lake that definitely favors locals.
Everything hinged on Sunday, the final day. Taking into account that one race would be tossed, there was a three-way tie at first gun. During the first race on Sunday, Ben Herdrich recalls that he was with Wes Rapp upwind. “But I had a bad/slow down wind leg and he won fairly easy,” said Herdrich. “Very happy to see Wes sailing so fast as I was his sailing instructor during summer sailing camp years ago.”
Herdrich also needed to contain the daughter/father team from Oshkosh.
“Two of my second places were lost (to Kate and) Aaron by only 5-10 seconds,” he said.
Ultimately, Herdrich notched a second and fourth, which would be his throw out.
Reflecting on the win, Wes Rapp said: “I was lucky enough to be sailing with Bryan Bahler. With him on the boat I could focus on just going fast because I knew that he had everything in the front of the boat under control. We’ve sailed a lot together the past few years and learned how each other likes to sail. Our team chemistry has built up a great amount and he’s taught me a lot about sailing in general over the years from his experience in all different classes and all different levels of racing.”
| Pos | Sail | Boat | Skipper | Yacht Club | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Total | Pos | ||
| 1 | WA44 | Ice³ | Wes Rapp | Wawasee Yacht Club | [9] | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 1 | ||
| 2 | WA38 | Black I | Ben Herdrich | Wawasee Yacht Club | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | [4] | 12 | 2 | ||
| 3 | J 11 | Grog | Kate Lynn | Oshkosh | 4 | [6] | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 13 | 3 | ||
| 4 | ID-4 | TWO WEEKS | Joe EWING | Indian Lake, OH | 1 | 3 | 5 | 5 | [8] | 4 | 5 | 23 | 4 | ||
| 5 | WA-57 | Emily Allen | Wawasee Yacht Club | [7] | 4 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 30 | 5 | |||
| 6 | ID 8 | 20Something | Jeff Patten | Indian Lake | 6 | 5 | [13] | 9 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 39 | 6 | ||
| 7 | S1 | Hawaiian Punch | Frank Levinson | Wawasee Yacht Club | 3 | [9] | 8 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 9 | 40 | 7 | ||
| 8 | PO 806 | Draken | Stewart Harris | Potomac River Sailing Association | [13] | 13 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 9 | 12 | 46 | 8 | ||
| 9 | FD 499 | Over Easy | Andrew Gratton | Oshkosh Yacht Club/Fond du Lac Sailing Club | 10 | [16] | 7 | 8 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 49 | 9 | ||
| 10 | WA 76 | Key Lime Pi | J.R. Kendall | Wawasee Yacht Club | 5 | 12 | 9 | 12 | 12 | 13 | [15] | 63 | 10 | ||
| 11 | WA 15 | Roughrider | Kris Westman | Wawasee Yacht Club | 11 | 7 | 10 | [18/DNS] | 18/DNS | 11 | 8 | 65 | 11 | ||
| 12 | WA 1 | Silver Bullet | David Eckrich | Wawasee Yacht Club | [14] | 10 | 12 | 10 | 11 | 14 | 13 | 70 | 12 | ||
| 13 | WA 31 | Samuel Laird | Wawasee Yacht Club | 8 | 8 | [18/DNF] | 18/DNF | 18/DNS | 10 | 11 | 73T | 13 | |||
| 14 | ID 24 | Tim Fate | Indian lake | [16] | 14 | 11 | 13 | 9 | 12 | 14 | 73T | 14 | |||
| 15 | M 12 | Thanks! | Justin Harler | Potomac River Sailing Association | [15] | 15 | 14 | 11 | 13 | 15 | 10 | 78 | 15 | ||
| 16 | WA12 | IVAN | Alex Levinson | Wawasee Yacht Club | 12 | 11 | [18/DNF] | 18/DNF | 18/DNS | 18/DNS | 18/DNS | 95 | 16 | ||
| 17 | WA 571 | — | Laura Albert | Potomac River Sailing Association | [18/DNS] | 18/DNS | 18/DNS | 18/DNS | 18/DNS | 18/DNS | 18/DNS | 108 | 17 |
