Lake Erie Multihulls: Who We Are

The Skipper and Chairman: James B. Frederick   

Jim always loved the water. He was a power boater first. He would spend days at the cottage on Sandusky Bay where he would putter with the his old Johnson offset engine on his little wooden row boat or he would fish. It’s Jim’s past Navy experience during the Vietnam War as a radar man on a destroyer and even though his destroyer the USS Dupont took three direct hits in the Gulf of Tonkin the experience instilled in him a love of the water and boating offshore. When Jim returned to civilian life, Jim bought his first Sea Ray, and then ran charter fishing trips on three different Sea Rays before he bought his first Hobie 18 in 1981. Jim’s been racing multihulls ever since. Jim runs an MRDD program in Ottawa County now, but he’s looking forward to the day when he can retire and devote all his time to racing and cruising.

The Navigator and Newsletter Editor: Deborah K. Schaefer

Deb learned to sail on Ranger 23 sailboat as an adult. But, when she met Jim, he wasn’t a sailor at the time. Deb enjoyed power boating on Lake Erie and she learned navigation during their cruises to the North Channel. Wasn’t she surprised when Jim came home with the news that he had sold the 26’Sea Ray and he wanted to buy a sailboat. Together, they looked at several monohulls, and they almost bought one. But their heads were turned by the excitement of sailing the Hobie 18 catamaran.

Together: Jim and Deb raced one-design beach cats for 15 years and they had raced an equal number of national events, when they began crewing on a J-30 monohull on open weekends. “We became weary of traveling every weekend to race our Hobie 18. We were envious of the monohull sailors. We wanted to race in our own backyard.” But, only a fast offshore Multihull would meet their need for speed! The Corsair F-24 MKI trimaran was such a boat. They bought the F-24 thinking that, one day, the F-24 Mk I would become a popular one-design class, just like the popular Corsair F-27. Here was a Multihull that they could race comfortably offshore on Lake Erie, or fold up to trailer to regattas out of state.

Unfortunately, when Deb and Jim bought their beloved Summer Storm in 1993, there was limited racing for multihulls on Lake Erie and no one-design racing at all. As active members of the US SAILING Multihull Council, Jim and Deb were on a mission to organize PHRF racing for offshore multihulls on Lake Erie. Working closely with the local PHRF group, I-LYA, and various yacht clubs, Jim and Deb took on that task. Running a race organization was a role they had both played before. They honed their skills as the Chairman and Newsletter Editor of a five state racing organization called the Division Ten Hobie Class Association. Deb and Jim put together a schedule of races and began to issue certificates. Lake Erie Multihulls issues about 17 handicap certificates and organizes a 9 race series for Lake Erie called the Gary Hall Series.

Jim and Deb won there class in three Corsair/Farrier National Championships on their beloved F-24, Summer Storm, but Jim had a strong desire to race long distance in offshore races such as the Port Huron and Chicago Mackinac races, so we had to buy a bigger boat in 2000. Big Storm is a cruising version of the F-28 with all the amenities necessary to race and cruise long distances offshore. We’ve done well with the new boat, having won our class in the Corsair/Farrier Nationals in 2000, 2001 and 2002 and won the revitalized Trans-Erie Race in 2001. Deb is also current secretary for US Sailing Multihull Council.  But, we’ll always have a soft spot in our heart for Summer Storm.

Our Crew: Kim Smith

Kim is ever our ever faithful and trusty crew. Kim bought his Hobie18 about the same time as we bought ours. Kim was mad about sailing and he could often be seen single-handing his Hobie 18 on the lake and flying a hull a high as it could go. Kim has been our main crew and spinnaker trimmer since we bought our first F-boat in 1993. Kim has raced every Mills Race and every Sandusky Islands Race since ’93, and almost every race in between. Neither sleet, nor rain, nor dark of night would keep Kim from his appointed position on the ama. Kim has raced several Corsair Nationals and the 2001 Bayview Mackinac Race on his sailing resume. Kim was our crew for the Trans-Erie Race in 2001 and kept us from being run over by a freighter. We sing a lot of the golden oldies when we’re racing offshore and Kim knows all the words.