Fire on The Water 2025 Report

Fire on the Water 2025 – Where Every Sailor and Volunteer Mattered

Held at Branched Oak Lake, Nebraska, from June 27–29, the 57th edition of the Snipe Regatta Classic Fire on the Water (FOTW)—hosted by Snipe Fleet #567—delivered once again. It was a weekend where rivalries and friendships were rekindled, but above all, camaraderie and unforgettable stories took center stage.

Friday night kicked off with a welcoming dinner and social hour, as sailors from the Lincoln fleet welcomed competitors from across District 2 Fleets. Saturday morning began early with “Yoga for Sailors,” readying participants' minds and bodies for a day of racing. After breakfast, the spotlight turned to junior sailors, as Lincoln proudly hosted the District 2 Junior Championships. The top award was SCIRA’s Commodore’s Hook Trophy—a historic trophy lost to time and only awarded twice in the last 25 years. Now, thanks to the Rocky Mountain Snipe Fleet (Colorado), this trophy has been recreated in a beautiful new version.

Seven teams competed: three Junior/Junior and four Junior/Senior pairs. As expected, Fabian and Nikolai Woeger (Rocky Mountain) dominated, taking both the revived Commodore’s Hook and—for the third time—the local Junior FOTW trophy. These brothers wish to continue to inspire the next generation of Junior Snipe sailors. Victor Franco and Ghaida Amar placed second (4th overall), and Mason Olson and Rune Workman took third (7th overall). Among Junior/Senior teams, first-timers Spencer Franklin and Dylan Sawyer showed strong performances finishing first and second, while sisters Maida and Jaida Amar challenged each other for third and fourth.

The afternoon brought stronger breezes (15–20 mph, gusting to 25 mph in 88–92°F heat) for the beginning of the main race series with three exhilarating races following two general recalls as sailors were pushing each other at the start line. That evening, after a great dinner for which FOTW is well known for, District Governor Amanda Kremer presented the brand-new Top Crew District 2 Trophy, donated by the Lincoln Snipe Fleet, to Laura O’Leary (Dallas), honoring her as the top District 2 crew for 2024.

Sunday morning brought high winds (20–37 mph), thunderstorms, and rain. The RC (Race Committee) postponed races until 10 a.m., managing to squeeze in two more races in 8–9 mph winds before ultimately canceling the final race as the breeze faded.

At the end, twenty-seven boats representing District 2 fleets from Nebraska (10), Colorado (7), Iowa (5), Dallas (3), and Kansas (2) completed five races. Competition was fierce in every leg, with positions often decided at the marks. In the end, the top three places in A Fleet and top two finishers in B Fleet took home trophies, which were original glass art pieces designed by the local artists at Art Glass Creative Studio in Lincoln, NE.

Results:

Blane and Zane McCleskey from Rocky Mountain took first place and the Regatta Trophy (15 points), making this the 6th time Blane has won it. They were followed closely by Steven Davis and Danielle Wiletsky (17), also from Rocky Mountain. Third place was for Gene Soltero and Laura O’Leary (24) from Dallas, who were clearly hindered by a tough last race. Blane and Gene are now tied for the 2nd most winningest teams in the history of this event. The teams of Amanda Kremer (Top Female skipper)/Ryan Shubert (32, Rky Mtn) and Jon Christensen/Vicki Albert (42, Dallas/Lincoln) placed 4th and 5th, albeit they were clearly in the fight for the top places as they won 3 out of the 5 races, but were preempted from placing higher by an unfortunate penalty (OCS) and boat malfunction (DNS), respectively.

The next highly competitive group of racers finishing 6th-9th included the Woeger brothers (42, Rky Mtn), John and Mary Buckley (42, Lincoln), Doug Day/Emily Wilson (45, Kansas) and Joe Frey/Victor Franco (46, Lincoln – all within 4 points!. Places 10th-16th went to outstanding sailors that we all know, with finishes in the top 10 and almost never scoring under the 20th place (Festersen/Smith, 57; Miller/Hansen, 58; Field/Fernandez, 59; Park/Ozaki, 59; Blitz/Hayes, 61, most improved; Recker/Gunn,65; and Scofield/Scofield, 74). 

One of the surprises of the event was Aaron and his son Dylan Sawyer (86, 18th, first timer honors) who went head to head against the next group of sailors that included the top female team of Brown/Dority, who bested them by only 6 points (80, 17th), followed by Stillson/Schroeder (98, 19th) and Franco/Bonnett (101, 20th, 1st Place B-Fleet) who exchanged places back and forth through the entire competition. The final group included sailors that for different reasons couldn’t participate in various races, several of which posted very solid finishes in the top 20: (Mead/Rix, 2nd place B-Fleet, 103; Glasser/Jackson 110; Russell/Spencer, 112; Fossum/Heckel, 119; Olson/Pray, 123; Selivanoff Powell, 133; Keester/Keester, 140).

Behind the Scenes:
Door prizes were awarded to sailors and volunteers alike. Tremendous thanks to our Race Committee (MaryAnn Brock, Tom Willoughby, Jim Budde), Rescue Boat Crew (Brook and Connor Seacrest), and Laura Frey, along with MVP volunteer Mike Doran, who wore many hats—meal host, dishwasher, emergency photographer, and all-around entertainer.

As Snipe Fleet Captain Joe Frey put it, “It takes a village to run a successful event like this one.” We are deeply grateful to every volunteer and food donor who helped make FOTW 2025 unforgettable.

Apologies for the length—but as the title says, every sailor had a story, and every volunteer mattered. Until next year!

Rodrigo Franco & Ayndrea Bonnett
 Co-Chairs, Fire on the Water 2025