October 6 - 7, 2007

Its that special time of year again. Autumn has officially arrived meaning our hot, humid, hazy summer has drawn to a close. As sailors, we look forward to the relief from the heat and the good sailing winds that are much more reliable in the fall months. Wind wise this past summer really wasn't that bad - however, late July, all of August, and a good part of September were just unbearably HOT. Even when there was some breeze, you would have to be kind of crazy to go out sailing in such conditions - as bad as that group who sail in the Shackleton Series...oh, wait. It is the same people. Never mind!

And the cooler temps and fall winds? Disregard that as well for summer just will NOT let go. Another forecast for record high heat (90 plus degrees) was in store for this weekend with light and variable winds. The three worst words you can hear at a regatta are "light and variable". But when we broke the skipper's meeting and headed out to the main channel with long faces we were pleasantly surprised at the breeze out on the river. One by one sails went up, each of us beaming as this was going to be a GOOD day. And as we approached the mile wide (or so it seemed) starting line for Race 1, the wind was up, we were all scooting along, maneuvering for position, hopes were high, anticipation building, THE START HORN BLEW, AND THEN....

What happened? The horn blast absolutely sucked every bit of wind out of the atmosphere. The photo above is actually about 5 minutes or so AFTER the starting horn - half the fleet hasn't crossed the starting line yet. Maniac, who incidentally was about a minute and a half late, and embarrassingly enough FIRST over the starting line, is not in the above shot and far all we know at this point, rounding the the last mark and heading to the finish line. Well, not really, we could still see the J 29, and no, they weren't exactly breaking any speed records, but did have forward momentum. Most of us caught a draft to at least enable us to move forward as well, which technically is STILL considered sailing but only in the academic sense. Yes, our sails were up and were being propelled by some unseen force, but some were being propelled more by some other unseen force,... river current.

David Barrow sailing Alexa, his recently acquired Seaward 24, and Ellen Long, sailing Sassafras (previously known as Beago), her recently acquired O'Day 222, were being pushed downstream. Despite both skippers being new the the exciting, thrill a minute world of sailboat racing, they both utilized very creative and effective methods to avoid drifting into the residential docks of various lakefront home owners. Although some might question the legality of physically shoving off a dock or kedging oneself forward with an anchor, such methods were deemed necessary by the captains and crew to avoid catastrophe and to simply do something that no one else was doing very effectively at the moment either, and that was to move forward! Even experienced professional Andre "How Did I Back Get Here?" Rijsdijk sailing on Dutchess was victimized by the current. What is sad about drifters is that you might only be six or seven boat lengths behind someone, but 30 minutes time wise! Even sadder is that we had TWO races on the agenda for today, but we had to finish this one first before we could even think about Race 2.

But eventually the wind did show up again and finally brought some hope to salvage Race 1. It took awhile to get consistent and the fleet spread out over the lake, actually kind of impressively for a  short 3.8 nautical mile course. A pretty common thing for spotty wind. Sassafras (seen on the left) and Alexa were moving along good now. Andre finally had some wind in Dutchess, and was also picking up good speed.

Also, the other familiar red boat in our fleet, the J24, was scooting along just fine. But it was not being sailed by Mike Rice, or Dan Sisk, or any of the prior owners who had always done such a fine job. Now it was skippered by Mike Burrus, who recently acquired it and is now lifted to the wonderful world of multiple boat owner status. Mike and crewmate Mark Welsh were doing a great job racing this boat for the first time.

Keeping with the overall theme of this regatta's line up, Chuck and Amy's, you guessed it, "recently acquired" Ericson 27 was impressive in the light air and moved along well when the wind picked up. Even more impressive was that this was the first time Chuck has sailed Freya with the exception of the test sail, which was aborted due to a broken halyard. And the reason for not having yet sailed it is that we are quite sure that Chuck is on a mission to refurbish every sailboat on Chickamauga Lake one boat at a time. Freya was pretty much not usable until the eve of race day. Well, that is if you are picky and actually expect your boat to be equipped with things like ports and workable halyards - otherwise, it was quite race ready!

No other new acquisitions for this regatta BUT the marina's San Juan 24 Hasta La Vista was now in my hands this weekend as I called dibs on it a LONG time ago! Well, I think it was a couple days before the regatta when I actually laid claim to it but kept it secret. Piddling around the boat on Regatta Eve to insure everything was prepped and ready, I heard a call out from Mike and Mark on the other dock, "Hey, what are you doing on that boat over there?"

Not to overplay my hand I decided to play dumb, "who?"

"You! What are you doing on that boat?"

"What boat?" I could see my plan was working to perfection.

"That boat right there! The San Juan! Say, you aren't think of racing that thing, are you?"

"Racing what? Who?...I mean,...No hablo inglés!" Perfect! No one suspected a thing...NOT!

And finalizing the introductions to today's participants, James and Kristen were also sailing  their S2 27 Carol Lynn. We have to watch out for them since they have a speedy boat, do an excellent job on the course, and most of all, after one of the races in the River Raising Regatta this year, they offered me cookies as a peace offering for tacking in front of me (actually, their tack was legit). But in other words, they now know how to influence some one on the race committee!

Seriously, it was good that the wind did finally pick up and as we were winding down Race 1, it had become a nice breeze to play around in. Maniac, in the SLIMMEST of 21 minute margins, emerged victorious over Hasta La Vista. Great job by Tim and Mike (Moore). The J24 was doing well but had some problems with shifty winds on their spinnaker run and fell back in the fleet. Freya made a strong finish but would be unable to correct out in front of  James and Kristen in Carol Lynn. (Excuse me while I brush these cookie crumbs off my desk.) Great job by everyone in this one, ESPECIALLY for hanging in there during the drifting parts. Now that the wind was up we could proceed to Race 2...

RACE 1 RESULTS

 And now we are set for Race 2...

And as we approached the mile wide (or so it seemed) starting line for Race 2, the wind was up, we were all scooting along, maneuvering for position, hopes were high, anticipation building, THE START HORN BLEW, AND THEN....

Deja vu all over again. Now I will admit that the above photo was of Race 1...BUT - it was the same exact scenario. Wind blowing nicely beforehand, the starting horn sounds, and then it goes dead calm! So here we are AGAIN, almost the exact same start, Maniac pulls out to a lead, the J 24 and Hasta La Vista follow, and so forth. At least there was less drifting downstream in this one (at least early on) so instead of the wind being 0.0 it was maybe 0.1. But the bad thing is that Race 2 was to be 1/2 a mile longer. And in general, once the wind stops blowing in the middle of the afternoon here, it is gone for the rest of the day. Ugh.

For the second straight race Hasta La Vista and the J 24 met at a secondary channel marker as we entered the main channel. I asked Mike for room and I explained that I established an overlap outside the 2 boat length zone from the buoy and therefore entitled to room even so they were the leeward boat (yes, we were moving slow enough to have an in depth discussion). And as Mike and Mark were gracious to give me room a second time I thought I'd have some fun and said, "actually I just made all that up!" 

As we prepared for the upstream crawl, we knew we had Tim on Maniac just where we wanted him. The first race had taken longer than anticipated and Tim's crew had other obligations and had to bail out. No, Mike didn't just jump ship and swim ashore or anything like that - he was brought back to the marina in between races. But now we figured since Tim was sailing single handed, the odds were in our favor. Maybe this is why we let him build a 1/2 mile lead!

And speaking of bailing out, looking at the picture on the left it appeared that Andre had deserted Dutchess. That's too bad because the wind was returning. The ghost ship was sailing along nicely and we figured that must be one fine autopilot Andre has, not only steering the boat but trimming the sails as well. Where can I find something like that?

Yes, the wind had fortunately returned and had filled in nicely. If things held up we would be able to complete this one in half the time as Race 1. Going between the 2 upstream marks between Buoys 3 and 4 made for a FUN close reach. Maniac rounded Buoy 4 and prepared for the downwind run. Would Tim fly the chute solo? It didn't take long for that question to be answered as "Big Red II" was soon flying majestically. I followed and rounded Buoy 4 sometime later but the spinnaker on Hasta La Vista was not prepped and stowed below. I have flown the chute twice on the San Juan while sailing solo and it is a handful by yourself, especially with no auto pilot. So I witnessed Maniac growing smaller in front of me. Looking behind, I noticed that Mike and Mark had the chute flying on the J 24 nicely and they were promptly growing larger behind me. Turned out that the steady breeze we had going on provided for a nice spinnaker run. Both J boats did a great job. The J24 passed me shortly before we had to head back up the secondary channel to the finish line. Mike and Mark's takedown was clean and well executed. They would cross the finish line several boat lengths in front of Hasta La Vista but the San Juan would correct out in front.

But what about the J 29 you ask? I'm sure you, the reader, have already deduced that Maniac had long since finished the race and perhaps halfway on the drive home. Well, no Tim had indeed finished the race but was still out sailing near the finish line, waiting for the rest of the fleet to finish. Maybe even a concerned that some of us might be close enough to correct out perhaps?...Hmmm?....Maybe just a little concerned...just a wee bit? Well, not really, although the margin was greatly narrowed. Maniac claimed victory by only 8 minutes this time! Great job again, Tim.

Also some great sailing by everyone else. Once again Freya would finish 4th. Carol Lynn finished not too far behind Andre in Dutchess but was unable to correct out - more cookies might have helped. Also battling it out again were Sassafras and Alexa. Ellen and crew would once again finish in front of David. I did like David's report of his finish time given after the race, "whatever the girls on Sassafras finished at, add a bunch of minutes to that!" Great job everyone but rest up...there is still one race to go tomorrow!

RACE 2 RESULTS

For Race 3 a longer course in store and was announced at the skipper's meeting. It was basically the same course as Race 2 yesterday with a couple extra buoys thrown in for a twist. Also we opted for a starting line that didn't require binoculars to see from one end to the other. Today's forecast was for more of the same - another light and variable day. But when we broke the skipper's meeting and headed out to the main channel with long faces we were pleasantly surprised at the breeze out on the river. One by one sails went up, each of us beaming as this was going to be a GOOD day. And as we approached the  starting line for Race 3, the wind was up, we were all scooting along, maneuvering for position, hopes were high, anticipation building, THE START HORN BLEW, AND THEN....

You GOTTA be kidding!  Yes, we were all quite disgusted. You might have had to have been there to believe it but yes, the wind died as the starting horn sounded. I looked at the air horn and studied it for a minute and chucked it into the lake! Well, not really but what are the odds of the exact same thing happening at the start of each race and was the air horn to blame? It wasn't quite as bad as yesterday as we did have enough of a puff to exit the secondary channel. As Maniac was disappearing over the horizon again, Hasta La Vista and the J 24 were again meeting at that secondary channel marker. And again, Hasta La Vista asked for room, and again, it was granted. "You let him shoot the hole, AGAIN!" I heard Mark exclaim to Mike.

And, "again" we crawled upstream a short ways to Buoy 1, back downstream to Buoy 2, returned upstream, rounded Buoy 3 and headed to Buoy 4, just like yesterday. Unfortunately for Tim on Maniac Buoy 4 was in a dead spot when he arrived, had drifted downstream of it, and had to tack back upstream to it. We witnessed  this on board Hasta La Vista and the J 24 and both gave ourselves plenty of room to sail above Buoy 4 if need be. By the time we arrived at Buoy 4, Tim had already set his spinnaker but was not putting much distance between because, well, even a spinnaker needs some wind to fill. Earlier this morning Tim had noticed me packing the spinnaker on Hasta La Vista. "Going to fly it today?" he asked. I said, "only if I am feeling saucy." Well the wind was light enough and I went for broke. The deployment went pretty smooth. Right behind me was the J 24 with their menacing black and red chute up as well. So here we were, halfway through the course and mere boat lengths behind Maniac! The race was still open.

The remainder of the fleet began catching a breeze and finally, the wind filled in. Freya was sailing along nicely and we are all impressed with how well the Ericson 27 was moving in the light air over the last couple days. Andre was on double duty, sailing well in Dutchess as always, but was also moderating the interactions of three young teenagers on board. I mentioned in a Shackleton race report last year that these youngsters are MASTERS of trash talking. Before the race began today it was Jesse that said to Mike Burrus, "our boat could explode and we will still beat you!" Tough talk indeed!

Sassafras and Alexa were also sailing well and battling out again today. Another newcomer on the race course, who wasn't present yesterday was Daryl Moorman, sailing his Hunter 22. Sadly we were without James and Kristen on Carol Lynn who did such a fine job yesterday. But, although an unofficial race entry, we did see Rodger and Annie sailing Seaductress and following (more or less) the race course. That's okay, many of the actual race participants in the past have used that same "more or less" technique to sail a race course, myself included! After sailing in open water for nearly the past couple years Rodger mentioned the concept of tacking  might take some getting used to again.

Back to the spinnaker clad boats, Maniac was pulling away and Hasta La Vista had gained some separation from the J 24  By the time I rounded buoy 5 and jibed, Tim had rounded buoy 6, had stowed his spinnaker, and was beating towards the finish line. Although I didn't witness Maniac's spinnaker takedown I can assure you it was cleaner than mine. The wind was blowing a good bit harder than when we had all set our spinnakers and I allowed more than enough time to try and get the big sail down and everything cleaned up. That still didn't stop several trips back and forth from the cockpit to the foredeck to prevent the boat from rounding up and it didn't prevent me from having to reel a bit of the sail in from the lake water. Nevertheless, about a 100 feet shy of buoy 6 the chute was down, genoa was up, and the deck was clean. The J 24 was just a couple of minutes behind. The wind was up and all 3 boats finished strong. Would we be close enough to Maniac this time? Er, not quite. The gap was narrowed to 3 minutes and I am convinced if we had just ONE more race, we would have taken him! (yeah, right). But in hindsight, maybe we should have proposed a 4th, winner take all race!

Freya rounded Buoy 6 in 4th position and was a dead lock to finish 4th in today's race and in the regatta. However, Buoy 6 was arrived at by skipping over Buoy 5. Chuck mentioned that he wondered why the rest of us were over on that side of the like - figured it had something to do with flying those spinnakers. Chuck, Amy, and her father unwound themselves around Buoy 6 and went back to exonerate themselves. They would still end up finishing 4th because Andre in Dutchess (no the boat hadn't exploded) had had enough of the light wind conditions over the weekend and perhaps was also having thoughts of jettisoning his crew. Just a guess, but Dutchess retired early.

Alexa, Sassafras, and the Hunter 22 were still engaged in battle and it would be David in the Seaward getting the advantage today over Sassafras, followed by Daryl in the Hutner. Good job everyone.

Thanks to everyone for participating in our 8th Annual Great River Drop Regatta. The weather really was beautiful although the wind could have been better. Also a great job by EVERYONE for hanging in there and sailing out the conditions - you are now fully prepared for the upcoming Shackleton Series!

RACE 3 RESULTS

REGATTA RESULTS
 

Race report written by Eric Almlie. ©Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.

Photos by Clarence Myers, Mark Welsh, and Eric Almlie