April 12-13, 2008

First off - a thousand apologies for the tardiness of this regatta coverage. Yes, there is no need to remind me that is is the middle of June and I am just now getting around to publishing the details about a 2 month old event . Thankfully, I don't have some bossy editor breathing down my neck and yelling at me to get the results of this year's River Raising published so the awaiting public will know what exactly transpired over that weekend. Of course those who actually participated in the event have probably long forgotten what actually happened out there on the water so the advantage I have now is that there is a good possibility I could write anything I want and get away with it. Well probably not - sailors are not that forgetful (unless it comes to rounding buoys). But the accuracy of their recollection might be somewhat skewed and I expect to get several calls saying "hey, wait a minute! I was the one who won the regatta this year!"

Just to hit a few of the highlights of this year's races:

 Rodger and Annie would emerge from racing retirement (is this the 2nd or 3rd time now?) in Seaductress and it appeared the old adage and practice that "cruisers never sail to windward" be broken. But perhaps not - for both days this weekend, we were anticipating winds of 15-25 out of the west which generally means a lot of reaching. But the winds in Races 1 and 2 would be a bit more southerly than predicted, which any river sailor will tell you, that means lots of tacking. Although this may have been somewhat of a letdown to the Seaductress crew, it wasn't near the frustration as their equipment problems. No, their microwave oven didn't break down as Tim on Maniac suggested. But there was a meltdown of a different type that was not radioactive. Apparently, the engine intake water pump on Seaductress had ceased to function properly and although thankfully the engine didn't overheat, the lack of cooling water in the exhaust system molded the S2 35's heavy plastic Vertalift muffler into a much more unique and custom shape than the original blueprints had called for. Despite this setback, in a Shackleton stick-to-itiveness fashion, Seaductress overcame adversity and competed in the first race. But then again, whoever said an engine was really necessary for racing? After Race 1 was completed, the S2 35 headed back in to assess the damage further.

Comfortably Numb would also return to the world of racing as Kat and I sailed our Catalina 27. With the wind predictions we opted to change sails in the roller furling unit, going with the small working jib. Alas, there were many times we would be grossly underpowered over the weekend - and then sometimes the reduced area of Dacron was just right. Regardless it was just nice to be out on the water, in spite of the crazy winds! And Race 3 would turn out to have the more westerly winds than the others, which around here means they will come out of every direction imaginable - and at various velocities!

Ellen Long and her all girl crew would once again be out sailing in Sassafras. Unfortunately, they were only able to sail in the first race but did a fine job battling it out with Kat and I on Numb. I really thought they had us beaten but when the corrected times were calculated - they were short by just 6 seconds.

James and Kristen were sailing extremely well as always in Carol Lynn. Their new 155% arrived just in time NOT to make this year's Shackleton Series but we did get a brief viewing of it in The Free For All. But today it would be folded up below (again, because of the heavier wind forecast) and the 135% would be flying. You know, if James and Kristen ever get a spinnaker, they will be deadly! But unfortunately, they will need a new pole as their whisker pole was surrendered to the river during Saturday's contests.

For Race 3 we did see David show up in Alexa sporting its new and larger genoa (new sails seem to be quite the fashion this year!) David was doing a great job also but was on a schedule and unable to complete Race 3 before heading back to port.

Shawn and Chuck teamed up on True Blue and pulled out all stops in Race 3, defying the odds and attempting spinnaker run. As mentioned before, with westerly winds around here you can keep a constant compass heading but be hit by all points of sail - from run to head-to-wind.  So although the spinnaker did go up, it did not remain hoisted very long before experiencing all those points of sail! Mike Burrus and crew sailing on Beatnik had also considered flying the chute in that race but thought better after seeing it all twisted up down below. Beatnik had already experienced a stanchion that had pulled out of the deck from the Saturday's day of sailing. But this is all proof that it is sometimes best to have the spinnakers out of sight, out of mind to avoid the temptation of flying them when conditions are really not favorable.

So with all this, who won the regatta? Well, if memory serves correct, I do believe, I think,..., yes, of course - it was Comfortably Numb! Okay, so I embellished a little bit there. Seriously, if you had to ask who won, you HAVEN'T been paying attention to our racing activities over the years. Yes, congratulations to Tim on Maniac who single handedly won this regatta as he sailed solo all 3 races, even flying the spinnaker in Race 1. But as always, some great sailing by everyone!

The weekend was rather enjoyable and brought typical spring type weather - shorts and shirt sleeves on Saturday, and heavy sweaters on Sunday. Thanks to everyone who showed. See you on the water soon!

Race report written by Eric Almlie. ©Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.

Photos by Kat Almlie. (See more pics underneath race results below!)

RACE 1 RESULTS

RACE 2 RESULTS

RACE 3 RESULTS

FINAL RESULTS

The human whisker pole on Beatnik.

"Man, we missed winning that first race by THIS much!"

Shawn and Chuck cruising along in True Blue during Race 1.

The roving race reporter!