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The Premier Multihull Event on Lake Erie!!!! PCYC
Green Island Race and Multihull Rendezvous - Sunday, September 3,
2006
PCYC Puts Out the Welcome Mat for Offshore Multihulls and Beach
Cats!
Port Clinton
Yacht Club knocked themselves out once again for their
46th Annual Green Island Race which was held on
Sunday in conjunction with the Labor Day
Weekend Holiday. They opened up their grounds, their pool,
their picnic area, their club and their bar to all the racers. They
put on one breakfast and two cookouts. Race organizers have always
welcomed the Offshore Multihulls. For the second
year in a row, this great event was also open to the Beach
Cats!
The Beach Cats Joined in the
fun!
Principle Race Officer and
Multihull sailor, Doug Young,
ran a two-day regatta for the Beach Cats. On Saturday,
the Race Committee ran a series of Buoy Races for the Beach Cats
just off Port Clinton’s City Beach. Mystere 4.3 sailor, Mike
Fahle reports that "a small but game group of cat sailors had
gathered in spite of the harsh forecast of winds building to 30
knots and waves building 7 – 10 feet!" With the approach of the
nor' easterly gale, the 3 race series quickly turned to survival
mode as winds steadily built from 13 knots to 22. 7 boats
started, but only 4 boats were left standing by the end of the
third race. Several capsizes occurred; some on the same boat - 3
times!
On Sunday,
the Beach Cats joined the Monohulls and the
Offshore Multihulls to participate in the 17.5 nm, Green
Island Race with the first start at 9:20am. The Beach Cats had
10-15 knots breeze for their race. Mike Teets
showed up for the race on his NACRA I-17R
Uni Rig. He took a fast start at the pin end and never
looked back! Mike reports that he was on the
trapeze, airborne on about every 4th wave, pumping the sheet on
each wave, trying to keep the windward hull just above the
water. Mike flew his chute on the downwind leg from Green Island
to Starve Island Reef Light. Mike tried to go out on the wire for
the beam reach to the finish, but his trapeze was set to low.
After about 10 teabags, Mike decided to stay on the hull. His
average speed for this leg was 14.5 mph.
You can read more
personal accounts of the Beach Cat race action on the OCRA website
at:
http://www.sailocra.com/
or if you want to see what the course looks
like via GPS, see the Green Island Race tracks at:
http://www.sailocra.com/2006/GreenIslandTracks.htm
The
Offshore Multihulls Turn Out in Numbers for the Green Island Race!
The Multihullers could
not resist this kind of hospitality which guaranteed us a good fleet
of Offshore Multihulls. With 10 boats
registered for the Green Island Race at PCYC, the
Multihulls were the largest fleet registered in the 68 boat fleet.
Unfortunately,
Saturday's nor' easterly gale on Lake Erie culled the boats
which could not make the difficult boat delivery. One of the
contenders for the Gary Hall Series Flag, Richard Gracely,
could not make the boat delivery from Monroe, MI in his
25 foot Elan 7.7 trimaran, Runaway in the severe
conditions. His crew, Kirsten Ambrose was terrified
at the prospect. So they donated their entry fee to the junior
Sailing Program, which is a real class act!
Brian Thorpe
and wife Diane did make the boat delivery from
Monroe to Port Clinton in their Native Newick 38, Alacrity.
Brian reefed for a nor' easter which was hitting 45 knots by
Saturday afternoon.
Harold Alber
single-handed his STL30, Battlecat from SSC early
Sunday morning, arriving at PCYC just in time for the race, but
without any crew. With a 2,1,1 series, Harold was
the First Place contender for the Gary Hall Series.
When Jim and I arrived
at PCYC that morning, our faithful crew, Kim and Lisa Smith
were already busy rigging Big Storm for the race.
We found Marvin Lampi's stock F-28, Tri-mendous on
the wall after an tremendously fast Funday race, as was
Patrick Quinn's C-31 UC, Trippple Trouble and Frank Andrew's Formula
F-27, One for the Road.
At the 1 hour gun,
Team Kerberos was seen to be leaving the PCYC
parking lot with their F-28R in tow. They had
barely 1 hour 40 minutes to rig, launch, and sail out to the
starting area......that's cutting it too close for me! Meanwhile,
Rick White arrived from PIB by Jet Express and was
looking for his ride, Moxie. Team Moxie had
launched their F-31R up river and was waiting for
the bridge to open. The crew for the Formula 40 Trimaran,
Running with Scissors, arrived at PCYC by rubber boat.
They would rendezvous with the Big Red Boat before the start.
Off the
Dock!
The Beach Cats
had the first start at 9:20AM. We didn't leave the dock until
9:28am, so they were long gone in the 10-15 knot breeze, which
greeted us at the starting area. The green flag displayed by the RC
boat indicated that the marks would be left to starboard.... Green
Island would be the first mark of the 17.5 nm course.
Onboard Big
Storm, it was time to put up the sails and shake all the
cob webs out for our first race of the season. We quickly
determined that we would not need a screecher for the one-sided beat
to Green Island in a northwest breeze. We had about an hour to mill
about before our start and determined that the pin end of the line
was heavily favored. We watched as fleet after fleet started on
port tack, at the port tack end of the line without any starboard
challengers. Would the Multihull start be that simple? Our crew,
Kim Smith posed the question....what if just one
boat starts on starboard, on a short line with 8 wide-bodied
multihulls on the line.....Would we want to be the port tack boat
on the pin end then?
Kim needn't have
worried. At 5 minutes to the start, the Multihull fleet was
scattered across the bay. Running with Scissors
was on the east end of the bay. Gary Hall's Moxie
was hanging out near the shore. At 3 minutes to the start, the
fleet was still hanging back from the line. Meanwhile, we had run
the line a few times and were setting up for a port end start. At 1
minute to go, we were sailing for the line. At 16 seconds to go, we
turned on the gas. According to our watches, we were still a second
or so back of the line, but we didn't hear the gun go off and the
Multihull fleet was about 1 minute back of the line. Did we
screw up? Were we a minute early or were they a minute
late? The white fleet flag was down and no there was no individual
recall flag on display. And there was Moxie
starting at the pin end 5-10 seconds behind us....not Rick
White's typical perfect start. And then there was the rest
of the fleet, including Kerberos. According to the
skipper on Running with Scissors, Kevin Cody, they
had a good reason for hanging back. Kevin said that the 40 foot
trimaran accelerates so quickly, he was afraid of running down the
smaller boats in the Multihull fleet. Okay, I'll buy that
excuse!
Within 10 minutes of
the start, the F-31R, Moxie, was to weather of
Big Storm and abeam, as well they should
be.....they are the faster boat. The Newick Native 38,
Alacrity broke out ahead of the fleet, about 7 boat
lengths behind us. 13 minutes after the start, the Big Red
Boat was also passing us to weather. 17 minutes into the
race, I spied trouble on Scissors as the head
ripped out of their brand new mainsail and they ground to a stop!
Alacrity was making a move to weather and the
F-28R, Kerberos was gaining to leeward. We ran
neck and neck with the Newick 38 for a while and they would have
passed us except for the actions of Trippple Trouble.
Patrick Quinn drove the C-31UC
over the top of Alacrity, giving them a shot of
dirty air as they passed. That allowed us to pull ahead
of Alacrity again, but this small triumph was short lived. The
breeze piped up as we approached Green Island. That's when the
Kim Tom's F-28R, Kerberos took flight, quite
literally, as they flew at least two of their three hulls!
Gary Hall's
F-31R, Moxie was the first Multihull around the Green
Island mark, followed by Kerberos and
Alacrity. Big Storm was the 4th around. At this point, we
thought we were winning the race. On board Big Storm,
our crew, Kim Smith was hauling up the chute for a
perfect launch when the unthinkable happened...... the halyard got
jammed under the top batten which was protruding through the luff of
our jib, our jib! Who'd of thunk? We tried
bringing the "whomper" down to the deck, but it slipped down in
front of the ama and soon the whole chute was in the water. We let
the tack go and we dragged the whole, wet mess back on the
trampoline. It took us about 6 minutes to sort out the mess and
re-run the tack line to the end of the bowsprit, all while under
sail....very tricky! We actually got the chute launched before we
ran into South Bass Island, then pulled off the perfect jibe......
Our comeback race was
in a shambles. We totally lost track of the Multihull fleet, so on
the second leg from Green Island to Starve Island Reef Light, we
concentrated on catching the light blue and white chute flown by
Alacrity ahead. Weren't we surprised to find the
C-31UC, Trippple Trouble behind us after our gybe
for R"2"? What disaster befell the Mighty
Quinn on his downwind leg? We were not able to catch
Alacrity on the short downwind leg, but we did
manage to round inside of Trippple Trouble. Alacrity
carried their big genoa for the starboard tack beat to the
finish. This was the ideal point of sail for the Newick 38, with
their larger sail area and deep dagger board. If we could carry our
screecher, we might be able to catch them. It was a real struggle
to get the screecher launched from the low side of the boat as it
got hung up on the jib, but it was worth the effort. We picked up 2
knots boat speed and we were cruising just below the rhumbline at
9.9 knots. This allowed us to keep up, but we couldn't pass them
and we owed them about 3 minutes on corrected time. On the other
hand, it appeared that we had the C-31UC, Trippple Trouble,
which was running abeam and to weather of us on the rhumbline under
jib and main alone. They owed us time.
Meanwhile, the
F-31R, Moxie had passed all the monohulls that had started
before her, except some of the Tartan Tens who had a 45 minute head
start. Gary Hall's Moxie crossed the line at 12:42
PM. Patrick Quinn's Trippple Trouble was the
second Multihull to cross the line at 13:03:56. Brian
Thorpe's Alacrity was third across the line at 13:04:21.
Big Storm finished at 13:05:02. We had no idea
that Kim Tom's F-28R, Kerberos was behind us.
They finished at 13:12:49. Frank Andrews F-27F
finished at 13:24:51. We were surprised to find Marvin
Lampi's F-28, Tri-mendous tied up on the wall with their
boom and mainsail on the deck. What was that all about?
Annual
Multihull Picnic at PCYC
Bob Vasil was
as good as his word. He couldn't stay for the picnic, but
he left me a whole stack of buns on the picnic table, ready for
brats. I started the charcoal. Kim Smith brought
out a pitcher of Bloody Marys and Gary Hall brought
a cooler of beer and Jerry Ervin brought us a
selection of fine wines. Alcohol greased the wheels as we shared
tales of glory and whoa.
Marvin Lampi
and crew soon returned with a brand new halyard. They broke down
early in the race and now were seeking a light weight body to hoist
to the top of the mast. They found a willing body in
Kristen Attard, Hobie 18 sailor and 4th place finisher in
the 2002 US Sailing Youth Multihull Championship. It was a short
season for Team Running with Scissors with the
destruction of their brand new mainsail. There was nothing left to
do but drink!
Second around the first
mark, weren't we surprised when Team Kerberos tied
up on PCYC dock after we did. Apparently they also had problems
with their chute. Moxie did not have their typical
good start. In fact the entire Multihull fleet was late to the
line. Kristen and Steve Attard had a good excuse
for starting 45 minutes late in the catamaran fleet......they
dropped the mast on their Hobie 18 just before the
start and still managed a 4th place finish!
BR Gill,
a monohull sailor from Toledo, must have thanked me a dozen times
for hooking me up with Frank Andrews for a ride on an F-27. A
multihull sailor at heart, Gill got his experience on Hobie 16s.
Rick White Sailing Seminar for 2007
Rick White announced
that he will be holding a second Sailing Seminar for
Offshore Multihulls on Lake Erie to be held on the weekend
following the Mills Race 2007. We will use the same format as last
year, with arrival on Thursday PM, June 14, and on-the-water drills
on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, June 15-17, 2007. The multihull
fleet could certainly use some work on our starts! So mark your
calendars!
PCYC Green Island Race
Trophy Presentation - Beach Cats and Offshore Multihulls
The Beach Cats
had a 4-race series which included 3 buoy races on
Saturday and the Green Island Race on Sunday. This was the one
regatta where having a little extra weight was an advantage.
Jamie Diamond single-handed his Mystere 4.3
with spinnaker to win all 4 races in the
High Portsmouth Fleet. Steve and Kristen Attard
threw out their 4th place finish
in the Green Island Race to win First Place in the
Medium Portsmouth Fleet.
Mike Teets
did not compete in the buoy racing on Saturday, but he ran away
with the Green Island Flag on his NACRA
Inter-17R. Mike also won the Mike's Hard
Lemonade Flag for the Multihull with
Best Elapsed Time at 1hr, 55 min's, 40
sec's. Mike finished 8 minutes ahead of
the Second Place boat on corrected time. Charlie Buchert
grabbed Second on his Hobie 16
with a corrected time of 2:53:40. Jamie Diamond grabbed
third. Jamie Diamond was also awarded the Overall
Flag for the Portsmouth Series.
Way to Be!
You find more complete
race results at the OCRA Website: http://www.sailocra.com/
In the Offshore
Multihulls, Team Alacrity, with skipper Brian
Thorpe, wife Diane, and crew members, Kirsten
Ambrose and Richard Gracely won the First Place Flag and Beer Mug
with a corrected time of 2:10:8 and they passed the Coast Guard
Inspection! They came from behind to beat Gary Hall's F-31R,
Moxie by a mere 33 seconds! Moxie was
awarded the Second Place flag for a corrected time of 2:11:21.5.
Moxie was also awarded the Mike's Hard Lemonade Flag for
First to Finish Multihull.
Correcting out at
2:14:12.2 on board Big Storm, we were surprised and
gratified to Place Third for our first race of the season.
There was much celebrating in the Multihull Camp! The
women folk had their photos taken with the flags appropriately
displayed.
Then we moved the party
across the bridge to Kokomos for a taste of the Caribbean Jerk and
more eating, drinking and singing. What fun!
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