Running Before a Gale at the Funday Race : Saturday, September 2, 2006
 
The SSC Funday Race is one of the feeder races which feeds the PCYC Green Island Race.  Therefore, it is very important that the race go on as scheduled. And, as it's name implies, it's supposed to be fun!  So what happens if there is a gail blowing? 
 
The Funday Race was supposed to be Big Storm's 2006 Race Season debut.  Our original plan was to cruise the Lake Erie Islands during the week prior and then cruise into Sandusky Sailing Club on Friday to join the race.  Due to a very persistent Nor'easter, Jim Frederick and I had been weathered in at Kelley's Island all week long and now NOAA was predicting another gale for the Funday Race on Saturday, so we decided to skip the Funday Race and save our energies for the Green Island Race. I had my doubts there would even be a feeder race.  There was a small break in the weather on Friday morning and so we decided to get out of Dodge while the going was good. We put the wind to our backs and sailed back to Port Clinton Yacht Club, post haste....at 16.7knots. 
 
The Race Must Go On!  I may have had my doubts, but there were no doubt in the minds of the SSC Race Committee that this race would go on!  The format for the Funday Feeder Race from SSC to PCYC,  was  a Pursuit Race.   The Race Committee worked through the evening hours, Friday Night to figure out the starting times for each boat based on individual PHRF handicaps for the 14.6 nautical mile distance. In a pursuit race, the lowest rated boat starts first, followed by the next lowest rated boat, etc. Similar to a one design race, in a pursuit race, the first boat to cross the finish line is the winner! 
 
Saturday Morning at SSC:  Saturday Morning, Gill was up at the crack of dawn to check out Frank Andrews' newly purchased F-27, Dolphin Dancer (being re-named “One for the Road”).  He noticed a bit of a beard growing on the hulls and dove right in to give it a scrub.  Wouldn't you like to have a crew like that?  Greg Sanders joined them shortly to round out the Funday crew.  This was literally the first time they had the boat away from the dock (other than a brief light wind Sandusky Bay evening test sail Frank had with the boat’s seller John Brent).  Unfortunately, when the rest of the fleet was leaving the dock, Frank, Gill and Greg were “learning the boat” at the dock.
 
High winds and high seas marked the first start for the Funday feeder race at 10:00AM.  Bill and Judy Kellner's Sabre 28, Second Wind, with a PHRF Handicap of 211, was the rabbit.  Racing in the JAM fleet,  they were followed in starts by the rest of the Jam fleet and the PHRF boats.  In the middle of the starts, the very competitive one design Tarten Ten fleet,  with a PHRF HC of 126, started all together. 
 
The Multihulls did not have their first start until after the last of the PHRF A boats had taken off, some 39 minutes later.  With a PHRF HC of 48, One for the Road missed their start at 10:39:40.  But Team Tri-mendous, on their stock F-28 with a PHRF HC of 39 was in the starting area and ready for their start at 10:41:59.  Owner/skipper, Marvin Lampi, held back until the RC put up the placard with their PHRF number on it, and sounded the signal and then he set the dogs loose on the fleet of rabbits.  They immediately shot up to 13 and 14 knots boat speed under jib and main alone. 
  
Marvin had 3 crew onboard to assist him in the pursuit:  Thing 1, Rick Peck, Thing 2, brother, Dave Lampi, and honored guest, Garron Denney.  Broad reaching in 20 knots of breeze and 6-7 foot waves,  they were averaging 16 knots and planing the whole way as they passed the slower prey enroute to Mouse Island. They even hit 18 knots plus a few times, so they saw little reason to fly a chute.  They passed the Tarten Tens at Mouse Island.
 
Team Tri-mendous rolled out the screacher for the run from Mouse to the PCYC finish line. Their bowsprit  was under water most of the time and the deck just even with the tops of the waves as they surfed downwind.  They were sailing wing on wing, which allowed them to sail very deep, as deep as the monohulls all around them, but so much faster!   They weren't quite sure where the finish line was, so they split the difference and sailed right down the middle of the fleet. When they finally got the GPS to work and punched in the coordinates, they found out they were dead on.   
 

Meanwhile, One for the Road appeared at the start line just before Pat Quinn's C-31UC,  Triple Trouble at 10:55:13.  They also decided to race JAM.  Frank Andrews' crew, Gill  reports, "We hit 20 at one point on my GPS, and did not feel compelled to put up more sail on a first time out.  We didn't even have the bowsprit on."  Frank considered the weather “an uncommonly good opportunity to begin learning what this boat can do.  We felt somewhat obligated to race on the way to PC, but once to the finish we took advantage of the opportunity to heave to and figure out some things like how to raise the motor (!) and do a few drills.”  That was one hell of a shake down cruise.

 

Right behind them, the boys on Triple Trouble, Patrick Quinn, Dennis Carr, and Dave White, had what they described as their best start ever.  They had the C-31 Ultimate Cruiser "Hummin" at 19.7 knots under a double-reefed main and a blade for the beam reach from the start to Mouse Island. David White reports, "We had a screaming reach at the start.  I was hand holding the main sheet the whole time. We had to bail out on the reach 2-3 times.  It was so exciting, we only had to wake Dennis up twice."  And, they were sailing without the aid of alcohol!
 
There was mayhem all around them for the monohulls that tried to carry their chutes.  One monohull got knocked down, rounded up and spun completely around the wrong way.  Another monohull had their chute explode in three different directions....such fun!
 
According to the boys on Triple Trouble, like the F-28, they also flew their screacher on the downwind leg from Mouse Island to the finish. They were gybing downwind at 12 knots boat speed, but not gaining anything on the monohulls that were sailing dead down.  In the bar later, Patrick told me,  "The reefed main hurt us downwind. We probably should have flown the spinnaker."  
 
Team Tri-mendous, was closing the gap on the two monohulls that were battling it out to the finish.  Marvin Lampi reports that they had to furl their screacher during a gybe and they were still doing 12 knots under main alone.  When Bill and Judy Kellner on Second Wind looked back and saw the F-28 without a headsail, they thought they had them.  But, Tri-mendous pulled out their screacher and ran down the rabbit, to cross the finish line 1 minute ahead of Second Wind.  By 3PM, the Nor'easter had built to 45 knots off Marblehead Point.  But the fleet was tied up safely at the dock.
 
Back at Port Clinton Yacht Club, the Multihull Sailors gathered at the bar to share their race and boat delivery experiences over drinks, many drinks.....one if by land and two if by sea. 
 
The Trophy Flags  were awarded on Sunday along with the trophies for the Green Island Race.  Marvin Lampi and Team Tri-mendous were awarded the SSC flag for First Place  and the Mike's Hard Lemonade Flag  for First to Finish Multihull.  In point of fact, Tri-mendous was the overall winner and as Marvin put it, "There's a lot of brains in this hounds ass."