SMCC
Archive 2006
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June Group Sail
George and Sarah, Paine and Becca prepare to launch
Bobby setting up
Five crews showed up in mid June for a fun group sail. These included:
George and Sarah, Paine and Becca, Bobby and friend, Patrick, and
Mark and a friend. The wind was whipping. Don't let the
photos deceive you, as the water was flat here because of the wind
direction and shore line. Mark and his friend choose not to sail
up the Patuxent River with the group but to just sail around near the
beach. Bobbys friend had never been sailing, at least not in any
wind like this, so chose to sit this one out. It turned out to be
a wise choice.
Since Bobby's Inter 20 would have been way over powered in this wind if
he was solo, Patrick chose to sail with Bobby and leave his Taipan
behind. This also seemed a wise choice as he had only had this boat a
few weeks. So three boats set off up river.
As soon as the boats rounded Point Patience to head North, it was clear
it would be rough. The wind was blowing down the river and
bringing the waves with it. Bobby and Patrick had gotten a late
start. After a while, they noticed the other two cats heading up
towards a close beach to land there. They decided to sail down a
little ways then turn back around to land with the other boats.
They never made it. At least not until much later.
Bobby and Patrick are the most experience cat sailors of the
group so were obviously pushing the boat to its limits. Well,
they found that limit. The boat flipped on its side, but
relatively uneventfully. Although Patrick was on the trapeze
wire and went flying in the jib which was by that time lying in the
water, hoping not to hit the mast, or rip the jib.
We'll not go into to many details, but Bobby and Patrick could not
right the boat. Patrick is much lighter than Bobby's regular
crew, and they got the sail out of the water many times but never fully
up. Eventually, as they were nearing the far shore, and hoping to
hit the sandy part, rather than the nearby rocks, Patrick swam out to
the tip of the mast to fully swivel the boats sail directly into
the wind. Bobby then almost got it up, but did not have enough
weight on the boat to do it. But by this time, the boat drifted
off and Patrick could not catch up. But the shore was only 100
feet away at this point so Patrick swam and walked in.
Now George
and Sarah and Paine and Becca had been watching all this from a
distance on the other side of the river (about 1 mile away). They
asked a jet skier to go assist. But by the time he got there, Bobby and
Patrick had the boat on the beach and got it upright. So they
said their thanks and the jet skier took off. Bobby and Patrick
followed behind, well soaked and worn out.
They did meet up with the other two boats and had fun drying off,
telling the story, and enjoying a drink or two. But the boats
never did make in any further up river to their planned destination.
Bobby and Patrick did learn from this experience. 1) without a
heavy crew, the boat needs it sails fully into the wind, not just
partially, and 2) swimming to the mast tip will do this, but then you
need to get back and HOLD ONTO THE BOAT and assist in the righting.
They found this worked very well the next time they flipped that
day!
2006 SMSA June Regatta
Only 2 SMCC catamarans participated in the 2006 SMSA June Regatta so the cats did not get their own class.
Of
14 boats, Paine and Becca took 8th place on their Prindle 18, with a
5th for their best. Jeff and Donna took 11th on their Hobie 16.
Sorry, no photos. And no good stories (that they told us about)
Regulars for the Thursday Racing included Patrick on his new Taipain
4.9 F16 (Single handing all but once or twice), George on his Hobie 16, Paine
and Becca on their Prindle 18, and Jeff on his Hobie 16. On a couple
occations Bobby came out on his Inter 20. Even Jim and Lorrie ventured
out one evening on their Hobie 16 to try a bit of racing.
September Group Sail
The September group sail was cancelled due to high winds.
(updated 9/06)