Yet again an Atlantic hurricane attempted to interfere with a Classic Moth regatta, this time hurricane Ivan. The regatta organizers from the MOA, the PRYC and CMBA watched the weather channel and the NOAA web site with great interest in the days preceding the National regatta date, but in the end, the storm moved quickly enough to permit the event to be run, although as a Saturday-only event rather than the originally planned two day format.
Erik and I trailered our boats down from Maryland on Friday morning and arrived at the launch site (the adjoining backyards of John and Sarah Pugh and Erky and Alma Gregory) about 11 am. We were soon joined by Greg Duncan, Walt Collins and Bill Schill. The wind was blowing about 10 to 12 mph out of the SE and gusting slightly higher as we unpacked boats. Greg asked Erik if he fancied an outing in Greg’s Mistral. Although Erik had tried my Mistral at the Union Lake regatta, the wind was very light at that event. We reasoned that the conditions on Friday with stronger breeze and a lumpy river would provide a more challenging test ride. So Erik strapped on his vest and Greg rigged CAROLINA EXPRESS. We put Erik in the boat and watched as he sailed away from the bulkhead. He soon entered into the expected serial capsize mode that all beginning Mistral pilots experience, but he was doing a fine job of recovering and sailing on. On his last flip he went backwards over the windward side and as he exited, he snagged the calf of his left leg on an exposed screw head. This resulted in a short trip to the Elizabeth City walk-in clinic for a few stitches and a trip to CVS for some water-proof band aids and a prescription for antibiotics. We just call him “Stitch” now…
Saturday morning started off sunny and breezy. At the Skipper’s Meeting, CMBA president Mark Saunders indicated that we would attempt to sail 5 or 6 races back to back in case the Sunday wind fore cast of steady 25 mph with gusts in the mid 30s proved true.
The Skipper’s meeting over, we went back to the boats to continue rigging. Monica Cain from Winston-Salem, NC arrived with a vintage Ventnor Moth Boat for sale. This created a fair bit of interest and in the end Bill Boyle prevailed as the new owner. Look for a link on Bill’s Moth Boat building page The warning signal for the first race went off as scheduled at 11am with a nice 10- to 12 mph breeze out of the south. Joe Bousquet quickly put everyone on notice that a summer of bicycle riding had not taken any of the edge off his Moth Boat racing. “Stitch” also won his first race against Miles Wallio who was making his debut in the Mistral that he and Dad Rich completed (barely) in time for the regatta. This included a neon green sail which Rich finished sewing the morning of the event! To his credit, Miles handled his new boat extremely well as a newly minted Mistral pilot and we can all expect great things as he gains more familiarity with the boat. I’m hoping that Miles and Erik will develop the same sort of friendly, close racing rivalry in the Junior division that Greg Duncan and I enjoy when we race. Speaking of the old goats, in the vintage division I was able to get ahead and somehow stay ahead of very determined competition in the form of Greg Duncan and Beans Weatherly, both sailing Connecticuts.
I had a marvelous start for the second race. About two seconds too marvelous, unfortunately, and so I found myself not only OCS but also surrounded by a pack of snarling Mistrals with no convenient hole to dip the stating line. Beans and Greg got well and truly away by the time I got sorted out. Greg took the second race for vintage and Beans repeated with a second place. The upshot of that was a three-way try in vintage as the fleet mistakenly followed Walt Collins (who was in need of a “biological” break) in for what became an unscheduled, but appreciated lunch break. When Walt emerged from the Port-a-John he was as surprised as the Race Committee to see all the boats ashore! Craig Saunders finished 1st that heat in the overall standings and Erik bagged another 1st in the Junior division.
During the lunch break, the wind clocked around to the SW and increased in strength as a front moved through the race course. The front also rewarded us with off and on rain showers by the time racing resumed. The next three races went off without any further “breaks” and at the end of the day Joe Bousquet had racked up the best score for the first three races and so won the MOA’s part of the regatta. Mark Saunders however led the standings by 1 point when the results for all five races were tallied.
The MOA, as usual, put on a very pleasant chicken and BBQ supper and Joe got to momentarily hold the North Carolina shaped trophy that Pete Overman donated to the MOA for this regatta sixteen years ago.
Sunday morning presented us with the predicted strong winds and left the CMBA with a predicament: if we cancelled further racing Mark would win by his one point advantage. Joe Bousquet was all for racing and he and Rich Wallio rigged and launched their boats as a demonstration that the conditions were sailable. Walt and I discussed the situation and decided that the Vintage division and the Juniors should not sail. We delayed making a decision about the overall Classic fleet until the 10 am scheduled start time for Sunday’s races. In the end, the Race Committee made the decision for us to cancel further racing, stating that the CBYRA’s policy is that racing should be postponed or canceled at the Race Committee’s discretion once the wind attains a sustained strength of 25 mph. By 10 am the wind was a steady 25 with gusts higher. Could the Sunday races have been safely sailed? I think for a very limited number of sailors with superior boat handling skills in self-rescuing Mistrals and Duflos, the answer is yes. Was the Race Committee’s decision not to place themselves and the crash boat crews at risk for five or six contestants a sound one? Again, I would say yes. The National regatta is supposed to be a rigorous test to identify the very best skipper, but not at the price of personal injury.
And so, in the end, Mark Saunders won the overall CMBA National Championship, Erik Albaugh repeated as the Junior National Champ, and I finally won ARA’s Cup. Mark was also the top Master, while Bob Patterson won the Merit Award for best improvement from one National regatta to the next. Beans Weatherly won the Founder’s Award and Mike Parsons repeated as the season high point Traveler’s Award winner.
For Race Results Click here!!!
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