Great Time at Miami-key Largo Race

[Mike]

Well its time for an update to our adventures south. Let me first say thanks to Glen Marsh for the use of his trailer for without that we would have never made the trip. The 11 hour drive from Fort Walton to Miami was uneventful as Glens trailer tows well at 80 mph !!!! Thanks Glen !

We assembled the boat 11am Friday at Hobie Beach on the Rickenbacher Causeway along with a variety of I 20s, N 6.0s and others. Beautiful tropical breezes under real palm trees on a sparkling white beach with Bascayne Bay lapping at the shore line.....and lots of cold brews to make the assembly go faster. The original plan was to get on the water Friday afternoon for a little testing and to make sure everything was ready for the Big Race saturday. And its a good thing we did as the jib sheet line broke in half in the 15 knot winds so we had ample time to repair and decided to replace the downhaul line at the same time as the race forecast was for 20+ the next day.

Had a great diiner with Mike Tierney (RC 27) and the Roberts clan(RC 30) Friday night at Monty Trainers in Coconut Grove and an early lights out for the 8 am start the next day.

The rigging was done in time and we left the beach early for the start. With 160+ boats on the line we knew it was important to get a great start and so we flew around the line to check things out. Keeping any eye out for the others we elected to start mid line on a broad reach in clear air . Its strange to be on the water at 7:30 a.m. in 20 knots so it really will wake you up if your not already. We spent alot of time luffing up and waiting for the start sequence. The race committee was right on time and off we go at 8 am sharp. Wow once we cleared the lee of Key Biscayne and got out into the open bay it was really hooting !The northeast wind ripped acoss the open ocean and the reef into Biscayne Bay and you really knew we were in for a blow. Steve Dowell my superb teammate and crew yelled first that Eric Roberts had pitchpoled and as they were directly in front of us about 200 yards we had a great view of that spectacle. We blasted by about 15 yards away and saw all 3 heads so we knew they were safe and on we went. It wasnt but about 20 minutes later when the second RC 30 "Whats Next" went over also. They were abeam our weather side and we watched them also go over. Yipee looks like we were on our way to a first to finish in a race of attrition ! We saw Mike Tierney on the RC 27 sailing conservatively after watching the other capsizes so we figuresd all we have to do is survive and we will be ok. Below us about .75 of a mile was Worrell 1000 champion and fellow friend from FWB ...Brian Lambert on a Tornado blasting along with a small flat chute and being headed down as that was the only angle he could sail with the chute up. We were now in front of the fleet although the other high performance cats ( I 20 etc) were on our weather quarter and charging fast. We knew we were way overpowered relative to these guys and hoped when we got to the narrow southern end of the bay the wind would be lighter (18 to 20?) and we could strectch out our lead. One hour into the race Brian dropped his chute and started reaching up to our course and layline. When he dropped the chute we were clearly ahead and opened up some but as we sailed farther off the wind he in turn was sailing closer to the wind to get up to the layline to the best course. As it would pan out he emerged half a mile infront of us! The course now shifted such that we were sailing more downwind so up went the chutes. Our big monster allowed us to sail lower and as fast as Brian on the Tornado and we started reeling him in. Our hopes were that we could close on him as we approached the CArd Sound Bridge and would blast by him on the tight reach to the finish line ! Ahhh not to be ! As we emerged from under the bridge into Card Sound on the way to the finish Brian simply blasted away and we could not begin to catch him. He ended up finishing exactly one minute in front of us to claim line honors . Mind you we had a group of 5-6 very well sailed I 20s , an M 20 and N 6.0s on our tails and that group probably finished within minutes of our ARC 22. Bottom line is it was a small boat day .....lower sail area ratios and easier to manage as well as less overpowered. My guess is that Robert Onsgard on a 6.0 will correct out overall.

On a side note....I had rudder problems from the start on to the finish which really impacted our overall position. We lost the leeward rudder 3 times in 5 minutes after the start due to high speeds/friction and could never get it to stay down so we sailed the entire race on only the windward rudder. Then 10 more minutes into the race the WINDWARD rudder started kicking up for hthe same reason. This happened 14 times during the race so we were rudderless 14 times in 20+knots of wind on a broad/ tight reach and later with the chute up. Matter of fact as we approached the CArd Sound bridge we sheeted everything out to slow down to make sure we had steerage going under the bridge.....didnt want to lose it then!!! Everytime we lost the only remaining rudder we sheeted the main our rapidly to keep the boat on course, Steve took the helm from out on the wire and attempted to oversteer with "nothing" in the water while I scrambled with the control lines to get the windwrd blade down again! The boat would do a wild "S" turn and then jerk back upwind when the blade went down. We tried everyting in the book to solve this and nothing helped. It got so bad that we were sheeting out main and travellor way before the bows told us to just to slow the boat down to keep the lonely rudder in the water. This continued the entire race until we finished and hit the beach. The problem????Tired weak springs that had never seen boat speeds in the mid 20s for sustained times. Ahhh now we have new springs on order before the MUg Race next week !

What was it like on the boat? Due to the rudder problems happening so often I kept my butt sitting on the rear beam to manage the rudder issue and NEVER got out on the trap....which really is slow in those conditions. Steve at 205 lbs was on the trap with main travellor and jib sheet in one hand and the chicken line in the other hand behind the ream beam the entire trip and did a great job to keep from being washed off the boat. It was wild and woolly and incredibly wet ....never had time to navigate, look at charts, GPS or anything else.We steered by our tramp mounted compass and did remarkably well on our planned course. Ran agound hard in 2 feet of water and almost pitch poled before Steve could get the leeward board up. It was sunny and just blowin dogs off the chains .....but the water was green and beautiful with a clear view of the bottom most of the way. We finished the race and pulled out at Gilberts Motel on Jewfish Creek . Great beach...palm trees ....trailer right next to us......and a great outdoor bar where all the race sailors congregated as they finished. In a hurry to get the boat apart???? Not at all, we took our leisurely time over 5 hours, lots of Mount Gay rum , some great cheeseburgers in paradise, a swim in the bar side pool and eventually the boat made its way on the trailer.

So ......All I can say is it was an unreal weekend in one of the most beautiful bays in the States with great competition...lots of adventure....friendly sailors....wonderful food and adult beverages......So if you dont make your plans to join us next year, you will only have yourself to blame. I will be glad to help anyone out with the logistics just give me a call. And remember when you find those reasons not to do these races.....were not getting any younger right ?

[Cookie Monster]

Great coverage on your race Mike. Regret not being there to sail with you. Got to make it next year.

Thanks for keeping us informed.

[Jim Moody]

Awesome Blow By Blow of what sounds like a great race. Glad you got the bugs worked out in time for the rest of the years campaign.

Good luck in Jacksonville.

[dave trey]

Mike, others

Your race accounts make a good case for more science "above". Countless pitching in those winds, crys out for masts and sails with a GRM (gust response mechanism). Softer, yielding rigs as exploited by modern skiff sailors, will always be faster in these conditions. Effective depowering auto mechanisms produce ease of handling. These attributes will extend sailing range, crew weights, and sailing age.

Dave Trey SC 17