2004 Tradewinds Regatta Sailing The New ARC17

[Bill Roberts]

Bobbie and I drove down to the race on Friday afternoon and put the boat together. The facility. beach/boat yard area, at the Elks Club was adequate for about 40 boats and the people that go with them but the place was full. Some cars and trailers had to park across the highway, US1. A Beachmaster to organize the cars, boats and trailers would have been a big help.
The skippers meeting was held Saturday morning at 10:00PM and first race at 11:00PM. More time between skippers meeting and first start would have been helpful. It takes about 40 minutes to get 40 boats in the water and with a 20 minute skippers meeting, how do you do that? At the skippers meeting we were told that the I20s would start first followed by the N6.0s and F18s. Then the Open class would start followed by H16s and Sharks and Waves. The Waves sailed on a different course. When we got out to the starting area, the first flag was already up. We caught the three minute flag for the I20s and planned on starting in another 12 minutes. At the start of the I20s there was much confusion. It appeared as though the F18 started with the I20s and most of the N6.0s did also. What was really going on was the I20s and N6.0s and F18 were all starting together but everyone did not know this at least not until after the first start. There were two race courses for the catamarans. The race course was windward leeward. The red weather mark was a couple of hundred yards longer to windward than the yellow windward bouy. The leeward mark was a gate, two bouys, to sail between and round either one you wanted to. At the start a board was held up telling you which course to sail and how many laps. The X letter ment sail 3 laps or the longer course. The L letter ment sail 2 laps or the shorter course. The word "long" ment sail the long course and the word "short" ment sail the short course. The only problem with this was did "short" mean sail the short course, 2 laps, or did "short" mean sail to the yellow bouy. Then there was some confusion in the heat of the battle as to what L ment. Was it an abbreviation for the long course, the red bouy, or did it really mean 2 laps, a shorter course? After a race or two this all got straightened out and everybody understood what to do, but the first race was a mess. We took the L to mean long course so we did three laps around the long course which was the wrong course and finished 5th ahead of one boat that sailed the same course we did.
The second race we got this mess all figured out and finished first boat across the finish line even though we were not the fastest rated boat in our group.
The next two races we got a fourth and a second. We had trouble getting the spinnaker down in the third heat. The spinaker halyard cleat rejams itself very easily. The winds on Saturday were a pleasant 10 to 12 knots.
Sunday the winds were a little stronger 15 to 20 knots. We decided to not use the spinnaker on Sunday even though we were rated with the spinnaker. It would have been too much for Bobbie and her first regatta. Sunday morning the races started at 10:00AM. Sailors were rigging their boats at 9:00AM and moving their boats toward the water. The Elks Club did not open its doors until 1:00PM on Sunday. Sunday morning there were sailors walking around the boat yard with their knees close together
and with a strained look on their face asking where was there a bathroom.
In the next four races we got a second, two firsts and a second. The two seconds were by like 20 seconds so if we could have used the spinnaker or been rated without the spinnaker, we probably would have gotten four firsts on Sunday in the stronger winds.
All in all it was a fun regatta, good wind and water. Winning helps alot. The ARC17 is more than competitive with the new boats. The PN is going to come down as a data base is established.
We need to have more ARC boats at this regatta next year.
Good Sailing,
Bill and Bobbie

[Cookie Monster]

Thanks for the story Bill. Hopefully next year we'll have some more ARCs down there.