July 2010

OK –so here we go. I know I was absent last meeting but oh well it’s the first meeting I missed since you can remember! Other than that, here is the report on the Saint Martins Race that almost happened.

I’m sure you have all heard the story on how Mosses roamed the desert for forty years looking for the Promised Land. Well a recently disclosed fact has surfaced that Moses wasn’t looking for the promised land but actually entered in the HBYC Saint Martins race. All he was doing was trying to make it to the St Martins buoy!!

Wait you say “Moses was in the desert everyone knows that!” If you think this couldn’t possibly be then please remember that there is a lot of symbolism in the bible and as the song goes “ …the ocean is a desert with its life underground…”! Makes sense to me!

No wind, shake and bake, race my butt—no matter what you call it the Saint Martins race, for the most part, has been a challenge to start, run and finish. For some reason only known to the cosmic few, this race has been blessed with an abundance of hot humid weather surrounded by a vacuum. These conditions are not uncommon for the summer months in the HUD, but the day of this race is usually most dismal. So what can be done??

“Change the course” was the most frequent answer recorded in our poll of the racers ---so that’s what we did. The new “fun race’ was announced at the last minute and the course would be from HBYC Start to Marker 4 at Anclote. The group agreed and the race was on.

Ths start was one of the best in HBYC history. All six boats hit the start line in under one minute. Time 2 Cruise was pushing the pack while Sounds Good got the big squeeze from Soiree, Cat Can Do and Inspiration. Someone on Inspiration kept shouting “give me room”---or was it “give me rum???” The captain of Sounds Good later related he had his eyes closed the whole time while his first mate read him the” rules of right away”. Lady In Red was mixing up a new batch of Bloody Mary’s (non alcoholic) for the pending long race and jumped to an early lead while watching the intense battle for position.

All boats made a great start and headed for the new race finish. Voyager II, our committee boat, pulled anchor and the start mark and headed for Anclote to set up the finish. In sinister fashion they did not disclose their final position until pestered to death by Inspiration’s captain.

Everything was going just fine and the wind was adequate for a nice leisurely race with no bugs and a gentle breeze. But Wait!! Half way to Marker 4 the wind stopped, the temperature rose and the seas calmed. The boats were going backwards as if some strange force were sucking them back to the HUD. Several of the crew members jumped overboard at this point----mostly due to the intense heat and no breeze. So here the race fleet was –adrift, hot, and running low on adult beverages. What now??

Just then a calming voice of reason was heard over the radio on channel 72. “Don’t worry HBYC racers the wind will be plentiful at 13:00.” Who was this profit? How does he know??

Well at 13:00 sharp the ripples in the water appeared and off we went with a brisk 12 knots of wind in a perfect direction for a close reach. The race was back on and channel 72 was frantic with chit chat of this wonderful prediction.

All six boats crossed the finish line, some sooner than others, but three within 9 seconds of each other. Now that’s racing.

So the real Saint Martins race will be re scheduled to just before our first hurricane is due but the fun race was an interesting day followed by some interesting results.

Oh---the wise sage---no other than our own Sand Bar Bill---- the same guy yelling for more rum.

On the water: Lady In Red, Soiree and Inspiration (a tie?), Cat Can Do, Sounds Good, and Time 2 Cruise.

After handicaps;

First- Inspiration

Second – Lady In Red

Third – Soiree

Enough for now, my wife says I need a break.

Gene