I had a great time racing against my son, Tom, at The Gold Cup regatta on Lake Mead this past weekend.
Although the primary participants are monohulls from the Nevada Yacht Club, Hobie Fleet 51 has organized a single-handed Hobie 16 class into the event. (This year, a Hobie 18 class was also present). I would be skippering "Tomcat", and my son would be skippering "Chugwater", a boat which we were borrowing from fleet member Gordon Bagley. We arrived at Lake Mead at 11pm on Friday night, with a room reserved at The Hacienda Hotel, which is very close to the lake. We played a little Blackjack, both winning a small amount, including some free drinks. The next morning, we got down to the beach at 7:00am and started getting the boat together. As we finished, I got a cellphone call from Gordon, who was at the Marina (an alternative launching spot, 2 miles away). He was dealing with his own boat, plus Chugwater, so we quickly drove down the marina to give him a hand. After getting the boats together and attending the skipper's meeting, I left Tom with his gear, and headed back down to my boat. Winds were very light all day on Saturday. We could barely get the boats to move. If anything, we had great scenery to look at: http://tinyurl.com/54ptr Thankfully, the race committee gave us a couple of starts anyway. I have been to so many regattas where the organizers will not even start a race until the wind comes up. In this case, although the wind was really light, we got to race instead of sitting on a beach. Unfortunately, Tom was sitting in a dead spot far behind the line at the first start, and never made it to the line. It took us over an hour to finish a 1 nm course, but heck� we were sailing. I finished fifth in the fleet of eight boats. The second race gave us just a bit more wind, but things were still light. Tom got into this race, but had some equipment problems with the boat. On jib cleat was not working properly, and midway through the race, his main traveler came out of the track. (Chugwater had been in "mothballs" and was quickly assembled the day before the event). I finished sixth, and Tom was DFL. The next morning we worked on Chugwater, fixing the jib cleat and traveler track. The winds were still light. So light, we were barely able to make it to the course. At one point, a couple monohulls motored over and towed us out. We were sitting out there in absolutely dead conditions. I started thinking about the 7 hour drive to get there, and the $100 a night hotel room. At that point, it started to rain. http://phattie.net/dawg_wavs/youngf/be-worse.wav Around noon, the wind started to come up, but would gradually fade away. At one point, it came up a bit and seemed to hold. The RC started moving marks to account for the shift. Then one of the locals yelled, "THE WIND IS TURNED ON". I looked to the far side of the lake, and saw a solid string of white caps moving towards us. Minutes later, we had the conditions I had driven so far to enjoy. I think we got 3 races in this second day. My boy was kicking my butt upwind to A mark in the first race. I caught up to him on our second rounding of C mark, and saw him hit the mark with his tiller stick. As I passed by him, I knew we were the last two boats on the course, so I told him not to worry about it. His concentration must have been blown, as I beat him to the finish. As we waited for the next start, conditions were getting windier and rougher. The wind was blowing across a wide area of lake, so the waves were coming up. I think we were looking at about 18 knots or so. "I don't feel entirely in control," Tom said. "It's getting pretty crazy out here." I had crewed for Tom in conditions heavier than this, and he had always shown skill and confidence. However, single-handing in a field of monohulls had its new challenges. It was a combination of elements that had made the event particularly exciting for me the year before. Winds were well over 20 at one point at the 2003 event, and these maniacs were running us around a reaching mark! Converging on a mark in a mixed fleet, in heavy conditions, on a soloed Hobie 16 can be a bit on the dangerous side if you are not completely confident in what you are doing. The boat is particularly fast with only one person aboard, you've only got one set of eyes, and you have to handle every element of tacking on your own. As conditions started to build some more, Tom headed in to the beach. I was disappointed, but respected his decision. The rain was now coming down pretty good. As an experiment, I headed back in to change from my spraysuit to a drysuit worn over jeans and a fleece top. Now, I headed back out in the blowing rain in completely dry comfort. Noting that the wind was coming down a bit, I yelled to Tom that he may want to reconsider. After a few minutes, I saw him leaving the beach. I was at least 3 minutes late to the course, and he never made it in time for the start. In the last race, there were only five or six Hobie 16s left. Apparently one skipper had dropped out of the race after a capsize gave him a serious cut to the head. I was trailing the pack to A mark, when I saw my son on port, flying a hull just a few feet behind the group of boats on the starboard layline. (A camera would have been handy at that moment). In an absolutely fantastic finish to my weekend, my son beat me in the last race. That finish made the weekend for both of us! I urge any Hobie 16 or Hobie 18 skippers to consider this event next year. (There were a couple of 18s this year). The participation is growing, and the organizers and participants are a great group of people. I probably had 3 or 4 participants, who were complete strangers to me, thank me for being there. Regardless of conditions, you are most likely to get a start. The scenery can be breathtaking, and there is plenty of nightlife in nearby Las Vegas. Hope to see some of you there next year! Bill Mattson Hobie 16 "Tomcat" Hobie 18 "Cheap Thrill" Hobie 18 "Hoover" Santa Maria, CA Group Home http://www.TheBeachcats.com Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/beachcats/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
