Puddle Duck Race on Aug 6, 2005, for all the marbles.
At stake was the championship of the world, well - at least a trophy made out of a brick! (See bottom of this page)
Among the 'Messabouters' that showed up at the Lake Charles Yacht Club 4th annual Messabout were 4 PuddleDuck Racers. Three were from Louisiana and one from the Great State of Texas. They were #2 Ken Abrahams, Lake Charles; #7 Dave Sergeant, Lake Charles; #42 John Wright, Austin?, Texas; and #45 Randall McFatter, Lake Charles. They came to take Ken's trophy away, if possible.
Boat no. 2 is a 'stitch and glue' hull with a cut down sunfish sail of
polytarp. (It is the reigning 'Champion).
Boat no. 7 is Dave's modified
and 'repainted by the kids' hull that he placed third in the series last
year.
He has a new polytarp sail similar to Ken's sail.
No. 42 is new to
the circuit and has 'leeboards' built into the hull sides and has a full
size Sunfish sail. It also has a jib that was not used for the race.
Boat #45 is a standard construction hull with a smaller lateen polytarp sail.
The race was started in the afternoon from the beach and was two triangles
around a course and back to the beach.
We did a start with the racers
standing in the water and pushed the boats out and started. It was a
downwind start.
All the boats made a good start and raced closely to the first mark. After that the boats separated a lot with Dave and Ken leading. The first lap found Dave in the lead with Ken close behind and the others trailing. John had too much sail and was having problems making way and Randall had too little sail and was having his own problems. During the second lap, Ken passed Dave and regained the lead which he kept until the next beat to windward. Dave sailed steady and got to the mark way ahead and went on to finish while Ken struggled to get to the windward mark in the shifty, light air. Ken finally made the mark and went on to finish second. The other boats rounded out the course and were considered tied for third.
It was a nice day of sailing and racing and messing about. The evening was topped off with a fine dinner of brisket and all the trimmings.
Ken Abrahams
Left to Right:
John Wright, #42
Randall McFatter, #45
David Sargent, #7
Ken Abrahams, #2
Back to main page