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From Andrew Linn


There were 9 boats, 7 owned and 2 loaners. There were 3 'extra' sailors: Shorty, Phil Keck, and me (Andrew Linn.) To winnow down the racers to the number of boats, we held 2 elimination races. I beat Phil in the first race and Phil beat Shorty in the second - Shorty did not get to race in the Champeenships.

We had to launch from the beach ? one foot on the sand. We drew popsicle sticks straws to determine placement ? 1 was closer to the buoy than 9. The start was a mess - several boats got tied up at the start. When I post my pictures later tonight or tomorrow, we?ll see who caused it (it was me ? bad Andy!)

It was a thrilling race ? everything that could go wrong - short of collision or capsizing ? did go wrong. The wind, which had been blowing 15-20 all morning had begun dropping as race time got close, then nearly died right after the whistle. Still, it was sufficient to have a great race.

Dave Seargent came in first, as he should have. He was sailing a Lateen rig, but I think the real trick was that he is a fairly light person and has been sailing a long time. His hull is #7, so he has had a lot of practice with his boat.

To counter that assumption, Phil Keck came in 2nd, sailing a loaner boat with a Bolger Leg-o-Mutton sail that had torn at the clew and had to be crudely patched together. And 3rd place went to Scot, who had built his boat just the previous Tuesday and was sailing a loose footed Sprit rig.

After having a terrible start, I came in 4th, mainly because I am an excellent sailor with a magnificent natural talent of finding the best wind (HA!). I was also sailing a repaired Leg-o-Mutton sail on a loaner boat.

5th went to John Wright, builder of the loaner boats, sailing his bilge keeled, duck-headed boat using a windsurfer sail. He was right on my butt and fell behind at the end. He said I was able to point higher than he and so had the advantage.

6th went to Bill Guise, the most generous man I have met in years. He had a repaired rudder (donated by Andrew Creamer) and was using a Lateen sail ? sunfish? I can?t remember, but it was a production sail. His boat is really fast, both Phil and I touched 6.1mph in it during practice runs on Friday.

7th went to Tim Cleary in his minimal hull screamer with a production sail from a Suncatcher catamaran. Tim has a 38 inch hull and a 10 inch sponson. To help keep water from shipping over the bow, he has a ?bow board? that runs across the bow and sticks about 2 feet or so. I sailed it on Friday and was impressed, but I am more impressed that Tim can steer using those oars and still sail.

8th was earned by Andrew Creamer. Andrew was having a bad sailing day. During practice, he had sail trouble and once he got back on shore the wind beat his batwing to death. He was sailing with a borrowed Lateen with 12ft spars.

9th (not last place, but 9th. Last was earned by the 5.999999991 billion people who didn?t compete) one who didn?t compete.) was taken by Jason Neighbors in the Sea Flea. I don?t know the skinny, but Jason was tearing around in the Sea Flea both before and after the race ? I mean he was moving.

The race route was pretty much out and back ? just downwind and upwind. It was fairly short, maybe 100 yards or so, but because we were coming back straight into the wind, we had some significant tacking. There were 2 main schools of thought: Those who did many tacks with short legs (Dave S and others) and those who did one tack with 2 long legs (me and others.)

It was a great friggin? race, and I have to tell you, this is one of the things I will be remembering when I am laying on my deathbed. Thanks to everyone for a phenomenal time.

Andrew (still scratchin' my mosquito bites)


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