The GBCA Cannon - August Issue

by Jody Henry

When the commodore asks if you can write a summary of Texas Race Week and you have trouble remembering all of the details, doesn't that mean it was a great regatta with great parties? Big Thanks go to Kathy Rodgers, the regatta chair and to our PRO, Kevin Box. It was a great weekend of racing, winning, partying, de-hydrating, re-hydrating, losing, partying and finishing with, of course, a party.

Texas Race Week in Galveston is by far, one of my favorite regattas put on by GBCA. This year, I was lucky enough to race on Dulcinea, the Aerodyne 43 owned by Steve and Jeff Jones. We had a great crew that was a mix of Austin and Galveston Bay sailors: Jeff Jones (AYC), Jay Sacco (AYC), Kalyn Lundemo (GBCA), Robert Barlow (AYC), James Collins (San Fran but formerly GBCA), Andrea Pola (GBCA), Drake Borer (AYC), Tony Bolt (AYC), Tim Thomas (GBCA), Mary Miller (GBCA), Steve Jones and Blake Leinart.

Andrea and I headed down to the island on Wednesday night after stopping to pick up the truck and, what turned out to be, most of the rum for the weekend. When we crossed the causeway, we almost kept driving to Jamaica Beach with all of the loot but clearer heads prevailed and rum and mixers ended up safely in the hands of our commodore.

Boat time was early on Thursday, or at least it felt early. (Thank God for the coffee spot on the way to the yacht basin.) We headed out to the start and were relieved to feel wind, see clouds and find out that there had been some smack-talking at the skipper's meeting. Nothing like the challenge of a little friendly competition to get the blood flowing. Thursday would be the long race for the PHRF spin class and forecast was telling us there was a threat of rain. It might have rained on the course but - with the combination of adrenaline, splash and a lot of sweat, I'm not sure we ever felt it.

The first leg was long but there were storm pockets and big wind at times. It felt like an Aerodyne 43 kind of day. I could tell because my back was starting to hurt from sitting on the rail (not always the most comfortable spot on the Aerodyne). We rounded the first mark and caught a time on our competition. We looked good and continued to sail fast. The spinnaker went up and stayed up until we crossed the finish line. Line honors went to Nefte Gaz but we were close behind them - I mean really close. Next to finish was Mojo, Gambler and Musica. On corrected time, we came out on top for the day with a first place finish by 50 seconds over Doug Shaffer on Gambler. Cliff Haddox on Musica took third place, Tres Hombres in fourth and Steve Rhyne on Mojo with the fifth for the day.

I headed over to the party to help Kathy with registration. She is laughing reading this because I was not much "help". All I did was drink rum and wander around chatting with people. It started to rain....hard, and with the rain came the memories of TRW 2009 but missing one thing - the cold front, where were those 70 degree temperatures? The rain washed everything off and in typical Galveston weather fashion - moved along quickly. The skies cleared up and Michelle served rum drinks into the night. I loved seeing all of the GBCA tumblers filled with the official drink of TRW, the Mar-Kat.

Friday was hotter and stickier. There was still wind but it was not near as strong as Thursday. The water was flat and you could hear people making comments on our boat about it being a "Mojo" kind of day. The race committee sent us on the windward leeward course with marks. We raced to the end of the jetty and reached to our leeward mark, did some paperclips and then headed on a reach back to the jetties and a run to the finish line. The water was smooth so Mojo was fast. We grabbed line honors for Friday but Steve Rhyne on Mojo corrected over us by a minute nineteen. Gambler took third for the day, Tres Hombres in fourth and Musica in fifth.

We finished Friday still in first place and feeling good about Saturday. We were leading with 3 points, followed by Gambler with 5 and Mojo with 6. We needed to maintain a 1 or 2 finish on Saturday to win the regatta.   It was definitely in our reach.

And then came the rum....

And then the wind died .....

I need more excuses. (How 'bout those green chili shots that I love so much? That couldn't have helped.)

Saturday was brutal. If you were out there, you know what I'm talking about. It was hot. Really hot. And there was little wind. Maybe a few knots here or there but as we headed out to the first mark at the end of the jetties, and the hours ticked by, you could hear Kalyn start to mutter: "....must get out of the jetties....must make it out alive....." .   Race committee sent us on the same course as Friday.  Boats would head off in bizarre directions looking for breeze and once they found it, their lead would stretch out more and more. We finished the race in 4th place: 29 minutes and 31 seconds behind first place, Mojo on corrected time. The day was brutal and our finish was brutal. Nefte Gaz grabbed a second and Gambler, the third place finish, firmly giving us a second overall for the regatta. It was hard to be so close and lose it on a day with less than stellar conditions but for the amount of fun I had, I really have nothing to complain about.

With Mojo's first place finish on Saturday, they secured the Larry Kevan Trophy for first in the PHRF fleet. Mojo also took home the Texas Navy Cup. The Texas Navy Cup is awarded to the skipper with the best cumulative score over three Texas offshore events. Steve Rhyne accepted the prestigious trophy at the awards ceremony on Saturday night. Other sailors taking home TRW honors included Ben Miller, who sailed Sabani to a PHRF Non-Spin victory with three bullets. Jack Spithill on Further was second in the non-spin class with a total of nine points and Allessandra, sailed by Treaf Andrus beat out Walter Caldwell on Shaken Not Stirred in an 11 point tie breaker for third place.

Congratulations go to all the top finishers and to all of the boats that came out to compete in Texas Race Week at Galveston. This was our biggest turnout yet and it was pretty amazing to see more than twenty boats fighting their way out of the jetties. I hope ya'll can make it next year and I look forward to TRW 2011.