Racing Is Fun; Being On The Race Committee - Not So Much!

SHIP'S LOG:

I am not quite sure exactly how it happened but On Friday and Saturday, I got seconded to the Race Committee for the North American "Force Five" National Championship. It is not onerous duty. It is not even very hard. It can, however, be really, REALLY boring!!!!!

Friday I went out with Greg Roth on his Friendship Sloop, FIDDLEHEAD, and that was quite enjoyable. I had never been on a Friendship Sloop. They are old designs, quite over 100 years and were originally workboats in Maine. Gaft-rigged with bowsprits, they have a nice appeal when they sail by. As lovely as they are, they are more work than my ketch to get set up and taken down.. Still they have that certain something that speaks of "real sailboats."

The only true "excitement" for the day was that the leeward mark Greg and I set drifted and had to be replaced. The drift wasn't particularly severe but it meant that since it happened once, it could happen again and so we had to ride herd on the mark the rest of the day. This mean we sailed no further than a couple hundred yards from the mark and then back to check the GPS position and make sure it didn't move. It didn't, at least not for the rest of that day. AT the end of the races, we tried to pick it up on the fly. I took the first two shots at the helm and missed badly both times. Greg took the next two shots and while I was able to snag a line on the mark, one of two, it turned out to be the one that was secured only at one end! We gave it up as a bad idea and turned on the motor, secured the mark and motored in.

Saturday I seconded once again by the Race Committee, this time to be the Windward Mark Boat, though I am still somewhat unclear exactly how it happened. No matter, I suppose. Originally, they were going to assign me a club skiff for the task, but in that hot sun and high temp and humidity, I decided to use my own boat. Floating around in my boat would be a heck of a lot more comfortable, more sun shade, more boat to deal with the rolls and wakes, more GPS power, more radios, just better all-around.

I motored out at about 10 and we waited for two hours for the wind to finally fill in. I set the Windward mark, moved off a hundred yards, killed the engine and drifted. Since the current was running West to East, about every half hour, I would start the engine and motor west, passing the Mark and checking its position, before shutting down the engine and resuming the drift. Boy, it sure was exciting. They were holding a Hospice Regatta, to raise money for Hospice, off of Horseshoe Reef and it was good to see that they had a great turn out. Whenever there is a big regatta, the down hill runs are always great with all the spinnakers flying.

After having moved the mark at the direction of the Race Committee after the second race, two more races went off and finished up by 4:30 and then it was pickup the mark and motor on in. Like I said, not the most exciting of endeavours but a necessary one as without the Race Committee and its worker bees, there wouldn't be any race. And I get to do it again next Sunday for the Governor's Regatta.