Racing

I started racing Fearless sooner than I really meant to--got my arm twisted into participating in the Centerboard Regatta in June 2003 (after all, it's only once a year). I had done a beer can race or two before that. Our performance was highly consistent--we finished DFL (technical sailing abbreviation for dead last) in all of the races, both boat-to-boat and on corrected time. The high point was taking off my hat, after we got back to shore and put the boat on the trailer, and discovering that I was bleeding from a wound incurred in an accidental jibe while trying (unsuccessfully) to hoist the spinnaker.

Things got somewhat better after that, fortunately. 2003 was also the first year of the Texas Centerboard Circuit. I only participated in the races that were at my club--thought about going to Wurstfest to race another Harpoon, but didn't have crew and wimped out. Went down and hung out anyway, and they had a spectator boat and everything.

In 2004, we did start traveling to out-of-town circuit stops, thanks to my brother and his Subaru Forester. Unfortunately, by the end of the season it needed a new clutch. Using the time-honored technique of showing up at a lot of regattas, including some with a really low turnout, we managed a third-place finish on the circuit.

Did seven regattas in 2005, one practice regatta and six circuit stops, but only raced in the spring and fall series. I was out of town a lot racing OPB. My Corolla made its highway towing debut returning from one of the regattas at Stillhouse Hollow, but mostly I relied on my crew for boat transportation to the four out-of-town events. That worked really well, because then I had my car (with its automatic transmission) there for the launching and retrieving, and it also works well for transporting sails and stuff. Sleeping in it is not an option, though.

Did rather less racing in 2006--only four circuit regattas (nobody showed up for the first two). We did race the spring and fall series.

Details of our fourth season

Good heavens, it has been a long time since I updated this page. I guess Fearless and I are now in our fifth season of racing. I've mostly had Dave and his son Rich crewing for me, though daughter Emma has also come out sometimes. Sailing with three is nice, especially for spinnaker work. We did the spring series. Dave and I sailed the spring long-distance race at AYC, which got declared the first circuit stop for the Centerboard Circuit after we decided the Leukemia Cup up in Dallas was just too pricey. The wind was pretty good that day, so not flipping the boat or breaking stuff gave us a real advantage, and we won. Dave & Co. weren't available for the second circuit stop up at Rush Creek, so I twisted the arm of Lindsey, a guy I was dating from the Fort Worth area. We got a second-place finish (to two local kids on a JY 15--it was very light air) and broke up. The third circuit stop, the AYC Centerboard Regatta, wound up being cancelled due to the lake being closed. We wound up missing the rescheduled race due to a party and boat christening in honor of my late friend Mark. We did make the remaining two circuit stops, the Leukemia Cup at AYC, with Dave crewing, where we were the only boat in the centerboard fleet to finish all four races (it was blowing about 20; we did have one close call, even with a reef in) and wound up winning, and the Wurstfest Regatta down at Canyon Lake, where Kristin, herself a new Harpoon 5.2 owner, crewed in mostly light and shifty conditions. We wound up first in the circuit.