2006 PCYC Green Island Regatta Report by Mike Fahle

It was a dark and stormy day (a little take-off on the classic thriller beginning!) Former Tropical storm Ernesto had managed to make itself felt all the way to western Lake Erie (the north coast) with wind and rain that eventually got strong enough that racing was terminated for the day a little after noon. Already by then three relatively quick races had been run by the highly experienced and effective team of PRO Doug Young and scorer Carol Fahle. A number of competitors had withdrawn on their own before the RC called off the races as the wind and the waves kept building. A small but game group of cat sailors had gathered in spite of the harsh forecast of winds building to 30 knots and waves building to 7 – 10 feet. Doug Young quipped that he needed to only get one race in before the conditions got too bad (this regatta features one throwout after two races are sailed, the default scoring under the current sailing rules) and as we rigged the boats the wind was actually mild. The rain started as mist and steadily built through the morning with the wind and waves. With a Northeasterly, the fetch was very long although the Bass Islands acted as some barrier to the waves building across the whole width of Lake Erie.

The seven boats started the first race and all finished within 22 minutes in winds of 13 – 17 MPH. The wind in the second race was 15 – 19 MPH and all finished within 24 minutes, with two of the four Mysteres choosing to keep the spinnakers snuffed. The third race winds were 17 – 22 MPH and no spinnakers went up. Six boats started and only four finished. Several capsizes occurred (some on the same boat - 3 times! - but only the initials George Webb will be used to protect privacy).

The wind was accurately measured by the PRO during the races and helps to document that most sailors overestimate wind speeds. My opinion is that this is at least partly explained by the apparent wind that they feel while racing – going upwind, for example, at 8 MPH in a 22 MPH wind will produce an apparent wind of 30 MPH but that typically gets translated on shore in “war stories” after racing to winds of 30 to 35 MPH during the race. True winds of 20 to 25 MPH are as much, or more, as most beach cat racers can handle. It is not intuitive that the power of the wind goes up by the square of the wind speed, so that the difference from 15 MPH to 20 MPH, while only 25%, does not seem like it should be 78% stronger, even though it is and the boat behaves like it is! Therefore as the wind continued to build it was a good call by the RC to send the last four boats in even though they appeared willing to keep racing. Just before reaching shore, my Mystere 4.3 nearly pitchpoled in a very strong gust and very large wave combo that put the snuffer so far under the water that the spinnaker bag ripped the length of the pole, dropping the spinnaker in the water like a giant sea anchor just as we passed in front of the Portage river entrance break walls. The only thing to do to keep the boat off the rocks was to head down wind up the channel and sail around the bend in the lee of the large trees and dock the boat in front of the club. The PCYC Commodore ran out to help and told me the big boats were coming in and that I could not stay there but when I explained that I had not exactly PLANNED to be there and why, he and other members helped me dock and get ready for the tow. Sails were taken off and when they returned the RC was enlisted to tow the boat back out the channel to a few hundred yards off shore where the boat made astonishing speed downwind under mast alone back to the beach. That experience made it very clear that the RC’s timing on the end of races was none too soon and that the work of the RC is seemingly never done. What a great job Carol and Doug did for us in Doug’s little Whaler in challenging conditions!!

The Green Island Regatta for many years consisted of just one race (the Sunday portion) for keelboats. The start is about a mile off shore in front of Port Clinton Yacht Club, goes around Green Island, past the south side of South Bass Island, around Starve Island Reef buoy, and back to the start/finish line. It can run either direction depending on the RC decision made that morning based on the wind direction. A few years ago Doug Young thought it would be great to have beach cats race it and made it more enticing by getting club permission to add a day of beach cat buoy racing on Saturday. He got the RC to put the beach cat start on Sunday first so that they could lead the way for all the keelboats and big multihulls (last start of eight) to follow. This had the added benefit of allowing lots of would be rescuers should any cat racer need assistance during the race.

George Webb and I are regular crew a Beneteau 40.7 based at PCYC so we were already committed to racing it for the Green Island race. That allowed me to be the official photographer for the beach cats on Sunday. I got a nice shot of the top of Steve and Kristin Attard’s Hobie 18 mast splashing the water after it fell before the starting sequence. They got towed in and replaced the broken shroud anchor pin and then started about a half hour late in a great “never – say – die” response to adversity. Mike Teets showed up on his I-17R for the race and took a fast start at the pin end. The crew on our big boat were amazed at how quickly he accelerated off the line; it was fun to watch their reactions. His separate account and GPS track of the race is included along with Jamie Diamond’s from the perspective of his Mystere 4.3.

Carol Fahle did all the beach cat scoring so that the host club finds it easy to accommodate our participation (results and photos are also on the OCRA website). With a few experienced volunteers it is easy for beach cat racers to become part of the larger sailing community and take advantage of existing events and excellent facilities. This is becoming a necessity as fewer beach cat racers participate and fewer regatta locations are available each year. So we appreciate the members and the racers who supported this regatta even when the weather was trying to ruin it for everyone. Participation will determine how long it will continue for the beach cat racers because it is extra work and expense for the yacht club. So mark next year’s calendar now for Labor Day weekend to attend this unique north coast cat regatta while you can.