Several
Fleet 276 members made the trek to Michigan’s left coast to enjoy the
beautiful sunsets and broad sandy beaches of Muskegon State Park.
Oh yeah, we raced too!
This was CRAM’s fifth annual Cat Fight regatta.
Boats from as far away as Florida and Pennslyvania made the trip to
compete.
Many types of cats participated from classic
Prindle 16’s to Olympic
Tornado’s.
The largest fleet was the F18’s with 23 boats.
The venue is stunning…one of the best around. It’s a “gota be
there” regatta. CRAM put it’s best face forward in their premier
event. Great dinners, gutter boat racing, painkillers and DJ. The
only complaints heard were centered around the race committee and the course.
It’s a perpetual Cat Fight problem that seems to be slowly improving. At
least this year they ran a windward/leeward course with no “B” mark.
Now if they would just accept the concept of a leeward gate – life would be
good. But, us Hobie guys are SPOILED. Our major event race
committees are of ISAF and Olympic caliber. This is a direct legacy
of our IHCA president and Olympic sailing PRO, Paul Ulibarri and HCA’s race
management seminars. Hopefully CRAM will someday sync up with the rest of
the world. It will only make their big event better. But all in all
they did a great job.
Gregg and I got together Thursday morning and caravanned over to
Muskegon.
We passed a billboard near Grand Rapids with classic Michigan rockers Bob
Seger and Ted Nugent on it.
Cat Scratch Fever came to mind.
Will the Tiger’s claw the NACRoids?
Hmmmm.
Before leaving I discovered that I was out of propane and
the place I usually buy it went out of business. Nothing in the RV
runs without it.
I was on a quest and after
consulting the park ranger, found some in Muskegon.
It turned rather cool in the evenings. Thank God for heaters and hot
showers. We set up camp and the boats as fleet members began to
filter in.
Tim, Claire and what seemed like Tim’s whole office set up a major
camping compound.
Tim closed the office due to the Woodward Dream Cruise – a unique
Detroit automotive spectacle.
What???
Doesn’t anybody want kitchen cabinets in their ’57 Chevy?
The Bounds’ and Krutty’s soon arrived along with Mark Colby.
Jim and Jan VDJ even put in a guest appearance on Saturday night and
Sunday.
More about that in a bit.
Matt and I made an early Friday morning coffee run to the local Westco
gas station.
We noticed the bright yellow Kruttymobile still parked at the Snug Harbor
motel when
we drove by with no signs of life.
It’s 0800 already with an 1100 first shape. Hmmmm…we all know how
long the Tiger takes to put together not to mention a brand spanky new boat that
still needs “details”.
No worries…they made the start.
The racing on Friday was conducted in medium winds and a 3-foot chop.
It seemed the boat went up and down more than it went forward.
Gregg’s crew, Diane, was seasick the whole entire first race so Gregg
finished the day single-handing.
Very frustrating sailing to say the least.
Saturday was only worse with lighter air than Friday.
But at least the water was flat(ter).
The forecast was for 20 from the south on Sunday.
Yeah, right.
Whitecaps were already building on the outside when everyone decided to
wake up on Sunday.
By the time the coffee was on…so was the wind.
20 from the south….woo hoo!
The conditions were definitely Victory at Sea (for those who remember the
old WWII newsreels).
Big wind, big swell (5-7 ft) and big waves. We
each have a story to tell…best over a beer or two.
We did two races in conditions that were just plain fun (if your on a
Tiger or 20).
I can’t tell you how many times crew
Giselle and I put the spinnaker pole underwater or how many times we were
launched off of the waves going to weather.
The whole boat was airborne.
Rounding the weather marks (A and Offset) became an ordeal of survival.
During one downwind leg, Matt was below me when I saw him pull a miracle
(not a Hobie 20) out of his butt.
He and crew Dave stuffed both bows beyond the crossbar.
With both rudders out of the water, the boat then healed over to a broach
position before rounding up head to wind.
He saved it!
Congratulations Matt!!!!
That was awesome!
Gregg had a similar experience with crew Jim VDJ.
He stuffed both hulls BEYOND the shrouds only to recover.
He has the bruises to prove it.
Way to go Goyo.
But Jim didn’t fare so well as he fell to the same plight as Diane
did on Friday.
At least Jim held onto
his cookies until they finished.
A bit of advice…if you’re prone to seasickness, eat raspberry jam
before going out.
It tastes the same going down as it does coming back up!
1 packet of Dramamine
$1.50
A jar of Knott’s Raspberry Preserves
$3.99
Large bottle of 3M Boat Cleaner and Wax
$11.99
0
and 3 with seasick crews on big wind/big swell days and still managing to bring
home some hardware (you know who you are)….PRICELESS.
Tired smiles were seen across many competitors’ faces as we moved boats
up the beach to the trailers.
The boats were broken down and made road ready.
Trophies were handed out in two categories…Fleet and Cat Fight.
Congratulations to Tim and Claire for placing 3rd in high Portsmouth Cat
Fight, Gregg for placing 2nd in low Portsmouth w/o spin fleet and 3rd in Cat
Fight, Paul and Kim for placing 9th and John and Giselle for placing 2nd in
F18’s.
Photos and results are posted at www.catfightrace.com. Many thanks go to CRAM
for putting on a great event, Muskegon State Park for allowing CRAM to use their
beautiful beach locale and to the competitors for without them, there would be
no event.
Hopefully, more
of
our fleet members will put this event on their calendars for next year.
It is one of the better Michigan regattas.
Now…if we could get MORE boats infected with the Cat Scratch Fever.
Sharpen those claws for next years Cat Fight. See you all on the
water again soon.
Commodore
John