Gone With the Wind - 2004 wrap up

Gone With the Wind was a great success. This is the second time we have hosted it at Shady Grove Campground and even with the lack of power due to trees and hurricanes it is still a great venue.

22 boats raced. Nine Tigers, one Hobie 20, four Hobie 18s, three Hobie 17's, and six Hobie 16's.

Phil Flowers from Keowee Sailing Club acted as PRO and did an excellent job of running a variety of courses.

The forecast for Saturday was 10Mph and was blowing every bit of it early. Three races were run as the winds dwindled. There were some holes but the wind did stay blowing for the duration.

On Sunday the forecast was for 10-15. It started out a bit over 10 and built and built. The racing took place in 18-22 MPH wind most of the day. The cats ate it up. The boats were being pushed hard with numerous capsizes and gear failures.

The award for most capsizes goes to Cliff Norris and Bill Stoval on a Hobie 16 and capsizing 5 times. I saw one of the particularly spectacular pitch poles with some interesting acrobatics. The most catastrophic gear failure was my Hobie 18. During the last race after heading back upwind from the leeward mark, my starboard hull failed about a foot in front of the crossbar.

I was on the trapeze when it happened and it was surprisingly controllable. When the Fiberglas let go with a crackling pop the hull tip pointed at the other hull and sky. It pulled me against the boat but the mast stayed up. We were able to park the boat and keep it floating for a bit by sitting at the rear of the tramp.
Several other boats quickly offered assistance. We were not hurt at all and they summoned the crash boats to give us a tow in. The broken hull eventually took on water and sunk. The mast didn't come un attached till fully in the water.

The hull was still attached to the boat by just the Fiberglas at the outside deck lip and the bridle wire. I was able to attach a rope to the cross beam and ride the one floating hull in with a slow tow from the crash boat, riding the one floating hull like a torpedo and holding the mast from banging the boat too much.

Once on the beach everyone pitched in and helped strip off hardware to salvage the boat without breaking anything other then the hull.

To replace the hull from the factory is around $3,600 so thankfully I have spoke with my insurance agent and it will be taken care of there.
I also had several offers of loaned boats or hulls. Catsailors are great people.

I will post scores as soon as I have them in electronic format.