Gone With The Wind 2004 - Final Scoring

Final Results

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.

Gone With the Wind - 2004

I'm going to post date this to keep it at the top of the page until the regatta.

Last year the largest class was the Hobie 18's with 10 boats turning out. There were quite a few children camping and crewing on boats, this is a very family friendly event.

We will be hosting it out of Shady Grove Campground, same place as last year on the Forsyth Co. side of the lake. Dates are September 24th, 25th, and 26th.

Crewed boats - $40
Singlehand - $25
This includes meal tickets, one T-shirt, and one raffle ticket.
Camping is $20 for the weekend per boat or family
Extra Meal tickets - $5 each
Raffle tickets for sale during the regatta - price will be posted then.

Send your registration money (include name and class of boat) to the following:
Tammy Duran
5432 Hidden Harbor Landing
Gainesville, GA 30504

The campground will be opened starting Friday afternoon September 24th and will close as soon as we can get everyone packed up on Sunday.

Regatta Flyer

Flogging Molly

Flogging Molly was incredible last night. This is the second time I have seen them play and they get better each time. I highly recommend their new album. It came out last week at number 20 in album sales so you will be probably hearing more of them on the radio now.

The Surreal Life

I went to my 10 year high school reunion this weekend. I was pretty nervous to go back after all this time but it turned out to be a great time.
The biggest surprise was to see Leah. She was an exchange student from Paris my senior year. He and her fiance come over for a tour of the US.
After 10 years most of the changes in people were for the better.
I also found out I graduated with a serial killer. I had heard he was in jail for murder, but didn't know the extent. Meet Tony.

Ponce Park

Here's a cool new proposition for the development of City Hall East. Currently it's an old building with a lot of character but is falling apart. Originally it was owned by Sears and Roebuck but has been owned by the city of Atlanta with very little maintenance.
City Press Release
The official site with artist renditions

Labor Day

I spent the weekend up at Keowe Sailing Club. They have their annual low country boil this weekend and cooked up 110 lbs of shrimp. It was quite tastey. The weather was nice and windy for sailing. We went out and played today with a camera on a power boat. Were trying to push the boat till it flipped and managed to pitch pole it twice.

Notice the feet and hand.

The wind had died down a bit by the time they came out with the skiff so only 2 on the wing not the 2 trapezed off the wing that it was earlier.