BUTTERFLY NATIONALS - FINAL
at 6.21.2009
Windy, windy, windy! Three races today with winds from 15 to 25. My boat might argue 30 as she started popping and cracking with the port stay pulling out a fraction in the second race. There were two dismastings early in the day and many capsizes. What a diehard group!Whether you were in the front of the fleet, the middle or the back, the racing was friendly and competitive and the wind shots were quite challenging. I managed to stay upright all day and nursed the boat around the course after she started objecting heavily. Doug swears he took it easy on Bruce's boat and didn't touch the outhaul, downhaul or vang all weekend and never really pulled the main in too hard. He did almost sink the boat though when he found himself sailing without a drain plug during the third race on Sunday. A few hours later, after it was Doug's turn to fill up, we found ourselves driving down the road with the gas tank open and the gas cap dangling. Boggles the mind.
Okay, maybe the drain plug thing was my fault. We both decided the drain plug wasn't snug enough and that duct tape would work better. Maybe I bought girly duct tape and it didn't stick too well. But after flagging down a motor boat between race two and three, getting some duct tape and pulling the boat on the dock and half undressing trying to find something to dry the hull off, Doug still wasn't able to get the duct tape to stick so with two minutes to go in the starting sequence and about three inches of water still inside the hull, he dropped the boat in the water and decided to sail on starboard tack most of the time and tack to port in the puffs so he could go faster and take on less water and then he was practically sitting at the mast trying to get the stern out of the water going downwind. Did I mention it was blowing up to 25 and I was doing chicken jibes while he's a minute ahead of the fleet trying not to sink. Boggles the mind!
So, after six races, Doug had won the first, second, third, fifth and sixth race and his throw out was a second in the fourth. That would make Doug the 2009 Butterfly National Champion. Then, to top things off, for a brief 10 minutes I was awarded the top female champion, which was very cool. In very short order though they realized their scoring mistake and it was too late to take the trophy and run. I was actually the third female and Lauren Hatt, the two time defending female champion, retained her title. She and her brother and father all sailed quite well.
What a great event. Great club, great people, great racing, great food!
6/27/2009 8:44 AM
Fleet 20, you were well represented by Doug and Pam. Actually, I didn't realize that it was blowing as hard as it was until I got in my car right after the racing and turned on weather radio. (15 to 25!) Big surprise, but I heard no complaints out on the water. In the four times that I have been associated with this regatta we have always had an embarrassingly low amount of wind. This year made up for it.
Also, it was very strange to see Doug's Butterfly sitting over on a dock with only 2.5 minutes remaining before the start of race six. (I am sure that Jim Young was watching this closely, though by this time I think that Doug had first in the bank with a throw out available to him.) I was thinking that it would be interesting to see if he could really get back for the start of the race, which he did! And he won it.
Participation numbers were down a little this year. I guess you can put that off to the economy. Michigan boaters usually support the regatta in a big way. But things in the motor city are bad, as you all know, and I guess that spreads to the rest of the state. Instead of 38 boats we had 28.
Gordon McBride, race committee chair.