Sarasota Smash!

Remember when you and your sisters and brothers were little and mom wasn't home and you took turns in the Maytag on 'full wash' ? It was like that.

The wind graph for Saturday in Sarasota

The hurricane Ida edition of the Fl series took place this past weekend at the Sarasota Sailing Squadron. Attendance was off this year as sailors fell into 4 categories...

-Those that showed up and sailed

-Those that showed up, left their boats on the trailer, and jumped on someone else’s boat (to break it)

-Those that showed up and decided better of it once they saw the breeze on the bay

-and lastly those (including our district gov) that looked at the weather on the web and stayed home with the 20 knot flu!!



The fleet was down to nine boats that made the quick sail to the race course in ~20 knots of building breeze. The prestart took its toll with Mike Smith dropping his mast in Sarasota bay without doing any significant boat damage (hey, kind of like BMW Oracle). With breakdowns taking a second boat before the start, 7 boats made it through the start line. Jim Egan, sailing with Richard and John, hit the line with speed for 90 seconds of glory before the familiar sound on a boom going pop. It appears that Jim had sucked down an energy gel just before the start and had not observed the mandatory waiting period before putting his hands on the vang line.. After that it was a long sail back to the club under jib only (upwind).

The story for the rest of race one (and the weekend) was Robbie Brown and Billy Icely. They took off upwind, separated, from the fleet and were never challenged. Marshall and Chuck were the only chute spotted on the run and demonstrated that sailing the without a pole was the order for these conditions.

Race 2 was much like the first with Robbie & Billy putting on a clinic, some fast downwind legs, and Jim and crew trying to get to the club under jib. Fred and crew had a nice run as they were the first boat of the day to take their spinnaker pole out of hiding.

The decision to have a 3rd race was met with mixed reactions from some. The well rested crew on the Egan boat (new boom in hand) saw the opportunity to hike hard and take advantage of the crews that had been working hard all day. Jumping out to an early lead they looked as they would be able to take it easy only to break the jib sheets twice, sending crew John Domagala in the water with the second break. Jim and Richard managed to fish him out in time to jury rig the sheet and round the mark just ahead of Ron Pletsch who was riding a nice lift out of the left corner (surprise to see him out there, NOT!!). The downwind leg was close enough to be quite exciting with Jim and company holding on to the lead ahead of the Marshall and Robbie who were showing the leg of the course where they were happy to be 2 up. Fred Strammer and crew took a knockdown in the 3rd race that ended their day a bit early, but in good spirits.

The Sat Dinner was excellent but the beating everyone took on the water ensured that most crews were either in bed or the Jacuzzi by 9PM.

Race committee extraordinaire Alan Broadribb made it clear Sunday AM that the races would start on time Sunday due to the forecast build. It worked out quite well as they were able to get everyone out to the course and actually start the race early, before the 30 knot puffs filled in.

The breeze picked up a little on Sunday

The race started out much like the prior race with Jim and crew coming off the line fast with Robbie and Billy not far behind. Jim let Robbie split tacks to the right where he found a right shift and a lead he would not give back. Jim and crew held in there for 2nd with Marshall winning the battle for 3rd. Fred & crew played it safe Sunday (already having earned the swim badges for the weekend) but after seeing Chris Morgan and Jed Lee on the Linton boat pass them on the 1st run with the chute up, they got the last laugh sailing by them on the 2nd run after a flamboyant capsize under spinnaker. No, Jeff and Amy didn’t make it this weekend, but the story tells better when you talk about planning by the death rolled Linton boat on the way to the finish.

Death Roll fall out

With the breeze continuing to build and Robbie and Billy untouchable, Alan and company called it a day. The hardest sail of the weekend was upwind back to the squadron in 25-30 knot puffs. The fleet limped there under sounds only a sailmaker could love, heavily flogging sails.

Thanks to everyone who helped, Alan and his crew for RC, Lainie for arranging the fine dinner on Sat and Lunch Sun. Thanks to Jim Egan for painting the trophies and Lastly, thanks to Nigel Vick for not only helping with crash boat but providing the Great Photos