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Rogers boat was not there and his van was.

Black Betty was there.

Congrats on winning the race back! Did anyone pass donnybrook on the way back?



For some reason we didn't see Black Betty.

We didn't win nuttin'.

We must have gotten by Donneybrook on Sunday, but it would have been when we were in the light stuff in the Bay (not as fun as smoking by them on Saturday). We didn't see them after we rounded the X mark - we were too busy running down Todd and Chris on a double-trapped spin reach. Once out of the river the wind died and we were crawling up the Eastern shore while a lot of the bigger boats went out in the Bay. I think Donneybrook went out there and then eventually gave up. It was cool to look back and see a bunch of the sport boats following us up into the shore area - I thought it would have been too shallow for them.

So here's your "survival tale":

This is a race weekend that's been a bit of a bad luck story for the four years that the beach cats have had an official start. First there was Isabel. The next year a strong NorthEaster kept us on shore and played havoc with the race. Last year the wind dropped out halfway there, and nobody except three PHRF A0 boats finished.

But this Saturday's ride was a blast. At the start we picked up our first chunk of wood that actually stuck to the starboard dagger - interesting gurgling and banging noises... Starting at the back of a 200+ boat fleet on a downwind blow was awesome. Of all the classes, the beach cats started last, behind the multis and PHRF A0. Our goal was to run down all of the keel boats before the finish. At first the Inters were grouped pretty tight, although Doug and Andy showed early on they were the ones we'd be chasing. We started picking off other boats pretty soon after the start. We got settled in with Alec on the wire and finally started to assert ourselves on Todd and Chris as we ran down Donneybrook (for those who don't know, Donneybrook is a PHRF A0 custom all carbon Santa Cruz 72 - big money, big boat, big speed, very impressive). It was dicey running with all the keelboats downwind as we were running hotter angles, and they didn't care if you were starboard and the lee boat. That meant that often we would approach them and have to feather the boat up to take their stern while flapping the spin to avoid taking a gust at the wrong time. Pass the stern flapping, sheet in, bear off, and smoke by them in blast of spray! Dodging keelboats and logs... As the Grey Goose (aka the Love Boat) got along Donneybrook with us, they jibed towards the big black boat, tried to head up, and took their first crash of the day. Good show for the Donneybrook crew!

We were feeling pretty good about things after that, keeping an eye on Doug and Andy in the distance and picking our way through the heavy part of the keelboat fleet. We were getting close to the course for R80 in the Choptank, so we took a starboard jibe to the outside of the traffic and started to reel in a F-31 that was doing real well. Jibed to port to head towards R80, and were smoking along nicely when I found myself getting grabbed by a wave and upended off the back of the boat. As the boat was still powered up, nothing I grabbed stayed in my hand - so I got to see the Pirates of the Chesapeake sail off with Alec in the trap under full power with no helm, until she headed down and capsized to windward after the wind spilled. I watched to make sure Alec was with the boat, and started to swim. That was useless. The Backstroke worked best, still not too efficient. So I bobbed and watched as Alec got the boat ready to right. He was keeping an eye on me as well, so everything was ok with the world, no worries. I was happy we were outside of the traffic as I figured my biggest danger was getting conked by a keel.

It was then I saw off to my left that a mono had dropped all sails and was motoring towards me. That actually bummed me out a bit - I didn't want to mess up anybody else's race. But even though I felt things were under control, the prudent thing to do was to take the ride, as you just never know in those situations. I estimate our separation at about 30-50 yards at most, and I have full confidence that Alec would have righted the boat and gotten back to me. However, a safe ride was there, and I took it even though it would mean accepting assistance and a DSQ.

The folks on the keelboat were great. They got me on board, and said they were impressed with the speed of the cats. They were figuring out how they would assist us righting the boat when I told them just to drop me back in the water close by. That surprised them a bit. But perhaps they noticed that the whole time I was on board I had my eye on Alec and the boat, and wanted nothing more than to get back into the game. So to them I apologize - I probably wasn't very talkative. I even failed to get the name of the boat.

But drop me off they did, and they waited to make sure I got to the boat and watched was we righted it and got back under way. A quick wave and a call to find us at TAYC for drinks on me and we were back on our way, and they were back to their race having marked time for redress.

We ran for a little bit under main alone to clear lines and get a drink, and then it was back out with all the cloth and back up to speed again. Of course, after all this Donneybrook and the Grey Goose had gotten by us again. Into the Choptank and rounding G7 the chutes were put away as the ride became a tight reach. We stayed wide there - keelboats stacking up at a mark while dropping kites in a blow didn't seem like the place for a 20 foot cat!

As we headed up we found our starboard dagger was jammed in the trunk and wouldn't go down. Not what you want when settling into a long upwind port tack. But even so we continued to dispatch the remaining monos while trying to chase down Todd/Chris and Donneybrook. Up ahead somewhere was Doug and Andy, as well as Eric (I20 from Va Beach), and the F-31 we had been chasing before. The Goose held us off, and we obviously never caught Donneybrook again, but what a ride!

As Chris mentioned before, it was awesome getting to the beach before the majority of the boats came in because we got watch them all come up the river and race for the line. Lots of tight finishes to the end.

On the lawn in the middle of the mono crowd the cats drew attention, with lots of people stopping by to ask about them. The were at least of couple of folks that seemed genuinely interested - maybe we'll get some fresh converts!

Looking over our steed we found we had broken the top batten below the gaff. Of course with no spares, we set out to rig a repair. We had tape, but we needed something to splint the batten with. Well, I can honestly say that this is the first time both of us have eaten Key Lime Pie on a stick! There are sacrifices we must all make. After making sure they were clean of the remaining chocolate they were taped to the batten along some emory boards. The repair lasted - we'll probably sail with it this Tuesday, and until we find a replacement batten. Pie on a stick...

Party at Tred Avon Yacht Club was great. All in all a very fun event. We never did find the crew of the boat that helped us, but I'm tracking them down - they'll have drinks at the Riverview. We even got to be tourists in one of Easton's finest neighborhoods whilst acting as a taxi service. But that's a "tale of survival" you'll need to get from Chris.