BYC HEAVY WEATHER RACE 2007
19 February 2007
Saturday's relaxed schedule of events allowed time for skit practicing by the visiting clubs and tweaking of race logs in preparation for Sunday's race. The offical Saturday events started with a social hour and a fabulous Hawaiian Luau dinner complete with a genuine Hawaiian dance presentation, all keyed to the theme of a "Bremaloa-luau". Following dinner, two yacht clubs (Tacoma YC and Bremerton YC) presented skits expressing their interpretation of the theme. For the first time ever, the host club BYC walked away with first place honors and was awarded the highly treasured winner's trophy "The Rubber Clam Gun". With the night being entirely too young to close the clubhouse doors at the end of the skit contest, the BYC hosts brought on the band for an evening of dancing. Sunday morning dawned with gray skies and more than just a trace of light wind. Not to be deterred, 38 race contestants made it thru the log check-in process, were assigned their observers and got underway to accept the challenge of the course. With a starting mark in Sinclair Inlet off the Town of Annapolis, the course was laid out to have six control points which took the contestants north through Port Orchard waters to Battle Point, back south through the same waters and ending at the Warren Avenue bridge in Port Washington Narrows. What was intended to be an "easy" contest course with good aiming points and open ranges "guaranteed" to produce many low scores, was foiled by the wind. By the time the first boats approached the starting point, the wind had increased to a steady 10-15 knot southerlies with gusts to 25. Fortunately, the course did not require venturing out into the main body of Puget Sound. All contestants completed the contest, returned to the clubhouse for log check-in and readied themselves for the continuing social side of log racing. The pre-dinner social hour provided the ideal setting for story-telling, score "tapdancing" and whining about the unpredictable currents in Port Washington Narrows. A delicious lasagna dinner was prepared and served by the Skipperettes, the BYC Ladies Club. After dinner, the race awards were presented by BYC Commodore Ron Morse and Regatta Chair-Power P/C Mike Henry. Best scores for each leg were recognized with appropriate gifts presented. Next, awards were presented to the top three overall finishers, the first three places in each of five classes, the top scoring novice racer and a traveling trophy for the best four-boat team score. Taking overall honors were Dick and Jan Spence on KICHIGAI from Queen City YC with a score of 0.8446 %. Closely following in second place overall were Mike and Billie Henry on PEACHY KEEN from Bremerton YC with 0.8924%. Previous two-time winner Leo Longenecker on REALITY CHECK, also from BYC, rounded out the top three slots with 0.9088% for third place. BYC's P/C Grady Barrentine Team Trophy for the best four boat team score was won by Bremerton YC skippers Mike Henry, Leo Longenecker, Ron Morse and Rob Bruins. The BYC total team score of 4.0453% was very closely followed by the Queen City YC team score of 4.0750%. The Novice Award was also won by BYC Commodore Ron Morse of BYC as a first time entry in the Heavy Weather Race. Following a great Monday morning breakfast in the clubhouse and the weekend guests having departed by Monday noon, the BYC Heavy Weather Weekend social schedule drew to a close. Upon departing, many visitors were heard expressing their appreciation for the hospitality afforded by their hosts and vowing to return next February. It's apparent that the saying "LOG RACING IS A SOCIAL EVENT' accurately describes Bremerton Yacht Club's Heavy Weather Weekend.
Mike and Billie Henry
BREMERTON YC HEAVY WEATHER NAVIGATION CONTEST AWARDS
|
