Southwest Florida Real
Estate News
|
|
Home Classified Ads Links Advertise Archive Join Our Mailing List |
|
This is an article I wrote for Mainsheet Magazine that will be
published in the Sept. 2007 issue. We are having a BLAST here in Southwest Florida - boating 12 months a year!! Editors Note: Diane is SW FL transplant from The Windy City (Chicago) Area. Diane Fowler, GRI, CRS Sellstate Priority Realty www.capecoralhomes.com Cell 239-850-4935 RACING EXCITEMENT ABOARD WINDY CITY, 36’ CATALINA  
 Click on photos to enlarge We all know how comfy CRUISING on a Catalina 36 is, but can she RACE? Saturday’s start of the Conquistador’s Cup Regatta in Charlotte Harbor, Punta Gorda, FL, began with a just a ghost of a breeze. Sunny blue skies, temperature of 75, good crew, plenty of food and drink—just not enough wind to start! So, we sat. Opened the bimini, made lunch, played CD’s, danced and waited. Our Catalina 36, Windy City, has all the comforts of home. There were 68 boats in the regatta—just drifting around & yelling greetings to one another. A pod of four dolphins came by Windy—curious as ever. One came right next to the hull, spun sideways, locked eyes with me, smiled (I swear he did) and swam on to the next boat for inspection. We see dolphins here on the west coast of Florida most every time we take the boat out, but I always get a thrill when I see them. Their grace and beauty is spell binding. The spinnaker boats sailed in a whole different area of the harbor. The non-spins and true cruisers were racing triangles in the “Inner harbor” course. We were in the pink fleet—the faster of the True Cruisers—11 boats total. After our traditional start (finally!), we ran out on the left side of the course and tacked a few times to round the mark. Our speed was 1.7 over ground and we were 50 feet from our mark on a close hulled tack. Out of nowhere, Oui Oui, a 40’ Swan rolled over us and stole our air. They ran past us like we were standing still! Sails fluttering, we were now below the lay line. RATS! Tacked over. Now, on port tack, I’m heading for 3 more starboard boats. Traffic jam! After ducking them, we finally rounded the mark! That move alone probably cost us 4-5 minutes. The “local knowledge” of this area helped the PGSC (Punta Gorda Sailing Club) racers take most of the honors Saturday eve at the party. We ended up 6th & 7th. Disappointing. One of the reasons that the Conquistador’s Cup is such a popular race, is the reverse start (technically, they referred to it as a Swedish Start) and unusual L-shaped course on Sunday. Also, the start-finish line is a CLOSED GATE; meaning you cannot cross this line during the race. Sunday morning started with a new crew member who has won many races on HIS boat, but it was his first time aboard Windy City. He looked everything over, and decided we should do better than 6 & 7 today! First stop, though, the pump-out station (sure wish we had a bigger holding tank with 5 aboard). Our assigned start was 11:16:41. Frequent wind shifts and an incoming tide provided new challenges! Our predicted starboard start was scrapped at the last minute in favor of a port start. Winds of 5-6 knots had everyone moving along smoothly. Another glorious day of dolphins, blue skies etched with wispy white streaky clouds and sunny 82. After all, this is the SUNSHINE state, right? Theoretically, all 68 of us should finish this 6.8 NM course together. Since we all have individual start times, whoever crosses first—WINS! After fighting traffic at the first mark (literally, I was fending off a 34” Hunter’s anchor poised precariously 10 inches above my stern seat!), we settled in for a long downwind leg of wing on wing. There were so many boats, it was difficult to find our competition. Luckily, Jabo, Saturday’s winner, has a navy hull. And, Lea, another local winner, has a green hull, so we COULD keep on eye on them. The majority of boats headed off to the right of the course, hoping to get a freshening sea breeze. My GPS told me our mark was dead ahead. This had the wind DIRECTLY behind us. I learned years ago, if you want to win, you must be different! So, we took a chance. We sailed the left side of the course. Our new 155 jib was fully poled out and pulling nicely on the flat seas. The crew relaxed on the bow and the wind died off again. Just a short time later, I felt the wind picking up and yelled “Fasten your seatbelts…. We’re preparing for take-off”. The 5 or 6 of us who chose the straight angle started moving. We slid by the 40’ Swan! Big cheer! Even though they weren’t in our class, it was a small victory for our crew. It was a surreal moment for me. I felt like I was looking at a painting of 40 sailboats and we were the only ones moving. Ten minutes later, they got wind, too, but we had already passed Lea, and Jabu was off our port side. Very exciting! The last leg was also great fun. We had winds from 5 knots to 12 knots in a matter of SECONDS. I was yelling “weight on low side” and minutes later, “Weight on high side”. I caught a 10 degree lift, followed minutes later by a header. In the 5 years of racing and cruising our coastal waters, I have never had so much change so quickly. It was a RUSH to ride the lifts. That exhilaration of the sails pulling in a gust keeps me coming back for more races. My true “natural high”. The costumed Conquistador gave out medals Sunday eve at the awards party. As the skipper of Windy City, I proudly accepted my 3rd place medallion necklace and thanked my hard-working crew. Diane Fowler, GRI, CRS © Diane Fowler, All rights reserved. Contact Dian
Fowler for reprint or reposting rights. |