tj@utcs.UUCP (tj) (06/04/85)
I am a power boater by heart, but this summer I became crew on a Goman Express 30 on wednesday nights. It has been an experience. I am a Laser sailer and for the first two weeks I got lost in the rigging. I am finally getting to know my way around the boat and it is getting easier and more enjoyable. Last Friday we entered the Susan Hood Trophy overnight race. 63 Nautical miles starting friday at 8 pm till ???? Last friday was the time when have of Ontario was getting sucked up in tornados and to say we had strong winds would still be an understatement. We finally called it quits after 5 hours when the wind speed indicator said 45 Knots. The winning boat recorded 48 Knots. It certainly was exciting and I was disappointed when we quit. Next time we will be better prepared and will finish (first?). For the other brave boats that went on where we left off, it was expensive. These guys were flying spinnakers on the second leg in 48 Knot winds. One main sail blew out, one spinnaker blew out, one mast broke. The winner (a boat called Mover) had 10 crew, 40 feet, and on the downwind leg with the spinnaker up had all 10 crew behind the helm trying to keep the rudder in the water. Our 30 footer only laid the sails in the water once.... t.jones
johnt@utai.UUCP (John Turner) (06/06/85)
Hello There I was also sailing in the Susan Hood Overnight race in Toronto last Friday (May 31). I was navigator on a Jouet 760 a french built boat about 25 ft long. The owner has just this year had the rigging replaced with an oversized mast and boom. He said that he has never had to use two reeefing points on lake ontario, and so only had one installed on the new main. The one reef reduces the main sail area to about that of the original main. We had a lot of fun :-). We were knocked down three times, once with spinnaker up, twice with number 3 genoa and reefed main. Three of our six crew were sick, one for about six hours. We won our class (MORC B) but then the only other to start in our class dropped out. As stated in the previous article, the winner overall was _Mover_. It had an elapsed time of about 8:19. The first boat in was a spirit 35, a 35 ft double outrigger trimaran, with an elapsed time of about 7:05. The time for the tri is approximate. Mover killed the tri on corrected time. Anyway, it was an exciting race, and i hope the rest this season are a lot easier. John Turner.