Did the U-Gotta Regatta

Nov 8, 2010
11,386
Beneteau First 36.7 & 260 Minneapolis MN & Bayfield WI
Or at least TRIED to. Last weekend.

In the last 12 days, there have been 10 days with perfect breeze in the mid-teens here in Minneapolis. Wanna guess what two days had nothing?

Sat forecast: nothing really all day.

Yep. Driving the WYC early Saturday morning and the flags were hanging limp. Got the boat for the 830am dock time (10am warning), but the RC was already planning a on-shore postponement. We often do this at WYC when the wind is off, as it is a 45 minutes motor/sail out of the bay and into the main lake where racing happens. It was in the upper 30s that morning, and the RC did not want the boats bobbing in the cold.

So we rigged the boat, then sat and talked. At 9am the RC called that they would postpone at 10, with and earliest new warning at 11. This is in fact almost impossible because the SI call for at least 1 hour from the on-shore postponement being called to first possible warning. Only way to do that would be to postpone, and immediately come out of it. So we sat. Talked. And pretty sure had a beer.

At 1030 still no wind, but the RC lifts the postponement and calls for an attempt for a warning at noon. So we hop in the the j24 and motor out. And were met with this. That's my old bowman Brendon in his new j70 with the mainsail up. He must of wanted practice at doing that, nobody else touched their sails.

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At 3PM this is not going to happen, so the RC abandons the day. No famous shrimp-boil party, and we're try again tomorrow!

Sun forecast: nothing in the morning, building to 6 in the early afternoon.

At 830 the RC comes on the VHF and announces that due to no wind and a better afternoon forecast, we will postpone on shore and the next announcement will be at 11AM with an (earliest) potential noon start.

This seems strange to us, because no racing yesterday puts a premium on getting AT LEAST one race in to have a regatta. So we rig. Then sit. Some teams go into Wayzata for breakfast. At 930 we're bored so we head out with two other boats to practice if anything show up.

About 1/2 way out, the RC come on the VHF early and says 'wind is building on the main lake, start heading out. Mad scramble ensues on shore. Some griping about the call, but most happy there is wind. We get to the main lake and sure enough, there is 6-7 knots of southerly. We get the sails up, go upwind getting readings and a feel for it, and then turn down with the kite. A drop, two more tacks upwind, and a downwind as the rest of the fleet (40 boats) comes out. One of the local marine photographers on the scene to shoot the regatta gets a picture of us.

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Solid wind now for over an hour. But we cannot start until at least 11am. And then it happens, the breeze gets patchy, light, and starts to come from everywhere. For the next 3 hours, the RC vainly tries to get a fair line and course established, but to no avail. At 3PM the regatta is abandoned.

A first for that. I blame 2020.

The RC took some heat for sitting on shore last day with no races yet scored. But, bygones. Sadly the trophies for the three classes (j22, j24, j70) had the YEAR engraved on them, so the OC will have to get clever to re-use them!
 
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