Race instructions:
Rum Race NOR (http://www.gbca.org/RumRace.html)
Hot dogs, cold beer, rum drinks and popcorn. Everybody's a winner. Come on out.
The new flat screen in the GBCA lounge is sweet - we need to have a movie night!
Quote from: MaryM on June 17, 2009, 09:33:37 PM
The new flat screen in the GBCA lounge is sweet - we need to have a movie night!
"Morning Light" just came out on DVD.
Wow, just think... A movie, popcorn, AND rum!!
*bump*
Rum Race #4 this Saturday 7/18.
Don't let the temperature scare you.
It's great out on the water.
For some RR#4 will be a nice warmup to Texas Race Week...
You have signed up, haven't you? ;)
Party at the clubhouse afterwards....
I heard Belizean Pulled Pork was going to be there. I?m not sure if that?s a race entry, a band or a snack, but I?m going just to find out.
Kevin - I think it is a type of sex act
Well, I like Belize and I like pulled pork, so I'm going to find out. It won't be the first time curiosity has gotten me into a tight spot ;)
Quote from: Kevin Box on July 13, 2009, 07:39:51 PM
Well, I like Belize and I like pulled pork, so I'm going to find out. It won't be the first time curiosity has gotten me into a tight spot ;)
----"Not that there's anything wrong with that."
Just be sure you stop before you go blind!
My grandma once told me you could only do that 100 times in your life, then your heart would stop. I was so scared that 101st time...
The new TRW shirts will be available at the after-party on Saturday along with event passes. Even if you don't race you can still party with us!
Everyone make it in safely yesterday? It looked like there were a few good wipe-outs. I noticed there was a red/white spin floating around the bay on our way in. ...thought about trying to grab it but didn't think it prudent with the chances of fouling the prop on any sheets/guys or halyards still attached.
The XMSR weather was a pretty cool toy to have on the way in when choosing a window betweent the cells coming in.
That 3rd leg was pretty darn exciting. Poindexter in his J80 was down for the count, 5 minutes or so. Hung spin halyard, spreaders in the water, spin flog city. On Sea Trial, all around us, we saw plenty of round-ups and rudders out of the water. Kicks kept it upright, they think they saw 18.5 knots on paddle wheel. Painkiller was scooting along at a very rapid clip also.
The new (white with red X) spin you passed was the remains of Stinger's.
Although busy holding onto the vang with both hands, I wish I had my camera to get a pic of the carnage, the black clouds coming in from the north, and the impressive lightning show over NASA/JSC.
Sounds like this race should have been called.
Kevin just verified that that was Stinger's brand spanking new 110 sq. mt. chute.
Here are a few pics from the Rum Race that Scott and I took. Didn't say out to watch the end of the race but look at the last couple of pics. Ouch! :o
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacyphotos/sets/
John m/v Tramp
Was able to watch 3rd leg from Noah's Ark... Was able to show kids what not to do... It was an interestering line, watched it build over Red fish area and move in... Don't worry, we were able to finish dinner before it started raining...
cheers...
Scott
Quote from: Bee on July 19, 2009, 07:37:52 PM
Sounds like this race should have been called.
Kevin just verified that that was Stinger's brand spanking new 110 sq. mt. chute.
Racing Rule #4 says a yacht's decision to race or continue racing is hers alone (or something to that effect). It is almost impossible to call a Rum Race since there's no RC to call it. But, honestly, even if there was, some boats are perfectly capable of racing in those conditions and may even enjoy it. Calling the race is unfair to them. So, let them race, and let each boat make their own decision, as it should be.
Sorry to hear about your spinnaker. That's gotta hurt.
Nombre.
+1
Whether you believe it or not, I do understand the rules.
I was and always am concerned about the potential for injury. First thing any owner must be concerned about is that. Fortunately, as far as I know, none of Stinger's crew was seriously injured. Two of the five were in the water hanging on to stanchions. With all those lines free, anything could have happened. Nevertheless they calmly recovered and dodged the rest of the bullets on the way back to slip :).
Boats and Chutes are just $$$ and easily replaced. If your going to race you must accept the price in every aspect. But the hardware is easy to replace. People are another matter entirely. Sitting here all locked up from surgery, I know what it would be like to get seriously injured, wind up in hospital and not be able to sail for an extended period. >:(
What I did not understand at first was when the carnage happened. As it was toward the end nothing much could or should have been done. I remember getting blasted in one of these just after the start. The then Commodore could be heard screaming over channel 68 that the race was officially canceled and everyone should get off the Bay ASAP. I think that race was won by Roy Crawford on The Great Escape. :D
Bee where are you at. I am in St johns in Nassau bay with whY they believe is a staph infection in my leg. If you are her maybe we can get together for happy hour!!! My injury had nothing to do with sat night but did have to go to er later that evening. I had to miss the party so I didn't get to here all the carnage reports. So everyone keep posting stories about SAt night this gets real boring quick
Kevin
Quote from: hayesrigging on July 20, 2009, 05:58:54 PM
Bee where are you at. I am in St johns in Nassau bay with whY they believe is a staph infection in my leg. If you are her maybe we can get together for happy hour!!! My injury had nothing to do with sat night but did have to go to er later that evening. I had to miss the party so I didn't get to here all the carnage reports. So everyone keep posting stories about SAt night this gets real boring quick
Kevin
That would be great Kevin. Would like that a lot, but unfortunately I came home Thursday round 4:30 PM. I have also had what you have and would not change my knee for the infection. Be damn careful with that. Those things can eat away your leg or worse really fast.
My requirement for a total knee replacement was based on what appeared to a knee collapse. On Monday July 6th I could barely stand. We already knew the knee was bone-on-bone so I just said "let's go", and we went. The squirrelly thing was that by the morning of the surgery (Monday July 20th) the pain was gone. I mean totally gone. Just had to gut up and go.
Take care.
Bee
One Design 35 takes a little dip...first time out.
pic credit to Tanya Ledger on Island Time
"Uh, guys, maaaaybe we should take the spinnaker down..."
Pic by Tanya Ledger
"omph...too late..."
:o
In order.
There was plenty of potential for problems with this race beforehand. Because of weather, we did not leave the slip til almost 5, having heard several people call in and be told by the race committee that this race was not cancelled. We had visual of radar and could see cells developing but the bay appeared to be under clear sky.
Once out it was actually quite nice until the end of the second leg when we could see the clouds forming over the east bay and off to the south. Got too busy with getting the spin up and were even trying to set up the staysail, which was probably why we did not realize we had a problem till the 1D35 went Splat right behind us. We might have been halfway down with the kite were it not for the other distractions. Anyway, it hit us and all but one sheet pulled through while we were letting the halyard down. We went over on the side and ended up hove to perpendicular to the wind.
Due to many good fortunes, we managed to get the kite, but not one set of sheets and guys back into the boat. Only other damage was a chunk of TuffLuff, which does not appear to be problematic for now. Net is probably over a thousand bucks, but probably not two, unless you consider that the 1/2 oz spinaker is now a 3/8 oz spinaker, but somewhat stretched out.
I understand Parrot Tales had some damage as well. Kudos to the J80's for holding things together and winning, and everyone for keeping our casualty list down. btw I was under the impression that there were more non-spin boats finishing than show in the result, but people may have been motoring?.
There are, in fact, advantages to owning a boat which was built overly stout from the get-go.
As for the race committee's decision, it is, as always, a crap shoot with weather on Galveston Bay, but in this case, the existence of generally unsettled weather and lightning prior to the race might have suggested backing off. I would suggest in the future that language to the effect that the decision to race is up to the skipper of the boat might be included in any announcements about the race.
I was very happy with MY decision until the knockdown and only really got worried when we were approaching the channel and started seeing powerful cloud to ground lightning less than two miles away. Later on, the magnitude and intensity of the overhead lightning indicated the massive amounts of energy in the meeting of cold front and the remnants of our heat wave.
I would suggest a review of the policy regarding these races by the GBCA leadership. All of us have seen storm waves run through early of an evening then clear out, but perhaps there is something to be said for a safety first policy. If nothing else, a strong suggestion about PFD's under unsettled weather situations...
I am not sure what we would have done if a man-overboard situation had happened shortly after the knockdown, but it would not have been pretty!!! And whoever went into the water might have been there a while.
John Butler
Millennium Express
So John, are you saying that if you were the GBCA fleet captain, you would have called the race?
Sounds and looks like some people got caught with their pants down and sails up, while other people pulled their sails down before the infamous invisible storm hit, 2/3rds into the race.
Speaking of safety, what in the hell is that guy doing standing on your bow pulpit? That doesn?t look safe!
I can personally tell you that the fleet captain is always in a no win position. Race, no race, postpone, shorten course, change course, anything you do is going to make someone upset. IMHO: The only other job worse than the fleet captain is being a phrf board member. You can?t even go out to eat dinner without someone bitching about their rating but that?s for another topic.
John, if the fleet captain would have mentioned over the radio, that the responsibility to race or not is the skippers or please wear your pfd?s, change ANYTHING that you did Saturday night?
Jeff
Jeff FYI
The guy "standing" on the bow was setting up a halyard and was there about 5 seconds and it was before the gust hit. And he said later that he was very glad he was not up there 60 seconds later.
If someone had mentioned that PFD's were probably a good idea in this unsettled weather, I probably would have had mine on. (but my case is a little special)
As for second guessing the fleet captain, I leave that up to you. But it would have been a much sadder day if someone had gotten hurt more than the cost of a few sails or lines in a basically meaningless race.
John
I'm with you John, I wouldn't ever want to see anyone get hurt! Aren't all sailboat races pretty much meaningless in the big scheme of things? I personally wouldn?t take anymore risks in a rum race than I would in the Shoe regatta.
I think your missing my point which is, I just don?t think it?s the fleet captain?s responsibility for everyone?s safety that races. I (and the rules) think it remains with the skipper and crew!
Unless you get my point and just don?t agree with it and I?m good with that too. Let?s be careful out there!
Jim made the right call. There was no way he could have known we'd have a gust front come through like that several hours after he had to make the decision. As a matter of fact it was very difficult to tell how strong that gust was going to be until our shrouds were in the water... ::)
---Like Bee said, Be careful with that staph infection. Bad things
can happen with those but don't necessarily. Staph is really on the rise in Houston. Use that anti-bacterial soap when you can. It often just looks like a white headed pimple or something when it starts to come up.
Now back to our normal programming.
Quote from: hayesrigging on July 20, 2009, 05:58:54 PM
Bee where are you at. I am in St johns in Nassau bay with whY they believe is a staph infection in my leg. If you are her maybe we can get together for happy hour!!! My injury had nothing to do with sat night but did have to go to er later that evening. I had to miss the party so I didn't get to here all the carnage reports. So everyone keep posting stories about SAt night this gets real boring quick
Kevin
Thanks for the opening Jay. Here is what can happen if you wait too long for a simple scratch to heal, or the Doc's can't figure out the proper antibiotic:
The infection usually starts with just a little white frost and a pretty good itch. I my case, I also severely bruised the inside of the left knee. The resulting swelling reduces blood flow and gives the bacteria a great home base from which to grow and flourish. Being an all-knowing, all-powerful, all-healthy individual the body would certainly fight the infection, kill it in the bud, and all would be fine.
Two weeks after the incident my leg had the black telltale lines characteristic of gangrene. The tiny white splotch was now a 2X1 inch long nasty looking thing. The sports-doctor father of a friend of mine saw it on a Sunday afternoon and immediately arrange for hospital admittance and surgery. The good surgeon removed a 2X1X.75 volume from the muscle just below my knee and put me on some of the strongest IV antibiotic known to man.
You do not want to know what post-op surgery for this kind of thing is but I will tell you that you that the only way to fill the hole is to let the hole fill --- without further infection.
Quote from: KevinBednar on July 21, 2009, 12:21:52 PM
Jim made the right call. There was no way he could have known we'd have a gust front come through like that several hours after he had to make the decision. As a matter of fact it was very difficult to tell how strong that gust was going to be until our shrouds were in the water... ::)
55.396 knt gust recorded at Eagle Point NOAA meteorological station. 11 knts to 55 knts in less than 15 minutes.
After rounding the mark we had few boats behind us by which to judge the force of the breeze, until the 1D35 off our hip went splat.
We all went out. Yes, it's the skippers responsibility; but each is also responsible for our own personal safety. Anyone could have stepped off at the dock, but did not.
Hahah, I hadn't even looked. Still licking my wounds I suppose. Funny thing is Stinger's anemometer only read 33 knots. I guess it's a little less accurate when it's submerged.
I think the 55kts was from the cell that went southeast of Kemah around 3pm. The sailflow graph shows mid-30's about the time we were on the last leg.
This brings up my point for years, why do people have to be told to wear a PFD? can't they think it might be a bit safer to wear one? maybe I still remember helping pluck Sandy out of the water after a rum race and taking her to the ER... The skipper is responsible for the boat and crew safety... the crew can even take responsibility for their own safety and wear a jacket :o... If the weather is bad or light, it is the skipper's responsiblity to sail or not sail... they have to sail according to their crew's ability... The R/C cannot stand around waiting for perfect conditions, people are out and subjecting themselves to more danger circling the starting line waiting for someone to make a decision they agreed to do... I did not realize there was a race committee for a TGIF race... yes, they are still TGIF races to me... people need to watch the cells on the Gulf Coast... I was eating dinner, across the bay and saw it building... I am glad no one got really hurt from this...
cheers...
Scott
I only saw 33 Kev, after that I was watching our helmsman trying to get to the high side and keeping my face out of the bay...