HYANNIS REGATTA
Lots of excitement at the Hyannis Regatta and there's still one more day of sailing. Friday saw strong winds and large confused seas with the fleet racing a distance offshore. Approx. 22 F-18's were competing. Lots of capsizes. Nick Fluery and his crew got separated from their cat and spent maybe 30 minutes in the water with the wind blowing the boat one way and the current taking them the other. Luckily Nick had a VHF radio and was able to call the CG who radioed the RC. The CG dispatched a vessel and the RC sent over mark boats. Ian and Alex Helmar noticed the unmanned cat on their way back out from the beach and joined in the search and alerted other sailors. The crew was eventually picked up and returned to their boat. A lot of boats came in with broken trapeze bungee cords indicating they'd flipped.
Sat the winds were in the 15kt range and the seas were down some so the competition heated up. Sandra Tartaglino had some minor gelcoat damage several feet back from the bow after someone hit her. Dino Garbero popped off the boat somehow after a tack and found that steering while dragging at the end of the tiller at 10 kts has it's limits. The tiller snapped and the boat sailed away with his son. His son was able to get the boat back near him but not able to make the pickup. A larger allowance and he might have tried harder. An unidentified crew broke off their race and came to assist (a Hobie with white sails).
One of the worst events of the day was when a cat came around the weather mark, popped their chute and reportedly had some problems with it. A boat on the port tack layline was on a reciprocal course just below them when they engaged (I won't get into the who was right/wrong issue). It apparently wasn't pretty. The crash and burn resulted in the port tack boat flipping over and the crew receiving a power boat ride to shore and an ambulance ride to the hospital. He suffered two broken fingers (the suffering is probably worse today). The other boat's spinnaker was trashed. I was a little surprised that they held the protest hearing and made a decision while knowing and even indicating on the form that the other team was at the hospital.
Another incident involved a collision where the bow of one boat destroyed the stern of another. No injuries on that one.
The number of incidents of people being separated from their boats this year should drill home the fact that catamaran events need extra mark boats for safety reasons and maybe that all teams should be required to carry a cell phone or VHF.
So far the Nacra Infusion MK2 has dominated the class with all firsts. Today the wind is lighter so we'll see what difference that makes.
Sat the winds were in the 15kt range and the seas were down some so the competition heated up. Sandra Tartaglino had some minor gelcoat damage several feet back from the bow after someone hit her. Dino Garbero popped off the boat somehow after a tack and found that steering while dragging at the end of the tiller at 10 kts has it's limits. The tiller snapped and the boat sailed away with his son. His son was able to get the boat back near him but not able to make the pickup. A larger allowance and he might have tried harder. An unidentified crew broke off their race and came to assist (a Hobie with white sails).
One of the worst events of the day was when a cat came around the weather mark, popped their chute and reportedly had some problems with it. A boat on the port tack layline was on a reciprocal course just below them when they engaged (I won't get into the who was right/wrong issue). It apparently wasn't pretty. The crash and burn resulted in the port tack boat flipping over and the crew receiving a power boat ride to shore and an ambulance ride to the hospital. He suffered two broken fingers (the suffering is probably worse today). The other boat's spinnaker was trashed. I was a little surprised that they held the protest hearing and made a decision while knowing and even indicating on the form that the other team was at the hospital.
Another incident involved a collision where the bow of one boat destroyed the stern of another. No injuries on that one.
The number of incidents of people being separated from their boats this year should drill home the fact that catamaran events need extra mark boats for safety reasons and maybe that all teams should be required to carry a cell phone or VHF.
So far the Nacra Infusion MK2 has dominated the class with all firsts. Today the wind is lighter so we'll see what difference that makes.
posted by Rick @ 5:15 PM
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