January Wreckers Race

We are embarqued again upon the series of four Wreckers Races here in Key West. This time, our January boat was heavily loaded as we took our regular racing crew of Bob and Gail Bert, Luke and Jan Sand, and added Dan and Karen Schroeder and Don Hutchins. The night before the race, six of us dined at Alonzos before registering for the race.

A little pre-race stategey is always helpful, as Rick, Don, and Bob discuss where to fly the spinnaker.

Jan, Karen, Don, and Cookie heading out to the races.

We got a magnificent start, almost the first across the line....not always easy since it sometimes appears the committee boat uses a wall clock instead of a stop watch. This is afterall, a race with no rules, no perfs. Last year one of the races was down to the 2 minute warning when the race committee suddenly announced they'd made a mistake and it should have been the one minute warning. These things happen....it's Key West.

Several of the 5 schnooers racing with us.

The end of the story is not as wonderful as the beginning. While the guys were conferencing about the final tack, we  either missed the moment or the committee boat moved (guess which theory our boaters espoused) and had to do some fancy manuesvering to squeeze in around the edge of the committee boat. The last minute double tack gave us a 3rd instead of a second and caught us up short headed for the reef. Another desparate tack caught the spinnaker on the upper spreaders and ripped it along the seam, the flapping sheets also manaaged to catch the pelican hook damaging the cotter pin. We still took 3rd place and brought home our Pussars Rum tin cup with pride. Since then, we have repaired the sail, the sock, the pelican hook, checked for damage to the spreader, and are ready to resume the racing series.