by Marty Chrisman,
Rear Commodore for Sail

There were good winds and 10 boats entered in the Jamaican-Me-Crazy Race.  This is not your average, run-of-the-mill race.  It is supposed to be fun!  First, the race’s rules required an even mixture of men and women in the crew.  Second, the crews had to be “in costume”. And third, there is always a quirk or two in the rules – more on that later.  The course took the boats from the Canyon Lake Marina area to the Cranes Mill area.  Then the race continued from the Cranes Mill area to the bay to the right of the dam.  At one point some power boaters had taken advantage of our mark to raft up, but the raft-up broke up as the lead boat approached he mark.  Since it is customary to add a twist to the rules for this particular race, the rules of the race were modified to require each boat to drop its sails after crossing the finish line, then and motor around the finishing pin, back across the finish line.  The finish time was the recorded upon the second motor driven crossing.

In the non-Spinnaker Fleet, Velma Smith, skipper of Freedom came across the line first.  Sharon Austin skippered Fiona to a 1st place finish in the Cruiser Fleet.  David Beckett, skipper of Tryst, came in with a 1st place finish in the Big Boat Fleet.  Thanks to Derek Crawford, Roz Rainbolt, and Carol Teat for their help on the Race Committee "boat" (aka - the T head of the dock) Thanks also to Jesse Murphy and Charlie Teat for their great and continued support in being the chase boat and ensuring the marks and pins are set.  Also, thanks to Caroline Dechert for her trophy selections.  Our trophies have been appropriate for each race have been deeply appreciated by the recipients.

CALLING ALL WOMEN.  The "Estrogen Regatta" is planned for Saturday July 12th.  We hope that women of many sailing experiences - from zero to sailing for years will join us.  Winning skipper, Velma Smith, who has led the efforts to teach the youth to sail the Sunfish has agreed to teach any interested women how to sail the Sunfish, too.  She says it will only take about an hour to learn to sail these small sailboats.  After we've learned to sail, we'll race around the tires.  There will be as many races as we have women participants.  By the end of the day, we will have identified the winner of the Regatta.  I hope you will come join the fun.

Fair winds,

Marty Chrisman