WWWIPEOUT WWWEDNESDAY!
Since I’m going to be a little busy tomorrow and I’m waiting out the Tropical Storm Debby deluge, here’s a pre-Wednesday edition.
Team Yost Auto has some powerful SI sails, maybe too powerful! They show a textbook pitchpole because they eased traveler instead of mainsheet. Keep the pressure off the bows boys! Yost was one of the sponsors of the Great Texas 300, and this vid shows a great view of the storm we narrowly escaped from on the last day. Apparently, there was more than one mine drilling capsize in this squall. Just replay the first 10 seconds over and over and it’s all good.
Ridden Ruff, Put Away Wet
The gunfight in Texas came to an end Saturday with Ruff Rider blowing the smoke off the ends of the six-shooters in Galveston to come out victorious in the Great Texas 300. They managed to capture the corrected time trophy and the inaugural Mike Worrell elapsed time trophy as well, ending up with enough hardware to fill the back seat of Boss Hogg’s horn-hooded Caddy.
Sailed in mostly light to moderate conditions, the 300 mile race did feature some drama on the high-Gulf and close finishes. Two boats were lost, the crews lifted from the cats, with only the platforms salvageable after they washed up on the weed ridden, barren coastine, after a squall ripped through the fleet. Many teams were knocked down and rode the winds out before righting their boats.
The last two days proved to be lollipop conditions, with teams battling it out for leg wins, although it’s not always easy. Team Velocitek took a four minute bite out of Ruff Rider’s 15 minute jump on the third day, leaving Ruff Rider to match race, or stay connected on the last day to maintain their 11 minute lead.
Ruff Rider was not to be denied and finished second corrected for the leg after a sprint to the finish. When Ruff Rider crew, Ian Billings, saw they had a chance to win the leg when the Capricorn of Salva Vida Vela hung up in the surf, he sprang off the boat and started pushing like he’d get deported if they lost. How could he quit with the helm yelling ‘hee-haw’ so loud.
After noticing the effort put forth by the Ruff Rider team, Salva Vida Vela’s ground crew let out a Nordic howl as he willed their Capricorn over the finish line to be crowned leg winners by one second. ‘Spent’ would be the word.
Texas City Dike Yacht Club protected the third position and team Rudderless rounded out the top four.
The elapsed time winner for the last leg and open fleet champion was Yost Auto, who overcame monumental challenges like losing their main in one leg and a rudder in another. Poison Girl ended in second in the open fleet with Jack Flash, the Hobie 18 old school (not an old school sailplan) truly earning the third position.
Head to the OTWA thread on Sailing Anarchy for more interviews and Justin TV action, as well as the GT 300 site for results, and the picasso site for more pics. And of course you can visit my gallery for the GT300 for more pics.
Team Texas City Dike Yacht Club really came through for us, providing their RV for us to abuse all week. Some of the crew even slept in tents. I know it’s hard to compete when you can’t run your program like usual. Thanks a ton. Also, to Billy Richnow, the PRO who was always accessible to us and provided clean, concise answers whenever we asked. The important thing is the competitors ‘get it.’ They gave great interviews and most of the time came over for an interview no matter what situation they were in. Overall, I felt it was a big step in live sailing coverage, and I hope to keep doing it in the future.
Real thanks to Australian High Performance Catamarans, and Red Gear Racing for making this all possible. If you need a fast, solid F18 or F16, this is the one for you, believe me!
A Fan
I have arrived in South Padre Island for the Great Texas 300. After a lightening strike to my plane while on the ground, it was a couple hours before a new one was dropped off for the lowly travelers to make their way to sweaty Texas. I arrived last night at 12 to find one of my fans camped out before my site.
I’ve set up a GT300 gallery at the top of the page for your pleasure and will post some of the inside stuff from our run on my page.
Check Sailing Anarchy for live coverage soon.
Texas Tangle
The next project is more On The Water Anarchy with coverage of the Great Texas 300 catamaran long distance race. Check out Sailing Anarchy for interviews, cocktail hours and especially live coverage from the beaches for starts and finishes. Rest assured, I’ve been taught by the best on beach interviews, Mr. Robert Feldman, from the Worrell 1000 of lore…..RIP Mike Worrell. Your legacy will remain only to be built upon in the future.
Kenny Pierce and I raced the GT300 back in ’06 I think. Bigtime twin-wire spin reach almost the whole way. Here is a pic of us busting out through the surf in Texas. Hopefully it’s windy as hell. Forecast shows strengthening to 20 knots on Thursday, the second day of the race.
Photo Credit: Nautishots.com
