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Great Texas Team Ruff Rider Report - C2 the Giant Slayer

With much anticipation for the 2011 version of the Great Texas, my team mate Ian Billings and I wondered how we would fair against the 3 big boats on the registration list. For at least 2 months prior to the race there was a lot of buzz going around the beach and the internet on how the big boats would stack up against the F18's. We felt we had a good shot against the other F18's based on what we had seen at regattas so far this season. We had plenty of speed with our C2. We had the mindset that if it was light we may be in trouble with the big boats and if it was breezy we would have a shot to get them on corrected time. With a week to go, I started looking at the forecasts which ranged from Southeast 10-15 to Southeast 5-10 on most of the legs, marginal for us to pull it off. Then Sunday night before the race everything got bumped up to Southeast 15-20 and some Southeast 20-25. It was looking like 2008, the windiest year for the GT300. This was the year Ian and I set the record for lowest time- 18 hours 24 minutes 51 seconds. That got me excited. I emailed Ian and said I think we have a shot and maybe we can even break the overall record. He was just as pumped up as me. Till then it was hard to get too excited about the race. I had been busy preparing my boat and helping other AHPC customers with their boats for the previous 6 weeks. I thought the race would never come. On with the race.

Day One (Experience pays)

Go time! Sherri Morris, our team manager, had drawn the #1 starting position for us the night before the start. Sweet! This was a first for us. Knowing it was going to be South 15-20 increasing to Southeast 20-25 by the end of the leg our game plan was pretty cut and dry. Put the kite up and carry it as far as we can. We shoved off in 4 foot waves and a close reach in 15 knots of breeze. We blasted right out thru the surf. A quick glance back and Team Trapout on their Carbon 20 flipped right after clearing the surf line. The crew went to the low side to get a board or rudder and straight over she went . A few minutes later, Ian looked back and Team Zhik 1 on their Carbon 20 were parked outside the surf and appeared broken. We settled in jib reaching and had a decent lead by the time everyone had settled in. Then the Supercat 22, Team Cat Alley, started hunting us down. They eventually rolled us jib reaching so we decided it was time to fly the kite. Ian launched the kite and jumped out on the wire. We started to roll out from underneath the 22. They weren't liking that and immediately put up their headsail . We played a little cat and mouse for awhile. Finally, we decided to go over the top of them before we both settled into our modes. They were slightly deeper. We were slightly higher. About an hour into the race, the two of us started to stretch on the rest of the fleet. Team Cat Alley seemed to really be soaking after awhile. I guess they were trying to stay on the rhumbline. We could not do that on the F18. We had to keep the pedal down and our speeds up, even if that meant sailing further. About 3 hours in we were all by ourselves headed way off shore, outside the rhumbline. Pushing hard with Ian on the wire and the kite up still. It was a bumpy ride. This is when you start second guessing yourself. Where are the other boats? Is there better pressure inside ? Is there better wind direction inside? We were constantly 10-15 degrees above where we needed to be going but the forecast was for more Easterly breeze later in the day. We were banking on it to bring us back down to the beach. With forty miles to go, we were wondering where is the Supercat and the 2 Carbon 20's? Are they inside of our line steam rolling down the rhumbline with more power? I got itchy to jibe back but we talked about it and stuck to are guns . In 2008 we were in the same position. We jibed into the beach making a big mistake. We got to the beach where it got rough and we couldn't carry the kite anymore. We ended up sailing for 30-35 minutes the wrong direction to get beat up. We didn't want to make that mistake again so we pushed on. With 27miles to go, we jibed for the finish. I estimated our jibing angles were 40-45 degrees so we jibed giving a 10 degree buffer to prevent getting over stood . Ian jumped back out on the wire and we started surfing down 8 foot faces . I looked up at the compass -oh crap! We were on the lay line and in the puffs we were below the lay line. The angles were more like 35 degrees . I had a sinking feeling. If we over stood , we are toast. We hung in there. With about 10 miles to go there were no boats in sight, a good sign. We got about 7 miles out and had to drop the kite because we thought we were slightly over stood. With the kite down we started jib reaching probably 120 degrees true wind. The closer we got to shore the bigger the waves got. With the kite down and sailing at close angles to the wind I realized how windy it really was out. It hadn't crossed my mind the whole day until then. We finally got close enough to the beach to see where we were in relation to the finish. It was a new experience coming to the finish from the outside. It took a minute to get our bearings. Turns out we could of flown the kite all the way in, we were not over stood. By now we could see the finish and had to put the kite back up to get there. We were the first there with no other boats in sight. That was a good feeling. This race is typically won and lost on the first 2 legs. We knew the big boats would be way behind us on handicap time. We sailed the leg in six hours 26 minutes, breaking the record for leg 1. After talking to some of the other teams, most of the fleet chickened out with 40 to go and jibed in. That's when they really got beat up. Lesson learned: if the forecast is Southeast 15-25 on day one -stay on the outside.

Day 2 (Time for the driver to do work)

Most of the fleet had suffered damage to their boats, crew, and /or mental state to handle what the Gulf had to dish out on day 2. With more of the same in the forecast , only 6 teams lined up for day 2. Again, we launched out thru the surf in 15-18 knots SSE breeze and 4 to 6 foot seas. The direction and angle of the wind didn't allow us to carry the kite so I jumped out on the wire. Ian stayed on the boat and away we went, jib reaching. This is my favorite sailing mode -jib reaching , single wire, trying to stay low, surfing the waves , sawing on some mainsheet, and throwing my weight around to get the boat to do what I want it to do. The C2 came alive. The rest of the boats couldn't sail our line and were headed further out to sea and off the horizon. 2 hours in, we were by ourselves again, checked out. About mid-day it lightened up a bit and we were sailing 10 to 30 degrees high of the rhumbline. We threw the kite up and both jumped on the wire. It was too rough to stay out and carry any angle in the sea state. The waves were too big, it was just so churned up. There were two- 4 footers in between the 6 footers, all 20 feet apart. So we just single wired with the kite and let her run for about 15 minutes. The closer we got to the beach, the worse our angle became. We ditched the kite and went back to jib reaching. With just the jib, our angle was constantly 10 to 15 degrees high. Around 30 miles to go we put the kite up and sailed all the way to the beach. The forecast was for South 10-15 by the end of the day and we didn't want to get stuck outside in a dying breeze. With 20 miles to go, it really settled down and got flat in between the waves. Once we got to the beach we were back into single wire jib reaching. Can we get to 25mph? Ian called out 23.7. I was like "ok let me go for 25". I got a little greedy and we stuffed it to the front crossbar. We hit so hard that when the spinnaker pole hit the water our spinnaker bag ripped off the pole. Thank God for velcro! Nothing was broke, the velcro straps on are SNU bag just came undone . This turned into a task. We stopped the boat and had to head upwind for awhile so Ian could fish the bag out of the water. The kite was full of water and didn't come up easy. Ian was able to lash the bag on in a couple minutes and off we went, scoring the second leg win. We broke another record, 5 hours 11 minutes. We were stoked! That was a quick 100 miles. Lesson learned: The C2 likes to eat when the breeze is on, let her eat.

Day 3 (Big Day)

We got down to the beach around 8am and the Gulf was rocking. More of the same, Southeast 15-20. Matagorda has eaten more boats and parts than any other beach in the race. More boats were back in action today. Both of the Carbon 20's were back in and more F18's and Nacra 20's. Sweet! With an hour to go, I was getting a little nervous. It was really rough and I just wanted to get out thru the surf. I knew we would be fine if we could do that. The gun went off and we took off without hesitation. Today was going to be harder to get thru the surf. We got knocked around a little on the first 2 wave sets, got out past the third set, after dodging a few bullets, but the waves were still breaking . We got to what would have been the fifth set and a monster formed out of nowhere. I wasn't going to be able to foot out from underneath this one. We were going to have to take it on the chin. We have a fifty- fifty chance to make this, I thought. It broke right on top of us, taking my goggles clean off my head. We landed hard, got the boat back going and got out of there. By now Team Sailboat Shop and TCDYC had passed us . Everyone was sitting on their boats jib reaching without kites. We were going backwards. I couldn't get comfortable. If I sat on the hull the waves would hit the side of the boat and knock it out from under me. I felt like I was going to get knocked off the side of the boat. I tried sitting in on the tramp and waves would wash thru the tramp and knock me up in the air. I almost went off the back of the boat. Finally, after maybe 15 minutes, Ian took one for the team and gave me his goggles. I was blind from salt water already. I took a deep breath and asked Ian to jump on the wire. He got out and the boat settled right down. He asked me how I felt and I said "let's go get em". We took off after that, passing TCDYC then Sailboat Shop. We were back in the lead. Rohrer and Holt hung on to us after we passed them. This was the first time in the race we didn't just leave the boat behind us. When we were on the wire we were faster. At times it lightened a little forcing us off the wire and they seemed to have a little pace on us. They were sailing well. The Tiger with all that rocker and in the sloppy sea state, in down speed mode, was hanging on with us. Once we got around Bryan Point it got a little lighter and we were able to put the kite up for a short time, only to get driven to the beach. Every time we put the kite up we stretched on the fleet. We jib reached out and then put the kite up again and made it all the way to the finish. Another leg won, another record broken: 3 hours 53 minutes. We never saw any of the Carbon 20's. They must of had more trouble. I got rattled the first 15 minutes of this leg but settled down and just got back to sailing the boat fast and it paid. Lesson learned: If you get rattled take a deep breath, calm down, and just go back to what you know.

Day 4 (Bring her home)

At this point we had a big enough lead that all we had to do was finish. Now our goal was to break 17 hours for the total race. We had about 2 hour s and 23 minutes to do it. It would be close. The sea state was much mellower today with the same forecast, Southeast 15-20. It looked like a quick ride. Zhik 1 was back after they suffered more damage the day before. We knew they would be gunning for us to get us once for line honors after all their troubles. We were off again, after another good push from Palon, our pusher. Out front we settled in, jib reaching, waiting for the first boat to pull the trigger on their kite. We didn't want to be the first one driven into the beach. Finally Team Monkey Business launched their kite. We took a quick look at their angle and launched. Meanwhile, back in Carbon 20 land, Ian informed me Zhik was mowing people down after starting in the back. They jib reached out further than us then launched their kite, slowly droving down to us. They were twin wiring to hold their height. We were single wiring on the rhumbline. We picked up the pace and started to push hard. I didn't want to just lay down and let them roll over us. The closer we got, the more they seemed to be fighting it. They stuffed it hard and Dave got launched forward, breaking the cleat on the chicken line. They switched to single wire. That sucked them down to the beach inside of us, right after we passed San Luis Pass. It got lighter and deeper, not good for the F18 boys. At times we were sitting on the boat going deep not able to get on wire with the kite. Oh well we gave it a shot . We expected them to leave us for dead. This was the best condition for them the whole race. Amazingly ,they got inside us but couldn't go forward on us at all, only slightly deeper. I was shocked. In the end they got us by 2 minutes 45 seconds on a forty mile leg. They broke their second board about a mile before the finish so that didn't help matters and they took on more water . Meanwhile, we got our personal goal- under 17 hours. We made it in 16 hours 53 minutes, a new course record. We crushed the old one. It was a rough year for the big boats. They picked the wrong year to give it a try. Hopefully next year they will come back and get more typical conditions. Lessons learned : Experience pays. We stuck to what we knew and it paid off. We never panicked or did anything stupid, like we have done a couple times in the past. Thanks to all our sponsors and supporters: Ruff Rider Regatta, Prosthetic Science Houston, Scott Kee , Sherri Morris, Don and Nelda, Palon- our pusher, the wives, kids, and my crew- even though he is kiwi, and lastly AHPC for building one hell of a boat. She takes a lickin and keeps on tickin. We broke nothing which was unreal given the conditions. See ya next year.